My Grainfather Mash & Boil

[Island_Dan]

Hey all,
I have wanted to move to all electric brewing since I first started home brewing in October 2014 but money constraints has always kept me from making the jump. I always kept my eye on the grainfather and the unibrau systems. I was excited when the brewers edge mash and boil hit the market at the low price of $299 and pulled the trigger recently and purchased one. I knew of the limitations of the unit but I liked the double wall construction and it seems like a great starting platform to modify it to what I needed it to be.

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Shortly after my first brew, I knew instantly that I couldn't live with the 6 degree hysteresis programmed into the control unit. I liked the grainfather controller and the ability to enter the sub menu and adjust the hysteresis. The timing was also perfect as the new grainfather connect just launched and many members are upgrading so I was able to pick up an older controller for a reasonable price.

I ended up removing the factory controller and rewiring the power cord directly to the heating elements, routing the 600 watt element through the wattage selector switch so the 1000 watt element can be isolated for mashing only.

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One of the bigger issues I came across was with the temp sensor for the grainfather controller. It fits into a proprietary thermowell that the mash and boil doesn't have. The temp sensor in the mash and boil was measured and is a 100k ohm NTC sensor and the grainfather's sensor is a 10K ohm NTC sensor. I managed to order a 10K sensor probe that I used to replace the sensor in the mash and boil. I had to drill out the 6mm hole to 8mm and sealed it in place with silicone gaskets.

I also had to figure out how to mount the grainfather controller to the mash and boil and hanging it from the handle seemed like the easiest choice. I designed a plate that the grainfather controller could bolt to and 3D printed it.

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I also hated the 1/2 - 1 gallon kettle loss with this unit so I added a flush mount bulkhead fitting with a pickup tube. I had to cut the inside basket to help it fit. I'm also trying to directly mount my pump to the ball valve. Not sure how well that will work but I will see after the first brew day with the new setup.

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It's almost all done but I am still trying to decide how I want to recirculate the mash. I used a soft tube resting on the grain bed before but may build a hard tube that I can drop in through the lid but can be disconnected from the pump with quick disconnects and removed easily. Still debating that one. I may also buy a grainfather connect for this setup once money allows. I water tested the unit today and it does work as designed. Rises to set temp and holds it there with a 1 degree hysteresis.

Anyway I dragged on long enough. Here is what it looks like all assembled so far.

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All criticisms and welcomed and any helpful ideas would be great! Hopefully this will help anyone wondering how to get around some of the limitations of the brewers edge mash and boil.

 

[TexasWine]

Well done sir!

 

[redarmy990]

Love it. May have to try this myself

 

[BrunDog]

Pretty crafty mod!

 

[treacheroustexan]

Not going to lie, I came here to correct you and say that the Grainfather and Mash and Boil were two different things hahaha. I now leave speechless.. Looks awesome!

 

[Island_Dan]

Thanks for all the positive vibes! I just did a test run of the system before brew day on Sunday. Luckily no leaks!

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Heating up to mash temp took just 23 minutes. The pump seemed to work well and I built a mash recirculation "wand" using pex tubing and fittings with holes drilled in the tubing. It's all rated to 200 degrees so should handle mash temps easily. Not sure how well the "wand" will work with the mash... I'm hoping that having recirculation entering the mash at various levels will help prevent any grain bed compacting. Will report more on this on Sunday.

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[Riverevir]

Really cool setup! As someone who is monitoring the Mash and Boil as a possible buy, this is awesome to see and I'm anxious to hear about your brew day.

 

[redarmy990]

could i ask. Where did you buy the grainfather controller from. I have searched and just keep getting the new connect version.
thanks
Also looking forward to brew day updates/:rockin:

 

[Island_Dan]

could i ask. Where did you buy the grainfather controller from. I have searched and just keep getting the new connect version.
thanks
Also looking forward to brew day updates/:rockin:

I made a post in the wanted section of the forum and also posted my interest in the grainfather thread. My goal was to buy a used controller from someone who upgraded to the connect.

 

[redarmy990]

Hi Island Dan.
Just got me controller did you do a brew on the system yet.
Quick question, Did you remove the back off the grainfather controller to connect the new temp probe or did you just cut probe off the hort one and wire nut the wires together.

Thanks

 

[Island_Dan]

I did brew a nut brown ale on Sunday. The system worked great! Temps were stable throughout the mash, no stuck mash this time with the mash wand. I even had the recirculation on full volume. I hit my gravity numbers also for 75% efficiency.

Here are some stats from the brew day.
I started with 105 degree tap water.
It took 21 minutes to rise to my strike temp of 160 degrees.
Mashed at 154 degrees for 60 minutes. The heater cycled on every time the temp dropped to 152 and brought it back to 154 without any overshoot.
8 minutes and 18 seconds to mash out from 154 to 168.
It then took 22 minutes 50 seconds from 168 to full boil.
So everything was working great until the transfer. I used my immersion chiller to drop the temp to 70 degrees and then used the pump to transfer from the mash and boil to the fermenter. In my test run with water, I only had about .25 gallons of dead space after pumping out. I whirlpooled really good but by .75 gallons, the cone collapsed and trub clogged up the pump so I had about 2.25 gallons transferred into the fermenter when the transfer stopped. I never like adding trub to my fermenter so I dumped what was left in the kettle. I may try a trub damn next time but that will require more thought. I am happy with the system though. The upgrades worked great.

 

[Island_Dan]

Hi Island Dan.
Just got me controller did you do a brew on the system yet.
Quick question, Did you remove the back off the grainfather controller to connect the new temp probe or did you just cut probe off the hort one and wire nut the wires together.

Thanks

I did originally to measure the temp sensor resistance. I ended up cutting the sensor off wire and connecting it up to the new sensor with space connectors so I could take it apart.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PTUBH8A/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

This is the sensor I bought. It was 8mm and I had to drill out the hole for the old sensor. I used an 8mm nut and rubber washers on both sides of the kettle bottom to seal it. I mentioned before that the factory sensor was 100k ohms and the grainfather one was 10k. This new sensor is 10k ohms but was just far enough off that I couldn't change the sensor calibration enough in the grainfather controller to make it accurate. I added a 330 ohm resistor from an electronic store in series with the new temp sensor and that allowed me to calibrate it to accuracy.

I'll answer any questions and help with the wiring if needed so don't be afraid to ask.

 

[redarmy990]

hi island dan

If you could let me know how to wire in the resistor and maybe a step by step would be great
did you use a resistor with a splice box.

thanks

 

[BrunDog]

Your accuracy problem is likely not a linear resistance concern. It is the curve. Thermistor resistance/temperature curves are represented by third order equations, not linear equations. So while you may have made one point accurate, the rest of it is probably not. That said, it may not be far off, especially since 330 is a small impact to 10,000.

The 10k is the nominal resistance, likely at 25deg C. That would be where you would calibrate it. Then you would need to find out the A, B, and C coefficients or the beta coefficients of the two sensors and see if they are close.

 

[Weezy]

Great job.

I'm kinda agast that it's just heater rings mounted to the bottom tho.

 

[jlinz]

Looking back at this thread and wondering if the mods took you to the price point of the robobrew with the pump and chiller. This is super cool, but the point and value of the mash and boil might have been lost.

 

[JMS7465]

Hey Dan, quick question (or for anyone) I just picked up an old Grainfather that won't heat up. I bypassed some kind of sensor on the bottom of the unit mounted in the middle of the heating elements and this seemed to solve the problem. Question is, what is this thing and what does it do. I noticed from your pics that you removed it in your modifications. Trying to decide if I need to track down a replacement.

 

[scottibones]

Hey Dan, quick question (or for anyone) I just picked up an old Grainfather that won't heat up. I bypassed some kind on sensor on the bottom of the unit mounted in the middle of the heating elements and this seemed to solve the problem. Question is, what is this thing and what does it do. I noticed from you pics that you removed it in your modifications. Trying to decide if I need to track down a replacement.

That's a safety thermal switch so you don't burn the pot if you fire the elements dry.