Dedicated Grainfather Guide, Problems and Solutions Thread

[panzerd18]

How good is the counter flow chiller compared to a big plate chiller.

Still contemplating either the grainfather or a crown urn BIAB.

 

[Trevandjo]

It took me a couple of brews to suss out the correct way to use the chiller efficiently. Today boil to fermenter @ 20 deg in 22 min. Country Vic, Australia.

 

[carniebrew]

It took me a couple of brews to suss out the correct way to use the chiller efficiently. Today boil to fermenter @ 20 deg in 22 min. Country Vic, Australia.

So what have you found works best Trev?

 

[Trevandjo]

Recycle the wort at flameout for 5 min to sanitize. Half close the outlet 1/4 turn valve. Turn cold water on and feel the wort outlet hose temp. This should feel cold after a few seconds. Turn off pump. Outlet hose into fermenter. Turn pump back on. Job done.

When I messed around trying to cool the urn down by recirculating I could only ever get it down to around 40.

I also try to save around 20L of cooling water for cleanup.

 

[butisitart]

i nearly went the crown urn biab but i found the gf the same weekend, and eventually went that way. happy?? yep.
my budget balance went like this -
current gear to upgrade to urn biab v upgrade to gf
gf was more expensive, but appeared to be less stuffing around. but ultimately, probably a better and more convenient system than an urn biab.
so i went the gf. regrets?? no. perfection?? not really.
should i have gone urn biab?? no way.
so without actually owning an urn biab, and thinking about the practicalities, and then working with a gf (which has it's own learning curves), i'm really happy i didn't go the urn biab. not to say they're inferior, but the gf is a mash stepping, wort chilling, sugar efficiency sucking joyride. and i would have kept wondering about the wisdon of my choice if i went the 3 pot or urn.
and from the gear i had, it's like going from an aluminium saucepan to a fully programmable pressurised rice cooker. that sort of jump in technology.
in hindsight, would i do it again?? yep.
the way i see it, from a guy who's never owned an urn, but who has suffered from the 1 pot juggle, is that the gf is a gem.

oh - counter flow chiller works like this - the first time i tried it, i stuck a finger under the water out hose to see how hot it was. i scalded my pinkie. it works.

 

[aamcle]

A few quick questions, what stops the bottom of the grain pipe resting on the bottom of the outer urn?

How far above the bottom is it?

I know bottom filter is mounted above the bottom of the grain pipe, how far is it from the bottom?

Thanks all. Aamcle

 

[enoch]

There is a lip on the top of the malt pipe which engages with a ring just inside the top of the boiler.
Same ring is used to stand the malt pipe on when you pull it out for sparging.

 

[aamcle]

Thanks Enoch.

Aamcle

 

[kaiserben]

It took me a couple of brews to suss out the correct way to use the chiller efficiently. Today boil to fermenter @ 20 deg in 22 min. Country Vic, Australia.

So what have you found works best Trev?

It took me a while too. A lot of stuffing about because I simply didn't believe it'd work as well as it does.

Previously I'd try to chill my wort down as far as it'd go inside the GF before starting the transfer to fermenter. But a few experts finally drummed it into my brain that the counterflow chiller is more efficient when coming from a higher temp.

It might be because it's now winter and my (inner city Sydney) tap water is a bit cooler than it was in summer, but yesterday I only chilled the wort inside the GF down to 70C before starting the transfer to a fermenter. I had the flow from the chiller at about halfway (so still flowing quite fast, but not full bore) and my cold water tap at full bore. Once finished I had 20C wort in the fermenter. Very happy. So easy.

 

[HBHB]

Pics of the latest modification (Current crop) of Grainfather Units



Bottom plate with seal.



Quick disconnect with better silicone seals



Ball valve assembly on wort return arm



2 wort return pipe brackets



Better boot style hose connections at the pump

If we find more, we'll post.

 

[kaiserben]

I'm pretty keen to upgrade to quick disconnects and ball valve.

That pic of the 'bottom plate with seal' - is the pic of the bottom plate sitting behind the top plate?

 

[HBHB]

I'm pretty keen to upgrade to quick disconnects and ball valve.

That pic of the 'bottom plate with seal' - is the pic of the bottom plate sitting behind the top plate?

Yes Ben.

 

[carniebrew]

I feel the onset of upgrade envy. I shall lock myself in a room, rock back and forth slowly and repeat "those bits will not make better beer, those bits will not make better beer"....

 

[enoch]

I presume the ball and spring valve is a safety valve to reduce the very real risk of the (famous?) Grainfather boiling wort geyser when you turn the pump on without the cap on the return pipe.
Thankfully when I did it it was when turning it back on at the powerpoint and I was a safe distance away. Given where a person would be standing when hitting the switch on the controller I was lucky.
I'm not convinced of the prudence of charging for an upgrade to fix that safety issue with Australian Consumer Law being as it is.

 

[Adrie]

It's in and working like a dream

The only issue was that the spring in the safety catches everything passing through.One smal hop leaf is enough to block the safety. This really messed up the cooling cycle. Since hops trub from pallets collects around the filter I wonder if a finer mesh around this filter would solve this problem. Otherwise Removing the spring and ball will....

 

[shinjuku]

being a K&K brewer/kegger.... would it be a too big a step to buy a grainfather and try all grain brewing ?

is it cheaper doing all grain than using kits/bits.... ?

 

[butisitart]

is marginally cheaper, and massively tastier. it's like the difference between woolies no name bread (commercial beer), good commercial breads in woolies (beer out of a kit), and actual home made bread/beer.
no comparison.
grainfather?? i've done 5 brews and tasted my first 2. i get an erection just thinking about what brew 5 is gonna taste like.

 

[carniebrew]

I'm going to brew a Baltic Porter in my GF this week...23 litre batch, aiming for nearly 1080 OG. I've worked it out to an 8kg grain bill @ 70% efficiency...but does anyone have an idea what sort of efficiency hit I'm going to take with this big a grain bill?

 

[slcmorro]

is marginally cheaper

It's exponentially cheaper, especially if you can buy in bulk and store. Here's an example of some current prices:

25kg bag of JW Trad - $39 - $1.56 per kg
25kg bag of JW Wheat - $45 - $1.80 per kg
5kg split of Crystal - $17 - $3.40 per kg
100gm of Cascade Hops - $6.50


Basic Aussie Pale Recipe AG (4.13% @ 23L)

3kg Pils ($4.68)
500gm Wheat ($0.90)
250gm Crystal ($0.85)
60gm Cascade throughout boil and dry hopping ($3.90)
US05 sachet ($4.50)
Grand Total = $14.83

Basic Aussie Pale Recipe Extract (4.11% @ 23L)
1.7kg Coopers Aussie Pale Ale tin (with kit yeast) - $16
1kg Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 - $7.80
Grand Total = $23.80

The AG recipe above will literally wipe the floor with the extract recipe across the board, for about 60% of the total extract price.

 

[panzerd18]

$5 a slab, thats pretty dam good!!!