DarkUncle
Well-Known Member
I ordered directly off the Grainfather website last week. It arrived in 4 days time. I didn't know there was a shortage. Though I just had a look and it isn't listed anymore. Wow! Guess I got lucky. Who knew?
So has anyone used the new controller yet? I received mine on Tuesday and will be having the maiden run with this on Saturday.
I just imported my recipe out of Beersmith and was wondering if anyone knew if the Grainfather connect app automatically adjusts the amount of water used for mash in and sparge? When I look at the brew steps in the app the water volume used is definitely different from what is in Beersmith even with the Grainfather equipment profile.
Cheers
I still think liquid will always pick the path of least resistances.
WRONG
think of it like this.
(if you add hot water to cold the body of water will stabilise at 1 temperature.)
the overflow is merely a shortcut for mixing and keeping temps relatively stable throughout the mash.
Not a GF owner, but I wouldn't want any overflow because of how the temp is measured. The overflow is a short circuit of the intended path, through the grain bed. If you're overflowing, then the temp you measure will in theory be warmer than the grain bed temp. How much warmer, I don't know, but I'd want the peace of mind knowing it was at least close to what the probe was reading.
Hi. I agree with your statement above, however, what you aren't saying is, if there's no (or very little) flow through the bed, you won't know that if all the wort is going down the tube. By controlling (or at least monitoring) the rate of overflow vs wort flowing through the bed, you'll have an inkling something is wrong. Bottom line, if there's not a good flow through the grain bed, you have nothing more than a very expensive BIAB kettle. EdRestated: the bed flows the same regardless of whether the overflow rate is low or high.
I used to do the slow method and tested with 2 extra probes. With the slow method the water on top really cools down, so that cool water is going into the bed. Going full speed the water on top is constantly being heated so the water on top and bottom will be the same.
Let me try to make sense of this. If all the water is going through the grain bed, and said water is cooler than the set temp on the controller, this cool water will make its way through the grain bed and show up in the bottom of the kettle where the temp probe is. The temp probe would measure the cooler temperature and provide the feedback that would tell the controller to turn the element on. But the crux is that temp will never be higher than the set point in the controller :/
It is an interesting problem, what with the water being recirculated to the top of the grain bed can never be warmer than the set temp on the controller because of the location of the probe. The water on top is bound to cool below the set point whether one is overflowing or not.
Would it make a difference, and has anyone tried, setting their temp a few degrees warmer than desired mash temp then measured the bed temp. Seems that with this set up one would need a degree or so of "superheat" , if you will, to hit the desired bed temp. Feels very similar to a HERMS set up.
So, considering all this, maybe you're on to something. If you make sure the temp on top and bottom is as close to the same temp as possible, that would hopefully keep the temps in the middle as close to the set temp as possible, assuming the gain bed is flowing at a reasonable rate. I like your idea if turning off your pump every so often to make sure the grain bed is flowing. That seems to be the best of both worlds.
I also have to remind myself that this is a simple analog controller with a pretty wide band on hysteresis. You just won't be able to hold temps to within 1/10 of a degree, so maybe this whole conversation is more academic in nature than practical.
Only true way to know is just calculate your efficiency. I'm hovering in the low 80's with dialing the valve back some to just allowing a little bit to go down the pipe. I also do 90 minute mashes though too. Not changing a thing.
TexasWine: if you look at the chart in the Blichman doc I previously linked, you can see that they set their controller up UNDER damped so that the return liquid temp overshoots the setpoint a bit. The bed temp naturally lags the liquid temp, but because the liquid temp overshoots, the bed temp actually achieves the desired setpoint fairly well.
What this means for the GF I don't know... except that if the GF controller doesn't overshoot, the GF bed is going to take a long time to get up to temp.
And i just let mine go full bore with 80-85 efficiency and going to keep it that way. Like I said ... it's a Coke vs Pepsi preference thing.
Seems like there's no wrong way, at least to me.
I brewed a hop bomb on mine last night. I decided to try something different since my pump always clogs on hoppy beers. I decided to use an all stainless 50' immersion chiller instead of the grainfather chiller. It actually worked way better. I found one online that is the perfect fit for the grainfather. I hand calculated all of my mash and sparge water measurements and for the first time, I hit all my numbers finally. I also did my grain crush differently this time at 0.45 on the barley crusher.
So I did have two problems. My grain bill was 13.5lbs and 1.5lbs of that was flaked oats. I had to stop the mash twice just to re stir and add rice hulls because the water wasn't flowing through the grainbed very well. The during the whirlpool at 160, the black cap fell off on my filter and completely clogged the pump. I had to empty the whole damn batch by hand which was very annoying. I have read about other people having problems with this as well. I sure wish they'd redesign their filter. We will see how it came out, but keeping my fingers crossed.
I just use a " No fly zone" when I stir. Nothing too low and only in the half way from the filter. One filter knock off cured me.
I use a Barley Crusher at.039, but condition the grains with 2% grain weight, in ounces, with water. Get the finer crush and non splintered husks. Adds a little upfront time but works for me. Once I hit 10 pounds and above I do throw in some rice hulls, though.
Yeah I don't know how mine came off but I really think they need to redesign it. What if it's completely blocked with hops and you want to scrape them off with your paddle to get the flow going again? You can't with this because you will more than likely knock the cap off. I'm wondering why that cap is even on there to begin with but I'm guessing it has something to do with cleaning.
What they should do is take the current design, put some threads on the outside, and have a stainless cap that just screws on. That way you can still take it off to clean but that sucker won't come off. I may buy an extra and experiment when I get some time.
why i just got a hopspider.
I have a hop spider, a few different ones actually, and you just don't get the hoo utilization you get vs the hops interacting and stiring around in the boil the whole time. The same goes with hops in the fermenter. I have done that about every which way as well. In all of the batches I have done, there is a big difference on flavor and aroma.
I have a hop spider, a few different ones actually, and you just don't get the hoo utilization you get vs the hops interacting and stiring around in the boil the whole time. The same goes with hops in the fermenter. I have done that about every which way as well. In all of the batches I have done, there is a big difference on flavor and aroma.
I completely agree that it doesn't add up, I must be missing something somewhere. I asked about cleaning, and he cleans it thoroughly after every batch. Correct that the result is consistent, extremely long without rice hulls, way too fast with a small amount of rice hulls.
I need to actually watch him brew again, there must be something that he's doing that he's not thinking to mention or isn't aware of.
What happens in a Grainfather if you drain the first runnings from the basket completely before adding sparge water? Just a thought I had. If the grain bed is compacting before he adds the sparge water it, it might cause a slow sparge?
Cheers mate! I figured I'd post today while brewing on this topic too.Ha. With all this talk of overflow or slow/no overflow .... Brewing a Bitter right now with only 8.5# of 2% water conditioned grains; .039" Barley Crusher setting. The flow through the grain bed is such that nothing going down the overflow tube. All being filtered through the bed. Not expecting a stuck/slow sparge this time
I have a hop spider, a few different ones actually, and you just don't get the hoo utilization you get vs the hops interacting and stiring around in the boil the whole time. The same goes with hops in the fermenter. I have done that about every which way as well. In all of the batches I have done, there is a big difference on flavor and aroma.
Mine hasn't been the same experience as yours. There are so many other variables that can change the taste and profile of your beer other than the use of a hop spider or dry hopper, I don't see how you can make that claim with such certainty. Can there be very slight differences in hop utilizations between various methods , sure, just as there can be variations in hop utilizations between batches done the same way at different times. If I need to bump up a hop addition slightly to get to a desired taste or profile when using a spider, hops are cheap, relatively. Just my .02.
The GF instructions recommend draining off 1st runnings and then sparge. For one you need to get the top plate down first. I usually let it drain well but have started maybe
a bit earlier a few times, both results were fine. Pushing the top plate down on grain bed is just until the plate shows liquid. Not tight.
Go watch him and report back, we want to hear the end of this story!
Just finished brewing with the Connect. Awesome piece of hardware and well worth every penny.
My previous comment about the mounting mechanism was a moot point. I only physically touched the connect box twice (to turn the pump on/off during a whirlpool/hopstand)
I exported my recipe from beersmith into a beerxml file, opened said xml file on my phone and hit "sent to Grainfather connect". Once in the connect app I just loaded the recipe and the Grainfather went through the steps flawlessly. The connect manages the mash temp with ease and super accurately. You can see on the connects screen what power it's putting to the element(s) to keep the mash temp spot on.
My connect box arrived a few days ago and Saturday I mounted it and plugged it in. No response. It seems to be dead on arrival. I've checked and rechecked all the plugs, but the screen never lights up. There does not appear to be a reset button or anything like that. I've sent email to Imake and hope to get a response soon, but I was wondering if anyone else has encountered the same problem. Is [email protected] the correct email address to use?
Introducing the 35L RoboBrew
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntxy0ach9JU
It is the unit on the right.
It has a couple nice features
- a full bottom screen to keep stuff out of the pump
- 1900 and 600 watt elements, can both be run at once
- larger capacity ? Main kettle is 9.24 gallons.
- side handles
- handles on the glass lid
- side tap with ball valve
Cons
- it comes with an immersion chiller rather than a counterflow chiller.
- the controller probably isn't as nice, especially compared to the Connect unit.
It looks like it uses 240VAC.
Edit: my local online HBS tells me it will be at least 6 months before they have one for sale. And they are a big Keg King dealer.
Edit: my local online HBS tells me it will be at least 6 months before they have one for sale. And they are a big Keg King dealer.
Very nice (and interesting.) Obviously, they liberally "borrowed" some of the better features of the GF, and incorporated a few new ones of their own. I wonder what their price point in the US with 110VAC system will be? EdHas some stuff I like some stuff I dont. I can always add another screen to my bottom mesh plate if I dont like how its filtering.
Very nice (and interesting.) Obviously, they liberally "borrowed" some of the better features of the GF, and incorporated a few new ones of their own. I wonder what their price point in the US with 110VAC system will be? Ed
Hi. While we're talking about comparisons, here's one on the GF vs the new Robobrew. EdI've continued to be curious about the Mash & Boil. Well there have been 4 reviews on WillamsBrewing, all 5 stars.
Folks considering a purchase should look at this one as well ($299). Not a like comparison to a GF, but might be something to consider...
https://www.williamsbrewing.com/BREWERS-EDGE-MASH-BOIL--P4216.aspx
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