Grainfather!!

[eimar]

Dum, dum, dum,
Another one bites the dust!

Plugging the recipe into the laptop this morning and smelled burning. Turned around to a smoking controller. The worst part is I was making a kettle sour View attachment 624340

 

[eimar]

As a new grainfather 110 volts unit owner ( 4 brews so far ) and a retired electronic technician I worry about the electrical problems of the controller unit. Is the manufacturer aware of that ? Before turning my grainfather on I double check that the 3 plugs are firmly inserted in the controllers sockets. At least that should rule out a bad contact.

 

[eimar]

singybrue , did it happen during the mashing step or the boiling step ?

 

[singybrue]

singybrue , did it happen during the mashing step or the boiling step ?

I was heating water pre-mash. It was probably only around 130-140

 

[eimar]

Right now I'm at 8000 kilometers of my grainfather , but I guess that during the pre-mash step the heating element is working at 100% of its maximum power. While during the mashing step(s) it is powered just enough to maintain the mash temperature constant.

 

[shortyz]

there is nothing wrong with the controlller. its the garbage receptacle they used on the box. open that bugger up, put a decent plug end on and your set. this crappy connection will hurt your boil times, i switched mine over to decent stuff and my boil times are great.

also, i have like 200+ brews on my controller... after a new plug shes plugging along fine.

if u want to see what i did go back a few pages.

 

[eimar]

shortyz, I found your reply on page 101 of this thread. Thank you for the pictures. Are the plug and receptacle of the heating element under rated ? Are the crimped connectors the culprits ? ( you suggested to solder them ) . Are the 110V units UL certified ?.

 

[hedgie57]

Went to brew this past Monday,after 20 min. Checked and water had not started heating.Reset switch was very loose and plug from heating unit would not unplug. emailed my vendor and today ( Thursday ) just received a brand new grainfather in the mail!!!!. Very impressed. Only took 3 days

 

[Jag75]

Went to brew this past Monday,after 20 min. Checked and water had not started heating.Reset switch was very loose and plug from heating unit would not unplug. emailed my vendor and today ( Thursday ) just received a brand new grainfather in the mail!!!!. Very impressed. Only took 3 days

Did you have to send the old Gf ?

 

[hedgie57]

Nope. They told me to dispose of it in any way I see fit. Now I have some spare parts.Will play with it and see if I can fix it up.

 

[eimar]

I contacted Grainfather to inform them that 2 members of this forum had serious safety problems caused by the melted heating element receptacle on the controller unit. I made very clear that now I'm scared to use my GF.I'll keep you informed about the reply.

 

[ihavenonickname]

Jumping in... has anyone with the US version connect controller actually brewed 100+ brews on it?

After my second burnt out controller, I’m having doubts about the longevity of the US model.

 

[bondra76]

there is nothing wrong with the controlller. its the garbage receptacle they used on the box. open that bugger up, put a decent plug end on and your set. this crappy connection will hurt your boil times, i switched mine over to decent stuff and my boil times are great.

also, i have like 200+ brews on my controller... after a new plug shes plugging along fine.

if u want to see what i did go back a few pages.

Saw your post - excellent stuff. Have you thought about putting anything in to cover the hole where you pulled the receptacle?

Trying to contemplate if I should make this mod now or just wait until it craps out on me. I love everything about my GF but this sounds like the one hiccup to my forever happiness with a brew system.

 

[elgee]

I had issues with mine at the 3 year mark, only a few dozen brews on it. Morebeer was useless and told me to buy another unit, which is not very customer service oriented. I emailed grainfather, they have at least started to discuss with me the issues to see how to fix it. Hopefully something good comes of this, otherwise I have a $1,000 lemon.

 

[eimar]

Here is the reply I received from GF about the burned receptacles :
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Jacques,

Thanks for your email.

This is a known issue and we worked hard with our manufacturer to fix it for our North American customers. The issue was a faulty control box that caused fused plugs. We swapped out the faulty batch of control boxes, however, some customers who purchased the faulty batch we couldn't get to in time so we have been working with those customers to resolve the issue quickly.

I'm happy to to look at the PO on your control box to see if it's part of the faulty batch, though I'm pretty sure we have swapped the ones purchased last year but to put your mind at ease, I will check this for you


Nat - Customer Experience Advocate - Grainfather
Please note, after the UK Bank Holiday, response time may be longer than usual as we work through the queries from during office closure.

 

[elgee]

So what happened to those who got fused wires and faulty control boxes, did they get a replacement GF unit since the wires got fried?

 

[treacheroustexan]

So what happened to those who got fused wires and faulty control boxes, did they get a replacement GF unit since the wires got fried?

Yep. Brand new replacement and got to keep the old one as well.

 

[elgee]

Hopefully they offer me that, my guess is they will not once mine just hit the 3 year mark and probably out of warranty.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Hopefully they offer me that, my guess is they will not once mine just hit the 3 year mark and probably out of warranty.

They didn’t even ask me when or where I bought mine so I’d think you’d be fine.

 

[elgee]

So far they have asked a lot, such as pictures, serial number, how many brews.

 

[elgee]

Update on my experience with GF customer service. After their initial email for more information, I cannot get them to respond. Been over a week, hopefully they are just backed up and will get back to me soon.

 

[elgee]

Another update. GF said they would contact the US warehouse and ship me a new unit. It’s been 5 days since that email and no information on who is shipping it or when it will ship. I tried asking who it will ship from but again, lack of communication from GF. Anyone have experience with the US warehouse and how long it took to ship? I don’t even know if they actually shipped it?

 

[jaymosbeershack]

Another update. GF said they would contact the US warehouse and ship me a new unit. It’s been 5 days since that email and no information on who is shipping it or when it will ship. I tried asking who it will ship from but again, lack of communication from GF. Anyone have experience with the US warehouse and how long it took to ship? I don’t even know if they actually shipped it?

I didnt get any shipping info when they replaced mine. Just came home to a new unit on my porch one day. Took less than a week for mine.

 

[elgee]

Hope that’s the case with mine.

 

[hedgie57]

Packing slip in mine shipped by Brewcraft USA.Got it 3 days after I emailed
AIH where I bought it

 

[elgee]

I just logged into my Fedex account and see it shipped.

 

[treacheroustexan]

I’ve had my replacement gf for a year and this just happened ugh. Doesn’t heat up anymore.

 

[hedgie57]

I’ve had my replacement gf for a year and this just happened ugh. Doesn’t heat up anymore.

View attachment 629565

I would think it's under warranty, any word on them replacing it?

 

[treacheroustexan]

I would think it's under warranty, any word on them replacing it?

Haven’t heard anything back yet but I’m hopeful.

 

[Mark Solomon]

I just received a GF and plan to do my first brew on Saturday. Super excited and glad to move away from my converted keg/cooler setup.

I noticed that my unit appeared to be repackaged by the looks of the tape on the box. At first I was annoyed that the retailer sold me a unit as "new" that was really not, but it appears that imake opened the box and replaced the control unit. I don't know this for sure, but this is my guess because the plastic bag covering the unit was torn open just above the control unit. The remaining parts all appeared unopened.

Maybe imake replaced them?

 

[Jag75]

Congrats on your new Gf Mark . You will enjoy it . I really like mine . Use the Gf app to make recipes then just click the brew session and its automatic . Pretty awesome. The water calculator at the bottom of your recipe is spot on btw . Dont use the one in the back of the book

 

[alestateyall]

I just received a GF and plan to do my first brew on Saturday. Super excited and glad to move away from my converted keg/cooler setup.

I noticed that my unit appeared to be repackaged by the looks of the tape on the box. At first I was annoyed that the retailer sold me a unit as "new" that was really not, but it appears that imake opened the box and replaced the control unit. I don't know this for sure, but this is my guess because the plastic bag covering the unit was torn open just above the control unit. The remaining parts all appeared unopened.

Maybe imake replaced them?

I believe my GF was repacked by the home brew store. The malt pipe shipped in a separate box by itself except for a massive amount of packing peanuts. I speculated at the time they did this to reduce the likelihood of damage during shipping.

 

[skleice]

Not a fan of the GF Connect app update so far. While it does look updated, it is less intuitive and clunky. Maybe I just have to get used to it, but the old design was simpler and effective.

 

[bondra76]

Not a fan of the GF Connect app update so far. While it does look updated, it is less intuitive and clunky. Maybe I just have to get used to it, but the old design was simpler and effective.

Nobody is. Get brewfather - works best with this thing

 

[treacheroustexan]

Grainfather support is just ignoring me now. No response to emails and I have my 2nd broken unit. I love the grainfather but this isn’t worth it. The mash and boil looks more tempting by the minute after going through this.

 

[hedgie57]

My unit had the plug fused into the controller and would not heat up.I called my vendor (AIH) ,sent them a pic of serial number and had a new complete unit at my door in 3 days. If you didn't buy directly from Grainfather you may want to call your vendor. good luck, hope you get this resolved

 

[Pkrd]

I threw together a Hoegaarden recipe this afternoon so jumped on https://community.grainfather.com to upload, only to find a new layout, and then of course the updated app. Not a huge fan but the last update grew on me... seems my iPhone SE needs a bigger screen to see whats going on with the unit because the notifications take all the space, and it didn't seem to be updating in real time either.

I tried a new cooling technique tonight. I usually recirculate until it hits about 50°C then slow transfer to the fermenter. Today I transferred most of it to my old kettle at full flow and then dumped that back in to the GF, then transferred again to the fermenter. Worked really well (because on the first run the counterflow is always seeing hot wort so it's more efficient).

 

[treacheroustexan]

My unit had the plug fused into the controller and would not heat up.I called my vendor (AIH) ,sent them a pic of serial number and had a new complete unit at my door in 3 days. If you didn't buy directly from Grainfather you may want to call your vendor. good luck, hope you get this resolved

Just sent an email to MoreBeer to see if there is anything they can do to help me out!

 

[jlinz]

Grainfather support is just ignoring me now. No response to emails and I have my 2nd broken unit. I love the grainfather but this isn’t worth it. The mash and boil looks more tempting by the minute after going through this.

So irritating! My fear is that they really didn’t fix the controller and are just sort of dodging the whole issue.

 

[Jag75]

The new update is definitely different. It looks nice . I really dont understand how these plugs are being changed to fix the issue . I just plug mine in and hope it doesnt have any issues. You think they would have already addressed the issue.