Hi Tex. My guess is something else. If I recall, you have the SS Brew bucket? Or the Chronical? I have the latter and as such it has tri clamp valves that I finally recently took apart- amazed at what is trapped in there! Not sure if the brew bucket is the same, but regardless you do have to transfer the beer, so I'd focus there too- valves, hoses. Or the keg?? Good luck, hope it all works out for you.
Grainfather!!
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In addition to what others have said about the crush quality, I've found preconditioning really makes a big difference if you start to crush your own. So you know, I use a Schmidling Malt Mill with factory default crush at ~.045, and you can see the results I got above. I hope this helps, even if just a little. Ed
I may be picking up a Monster mill from someone that wants to offload an old unit. If so that will let me both condition and mill my own grains, a double win as I can eliminate a major possible cause for low efficiency.
The local brewery that uses the same water as I do (city water) said that our city water is pretty close to great, just a little high on the chlorine which some boiling would take care of and possibly slightly high on PH but in a dark beer it self-corrects... would just need a small adjustment for a light beer to make it perfect.
So I'll be looking at these two changes for my future brews (unfortunately I already have crushed grains for my next brew, I'll just focus on a much longer mash to make up for the milling hopefully). Will pick up some stuff to adjust the PH though right away.
If you're not terribly far from the HB store bring your grains back in and ask for a 2nd crush.
Was an online order. But I may have my own grain mill by the time I brew it in a week or two, in which case it will be a non issue hopefully
I also have PH test strips and gypsum and phosphoric acid coming my way. So I'll be able to get my PH correct at the very least in this next batch.
Was an online order. But I may have my own grain mill by the time I brew it in a week or two, in which case it will be a non issue hopefully
I also have PH test strips and gypsum and phosphoric acid coming my way. So I'll be able to get my PH correct at the very least in this next batch.
Ahh, didn't think of the online store approach, I'm lucky to have my LHBS just 10 min away.
I'm wary of the strips. Not to mention that getting the sparge water pH correct is quite important too. If you can get your water company to provide a good water report, get it, otherwise send away for one. Then use Brun'n Water. Read, read and read some more on what he says there. It will come together for you and then you will really be able to fine tune your water. Happy Brewing!
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I don't know if this will help, but I had the same problem (except for my first couple batches which efficiency was way high as I was stoked about following their directions precisely--cool new equipment)...
1. DON'T use beersmith for water levels (but DO use it for recipe formulation starting with 75% brewhouse efficiency). Use the water levels that the grainfather directions dictate. Also, remember that they calculate their recipes for 6 gallon batches; so, if you're calculating for 5 gallon recipes, they will come out watery. They have 2 different calculations; the primary way they calculate it is for 7.4 gallons of total mash and sparge water...this is for a 6 gallon batch of beer (a New Zealand thing?? not sure...) they include in parentheses that if you want to make 5 gallon batches of beer, the total water calculation is 6.4. If needed, I can give you a link to their original "USA" pdf file with their instructions...
2. Remember (and this was hard for me to agree with) that after mashing, they want you to lift the grain basket and completely drain the mash water, then--extremely important BTW--push down the top perforated plate until it rests against the top of the grain bed, and then start your sparge water.
3. I finally got a stupid pH meter and found out my tap water reading was 7.4. I use things to bring it down to 5.2-5.6 range for better mashing. Also, as my brew guru reminded, read the temp of your grain bag to adjust beginning mash temp, then lower it to whatever temp you want to mash at. Because of temp adjustments I add around 8-10 minutes of mash time.
Again, I'm not sure if you follow their directions specifically, but they work for that system (well, they designed it). Case in point: I was pissed about my low gravity numbers so I went to my brew guru. We took my grainfather and his blonde ale recipe and brewed it at his brewhouse--total of 9 lbs of grain for a 5 gallon batch (recipe designed on beersmith with the grainfather equipment addon)...used beersmith water calculations, where beersmith estimated an OG of 1.046 and we got 1.038 (crap!!). We also sparged using his "learned" sparging practices that are much more traditional.
Then, we re-brewed the same recipe with the grainfather instruction's 5 gallon batch water calculations, also followed their sparging instructions, and with the same amount of grain our OG was 1.050!! Both grain bills were milled at the same brewstore.
This is why I really think you're wasting time with worrying about the crush. It's more about following grainfather's water calculations and sparging instructions. Again, maybe I'm wasting your time with this post but truly, I was having the same problem until I realized these things.
Maybe this will help? I really hope so :rockin:
doogster
Well-Known Member
My Grainfather is no cross-dresser... He's sportin' his brand new "Tuxedo"! Looking forward to any improvement in heating times and mash temp stabilization.
Great post for new GF users having issues, these points are indeed critical to working with your GF. The batch size it's set for and the sparge directions seem to be the two tripping points for new users. I also use the higher strike temp as in the cooler mash tun days to hit my mash target, works like a charm.
Wait, you're saying that you are supposed to let the entire grain bed drain, then add sparge water? I can swear they specifically said not to do that in their video? They show the guy adding water constantly to keep it just over the perforated plate...
And I use the online sparge and mash water Calc from grainfather that lets you input your batch size. So I'd assume the water numbers are right?
elreplica
Well-Known Member
It is a nice tight fit.It also will prevent minor dings and scratches. I wish it was a little more adjustable in the girth department, as I definitely couldn't double wrap it over my Reflectix coat.
treacheroustexan
Well-Known Member
First brew with the reflectix is working very well. My boil is so much more vigorous.
d-bone
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I just wait until it drains just enough so that I can push the top plate against the grain bed lightly, and then add just enough sparge water to maintain about 1 inch above the top plate. works just about every time.
doogster
Well-Known Member
What he said. This is exactly how I do it.
treacheroustexan
Well-Known Member
Yep, same here.
Just like above responses drain until you can get top plate down to a completely compressed grain bed, then keep constant level ala the video you referenced is how I handle with good results.
As for water calcs I use the GF manual calcs slightly adjusted based on my performance. I have it in a spreadsheet that links mash and sparge totals to my Bru'n Water inputs. My brother has a GF too and he adds about a qt more than I do for his system.
lewandowski46
Well-Known Member
Made a Chinook/Amarillo IPA today, 4.25oz total hops, tossed em into the boil and recirculated through chiller then into fermenter without issue. Took about 20 minutes to cool and transfer.
There is a 1 gallon-or-so volume discrepancy between the pdf file and the online calculator (calculator is higher). I've been using the written instructions since those levels seem to be working better for me. I watched the video, too. For me, letting it drain first is giving me better results. Of course, since it has only been one week, I haven't tasted the difference yet between my beersmith oriented batch versus my grainfather instruction batch...will know more when they're completed & ready to drink.
I have been in communication with Grainfather support about the issue as well and an interesting question was raised about the draining of wort into the overflow pipe. I was asked if a little drained into it but most of the water flowed back down through the grains.... or if a ton of overflow went down the pipe. If a lot was going down the overflow it could suggest the grain bed was a bit stuck and not getting the benefits of the circulation and I gather also not changing temperature properly.
I've always had a very large amount of overflow going through the tube. Is this very uncommon for those of you with good efficiencies?
I've always had a very large amount of overflow going through the tube. Is this very uncommon for those of you with good efficiencies?
BrewMeister49
Well-Known Member
Not much goes through the pipe. I'd say your crush is too thin or your getting a lot of dough balls.
lewandowski46
Well-Known Member
I use the Grainfather app for water calculations. Build recipes in Beersmith. Plug the BS recipes into GF app, then use the calculations the GF app gives me for strike water and sparge water. Yesterday's IPA I had 5.6 gallons of strike water (for 13.5lbs of grain), then sparged with 2.6 gallons. I ended up with about 6.4 gallons into the kettle for the boil, just under 6gal after a 60 min boil, and about 5.5 gallons into the fermenter. I use the batch size of 5.5 gallons when plugging my numbers into the GF app. I would say it's been pretty accurate.
According to Beersmith my last couple brews were in the 85-88% range for mash efficiency. I'll need to adjust Beersmith's default mash efficiency up to 85% from 75% as I'm consistently overshooting the OG. The IPA was estimated at 1.072 but actual measured OG was 1.080.
The Grainfather has been very consistent for me so far. Loving it.
According to Beersmith my last couple brews were in the 85-88% range for mash efficiency. I'll need to adjust Beersmith's default mash efficiency up to 85% from 75% as I'm consistently overshooting the OG. The IPA was estimated at 1.072 but actual measured OG was 1.080.
The Grainfather has been very consistent for me so far. Loving it.
It sounds like the crush from my LHBS and the online shop have both been too fine then. And it's causing stuck mashes that are hurting efficiency. Likely due to lack of proper heating of the grains when stepping up and perhaps also due to inefficiency sparges.
Perhaps that's why my efficiency seems to be getting worse, I've been increasingly doing step mashes due to high wheat/oat percentages and german pils amounts. But way back my single step mash had the best (still not perfect) efficiency.
Until I am crushing myself, I plan to stir at each step in the mash (at least up to the 150's), probably not for mash out.
I will also stir a lot more when pouring the grains in to really make sure there isn't any clumping.
Perhaps that's why my efficiency seems to be getting worse, I've been increasingly doing step mashes due to high wheat/oat percentages and german pils amounts. But way back my single step mash had the best (still not perfect) efficiency.
Until I am crushing myself, I plan to stir at each step in the mash (at least up to the 150's), probably not for mash out.
I will also stir a lot more when pouring the grains in to really make sure there isn't any clumping.
BrewMeister49
Well-Known Member
If you can, post a pic of your crush.
Yes. Watching the GF vid, they talk about overflow in the beginnings alright and it we'll settle down, thus you don't want much. I dial back the flow so none overflows the whole time. I Keep an eye on it and try to max flow, with zero overflow
I do it pretty much the same way as Kampenken, primarily so I know the wort is flowing through the grain. If you have it wide open and the wort is going straight down the overflow, you don't know how much is going through the grain bed. By adjusting the flow so that it just "kisses" the lip of the overflow collar and occasionally spills over, then you have a good idea of the efficiency of the recirculation. Like he said, if you keep an eye on it, you can maximize the flow, or know to stir your grain bed if it's needed.
I don't have a local homebrew shop and usually have my grains crushed from NB or More Beer. My efficiency is usually around 75%.
I slow the flow so the wort doesn't go down the overflow pipe. My philosophy is that the hottest of the wort will go down the tube instead of through the grains if the valve is wide open. I'm sure the difference is negligible.
I'm happy with all the batches I've brewed on the grainfather. I do have one small problem with the 10 batches I've done. All my kegs are full, all my bottles are full and all fermentors are full. I need to drink some beer!
I slow the flow so the wort doesn't go down the overflow pipe. My philosophy is that the hottest of the wort will go down the tube instead of through the grains if the valve is wide open. I'm sure the difference is negligible.
I'm happy with all the batches I've brewed on the grainfather. I do have one small problem with the 10 batches I've done. All my kegs are full, all my bottles are full and all fermentors are full. I need to drink some beer!
I do it pretty much the same way as Kampenken, primarily so I know the wort is flowing through the grain. If you have it wide open and the wort is going straight down the overflow, you don't know how much is going through the grain bed. By adjusting the flow so that it just "kisses" the lip of the overflow collar and occasionally spills over, then you have a good idea of the efficiency of the recirculation. Like he said, if you keep an eye on it, you can maximize the flow, or know to stir your grain bed if it's needed.
I didn't even think to dial back the flow to see how the draining is going. Will do that next time as well
Here are pics of my grain crush:
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I didn't even think to dial back the flow to see how the draining is going. Will do that next time as well
Here are pics of my grain crush:
Shadar, that looks very similar to mine, except I condition my grain before milling. I recommend you check out this Wiki. It will give you a good overview of crush, and it's impact. I tend to disagree with the statement made that conditioned grain through the JSP Malt Mill will produce the same brew house efficiency as non-conditioned, especially with the Grainfather. My efficiency is significantly better when conditioned. Ed
