Grainfather!!

[TexasWine]

Last night she finally arrived! I got her hooked up and cleaned. I have been extract brewing for years and finally made the jump to GF for the ease and space saved. Sparging will be something new. Can I just bring the water up to temp on the stove and then add it to the GF and circulate after my mash is done then pull up the basket? I know this might sound elementary but I wash hoping not to have to get yet Anouther piece of equipment just to sparge.

The first all grain batch I am going to do tomorrow has me mashing at 148 and that seems very low. Any thoughts?

Welcome to electric brewing. You've made a good choice.

I don't own a GF, and not trying to be a horse's patoot, but sounds like you need to watch a few videos or read some instructions. You'll need to pull the basket and then sparge through the grain bed. Same principle applies to every all grain method that requires a sparge. Separate the grain from the wort (first runnings), then sparge the grain with fresh water.

Also, technically there's no need to buy a separate piece of equipment for heating sparge water. A cold (room temp) sparge is just as effective. However, a warm sparge does speed up the brew day, especially since the GF is limited to a meager 1600 watts or so. It's gonna take a really long time to get to boiling if you use a cold sparge.

 

[seabrew8]

Last night she finally arrived! I got her hooked up and cleaned. I have been extract brewing for years and finally made the jump to GF for the ease and space saved. Sparging will be something new. Can I just bring the water up to temp on the stove and then add it to the GF and circulate after my mash is done then pull up the basket? I know this might sound elementary but I wash hoping not to have to get yet Anouther piece of equipment just to sparge.

The first all grain batch I am going to do tomorrow has me mashing at 148 and that seems very low. Any thoughts?

You lift the basket up to sparge while your waiting for the wort to boil. You can use any pot and heat source for your sparge water.

Watch the GF vids its easy to use. Money well spent IMO. I have around 15 brews now under my belt with the GF.

And if you like to turn around beer fast a keg system is a must. I can make good quailty beer in 2 weeks no problem using gelatin and force carbing.

 

[AkBrew907]

Last night she finally arrived! I got her hooked up and cleaned. I have been extract brewing for years and finally made the jump to GF for the ease and space saved. Sparging will be something new. Can I just bring the water up to temp on the stove and then add it to the GF and circulate after my mash is done then pull up the basket? I know this might sound elementary but I wash hoping not to have to get yet Anouther piece of equipment just to sparge.

The first all grain batch I am going to do tomorrow has me mashing at 148 and that seems very low. Any thoughts?

How you heat your sparge water doesn't make any difference. I saw one pic in this thread where they had an induction hot plate and a pot on a stand higher than the Grainfather. If your stove is high enough or you don't mind pouring hot water it will work.

Not sure on the circulation procedure since I do not own a Grainfather.

148 is not low - depending on the recipe. It will give you a drier beer than mashing at a higher temperature.

Works like a charm. Just Crack the valve and sparge away

View attachment 1463276309546.jpg

 

[billmiller007]

I was wondering if I can add all the hot water and recirculate. Instead of slowly adding

 

[Kampenken]

When I first purchased the grainfather back in February I pounded out 6 batches within a two to three week period. After a couple of months break because of work travel, I did my 7th batch this past Wednesday. It was a kolsch. My target OG was 1.049 but I ended up with 1.046. After changing sparge process, this is much closer to my target OG than what I was getting on the first 6 batches. For my recipe I had the Total Efficiency in Beersmith set at 75%. When I set it to 70% that puts me spot on for my target OG.

Plan on brewing an IPA tomorrow. I am going to set Tot Efficiency at 70% and see if that will be closer for helping me dial in my recipes. Any thoughts? Are others seeing higher efficiency and what are your processes in getting those numbers... i.e. how are you sparging, milling your grain, mash temps (noticed that there are a lot of discrepancies on this thread about grain bed), etc.

Thanks

Total efficiency will vary by those as well as your lauter process, if you tip the GF at the end to pump dry=more wort=higher eff. My total eff is ~80, with tip. Additionally, adjusting your water can have a significant impact on eff (as well as taste!), with or without a GF.

I think 70-75 is the right path as you dial in. My mill setting is same as pre-GF (some flour) and no stuck sparge both setups. Mash temps are to style and in the 150-158 range for me, I sparge with 170 water and turn boiler to boil, by end I'm near 200F. Push the top plate down after mash runs off and keep a 1/2" or so of sparge water on top plate throughout sparge.

I am in the camp of measuring grain bed and I use a strike temp (+7F or so), to hit mash temp. I stir in well and then measure temp of grain bed (ignoring STC readout at first it does equalize), then hold temp. Works for me to hit my OG.

 

[Kampenken]

I was wondering if I can add all the hot water and recirculate. Instead of slowly adding

Recirc during sparge?? Maybe I'm misunderstanding but sparge is just a rinse of grains step. I don't rush this (maintain GF recommended 1/2" over top plate) and set to boil so by end of sparge I'm very near a boil already. Possibly your idea (all water in at once) works fine too, I haven't tried it that way.

 

[Brewing_CSU_Ram_Fan]

Total efficiency will vary by those as well as your lauter process, if you tip the GF at the end to pump dry=more wort=higher eff. My total eff is ~80, with tip. Additionally, adjusting your water can have a significant impact on eff (as well as taste!), with or without a GF.

I think 70-75 is the right path as you dial in. My mill setting is same as pre-GF (some flour) and no stuck sparge both setups. Mash temps are to style and in the 150-158 range for me, I sparge with 170 water and turn boiler to boil, by end I'm near 200F. Push the top plate down after mash runs off and keep a 1/2" or so of sparge water on top plate throughout sparge.

I am in the camp of measuring grain bed and I use a strike temp (+7F or so), to hit mash temp. I stir in well and then measure temp of grain bed (ignoring STC readout at first it does equalize), then hold temp. Works for me to hit my OG.

Kampenken... thanks for the reply.

I did my brew today and was shy of my target OG again. Like you, I adjust my strike temp higher as a result from my cooler mash tun days. I haven't measured the grain itself, but the grainfather temp usually levels out shortly. I do pay close attention to adjusting my flow rate so as not to overflow. I did sparge very similar to you. I use a heat stick to heat my sparge water. It usually hits temp very quickly. And yes... I am a tipper. I usually wait for cold break so that I can get the most I can into the fermenter. I had the correct volume, I was shy on OG. I am now starting to think that it might be my grain crush that is keeping me from getting higher efficiency. Next batch that I purchase I will double grind the grain closer to flour like and see if that helps. It is just strange that I could hit my target OG when doing the cooler mash tun, but I have struggled with the Grainfather.

Thanks.

 

[Kampenken]

And that was my next question! So you used to hit OG pre GF days, hmmm, that's all odd then especially if you are hitting your volume. I initially was always over in volume and had to adjust the water calcs to hit desired volume, but it doesn't appear that's an issue for you. Is your crush the same as pre GF too? Do you crush or the LHBS? What eff did you plan for your last brew? I wouldn't get too carried away with fine crush, rather increase grain as a finer crush may create flavor issues and grain is cheap. Best of luck getting it all dialed in!

 

[BobOki]

I am doing a BMC for my father in law, and an happy to report I hit my OG on the nose last night. I actually did my flaked rice for 10 min at 140f pre mash.

That roller stand that we posted up a few pages back worked great. Plenty of room Under it for your hand to reset the gf breaker button.

My grain bed got a little too thick with the rice though, I ended up having to stir the bed at 30 min into the mash.

 

[Brewing_CSU_Ram_Fan]

And that was my next question! So you used to hit OG pre GF days, hmmm, that's all odd then especially if you are hitting your volume. I initially was always over in volume and had to adjust the water calcs to hit desired volume, but it doesn't appear that's an issue for you. Is your crush the same as pre GF too? Do you crush or the LHBS? What eff did you plan for your last brew? I wouldn't get too carried away with fine crush, rather increase grain as a finer crush may create flavor issues and grain is cheap. Best of luck getting it all dialed in!

Well my only thought in difference between the gravity method and the grainfather is that when I would collect my wort from the cooler I would sparge until I had the desired amount. This usually worked for giving the correct pre boil gravity as well. That is something I should probably start making a habit of doing is checking the preboil gravity on the next brew to see if I am sparging efficiently.

As for grind, I grind at the LHBS. I usually check to make sure the rollers are set for credit card thickness when I grind. I look to make sure that the grain is decently crushed with the hulls split open to release the sugar. I don't think it will hurt to double crush and there shouldn't be any off flavors as long as the sugar is removed.

The other option is that maybe I haven't dialed in Beersmith correctly yet and my OG numbers are coming in too high. I have used the profile that someone posted in this thread and it was very similar to the setup I created from reading back in February. There were a few tweeks here and there that are different in the two profiles but nothing major.

Thanks

 

[chezhed]

I don't think it will hurt to double crush and there shouldn't be any off flavors as long as the sugar is removed.

We just ran an experiment on Big Brew Day involving crush. Two Grainfathers each made the Altbier recipe with grains crushed in the same mill, one using a crush at the standard credit card thickness you mention and the other using a crush that was run through the mill twice; double crushed. Everything else was the same, down to the length of the 10 gauge extension cords. The double crush batch yielded higher pre-boil gravities and a higher OG by 5 points, 1.057 to 1.052. We sparged as close as possible...even each person pouring 2 C of 168 sparge water simultaneously and to a countdown; like pouring a 1.5 oz shot of whiskey.

So I believe a finer crush is merited.....and plan to continue with it.

 

[chezhed]

I normally clean up right after brewing but recently circumstances prevented it so after a quick rinse and filter removal, I filled the GF with 6 gallons of water, threw in some PBW, set the tempt to 130F, dropped in a rinsed basket and the filter and plates and the upper ring (I always take it out) and turned on the pump and didn't come back for over 14 hours. Talk about clean!!!

I don't plan to do it that long again, but it sure didn't seem to bother the pump.

 

[Brewing_CSU_Ram_Fan]

We just ran an experiment on Big Brew Day involving crush. Two Grainfathers each made the Altbier recipe with grains crushed in the same mill, one using a crush at the standard credit card thickness you mention and the other using a crush that was run through the mill twice; double crushed. Everything else was the same, down to the length of the 10 gauge extension cords. The double crush batch yielded higher pre-boil gravities and a higher OG by 5 points, 1.057 to 1.052. We sparged as close as possible...even each person pouring 2 C of 168 sparge water simultaneously and to a countdown; like pouring a 1.5 oz shot of whiskey.

So I believe a finer crush is merited.....and plan to continue with it.

Thanks for that information. I have done everything according to the posts here and other reading information that I have gained. I changed my sparge method, I set my strike higher to compensate for "cold" grain, and I did step mashes. The only thing that I can come up with is that maybe I am not crushing the grain enough.

Regardless, I haven't had a bad brew yet with the Grainfather. No stuck sparges, no clogging of filter, nothing, nadda, zip. The beers have come out great. Only thing is that they haven't been at the alcohol level that I wanted them to be at. I did do some Kentucky windage on one of my Grainfather brews and added 1 liter of DME mix to up the gravity... but it turned out well.

Speaking of Alt Bier. One of my first 6 brews was an attempt at an Alt. It turned out well. I still don't have my lager chamber built, but the basement was cold enough during fermentation. It was in the upper 50's... which may still be too high. Anyhow, tapped it last week and it is pretty good. A little on the floral tasting side, but I think that is from the yeast being a little warm. Should have my lager chamber build this summer and then I will try brewing it again.

I am by no means an expert at brewing... but with over 60 brews under my belt (gravity and Grainfather), I have a decent knowledge of brewing. As for drinking beer... I would say that I am closer to the expert level or damn near close.

 

[elreplica]

You lift the basket up to sparge while your waiting for the wort to boil. You can use any pot and heat source for your sparge water.

Watch the GF vids its easy to use. Money well spent IMO. I have around 15 brews now under my belt with the GF.

And if you like to turn around beer fast a keg system is a must. I can make good quailty beer in 2 weeks no problem using gelatin and force carbing.

I agree SB...and I just scored a mint Danby kegerator w/ 2 x 20 lb. gas bottles...bringing my collection to three...time for one to go and it looks like it's the biggest (and likely best)...my True TDD1 commercial...

 

[elproducto]

Last night she finally arrived! I got her hooked up and cleaned. I have been extract brewing for years and finally made the jump to GF for the ease and space saved. Sparging will be something new. Can I just bring the water up to temp on the stove and then add it to the GF and circulate after my mash is done then pull up the basket? I know this might sound elementary but I wash hoping not to have to get yet Anouther piece of equipment just to sparge.

The first all grain batch I am going to do tomorrow has me mashing at 148 and that seems very low. Any thoughts?

You don't need extra equipment. I heat my sparge water first and transfer to a cheap coleman cooler. Then I do my regular mash, and when I'm ready to sparge I scoop the hot water from the cooler.

 

[elreplica]

You don't need extra equipment. I heat my sparge water first and transfer to a cheap coleman cooler. Then I do my regular mash, and when I'm ready to sparge I scoop the hot water from the cooler.

You don't...but I like the consistency and relative control my GF sparge water heater provides. I had other ways - my kettle I used for propane partials...GF SS fermentor vessel with heatstick etc. I priced a large coffee urn but the GF heater was only around $40 more...I figured in for a penny, in for a pound and if you're spending c. $1000 for your gear, you may as well spring for the extras. Over the 20-30 min.sparge period, I like the constant 75C (168F) provided.

 

[Teesquar]

Will be doing my first GF batch very soon once my Fresh Squeezed clone clears the fermenter. With all the cooking and brewing equipment I have laying around I figured I would be able to cobble together a sparge water setup.

Sure enough I have a valved megapot and an portable induction unit we bought last year for parties. Problem is my induction unit just has preset temperatures so I can't dial in that 168 degrees. It has a 160 and a 180 preset ... doh! Bracketing the temp I'm looking for.

I've noticed a few posters that use an induction heater. Are your units capable of "dialing in" an exact temperature? If not what are you doing ... manually cycling on and off?

Thanks

 

[AkBrew907]

Will be doing my first GF batch very soon once my Fresh Squeezed clone clears the fermenter. With all the cooking and brewing equipment I have laying around I figured I would be able to cobble together a sparge water setup.

Sure enough I have a valved megapot and an portable induction unit we bought last year for parties. Problem is my induction unit just has preset temperatures so I can't dial in that 168 degrees. It has a 160 and a 180 preset ... doh! Bracketing the temp I'm looking for.

I've noticed a few posters that use an induction heater. Are your units capable of "dialing in" an exact temperature? If not what are you doing ... manually cycling on and off?

Thanks

I can adjust the wattage on mine. So I use full wattage to get up to my sparge temp then back the wattage down to maintain the temp. Using an Anvil BK and it retains heat really well and doesn't drop much at all till it's time to sparge.

What I normally do is put all my water into the Anvil Kettle, add my water additions and then gravity drain my mash water into the GF. Once all the mash water is gone I ramp the induction heater up and usually about half way through my mash it's at or very close to my sparge temps and then I just lower the wattage to maintain till it's time.

 

[Teesquar]

Thanks Ak. Mine also has a wattage option but they, are too, set up in different presets.

Think it's time for another equipment shake down to see what I need to do to dial in my sparge. I gotta figure if I get it to 170 the mass of the 8 gallon megapot will maintain it long enough. Hey, another excuse to drink beer and watch water heat up.

 

[elproducto]

Mine sometimes shows "2".
I called Grainfather customer support, they requested me to contact the retailer. The retailer told me to wait. No response since then, and it was three months ago.

Good luck, I bricked my controller trying to change those settings and went through hell to get a new one. It was so bad, that my retailer actually dropped the Grainfather because they wouldn't work with him. I finally got someone at Grainfather to help after I complained on their Facebook page. I would pick up a cheap stc1000 from ebay and throw that in, in the meantime.

 

[seabrew8]

Hey GFer's! I finished a batch a hour ago, my first in a while and i was really wrapped up in a new TV show i'm watching - i don't even watch many shows!

Anyhow, i decided to just pour 1-3 liters of sparge water in the grain basket each time to return to my show. I poured in 6+ inches over the perforated plate at one point and it drained in 5-10min. No stuck sparge.

My brewhouse eff was still %75 and i forgot to mashout!

Anyone else do this before?

 

[Lazer Wolf Brewing]

Hey GFer's! I finished a batch a hour ago, my first in a while and i was really wrapped up in a new TV show i'm watching - i don't even watch many shows!

Anyhow, i decided to just pour 1-3 liters of sparge water in the grain basket each time to return to my show. I poured in 6+ inches over the perforated plate at one point and it drained in 5-10min. No stuck sparge.

My brewhouse eff was still %75 and i forgot to mashout!

Anyone else do this before?

I have a very important question about your process using the grainfather. What show were you watching?

 

[geezer103]

Great bit of kit. I was one of the first 50 sold as a trial in NZ. At first it had a couple of flaws that were retified and new parts replaceed by the manufacturer. Have to say Ive had this now coming up 2 years this year, Ive given it a complete hammering testing it to its outer limits, Esb to Imperial stouts. And not once has it let me down, its pretty damn accurate, I get around 75% EFF ON AVERAGE depending on brew and my patience! After using I would never go back to gas or a 3 tier, I really cant see in differences in my brews at all from my 3 tier to this. So easy to use and clean, saves a **** load of time. You will not be dissapointed, also mines a 240v not the us 110v so not sure if my element has more balls or not, 500w mash ELEMENT AND 2400W BOIL. Dont be scared man up and take the plunge. Chur

 

[kennya]

So has anyone talked to the GF folks to find out if an updated or newer version is coming out anytime soon? I would hate to buy one in the next couple of months and then they update it with new features....

 

[chezhed]

So has anyone talked to the GF folks to find out if an updated or newer version is coming out anytime soon? I would hate to buy one in the next couple of months and then they update it with new features....

What new features would you expect? I would think that would be limited to the controller at this point. They cannot increase the wattage on the heating element for UL listings. They could offer a 240V version in the US but not many households have available 240V circuits so the market is limited. They could increase the pump power I guess but that, like the controller, could easily be replaced.
After using this for almost a year, I can't think of much else that would be feature improvements.

Fearing feature changes....well, do you ever buy a new cell phone? Talk about feature changes....

 

[elreplica]

So has anyone talked to the GF folks to find out if an updated or newer version is coming out anytime soon? I would hate to buy one in the next couple of months and then they update it with new features....

I wouldn't worry about it, as the same can be said about anything these days, cars, computers, phones etc. The only thing I see them changing is the simple controller to one more programmable. There likely will be an upgrade path for that. Other than that, jump in because you're missing way too many beers lol.

 

[elreplica]

Hey GFer's! I finished a batch a hour ago, my first in a while and i was really wrapped up in a new TV show i'm watching - i don't even watch many shows!

Anyhow, i decided to just pour 1-3 liters of sparge water in the grain basket each time to return to my show. I poured in 6+ inches over the perforated plate at one point and it drained in 5-10min. No stuck sparge.

My brewhouse eff was still %75 and i forgot to mashout!

Anyone else do this before?

No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express!

 

[Teesquar]

Thanks Ak. Mine also has a wattage option but they, are too, set up in different presets.

Think it's time for another equipment shake down to see what I need to do to dial in my sparge. I gotta figure if I get it to 170 the mass of the 8 gallon megapot will maintain it long enough. Hey, another excuse to drink beer and watch water heat up.

Hmmm, after running across stevo155's post on page 144 I may not care and just set my sparge to the induction unit's 160 degree preset and say the Hell with the "missing" 8 degrees.

http://brulosophy.com/2016/04/11/sparge-temperature-pt-1-standard-vs-cool-exbeeriment-results/
Brulosophy cool sparge xBmt

 

[TexasWine]

So has anyone talked to the GF folks to find out if an updated or newer version is coming out anytime soon? I would hate to buy one in the next couple of months and then they update it with new features....

Just buy an electric eBIAB system with the features you want. Doesn't have to be A GF! Lots of options out there that are pretty much upgrade proof until you want to do something like make bigger batches.

 

[elgee]

Regarding the controller, they are working on a new upgrade which they told me they will not commit to a release date, but said it would be an option for current models to upgrade to.

 

[elreplica]

Regarding the controller, they are working on a new upgrade which they told me they will not commit to a release date, but said it would be an option for current models to upgrade to.

I knew that...or at least suspected as much...I just hope to bless they don't say oh it's a $300 upgrade path...give the early adopters who built their base a break.

 

[Lazer Wolf Brewing]

I knew that...or at least suspected as much...I just hope to bless they don't say oh it's a $300 upgrade path...give the early adopters who built their base a break.

After someone had told in the GF Facebook group that he had emailed them and inquired about an upgraded controller, I decided to email them as well. The first guy was told that there may be one coming out this year. I got a reply that said the development team is looking at doing something with the controller, but that it's not even close to being implemented. And she said it isn't even for sure that they will upgrade it. So who knows.

 

[Teesquar]

Just buy an electric eBIAB system with the features you want. Doesn't have to be A GF! Lots of options out there that are pretty much upgrade proof until you want to do something like make bigger batches.

Tex, how does your Grainfather stack up against your other electric brewing equipment?

 

[kennya]

Whew, tough crowd! LOL! I was just asking a simple question. Didn't have any new features in mind, I was just being curious... No biggie! I'll be getting mine probably around July/August.

 

[seabrew8]

Whew, tough crowd! LOL! I was just asking a simple question. Didn't have any new features in mind, I was just being curious... No biggie! I'll be getting mine probably around July/August.

lol its a good buy if your not happy with the heating power you can easily buy a heat stick for well under $100. If you want to make over 10gal batches you should look for somethig else though. Unless you use the dilution method.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Tex, how does your Grainfather stack up against your other electric brewing equipment?

He doesn't own one. He's just here to tell people not to buy one lol.

 

[seabrew8]

I have a very important question about your process using the grainfather. What show were you watching?

Honestly? Its "Marco Polo". A "latin", in a new show. I love China, i've been there twice and want to go back.

 

[tjosborne]

lol its a good buy if your not happy with the heating power you can easily buy a heat stick for well under $100. If you want to make over 10gal batches you should look for somethig else though. Unless you use the dilution method.

Dilution method? Like top off with water? Would you have to boil the top off water first or how does that work?

 

[seabrew8]

Dilution method? Like top off with water? Would you have to boil the top off water first or how does that work?

http://www.brewersfriend.com/dilution-and-boiloff-gravity-calculator/

Yeah you just add clean water to the wort and pitch the yeast - i never boil it.

I watered down 1.068 i think it was to 1.050 once. It worked fine. Ideally you would want to get the OG much higher which you can with the GF however its doesn't boil really good at pre-boil wort of 30L on its own, so i would probably/might use less total volume next time if i didn't have another source of heat.

Using the calculator:

6 gallons of wort @ 1.085 SG watered down to 1.050 SG will give you 10.2 gallons of beer.

 

[TexasWine]

He doesn't own one. He's just here to tell people not to buy one lol.

Correct! Don't own one. Enjoy the discussion in this thread though so I follow along. And I do try to chime in with relevant bits of info here and there not relating to what purchases people make

And yes, my opinion is there are cheaper, better options out there. But if you want to buy a GF, that's A OK. I just think some folks, myself included, can get sucked into a little group think when it appears everyone else owns one or it's the only logical option. It surely doesn't help when an article gets published to the main HBT page of the website that indicates there are only two options, one relativity expensive and the other relatively cheap.

I feel the same way about cell phones. I own a Google Nexus phone instead of the more popular brand. My opinion, it's a much better phone but it gets overlooked oftentimes. And I tend to be a plainclothes salesmen for them.