Dedicated Grainfather Guide, Problems and Solutions Thread

[carniebrew]

But Martin, what do you reckon you should do when your grain bill is so small that the top plate doesn't go down far enough to reach the top of the grain bed, e.g. what happened with my 3.4kg grain bill Berliner? My mash looked like your photo above, where the return widget wasn't sitting inside the top plate hole.

For your 2% lager, what was the grain bill, and did the top plate reach your grain bed?

Thinking back now, it's possible I didn't try and push my return widget all the way down into the top plate for the berliner...I wasn't sure if the top part of the return pipe was all the way down, but I was getting resistance, and didn't want to force it.

 

[slcmorro]

I just cubed this batch, and it worked out to 81% efficiency. The sample wort didn't taste astringent but I'm not sure if that'll come out before fermentation anyways.

My question is, how does one drop the height of the overall plate/overflow pipe? It won't go down any further than what I have it, even if I remove the extender...?

 

[HBHB]

I just cubed this batch, and it worked out to 81% efficiency. The sample wort didn't taste astringent but I'm not sure if that'll come out before fermentation anyways.

My question is, how does one drop the height of the overall plate/overflow pipe? It won't go down any further than what I have it, even if I remove the extender...?

I just slid it down and then adjusted the water up to about 19L, where the grain bill was only 2.05kg from memory, I think it was about 19 litres of water total to reach the top plate. with the top plate in place, it sat there the whole time suspended. I believe Imker and Peter are working on an alternative fitting for small grain bills. Whether that be a dead space filler basket or just a shorter pipe I'm not sure.

 

[slcmorro]

So you'd need to mash in at whatever temp with say 15L, and then add the same temperature water to the volume which gets the plate to sit level with the lowest height of the overflow tube? I would have assumed that the top plate would slide down during the mash anyway, therefore exposing that gap once the overflow piece stays on the pipe and the plate drops lower?

 

[slcmorro]

What I *could* do, is cut the bottom overflow pipe say 50mm shorter - I'll never do huge grain bills (I say that now of course) requiring more than 3/4 of the volume of the mash tun anyway.

An ideal solution, would be to provide the same length pipe overall, but increase the size of the extender and make the solid piece attached to the bottom plate quite small, say 100mm total.

 

[acarey]

What I *could* do, is cut the bottom overflow pipe say 50mm shorter - I'll never do huge grain bills (I say that now of course) requiring more than 3/4 of the volume of the mash tun anyway.

An ideal solution, would be to provide the same length pipe overall, but increase the size of the extender and make the solid piece attached to the bottom plate quite small, say 100mm total.

but you'll have the same issue. You wont be able to telescopically push a longer tube down. The bottom part needs to be at least as long as the top part otherwise theres nowhere for it to go. The minimum size will always be the length of the larger pipe.

For gods sake don't cut it I reckon. Maybe your crush is too fine or something. 4.7 kg is a fairly standard grain bill. You can get it working without cutting stuff.

 

[carniebrew]

I agree, don't cut it...I've done a 3.4kg grain bill with very little grain leakage. My crush for that brew would have been a 1.1mm mill gap with a MashMaster mini mill.

 

[postmaster]

Don't use the extension pipe. You should get about 12 litres in the basket plus 3.5 litres under the basket. Not sure what volume of grain you could use as it would also take up some space.
Happy Brewing

 

[carniebrew]

I want to do a small volume Black IPA soon, might try that without the extension pipe on...will see what Beersmith says.

 

[slcmorro]

The extension pipe doesn't actually extend the height at all if you've got a smaller grain bill, being that it sits flush with the bottom pipe. Fair point about not cutting it. I might have milled too fine, being that it's the most recent change I've made. Will make it a little coarser. Thanks all for your comments and help

 

[postmaster]

You will find that the Overflow Inlet that sits on the top pipe will slid right down the bottom pipe. Of course you wont get any flow down the pipe or overflow inlet, but If you can control your flow it may not be a problem.
Just a thought. If the overflow inlet put too much pressure on the plate and grain, put a stainless steel clamp on the bottom pipe.

 

[carniebrew]

How would the overflow inlet widget slide down the bottom pipe if the top plate is in place?

 

[slcmorro]

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[postmaster]

Put grain in. Slide top plate down on bottom pipe till it touches grain and then slide the overflow outlet down the pipe onto the top plate. (This is what you would normally do on the top pipe)
Hope that make sense.

 

[slcmorro]

I think you're misintepreting the problem. The problem is that even without the extender pipe extended so to speak, the plate rests on top of the grain still 5cm below the top of the pipe. So essentially, the little widget thing that sits on the pipe and is meant to 'block' the central hole sits up too high and the hole is exposed during the recirc.

Go back and have a look at the first picture in post #252 for reference if that's hard to follow.

 

[carniebrew]

Put grain in. Slide top plate down on bottom pipe till it touches grain and then slide the overflow outlet down the pipe onto the top plate. (This is what you would normally do on the top pipe)
Hope that make sense.

Ah I get it, you're saying you can slide the widget all the way down the bottom pipe so that it sites in the hole in the top plate. Cheers.

 

[postmaster]

A Picture says a thousand words.


This photo a bit small see the following post #278

 

[postmaster]

This will give you a better view than the other photo.
Cheers

 

[slcmorro]

This will give you a better view than the other photo.
Cheers

20150414_173239.jpg

The man is a genius. How simple... if not using the extender pipe, take the bloody thing off and the widget slides right down. Hats off to you!

 

[postmaster]

Thanks mate. Just trying to help out fellow brewers. Mind you I haven't tried it. Let me know how it goes.
Might even brew a small brown ale which I have done in BIAB.
I was also thinking of taking out the extender pipe and doing a BIAB with a grain bag in the basket as you are still recirculating the wort and the bag is off the bottom.
The problem I see is that if the wort does not drain through the grain you haven't got the overflow pipe to keep the flow moving.

Hey mate I was Born in Creswick and my old stomping ground was "Ballarat" much warmer here in Echuca.
Cheers