Grainfather!!

[augiedoggy]

That is the response I got back from the Grainfather team when I contacted them.

I seriously considered waiting for the 220/240v system. But then I started weighing the pros and cons.

The 110v version allows me to brew right in my kitchen. With a 220 I'm right back in my garage.
There's a much less chance of a boil over due to the more calm rolling boil with the 110v which is a boil nonetheless. I would certainly not want to have a boil over with an electrical control box mounted right on the outside. That could get ugly real fast.

The 220v really only has two advantages. The boil off rate would be a bit higher and temps would be reached quicker. But, these are easily matched with the 110v by adjusting water amounts and/or boil time.

These are my thoughts on it.

That may be your case but most homes have at least one 240v plug for a dryer or electric stove in their house.... a 240v line is also very easy to install and would have the benefit in the long run. Also its worth mentioning that boilovers are easy to avoid with electric, you just kill the heat and stir to break up the foam and then when you turn the heat back on theres no more boilover...Plus I believe they would have anticipated such accidents when designing the unit and that electrical box is likely sealed for such events... The device wouldnt be very good if it wasnt.

 

[DarkUncle]

Well I have a 240 in my kitchen for the stove but that would require pulling it in and out every time. Not convenient. Plus it would need a GFI of some kind installed. Not cheap for a 220.

I've had boil overs with my propane system no matter how careful I was. It requires constant attention to avoid. With the 110 system not so much.

There is no one system that's perfect for everyone and I'm glad it looks like the option will at least be there next year. Who knows. Maybe I'll upgrade as well. After the reviews come out that is

 

[chezhed]

I have one and love it. I went through this thing very thoroughly with the GF guys at the conference in June in San Diego. Just about made them tear it apart for me I was impressed and really don't worry about the heating element crapping out. It's sealed so you can't mess it up by exposing it and accidentally firing it up which will blow it out.....same as what happens to a heat stick not immersed.

I have put 16 lbs in it and it's fine...wouldn't handle my grain bill for Barleywine though But that's OK...I still have my three tier system for the rare time I need to do a larger batch or really high gravity brew.

Cleanup is a breeze. Use Craftmeister tabs and it is even easier.

I pair mine with FastFerment and I love only two things to clean now.

I sell these and have sold 4 of them in 4 months....all to rave reviews. My most experienced customer says less than 4.5 hours, complete start to finish....and he now does it in the bathtub because he too has kids to watch.

I'm only about 30 feet above sea level and have no problem. And if I am in a boil hurry, I simply drop in my heat stick and whammo...super fast boil.

 

[sirquack]

Just search Amazon for a step up or down transformer. For a 2000 watt grainfather you would want to go with a 3000 watt unit which can be had for $100 or less and can plug into any 110/120 recepticle in your house. It is to bad the US model doesn't have at least a 1800 watt unit. My commercial induction cooktop works just fine to do full boils and not just a simmer like the grainfather.

 

[BrewMeister49]

I'd say mine boil was a boil, not a simmer. A boil is a boil whether it is rolling so hard to splash out of the pot or you get the low roll. Bigger is more for show.

 

[Jkane101]

I'd say mine boil was a boil, not a simmer. A boil is a boil whether it is rolling so hard to splash out of the pot or you get the low roll. Bigger is more for show.

Did my first brew today with the Grainfather, the boil was exactly that...a boil! Absolutely no complaints in that regard

 

[BrewMeister49]

Did my first brew today with the Grainfather, the boil was exactly that...a boil! Absolutely no complaints in that regard

Exactly! I was very nervous to order mine due to what people were saying. Come to find out, lots of people were talking about it and they dont even own one! Its a decent boil. :rockin:

 

[pagrider]

+1 The boil is not an issue I have brewed 5 batches now.

 

[blizzard]

Can someone elaborate on how long it takes to reach mash temps and then how long to each a boil after slashing?

Thanks!

 

[BrewMeister49]

I did a full review on my first brew with the GF. Maybe 15 minutes for initial mash temp with tap water. Then after mash out about 40 minutes to boil.

 

[chezhed]

Can someone elaborate on how long it takes to reach mash temps and then how long to each a boil after slashing?

Thanks!

There are lots of variables that affect the time....volumes and temperatures to begin with. So take what I say with an allowance....."Your results may vary."

Saturday we demo'd this device at Learn to Homebrew day. We followed the GF water calculations (I have the Beersmith settings that a guy in England came up with but it's just as easy to use the GF guidelines) and heated 5.2 gallons of RO water that was 82F to begin with to 152F. We set it on BOIL and NORMAL and wandered off.....came back in 20 minutes and it was at 164F!!!! Yikes....no sweat, add some ice, turn it to MASH and pump out a bit of water to maintain the proper volume. Added 13.5 lbs of grain, mostly pilsen. Temp dropped a degree and then bounced back and forth between 151 and 152 for sixty minutes. Had 3.x (can't remember exactly) gallons of 168F sparge water in an elevated pot ready for sparge. Raised the GF basket, set the GF to BOIL/NORMAL, put the recirc arm in and turned on pump while dribbling sparge water on the upper plate. Left for 30 minutes (recommended sparge time by Grainfather) and came back to boiling wort!
A nice gentle roll...and if you put the lid on and turn on the pump during the boil you can get a boil over! (We were brewing very close to the road and I wanted to keep crap out so I put the lid on but ended up cocking it about 1/3 open to prevent a boil over.)

So that gives you some indication of time....

Another batch with the same recipe was done but the pump was not utilized during the sparge....we had not hit boil in 30 minutes but were at 198F. I popped in my heat stick and wham...within 5 minutes we were boiling and the heat stick came out and we lost boil for about a minute while the GF built back up.

I have brewed over 10 batches now since July....I am learning to trust it and getting a better sense of time needed to get to temp. I like it!!!

A cleanup tip....the Craftmeister Tablets do wonders on this thing. Add 2-3 gallons, heat to 135 and drop in a tablet and turn on the pump. Anything on the bottom gets removed without any scrubbing.

Visit your LHBS and buy one!

 

[chezhed]

Settings in BeerSmith...but Sparge water calculation is always different than GF's method. Fermenter is a FastFerment, hence the three dumps in the notes.

 

[BrewMeister49]

I've never heard of craft master tabs! I will look for them. One thing I really wish was incorporated ( I guess the one con I have found) is no handles! You have to tip it to remove all the trub after you pump to your fermenting vessel. I also wish they would give the US peeps who already purchase a GF a huge discount on the jacket. 70$ is pretty steep.

 

[Jkane101]

I've never heard of craft master tabs! I will look for them. One thing I really wish was incorporated ( I guess the one con I have found) is no handles! You have to tip it to remove all the trub after you pump to your fermenting vessel. I also wish they would give the US peeps who already purchase a GF a huge discount on the jacket. 70$ is pretty steep.

Looks like it's $50 not $70 but still when you consider that roll of reflectix is about $16 ...not sure about spending the $50.
http://www.grainfather.com/#!online-store/c8k/!/Accessories/c/12375701

 

[DarkUncle]

$70 with shipping. But it looks cool. Hopefully it works.

 

[Jkane101]

$70 with shipping. But it looks cool. Hopefully it works.

Ahh didnt add the shipping into it, thanks for pointing that out!! Think I'll just stick with reflectix

 

[BrewMeister49]

Haha! Yeah. Some people bought it on the grainfather users group on FB and said it was $20 to ship!

 

[DarkUncle]

I bought it too and don't even have the GF yet. But to add some salt to that wound they came back in stock on the Grainfather site and there's a coupon to get both for $930 with free shipping. [emoji15]

As with many things in life, timing is everything.

 

[BrewMeister49]

Haha! Now that's funny! Did you ask them? Where did you order yours through?

 

[Jkane101]

I bought it too and don't even have the GF yet. But to add some salt to that wound they came back in stock on the Grainfather site and there's a coupon to get both for $930 with free shipping. [emoji15]

As with many things in life, timing is everything.

Ouch that sucks.
Let me brighten your day... I'm betting you're going to love the Grainfather. I love it so much that I already have my next 3 brews planned out and grain/yeast orders placed.

 

[DarkUncle]

Well I'm planning on finally placing my order tonight when I get home from work. So it will only be a few days I'm hoping that the coat will feel like Tiny Tim's crutch lying in the corner without it's rightful owner.

 

[BrewMeister49]

You haven't ordered your GF yet and purchased A graincoat Lol that's awesome. You will probably use it unless you have reflectix. More insulation the better! My two layers of reflectix holds temps perfect and boils fast. Your going to love it!

 

[wattershed]

So just a little pro/con rundown after a number of brews with the U.S. model...

Pros:

- Cleanup is substantially faster not only due to the smaller number of vessels involved but the cleaning cycle you run on it at the end. Just set it and walk away for a bit, dump the cleaning water, refill w/clean water, recirc for a bit, maybe give it a quick wipe down (or just let gravity take care of it), and you're good.

- I haven't run into any leaks with either the boiler, mash basket, recirc pipe/pump, or CFC. I have confidence in kicking off a brew or a pump cycle on it and not having to babysit it.

- Once you dial your mash/sparge volumes in, you'll nail your expected numbers every time if you keep your process the same. I have taken to using Beersmith with a modified equipment profile (check the Grainfather FB group for that info) and when I trust what the software gives me AND have my sparge water heated and ready when I pull the basket out - to where the sparge starts the moment the basket's pulled out - everything's gone smoothly. It's when I've deviated from the norm by purpose or otherwise that I've gotten a stuck sparge, missed volumes, etc.

- I know a number of folks like the GF because it stores away in no bigger a space than a carboy or gatorade cooler. I didn't buy it for that reason, but it's awfully convenient that it stores in itself.

Cons:

- Sight glass would have been nice on the boiler. As it is, I have to know my sparge water volume in the source vessel instead of the boiler and I'd rather go off doing math on the pre-sparge volume and working from there to get my sparge volume. As it is, it's very hard to see the internal volume lines when the basket's sitting on top of the boiler.

- If I do a larger beer, I find the heating element will accumulate a bit of sugar which twice now has triggered the safety shutoff on the heating element. Tipping the GF to get to the bottom of the unit to reset the element isn't my favorite thing in the world. The solution to that is to be diligent about keeping the element clean, but in the process of that I'm afraid I'll knock off the precariously-positioned trub filter leading to the pump. Having no easily-bumpable end cap to the trub filter (maybe, oh, I don't know, a screw-on cap?) would be a bonus, as would some sort of, say, quick disconnect from the rubber female connection to the male internal port on the boiler leading to the pump.

That's really it for cons. The boil was my major concern as it is for a lot of people, and I completely get it. I was given a great tip of ensuring that you're plugging your GF into an outlet that's got the little "side thingy" on the plugs like this: -| | instead of just the two lines: | |

I know that's a HORRRRIBLE explanation but I guess the ones with the extra thingy on it are the 20A outlets, which should maximize the power on the GF as opposed to the other outlets which are the 15A outlets. I have never had an issue with maintaining a boil, and while ramp-up takes longer than with propane or more powerful elements, the perks of easy transfer when cooling and quick cleanup tend to cancel out the ramp up to boil slowness.

Lastly, don't buy that silly jacket. Even three/four coats of reflectix would be cheaper than that thing and I can't imagine it's more effective. One of the selling points is that you can wash the outer fabric on the jacket...if getting a little sugary wort on your reflectix that doesn't come off 100% is that big a deal, by all means, go for it...but I'd rather spend that money on a decent sparge water heater or some QDs for the CFC connections.

 

[BrewMeister49]

Very good right up. I would have to agree on both pros and cons! I was looking at their grainfather sparge heater but the tap just doesn't sound like it works well.

 

[Semo]

Shame on you guys. This forum is full of people who are experts at convincing me into making my purchases. I've been reading n researching for some time. I think I'd love this setup. You've succeeded in convincing me. Guess I know what I'm asking Santa for Christmas. Thx for the reviews guys..

 

[chezhed]

A couple more comments...

Reflectix works well. And it is easy to make a jacket. I think there was a link to the dimensions and a template on another thread.... I made three of them from a 10 ft roll.

You can easily add a temperature probe at the output on the chiller.
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/tndc9siflo4xicn/AAA5chGFdUxRESIPc-JcTZpua

 

[BrewMeister49]

Shame on you guys. This forum is full of people who are experts at convincing me into making my purchases. I've been reading n researching for some time. I think I'd love this setup. You've succeeded in convincing me. Guess I know what I'm asking Santa for Christmas. Thx for the reviews guys..

Your going to love it!
A temp probe on the chiller would be awesome! I have just waited for it in my FV to read the appropriate temps.

 

[DarkUncle]

I'm too old to wait for Santa to bring me it. Ordered last night [emoji12]

 

[Andyoesq]

You can easily add a temperature probe at the output on the chiller.

Do you have the parts list and/or instructions how to add the temp probe?

 

[BrewMeister49]

I've also seen people use the blichman thrumometer