Thanks for all of the quick replies, guys!
Ok, first things first, I recommend going in and changing your hysteresis to kick the element on within a 1 degree change from your set temp. There are several links to the video in this thread. Also, don't rely on the unit's digital readout to show the true temp of the wort coming out of the chiller. It is reading what still has to go through the chiller. If the hose from your chiller is cool to the touch, then your wort is cooled down enough. If you knock the filter off, then you will have bits of grain in your wort. I would not freak out about this too much. It hasn't affected my beers yet. The overflow pipe should be flush with the top grain screen preventing grains from flowing back into the wort. Also, if you miss your gravity, either the starch conversion didn't go well due to overly fluctuating mash temp or not having the mash sit long enough. Also, it could be because you had more finished product than you should have had due to a diluted wort. You will get the hang of using the GF over time. I recommend using a brew house efficiency calculator that can be found for free on the web and input all your grain bill to see how off target you really were. I have been off target from an original recipe's target by as much as 10 points but have an efficiency of 75 percent. Hope this helps some.
Thanks! First thing Ill do is change the hysteresis settings. For the next batch, Im going to do a 90 min mash and hopefully with changing the hysteresis, Ill have a higher efficiency. I put my numbers into Beersmith and it looks like I got 68% efficiency. I was hoping for something higher since this is usually where my efficiency was when I was using my old set up (mash tun, propane burner, etc). I noticed that my pre-boil volume was 7gal. In the end, I had 5.75-6gal going into my fermenter. Was aiming for 5.5gal. Is that the typical post-boil volume GF users are shooting for?
Whooly crap! Scratches on the inside? How'ed that happen?
When the grain basket is in, there is only an inch or so between the (metal) bottom of the basket and the thermostat probe, and the heating element(s). The temp will climb quickly, and even worse trip the breaker on the bottom. Always have the pump on when the basket is in, or disregard what the probe is sensing (with in reason) while it is not.
Here is what I know. The bottom switch= "Normal"; both elements on. "Mash"; only the smaller element on. (WTF is normal anyway?)
Top switch- who the freak knows? Read the instructions, or use common sense; Mash on bottom, Mash on top. When you want to heat things up- Normal on the bottom, Boil on top. I really don't know what happens when "Normal" is on the bottom and "0" on top .
Stop recirculating the wort back into the Grainfather! Seriously the chiller that is included will chill 200F wort down to the temp of the water coming out of your tap. I never had a problem pitching yeas that is too cold until now.
I don't. I brew inside now.
The scratches from the inside must be from the grain basket scratching the inside during shipping and what not. It isnt too bad, just looks ugly, but it should not affect the beer (I hope).
How in the world is your wort going into the fermenter at pitching temps? Do you close the ball valve so that it just trickles in? After recirculating for an hour, the digital readout was 100*F and the wort coming out was cool, but still warm to the touch. Maybe the flow was too much? Whats the flow of your water going in?
First, welcome to the family! Sounds like some learning pains but you will improve your process.
If you set mash to 148 and it ran up to 168 then either your setting was higher than you thought or the switch was on boil, not mash (doubtful it was the hysteresis setting since the swing was less during brew session). Next time watch closely. Better yet plan your brew, write down steps and keep GF instructions open to follow along. Trust me it will help until you're comfortable with the GF. Good recovery approach to get temp back up! I always strike now with higher temp like the old cooler mash tun days. Works like a charm. Take a Grain bed temp after you fully dough in, this is the temp that matters and after 5 min or less of recirc (only after you dough in) will the GF STC read similarly.
Swing during mash is still wide. Maybe hysteresis is set more open. First though I'd recommend that you do not let the wort overflow, dial it back and during the mash you should be able to increase flow slightly. No grains for me and this I suspect is where you got most of your grains. Ensure too your top plate is on top of grain bed both during mash and sparge.
During cool only the first 5-10 min does the wort go back to the boiler to sanitize and this is without cooling water turned on yet. Then you turn on cooling water (with your water temps create a pre-chiller an old IC works nicely) and once wort out house is cool go directly into fermenter. STC on mine reads 170-180 even at the end of transfer. Wort is cool and if not enough I put it in my ferm chamber to finish up. These summer tap temps are tougher than the 50s I get in the winter!
As for OG, did you get more volume? Did you leave much behind in boiler? Did you reduce sparge requirements due to added ice during mash? What was your recipe efficiency you planned to obtain? All these can help to understand your miss.
Good luck in your future brew and brew on! Cheers
I initially had my settings on NORMAL and BOIL to get to 148* and when it came close, I switched both elements to MASH. Next time I plan on doing the same, but switching to MASH on both when Im within 10* of my target.
As for the OG, I did have more volume
I guess I didnt account properly for the amount of ice I added. Is everyone generally using the formula for mash and sparge volumes that came in the GF booklet? I used ((Grain weight (lb) x 0.34) + 0.9) to get the MASH volume and ((7.4 mash volume) + (Grain bill (lbs) 0.1)) to get the SPARGE volume).
All good observations/answers, but probably the most important ... Have the instructions out and follow them step by step.
Even after multiple batches I use them as a crib sheet. It has saved me a couple times when I got cocky and thought I could remember it all and fortunately peeked at them. Had the heat switch set to double lines instead of single line. Double line bypasses your temp setting.
Before my first batch I watched the GF brewing instruction video multiple times. Lots of little nuggets in there.
Thanks! I did keep the booklet out and took notes during the brew. Hopefully the next batch will be better.
I did NOT realize that the double line heat switch bypass the temp setting. That is probably the reason the temp went up 160+ when I was heating up the mash water. Good to know!!
Again, thank you guys for the suggestions!
