Grainfather!!

[BrewMeister49]

To me, it looks like that can be crushed far better. Mine definitely is crushed finer and I get 80-85% eff. When you look at it, are there any hulls uncracked? They should be all or mostly empty.

 

[kennya]

FINALLY getting to brew with my GF tomorrow, I had so much travel after I got it that I couldn't plan a brew day. Well tomorrow is the day, starting off with a Hefe and then may brew a Kolsch on Saturday. So my question is this. For those of you that use the GF Sparge Water Heater (or something similiar), how are you regulating the water flow since it only has a "party tap"?

 

[elreplica]

FINALLY getting to brew with my GF tomorrow, I had so much travel after I got it that I couldn't plan a brew day. Well tomorrow is the day, starting off with a Hefe and then may brew a Kolsch on Saturday. So my question is this. For those of you that use the GF Sparge Water Heater (or something similiar), how are you regulating the water flow since it only has a "party tap"?

I got a piece of silicon tubing and will get a small ball valve to regulate the flow. Just looking around for a decent PVC, brass or stainless one and will measure the flow rate until I get it within 1/2 to 1 inch above the grainbed. That's the plan, anyway.

 

[kennya]

I figured a few folks switched it over to a ball valve, but I am starting in the morning so wont have time to make the mod for it. I was thinking of using a piece of string to tie around the tap and gradually tighten it until I get the flow I want. not sure if it will work or not. Going to give it a try tonight unless someone else chimes in with a different thought.

 

[elreplica]

I figured a few folks switched it over to a ball valve, but I am starting in the morning so wont have time to make the mod for it. I was thinking of using a piece of string to tie around the tap and gradually tighten it until I get the flow I want. not sure if it will work or not. Going to give it a try tonight unless someone else chimes in with a different thought.

In the meantime I just ladle the water over the grainbed until I reach the level required. I'll just wait until I get the valve to add a little more hands free...forgot about it until I saw your post so thanks for the reminder lol.

 

[doogster]

Hi

Anyone brewing in their basement with the Grainfather? One of the main reasons I went electric is so I can brew indoors in the winter months.

The rest of the family isn't a fan of the smell of brewing so I am going to set up shop in the basement and try to vent the steam/smells outside.

Another thread I found here indicates that the ventilation requirement is something on the order of total wattage divided by 17.6 which gives me a number of about 90cfm At that rate, a good bathroom fan should do the trick.

Just planning to build a simple vent "hood" to catch the rising steam and mount the fan on top. It will have a short, straight 4' run to the side of the house.

Any thoughts on the matter from the Grainfather crowd?

 

[BrewMeister49]

That should do just fine. I just keep an open window. Does the trick.

 

[elproducto]

I'm planning on doing a big beer (Denny Conn's Vanilla Porter), 1.08ish OG. I really only want 3 or 4 gallons, is there any difficulty doing smaller batches of a high OG beer? Or do you still need the micro pipework.

 

[treacheroustexan]

I'm planning on doing a big beer (Denny Conn's Vanilla Porter), 1.08ish OG. I really only want 3 or 4 gallons, is there any difficulty doing smaller batches of a high OG beer? Or do you still need the micro pipework.

I've done a few successful 2.5 gallon batches without the micro. I just didn't use the top plate during the mash. Worked like a charm.

 

[BrewBrains]

Grainfather Update after 4 brews:

After my 4th brew, I am very happy overall with using the unit. I transitioned from Brew-in-a-Bag (BIAB), which was fairly simple and had just a few drawbacks.

Grainfather Pros:
1. Fairly closed system. I am obsessed with sanitization and the immersion chiller always worried me; the need to keep the pot open after the boil seemed a setup for microbes to find a home. To be sure it's sanitized, I pump boiling wort thru during the end of the boil briefly, then recirculate after end of the boil before pumping out.
2. The closed system and 1 vessel for mash and boil cuts down on splashes and spills.
3. I cannot stress too much how efficient the counterflow chiller is. I need to use ice water here in FL to chill with, and I pump it thru the chiller with a cheap 400-GPH Submersible,Hydroponic, Pond, Aquarium Pump. If you set the Grainfather valve to slow, you can easily have wort in the 55 degree range going into the fermentor.
4. So far the Grainfather pump works well, and for my last IPA I successfully used it to pump wort through a Hop Rocket into the fermentor.
5. Not having to use a propane flame, and being able to brew indoors are huge advantages. With BIAB I used a pot that barely fit under the stove hood on a gas stove.
6. I have had very good efficiency after I got my mill working correctly, with a roller gap around .036 in.

Cons:
1. The cleanup is considerably more extensive than with BIAB. You have to disconnect the cords to dump the trub, scrub it a bit, partially fill it with water and Oxyclean or something similar, reconnect, pump this around the chiller then pump out, scrub a bit again, then fill with clear water and pump out. The parts of the grain basket usually need to be cleaned separately. I put a bit of star san thru the chiller before storage.
2. The ball-spring safety valve above the open-close ball valve in the line from the pump easily clogs with hops or other matter and this problem is a widespread one as witnessed by the posts in this thread and elsewhere. Many brewers report removing it.
3. Some of the silicone parts are an issue: the gaskets around the perforated plates start to get loose after a few brews and the little silicone piece holding the filter to the pump inlet can get knocked off during stirring if not careful.
4. It is a little weird that there is no handle on the lid.
5. A standard NPT fitting will not attach to the end of the pump out pipe. You have to buy another Grainfather connector if you need to attach it to something else.

Still using my BIAB bags, though: as giant hop boiling bags/ hop spiders, and the bag can easily be tied to those otherwise useless distiller clips on the side!

--------
In Kegerator: Dubbel, Cinnamon Vanilla Dubbel, VoCal Banger IPA
Dry Hopping: Mandarina Melon IPL
Fermenting: Old 20W/40 Robust Porter

 

[Kampenken]

Grainfather Update after 4 brews:

After my 4th brew, I am very happy overall with using the unit. I transitioned from Brew-in-a-Bag (BIAB), which was fairly simple and had just a few drawbacks.

Grainfather Pros:
1. Fairly closed system. I am obsessed with sanitization and the immersion chiller always worried me; the need to keep the pot open after the boil seemed a setup for microbes to find a home. To be sure it's sanitized, I pump boiling wort thru during the end of the boil briefly, then recirculate after end of the boil before pumping out.
2. The closed system and 1 vessel for mash and boil cuts down on splashes and spills.
3. I cannot stress too much how efficient the counterflow chiller is. I need to use ice water here in FL to chill with, and I pump it thru the chiller with a cheap 400-GPH Submersible,Hydroponic, Pond, Aquarium Pump. If you set the Grainfather valve to slow, you can easily have wort in the 55 degree range going into the fermentor.
4. So far the Grainfather pump works well, and for my last IPA I successfully used it to pump wort through a Hop Rocket into the fermentor.
5. Not having to use a propane flame, and being able to brew indoors are huge advantages. With BIAB I used a pot that barely fit under the stove hood on a gas stove.
6. I have had very good efficiency after I got my mill working correctly, with a roller gap around .036 in.

Cons:
1. The cleanup is considerably more extensive than with BIAB. You have to disconnect the cords to dump the trub, scrub it a bit, partially fill it with water and Oxyclean or something similar, reconnect, pump this around the chiller then pump out, scrub a bit again, then fill with clear water and pump out. The parts of the grain basket usually need to be cleaned separately. I put a bit of star san thru the chiller before storage.
2. The ball-spring safety valve above the open-close ball valve in the line from the pump easily clogs with hops or other matter and this problem is a widespread one as witnessed by the posts in this thread and elsewhere. Many brewers report removing it.
3. Some of the silicone parts are an issue: the gaskets around the perforated plates start to get loose after a few brews and the little silicone piece holding the filter to the pump inlet can get knocked off during stirring if not careful.
4. It is a little weird that there is no handle on the lid.
5. A standard NPT fitting will not attach to the end of the pump out pipe. You have to buy another Grainfather connector if you need to attach it to something else.

Still using my BIAB bags, though: as giant hop boiling bags/ hop spiders, and the bag can easily be tied to those otherwise useless distiller clips on the side!

--------
In Kegerator: Dubbel, Cinnamon Vanilla Dubbel, VoCal Banger IPA
Dry Hopping: Mandarina Melon IPL
Fermenting: Old 20W/40 Robust Porter

Funny to read this, I was thinking of a similar post for my now 12 brews completed (since Jan)!

So, few questions on your Pros & Cons.
Pros:
#1- I also did a brief recirc prior to end of boil (thought why wait to end??). I was surprised the small pump draw actually slowed down the boil! No worries, I just stopped after 2 min, and ran it again for 8min after the boil. Did you notice the same effect? I am direct plugged into a 20amp circuit.
#3- I'm in PA & surprised my tap temp yesterday was still 77! Anyway I pre-chill, but run my hose direct thru the IC in the cooler instead of the pump thru approach like in the Pre-GF days- with my IC I'd pump after chilled to ~100F. With a fairly strong hose flow, I don't think the pre-chill is effective with my approach. My question then is, how (or do) you refill your pre-chill reservoir? I figure with the 15-20 min cool time you'd pull off a fair amount of pre-chill water? I am thinking of freezing my ICs (2 that nest together) into a solid block and see how that works. I don't want to make the cooling longer than 20 min, as I'll just pop it in the ferm chamber to drop to pitching temp.

Cons:
#1- I've heard this complaint, disconnecting cords, before, but do not understand why. I have my unit's pump and boil/mash switches off and pick up and dump trub, as well as cleaning & rinse water when done, without unplugging. My GF has a reflectix coat. Why do you find the need to unplug? Ending w/a bit of star san thru CFC sounds like a good idea, I've been thinking of using my air compressor on it.
#3- I've been fine with plate gaskets, agree the end cap issue, though just avoid and I really don't stir too much. My complaint was that if you attempt to take the rubber pickup out of the hop filter it is fragile, mine was tearing, I no longer remove for cleaning.
#4- Yup!
#5- Curious, why, and what, were you thinking to attach to the wort out hose?

Cheers!

 

[BrewBrains]

Kampenken:

1. Didn't notice any problems with the boil, although I usually have a big hop bag in there. Certainly didn't drop below 212 degrees.
3. Pump the really hot water to a second bucket while adding extra ice/water and then recirculate the water after the discharge isn't that hot. Using the retired IC slowed things down due to resistance to the pump.
1. Cord isn't long enough and afraid of dumping the controller in the sink?
5. Used a Blichmann Hop Rocket for my last IPA, attached before chiller. Needed to remove wort outflow attachment from the chiller to do this.

Cheers!

 

[Kampenken]

Kampenken:

1. Didn't notice any problems with the boil, although I usually have a big hop bag in there. Certainly didn't drop below 212 degrees.
3. Pump the really hot water to a second bucket while adding extra ice/water and then recirculate the water after the discharge isn't that hot. Using the retired IC slowed things down due to resistance to the pump.
1. Cord isn't long enough and afraid of dumping the controller in the sink?
5. Used a Blichmann Hop Rocket for my last IPA, attached before chiller. Needed to remove wort outflow attachment from the chiller to do this.

Cheers!

I have my hop basket in there, and suddenly noticed the boil was not as prominent, so turned off pump and boil came back, really no big deal, but would be great to recirc the last 10 min as a time saver (ok, only 10 min!).
Ok, so you do add, that's what I figured. I'm going to freeze the IC into a solid block in the freezer, in a large pot, then place frozen IC block into another container w/water around it and recirc that water (after initial heat is gone, which with the CFC is about 30sec) through the frozen IC. All fun stuff to try out!
Ok, I get cord not long enough, mine plugs in under sink, but as for the controller, the GF came with set screws to keep controller in place, try that. For me the tight fit of the reflectix (around & behind the controller) keeps it all in place.
Ahhh, yes, you did mention the hop rocket, got it!

 

[boasist]

Hi

Anyone brewing in their basement with the Grainfather? One of the main reasons I went electric is so I can brew indoors in the winter months.

The rest of the family isn't a fan of the smell of brewing so I am going to set up shop in the basement and try to vent the steam/smells outside.

Another thread I found here indicates that the ventilation requirement is something on the order of total wattage divided by 17.6 which gives me a number of about 90cfm At that rate, a good bathroom fan should do the trick.

Just planning to build a simple vent "hood" to catch the rising steam and mount the fan on top. It will have a short, straight 4' run to the side of the house.

Any thoughts on the matter from the Grainfather crowd?

I do, I setup an inline fan with some basic duct work. Fan off of amazon and ducting from local shop. No big deal and it vents out great. I like stepping outside and it smells like a brewery during the boil. I used a wye and then blast gates from the local woodworking shop to direct between the dryer and GF. I don't have a direct pic but here is the full dump with progress shots. http://boasist.imgur.com/all/

 

[Wolfhound180]

What is that electric element with thermometer in the small pot next to your GF?

 

[boasist]

What is that electric element with thermometer in the small pot next to your GF?

The anova sous vide. It's how I do my sparge water. I put the temp in, then forget about it until I need it. It's quite nice. I'm a Chef in my spare time, so I have all of this stuff around anyway, it's nice to find another use for it.

Take a look

 

[Wolfhound180]

Pretty nifty. I might have to look into getting something like that. I've always wanted to try sous vide.

 

[doogster]

I do, I setup an inline fan with some basic duct work. Fan off of amazon and ducting from local shop. No big deal and it vents out great. I like stepping outside and it smells like a brewery during the boil. I used a wye and then blast gates from the local woodworking shop to direct between the dryer and GF. I don't have a direct pic but here is the full dump with progress shots. http://boasist.imgur.com/all/

That's great. The blast gate and wye saves me buying a 4" hole saw and cuttong another hole in my house!

 

[civilbrando]

The Grain father is $748 at homebrewsupply.com with promo code "Over". Too bad I ordered last week, and it still isn't here

 

[DownHomeBrewery]

The Grain father is $748 at homebrewsupply.com with promo code "Over". Too bad I ordered last week, and it still isn't here

Thanks for the heads up, I currently live in Japan and have been looking for a new system to buy when I move back to the states in a two months. This gave me the incentive to go ahead and pull the trigger. I went ahead and added the grain coat as well. Total of $800 shipped to my brother for him to store it for me. Now start the countdown until I get to use it #firstworldproblems

 

[Chiller_ale]

I am getting a Grainfather soon and am getting an all grain kit as a gift. I am trying to work out starting points to try for this batch.

The IPA Kit:
11 lbs 2-row
1 lbs Caramel 40

plus 5 oz of hops... (think I know this part)

Mash Schedule:
152 for 60 min
170 mashout 10 min

O.G: 1064

So, playing around with online calcs; my best guess is:

Batch size 5.1 and efficiency of 75 gives me 1.065
Grainfater calcs say: 4.81 mash and 2.5 sparge.

Does this sound about right? Should I shoot for 75%? I have read most of this thread and watch a ton of Grainfather vids. This will be my first all grain. I have around 8 extract under my belt and they have been turning out great. So, hope the all grain will be even better.

 

[RedlegEd]

75% ias a good first number to shoot for, but I have a couple of questions...
1. Are you milling your own grain? If you read through this thread you'll see grain crush has a major impact on efficiency. A poor crush from the kit will get you much less efficiency.
2. If you're shooting for a 5 gallon batch (finished,) you may want to consider using 5.5 gallons as the batch size, not 5.1 (easier to overshoot than be short.)
3. Finally, if you have the US version (110v) (with a Graincoat or Reflectix wrapper,) you may want to consider only 2 qts/hr boil off (less if you don't have either.)

Using my numbers with a 5.5 gal batch (I usually get 80%,) for a 60 minute boil, I get:
4.9 gals - Mash
2.8 gals - Sparge
which equals 7.70 gals, which I'd round up to 7.75 or 31 qts

Ed

 

[Kampenken]

I am getting a Grainfather soon and am getting an all grain kit as a gift. I am trying to work out starting points to try for this batch.

The IPA Kit:
11 lbs 2-row
1 lbs Caramel 40

plus 5 oz of hops... (think I know this part)

Mash Schedule:
152 for 60 min
170 mashout 10 min

O.G: 1064

So, playing around with online calcs; my best guess is:

Batch size 5.1 and efficiency of 75 gives me 1.065
Grainfater calcs say: 4.81 mash and 2.5 sparge.

Does this sound about right? Should I shoot for 75%? I have read most of this thread and watch a ton of Grainfather vids. This will be my first all grain. I have around 8 extract under my belt and they have been turning out great. So, hope the all grain will be even better.

Welcome to the GF Family! I'm sure you will find it a great decision.

Your OG calc w/75% brewhouse eff is what I calculate with what you've provided, so you're on the right track. Get a good crush (even double crush) from the LHBS, if from online, buy 5-10% more for this batch as you will likely lose some eff. For mash w/60 min boil, I'd get closer to 5gal mash, and between 2.75-2.9 sparge, depending on strength of boil. Though, with the 5oz of hops I'd even consider 3g sparge as you will fall short of your desired 5.1 in fermenter due to hop absorption. Also I would mash for 50 min with the 10 min mash out, so total of 60 min mash. Consider using loosely tied hop bags to reduce potential for pump clogging, and tilt your GF to get the most out of the boiler.

AG may not be better than extract, as your water chemistry can have a large impact on quality- the extract has already completed the mash under ideal water conditions. I highly recommend getting a water report and using a tool like Bru'n Water for water adjustments. IPA's can be more sensitive than dark beers, due to the pH (higher pH is not ideal here, dark beers will naturally be lower in pH). Additionally, you may want to review chloride sulfate ratios for your beer style, higher sulfate (2:1 or greater for ex.) for IPAs tends to be the norm, and keeping chloride <100ppm. It is all about your taste buds, but higher sulfate to chloride ratios are considered ideal for hoppy beers. Begin your AG journey with some good reading on this topic to help out yourself. Of course you can ignore and may be just fine too, so there's that! Best of luck and post back your results.

 

[Chiller_ale]

Thanks for the feed back.

I don't have a mill yet. The kit is coming from an online site. I will check to see if they can say what size the crush is set to. This is the 110v and I do have the graincoat. I am at 5400 ft so boil is ~202f. I do have hop bags and wondering if people whirlpool with the GF also?

I am not too worried about the amount I get into the fermenter, more want to stick closer to the 1.064.

With that info, do you think I still shoot for 75%?


I have not had much time to look into the water chemistry, so may have to just wing it for now. I just use campden tablets for chlorine.

 

[Kampenken]

Thanks for the feed back.

I don't have a mill yet. The kit is coming from an online site. I will check to see if they can say what size the crush is set to. This is the 110v and I do have the graincoat. I am at 5400 ft so boil is ~202f. I do have hop bags and wondering if people whirlpool with the GF also?

I am not too worried about the amount I get into the fermenter, more want to stick closer to the 1.064.

With that info, do you think I still shoot for 75%?


I have not had much time to look into the water chemistry, so may have to just wing it for now. I just use campden tablets for chlorine.

I would expect your crush won't be as fine as those with their own mill, so I'd order +5-10% (or shoot for 70%). Maybe call them and ask for a finer crush, search this thread for mill settings, I haven't measured mine, but it works and is finer than stores provide.

Yes, we do whirlpool, very easy. One word of caution, look where the pump filter is and do not bump it when stirring, you may knock the whole thing off, or the cap, either way you want to avoid.

1/2 campden tablet will be fine for your amount of water. Best wishes, keep the GF instructions alongside and enjoy the brew day!

 

[domdom]

just got done with my 3rd batch today and had some questions:

-mash temp fluctuation: is it normal for the mash temp to fluctuate 2 degrees either way of the set mash temp and is there anything i can do about it? does it make that big of a difference?

-the wort chiller: did an ipa and did a hopstand for about 15-20 minutes after boil (5 oz hops total). by the time i got the wort chiller ready, the temp was about 200. i use my old copper immersion chiller as a pre-chiller. I got the temp down to about 135-145 in about 15 minutes. and then it just hovered there. the flow was pretty slow and it was obvious the filter was getting blocked. i kept scraping at the filter and eventually just gave up for about 20 minutes. i was eventually able to get it down to 78 degrees but took forever. does the chiller work better on low hop bills where the filter doesn't get clogged? seemed like it look a long time the previous batch as well.

-efficiency: i'm getting poor efficiency. I usually double grind about 50% of the grain bill to avoid stuck sparges and added a handful of rice hulls. my 12.5 lb bill only gave me 1.052 OG, which i'm calculating at around 55-60% efficiency. any ideas on what i could be doing wrong? should i double crush all my grains or am i just expecting too much for efficiency?

 

[crusader1612]

just got done with my 3rd batch today and had some questions:

-mash temp fluctuation: is it normal for the mash temp to fluctuate 2 degrees either way of the set mash temp and is there anything i can do about it? does it make that big of a difference?

-the wort chiller: did an ipa and did a hopstand for about 15-20 minutes after boil (5 oz hops total). by the time i got the wort chiller ready, the temp was about 200. i use my old copper immersion chiller as a pre-chiller. I got the temp down to about 135-145 in about 15 minutes. and then it just hovered there. the flow was pretty slow and it was obvious the filter was getting blocked. i kept scraping at the filter and eventually just gave up for about 20 minutes. i was eventually able to get it down to 78 degrees but took forever. does the chiller work better on low hop bills where the filter doesn't get clogged? seemed like it look a long time the previous batch as well.

-efficiency: i'm getting poor efficiency. I usually double grind about 50% of the grain bill to avoid stuck sparges and added a handful of rice hulls. my 12.5 lb bill only gave me 1.052 OG, which i'm calculating at around 55-60% efficiency. any ideas on what i could be doing wrong? should i double crush all my grains or am i just expecting too much for efficiency?

1- I normally get 1Deg C changes, as the standard controller will only do it that way. nothing to worry about

2- ignore the temp on the controller when chilling, the counterflow chiller will chill the water running through that, but the body of liquid will not decrease in temp anywhere near as fast. all i do is; finish boil, add hop stand if required, re-circulate the wort to sanitise the chiller, then turn on the cold water for chilling, after 5-10 mins the wort coming out is at temp if not lower., then chuck it in your fermenter and let it fill.

3- too much water? I think you might be doing something wrong. I assume your using the pump to re-criculate during the mash? check your water calculations and check your final volumes, also check after you've sparged how much water drains from the basket once you have the correct boil volume, all very important.

FYI is this mash efficiency?

 

[domdom]

2- ignore the temp on the controller when chilling, the counterflow chiller will chill the water running through that, but the body of liquid will not decrease in temp anywhere near as fast. all i do is; finish boil, add hop stand if required, re-circulate the wort to sanitise the chiller, then turn on the cold water for chilling, after 5-10 mins the wort coming out is at temp if not lower., then chuck it in your fermenter and let it fill.

3- too much water? I think you might be doing something wrong. I assume your using the pump to re-criculate during the mash? check your water calculations and check your final volumes, also check after you've sparged how much water drains from the basket once you have the correct boil volume, all very important.

FYI is this mash efficiency?

2-i tested the work temp after i got the temp down to about 85-ish and noticed it was about 75. at what temperature do you stop recirculating and put into the fermenter?

3-i increased the mash water a little over 0.25 gallons this batch because the mash was super heavy the other brews to the point it was almost like thick oatmeal. efficiency was slightly better that was so i'll probably go back to the factory specs for mash water volume.

i know there is a difference between mash and brewhouse efficiency but don't know the details on the difference. it's the reading i got from the wort after dumping it into the fermenter.

 

[Kampenken]

just got done with my 3rd batch today and had some questions:

-mash temp fluctuation: is it normal for the mash temp to fluctuate 2 degrees either way of the set mash temp and is there anything i can do about it? does it make that big of a difference?

-the wort chiller: did an ipa and did a hopstand for about 15-20 minutes after boil (5 oz hops total). by the time i got the wort chiller ready, the temp was about 200. i use my old copper immersion chiller as a pre-chiller. I got the temp down to about 135-145 in about 15 minutes. and then it just hovered there. the flow was pretty slow and it was obvious the filter was getting blocked. i kept scraping at the filter and eventually just gave up for about 20 minutes. i was eventually able to get it down to 78 degrees but took forever. does the chiller work better on low hop bills where the filter doesn't get clogged? seemed like it look a long time the previous batch as well.

-efficiency: i'm getting poor efficiency. I usually double grind about 50% of the grain bill to avoid stuck sparges and added a handful of rice hulls. my 12.5 lb bill only gave me 1.052 OG, which i'm calculating at around 55-60% efficiency. any ideas on what i could be doing wrong? should i double crush all my grains or am i just expecting too much for efficiency?

Controller is pre-set to 2'F range. You can change this, I haven't and doubt you will notice a diff in your beer. I do however hit grains with strike water +10F above mash temp. Take a grain bed temp reading after mashing in, you will be surprised at diff to controller temp readout.

With the CFC, you should sanitize per GF directions, then with cold water running in about 10s your temp will drop enough to go directly into fermenter. Do not recirc back into boiler. I pre-chill too, tap temps at 77 still. 15-20min to move 6g to fermenter at 78. Two hours later in ferm chamber and I was at 68 to pitch. You can adjust both wort & water flow rates to cool, I prefer to run wort almost wide open for expediency. In winter I really need to slow down water or I cool into 50's!

Idk on your eff, need more info, but I get 75% brew house eff, i.e. into fermenter with all losses considered. I don't double crush and am fine with this, and is consistent.

 

[crusader1612]

2-i tested the work temp after i got the temp down to about 85-ish and noticed it was about 75. at what temperature do you stop recirculating and put into the fermenter?



3-i increased the mash water a little over 0.25 gallons this batch because the mash was super heavy the other brews to the point it was almost like thick oatmeal. efficiency was slightly better that was so i'll probably go back to the factory specs for mash water volume.



i know there is a difference between mash and brewhouse efficiency but don't know the details on the difference. it's the reading i got from the wort after dumping it into the fermenter.

Basically. I feel the wort out tube if it's cold it goes on the fermenter. Normally 5-10mins at most.

I found I got better efficiency and hit volumes slightly better by adding the recommended mash. Kline and dropping the spathe volume a touch. 300ml is about where I sit. I also round my numbers.