Grainfather!!

[elreplica]

I prefer the Mad Scientist method of brewing.I start by heating 6.5 gallons of strike water and then crush my malt.I start with the base malts...such as pale and two row and maris otter/ESB for an english/american IPA or a mix of vienna/munich/pilsner for a german ale.Then I take a look at my specialty grain bank and decide which crytals/caras etc that I want to add for color/malt and flavour profiles.Get it all crushed and dough in and let it mash.I then take a look at the hop bank and go crazy with combinations of what I have depending on what I think the beer should taste like and how many IBU's I want as well as the aroma.Finally I opt for the extras such as corriander seed/bitter orange peel etc to give it a tweek/twist.



I have only ever made to batches that were not drinkable with one that got infected and the other just plain had too much bittering hops.



My grain bills are usually 14 pounds and my hops are a minimum of 3 ounces.



I rarely bottle my beer and give it out but every time I have done so I have been told that I make awesome beer.



RMCB

You are indeed, the Grainfather Mad Scientist ...any "weedhop" additions yet lol?

 

[CMcK]

Update. I am 8 batches in on this baby and making the best beer in my 10 years of all grain. Still getting the occasional stuck sparge and grain in the boil, but those are easy fixes. The most valuable aspect to this system is the repeatable process, which allows to dial in recipes and make the same recipes with consistency. Love this thing! Next steps are to build a stand and go all electric (moving away from heating sparge water on the stove). Seems like everyone is off the fence at this point, but if not, what are you waiting for?!

 

[MeanLowerLow]

Update. I am 8 batches in on this baby and making the best beer in my 10 years of all grain. Still getting the occasional stuck sparge and grain in the boil, but those are easy fixes. The most valuable aspect to this system is the repeatable process, which allows to dial in recipes and make the same recipes with consistency. Love this thing! Next steps are to build a stand and go all electric (moving away from heating sparge water on the stove). Seems like everyone is off the fence at this point, but if not, what are you waiting for?!

I'm curious, what kind of beer are you getting stuck sparges on? I've never had one in 20+ brews on the GF. Is it your crush?

I started using rice hulls on my wheat-heavy recipes to avoid the "eternal sparge"

I've also discovered controlling the flow of the mash, as described earlier, has improved my efficiency, my temp control, and eliminated any stray grain from getting into the wort.

 

[CMcK]

I'm curious, what kind of beer are you getting stuck sparges on? I've never had one in 20+ brews on the GF. Is it your crush?



I started using rice hulls on my wheat-heavy recipes to avoid the "eternal sparge"



I've also discovered controlling the flow of the mash, as described earlier, has improved my efficiency, my temp control, and eliminated any stray grain from getting into the wort.

My crush is 40 so I don't think it's that. I have been using rice hulls lately and not having any issues. The weird thing on the last stuck sparge was it was a small grain bill pale ale...

Have been controlling the flow on the mash as well.

 

[CPT_Tater]

I just brewed on my GrainFather for the first time. My water calculations are way off. Is the GrainFather's calculator on their website for target fermenter volume or what?

 

[d-bone]

My crush is 40 so I don't think it's that. I have been using rice hulls lately and not having any issues. The weird thing on the last stuck sparge was it was a small grain bill pale ale...

Have been controlling the flow on the mash as well.

are you using the micro pipework for small grain bills? I was getting stuck sparges on grain bills<10 lbs, got the micro pipework and havent had one since. cant say enough great things about that accessory. I would recommend everyone with a GF get one.

 

[elreplica]

are you using the micro pipework for small grain bills? I was getting stuck sparges on grain bills<10 lbs, got the micro pipework and havent had one since. cant say enough great things about that accessory. I would recommend everyone with a GF get one.

Please tell me any advantages of the micropipework. None of my beers likely will be less than 10 lbs. - if anything I'd want to increase capacity and output. I guess if you wanted beer less than 5% or doing small batches perhaps? Other than that, I'm not sure why it's a great accessory.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Following above post ^ I want to try a few 2.5 gallon batches so any tips are appreciated.

 

[AkBrew907]

First brew on the grainfather last night. Things went well and I like that I don't have to babysit it the entire time. Mash went great, ended up with 84% efficiency.

Will use a hop spider next time though. Make for even easier clean up.

 

[pepindavid]

I have a question for those using the Grainfather inside. I'm in Canada and I don't have a garage, so I would most likely have to use it inside (in the kitchen) from October to May, roughly.

How do you handle the humidity during boil, since the unit is not directly beneath the hood?

 

[AkBrew907]

I did not last night in my kitchen with no vent or hood and was not a problem at all. Didn't notice the moisture being an issue

 

[elreplica]

I have a question for those using the Grainfather inside. I'm in Canada and I don't have a garage, so I would most likely have to use it inside (in the kitchen) from October to May, roughly.

How do you handle the humidity during boil, since the unit is not directly beneath the hood?

I'm on the east coast and use mine in the kitchen beneath the hood. That being said, I don't find that the boil releases copious amounts of steam. My ceiling is 8' and I do run the range fan but not really sure if it is removing any great deal of potential condensation. All my brews have been between January to now.

 

[Pantherjon]

Well, I did my very first brew with my Grainfather today..Things went rather well for the most part then all went to hell quickly at the end of the boil...I did Piney The Welder kit, clone of a beer from some west coast brewery that sounds very similar to it..

I did do one thing differently this brew, and won't do this again in the future..I had this really brilliant idea(not in hindsight) that I would put my grains in the basket and then rest the basket above the water as it warmed to mash in temperature, on the belief that doing this would warm the basket and grain and the water temperature wouldn't drop drastically when added..Well, that was true, what I didn't take into account for was that the only holes were on the bottom so the basket wanted to float until I pushed it down..Not good..Pushed the center rod 'thingy' down into the grains- damn, fish out of hot water so all those grains don't get into the mash- some did..Dang..Go on with mash..Unit kept the temperature pretty rock solid right at 152..Good..Okay, mash out, bump up to 170 for 10 and then lift basket and start sparge..Goes pretty good..Get done with sparge and now time for boil..I switched unit to boil mode while I was sparging so water was up to like 190 when I was done with the sparge..

Boil went well..As you can see in picture 1 I was able to achieve a pretty vigorous rolling boil- inside an air conditioned house at almost sea level..Cover on control panel prevents the numbers from being seen but the temp was at 213 when this pic was taken..Boil went splendid, never a threat of a boil over- which made me happy! The trouble began once I hooked up the CFC and began cooling the wort..As you can see in picture 2 I have brought the temp down to 119, and in pretty quick time..I DID get it down(according to the readout) to like 98 when things went haywire..Temp started going back up! WHAT?!?! I have the element OFF! Pull the tube up out of the wort and see I have ZERO flow..Sheesh, filter must be plugged up..Grab the plastic paddle, try to scrap at the filter assembly..No good..Gads..Unhook, unscrew check valve, and see it it is plugged at the spring with grain...Ok, remove spring and ball, re-assemble, turn on pump and still no flow..Now temp is back up to like 145! Needless to say the **** hit the fan..Okay time for plan 'B'...Unplug everything get out my kettle..Drain wort from GF into kettle through my big strainer..OMG! There is a TON of grain in there..Sheesh..To shorten this novel, when I emptied out the grain basket, I found that the damn silicon gasket had some how slipped off at about a 3" section allowing all that grain freedom into the wort- also didn't help that at the very beginning of the mash I let a bit of grain into the wort as well..Had to put the wort in my kettle, then into a ice bath in the sink and then finally into the fermenter which went into the fridge for like 2 hours to get the wort to pitching temperature...Whew!..

Brew is currently in the closet and I am doing my best of RDWHAHB..Hopefully I will see airlock activity in the morning..

 

[d-bone]

Please tell me any advantages of the micropipework. None of my beers likely will be less than 10 lbs. - if anything I'd want to increase capacity and output. I guess if you wanted beer less than 5% or doing small batches perhaps? Other than that, I'm not sure why it's a great accessory.

with the micro pipework, I can get the top overflow pipe and top plate in the grain basket down closer to the grainbed when my grain bill is small, unlike with the normal pipework, which doesnt allow you to get everything down far enough. I have found avoiding a buildup of wort on top of the grain bed to be a key factor for me avoiding a stuck sparge, which is what happpens when using the normal pipework. I have brewed a couple beers now with the GF using small grain bills; Belgian Wit 8lbs, peach cream ale 8.5 lbs, alt beer 9.75 lbs, as well as a couple of session IPA's that range between 7.5 and 8.25. All of these had problems with stuck sparge, excpet the cream, which was the only that I brewed with the micro pipework. Anyway, I am just reporting my experience, hopefully its helpful. If you are knot brewing with small grain bills often, than it probably is kot necissary, as long as you make sure to use the small grain bill calculator.However, I brew a lot of "session" or lowish ABV beers, as I tend to host the occasional "kegger" when I run out of empty kegs and need room in my keezer.

 

[d-bone]

Well, I did my very first brew with my Grainfather today..Things went rather well for the most part then all went to hell quickly at the end of the boil...I did Piney The Welder kit, clone of a beer from some west coast brewery that sounds very similar to it..

I did do one thing differently this brew, and won't do this again in the future..I had this really brilliant idea(not in hindsight) that I would put my grains in the basket and then rest the basket above the water as it warmed to mash in temperature, on the belief that doing this would warm the basket and grain and the water temperature wouldn't drop drastically when added..Well, that was true, what I didn't take into account for was that the only holes were on the bottom so the basket wanted to float until I pushed it down..Not good..Pushed the center rod 'thingy' down into the grains- damn, fish out of hot water so all those grains don't get into the mash- some did..Dang..Go on with mash..Unit kept the temperature pretty rock solid right at 152..Good..Okay, mash out, bump up to 170 for 10 and then lift basket and start sparge..Goes pretty good..Get done with sparge and now time for boil..I switched unit to boil mode while I was sparging so water was up to like 190 when I was done with the sparge..

Boil went well..As you can see in picture 1 I was able to achieve a pretty vigorous rolling boil- inside an air conditioned house at almost sea level..Cover on control panel prevents the numbers from being seen but the temp was at 213 when this pic was taken..Boil went splendid, never a threat of a boil over- which made me happy! The trouble began once I hooked up the CFC and began cooling the wort..As you can see in picture 2 I have brought the temp down to 119, and in pretty quick time..I DID get it down(according to the readout) to like 98 when things went haywire..Temp started going back up! WHAT?!?! I have the element OFF! Pull the tube up out of the wort and see I have ZERO flow..Sheesh, filter must be plugged up..Grab the plastic paddle, try to scrap at the filter assembly..No good..Gads..Unhook, unscrew check valve, and see it it is plugged at the spring with grain...Ok, remove spring and ball, re-assemble, turn on pump and still no flow..Now temp is back up to like 145! Needless to say the **** hit the fan..Okay time for plan 'B'...Unplug everything get out my kettle..Drain wort from GF into kettle through my big strainer..OMG! There is a TON of grain in there..Sheesh..To shorten this novel, when I emptied out the grain basket, I found that the damn silicon gasket had some how slipped off at about a 3" section allowing all that grain freedom into the wort- also didn't help that at the very beginning of the mash I let a bit of grain into the wort as well..Had to put the wort in my kettle, then into a ice bath in the sink and then finally into the fermenter which went into the fridge for like 2 hours to get the wort to pitching temperature...Whew!..

Brew is currently in the closet and I am doing my best of RDWHAHB..Hopefully I will see airlock activity in the morning..

Firstly, sorry to hear about the mishap. I removed the spring and ball long ago and never put it back.

Where you recirculating you wort back into the GF when chilling?

 

[elreplica]

with the micro pipework, I can get the top overflow pipe and top plate in the grain basket down closer to the grainbed when my grain bill is small, unlike with the normal pipework, which doesnt allow you to get everything down far enough. I have found avoiding a buildup of wort on top of the grain bed to be a key factor for me avoiding a stuck sparge, which is what happpens when using the normal pipework. I have brewed a couple beers now with the GF using small grain bills; Belgian Wit 8lbs, peach cream ale 8.5 lbs, alt beer 9.75 lbs, as well as a couple of session IPA's that range between 7.5 and 8.25. All of these had problems with stuck sparge, excpet the cream, which was the only that I brewed with the micro pipework. Anyway, I am just reporting my experience, hopefully its helpful. If you are knot brewing with small grain bills often, than it probably is kot necissary, as long as you make sure to use the small grain bill calculator.However, I brew a lot of "session" or lowish ABV beers, as I tend to host the occasional "kegger" when I run out of empty kegs and need room in my keezer.

Thanks for the feedback. I haven't had any stuck sparge issues yet but certainly will take your "exbeerience" into consideration.

 

[gotbeer74]

Well, I did my very first brew with my Grainfather today..Things went rather well for the most part then all went to hell quickly at the end of the boil...I did Piney The Welder kit, clone of a beer from some west coast brewery that sounds very similar to it..



I did do one thing differently this brew, and won't do this again in the future..I had this really brilliant idea(not in hindsight) that I would put my grains in the basket and then rest the basket above the water as it warmed to mash in temperature, on the belief that doing this would warm the basket and grain and the water temperature wouldn't drop drastically when added..Well, that was true, what I didn't take into account for was that the only holes were on the bottom so the basket wanted to float until I pushed it down..Not good..Pushed the center rod 'thingy' down into the grains- damn, fish out of hot water so all those grains don't get into the mash- some did..Dang..Go on with mash..Unit kept the temperature pretty rock solid right at 152..Good..Okay, mash out, bump up to 170 for 10 and then lift basket and start sparge..Goes pretty good..Get done with sparge and now time for boil..I switched unit to boil mode while I was sparging so water was up to like 190 when I was done with the sparge..



Boil went well..As you can see in picture 1 I was able to achieve a pretty vigorous rolling boil- inside an air conditioned house at almost sea level..Cover on control panel prevents the numbers from being seen but the temp was at 213 when this pic was taken..Boil went splendid, never a threat of a boil over- which made me happy! The trouble began once I hooked up the CFC and began cooling the wort..As you can see in picture 2 I have brought the temp down to 119, and in pretty quick time..I DID get it down(according to the readout) to like 98 when things went haywire..Temp started going back up! WHAT?!?! I have the element OFF! Pull the tube up out of the wort and see I have ZERO flow..Sheesh, filter must be plugged up..Grab the plastic paddle, try to scrap at the filter assembly..No good..Gads..Unhook, unscrew check valve, and see it it is plugged at the spring with grain...Ok, remove spring and ball, re-assemble, turn on pump and still no flow..Now temp is back up to like 145! Needless to say the **** hit the fan..Okay time for plan 'B'...Unplug everything get out my kettle..Drain wort from GF into kettle through my big strainer..OMG! There is a TON of grain in there..Sheesh..To shorten this novel, when I emptied out the grain basket, I found that the damn silicon gasket had some how slipped off at about a 3" section allowing all that grain freedom into the wort- also didn't help that at the very beginning of the mash I let a bit of grain into the wort as well..Had to put the wort in my kettle, then into a ice bath in the sink and then finally into the fermenter which went into the fridge for like 2 hours to get the wort to pitching temperature...Whew!..



Brew is currently in the closet and I am doing my best of RDWHAHB..Hopefully I will see airlock activity in the morning..

I put the basket in right after I add the water. This way the only thing affecting temp is the grains.

 

[AkBrew907]

You can always add the mash water at a couple degrees higher than what you plan to mash at. The grains will help bring it down a little and then when you recirc your wort it will come down a hair also. Then if if falls below your mash temp the heater will bring it back up and maintain temps. This should reduce the temp swings.

I only have one brew under my belt on the GF but I set my temp at 152, added grains, stirred the crap out of it and it was back to 152 in 5 or less minutes and held for the full 60 minute mash.

 

[TexasWine]

it was back to 152 in 5 or less minutes and held for the full 60 minute mash.

Just curious, did your actually measure the temperature of the grain bed or were you going off the controller temp reading? I have a hunch that if you weren't independently measuring the grain bed temp your mash temps didn't recover as quickly as you might have thought.

 

[AkBrew907]

Just curious, did your actually measure the temperature of the grain bed or were you going off the controller temp reading? I have a hunch that if you weren't independently measuring the grain bed temp your mash temps didn't recover as quickly as you might have thought.

Was what the controller was displaying.

 

[TexasWine]

Was what the controller was displaying.

If you have a spare thermometer laying around that you trust, next time try measuring the grain bed temp directly. Might be an eye opener!

I know there are GF owners who participate in this thread that have started mashing in at "typical" strike temps because the grain bed temps lag far behind the temp reading of the controller if you dough in at mash temp, effectively reducing the true temp at which you think you're mashing.

 

[AkBrew907]

If you have a spare thermometer laying around that you trust, next time try measuring the grain bed temp directly. Might be an eye opener!

I know there are GF owners who participate in this thread that have started mashing in at "typical" strike temps because the grain bed temps lag far behind the temp reading of the controller if you dough in at mash temp, effectively reducing the true temp at which you think you're mashing.

Good idea. I have a nice digital thermometer. Will give it a check next brew

 

[MeanLowerLow]

If you have a spare thermometer laying around that you trust, next time try measuring the grain bed temp directly. Might be an eye opener!

I know there are GF owners who participate in this thread that have started mashing in at "typical" strike temps because the grain bed temps lag far behind the temp reading of the controller if you dough in at mash temp, effectively reducing the true temp at which you think you're mashing.

I've started mashing in at the strike temp BeerSmith tells me after reading the discussions earlier in this thread... I believe it has helped my efficiency.

 

[Pantherjon]

Firstly, sorry to hear about the mishap. I removed the spring and ball long ago and never put it back.

Where you recirculating you wort back into the GF when chilling?

Yeah..Probably another misguided 'brilliant idea' I had to get the wort temp down to pitching temperature by going thru the CFC and then back into the GF..I just didn't see it getting down to pitching temperature with 1 pass thru..Guess it IS possible tho...

 

[Pantherjon]

I put the basket in right after I add the water. This way the only thing affecting temp is the grains.

Am going to do it that way on my next brew...

 

[Pantherjon]

Good idea. I have a nice digital thermometer. Will give it a check next brew

Funny...I don't have a digital thermometer, but I had set my mash temp to 154, then when I added the basket with grains it dropped(according to the controller) to 151..I stirred the grain(after recovering the center post ) and checked with my dial thermometer..It read 150...I also went into the controller setting prior to my brew and set my 'hysterisis'(however it is spelled) to 1 so I ended up with very little temp fluctuation..A couple times I checked the grain bed against the controller and every time was within 2 degrees..

 

[Pantherjon]

Oh, one more thing...I checked before heading to work this morning and there was airlock activity! And still going when I got home tonight! So, I guess 1st 'dry hopping' will go as planned tomorrow then!

Hops are going in muslin bag..learned my lesson the 1st time I dry hopped on a whim..No floaters in THIS beer!

 

[AkBrew907]

Yeah..Probably another misguided 'brilliant idea' I had to get the wort temp down to pitching temperature by going thru the CFC and then back into the GF..I just didn't see it getting down to pitching temperature with 1 pass thru..Guess it IS possible tho...

Depends on tour tap water temp. That's the one beauty of Alaska water is its damn near a hair above freezing when coming out of ground. I go from boiling to in the 50's in a single pass if I don't throttle back the incoming water.

Funny...I don't have a digital thermometer, but I had set my mash temp to 154, then when I added the basket with grains it dropped(according to the controller) to 151..I stirred the grain(after recovering the center post ) and checked with my dial thermometer..It read 150...I also went into the controller setting prior to my brew and set my 'hysterisis'(however it is spelled) to 1 so I ended up with very little temp fluctuation..A couple times I checked the grain bed against the controller and every time was within 2 degrees..

Hmm I remember reading about that, will have to adjust that. It just controls the swing allowed before heating or cooling right?

 

[Pantherjon]

Correct..By putting it to 1 means 1 degree + or - of the set temp..I was attempting to find the link to the youtube vid I watched that showed how to do it..
Going from cryptic notes I took to set mine up :

Hold down both the up and down arrows at the same time until it says FAC1, then use the up arrow to set 231(password), then press set..Use up arrow to go to F04, up arrow to 221 - this sets the highest allowed 'SET' temperature, then press 'SET'..Up arrow to F05, down arrow to 1 then press 'SET' - temp variance..Then UP arrow to F08 and put to 'HOT', press set...Then let it sit and reset- you will know when it does as it will flash 3 dashes '---' on the display..And you're set up..

 

[elreplica]

Correct..By putting it to 1 means 1 degree + or - of the set temp..I was attempting to find the link to the youtube vid I watched that showed how to do it..
Going from cryptic notes I took to set mine up :

Hold down both the up and down arrows at the same time until it says FAC1, then use the up arrow to set 231(password), then press set..Use up arrow to go to F04, up arrow to 221 - this sets the highest allowed 'SET' temperature, then press 'SET'..Up arrow to F05, down arrow to 1 then press 'SET' - temp variance..Then UP arrow to F08 and put to 'HOT', press set...Then let it sit and reset- you will know when it does as it will flash 3 dashes '---' on the display..And you're set up..

I believe this is the link you're referring to:

http://youtu.be/NTIxjCD07vU

[/http://youtu.be/NTIxjCD07vU