Dedicated Grainfather Guide, Problems and Solutions Thread

[slcmorro]

I put 5 GF beers into the FCBB (National Homebrew) comp recently, and I didn't get any comments abut astringency. In fact my Helles won Gold and my Tripel won Silver.

 

[McMelloW]

I put 5 GF beers into the FCBB (National Homebrew) comp recently, and I didn't get any comments abut astringency. In fact my Helles won Gold and my Tripel won Silver.

Congrats, It is the brwer who brew the beers. A kettle is only the tool used by skillfull hands.

 

[Dazzbrew]

Good job slcmorro

 

[HBHB]

Heads up for Grainfather owners



Grainfather owners take a minute to register your warranty.

Simple enough and it only take a few seconds.

Go HERE to do it if you purchased in Australia.

 

[mrsupraboy]

Ditto. I just top up to 28L after sparge is done.

If you always top up to 28L pre-boil, once you're sure of your usual/average efficiency you can enter that efficiency % into BeerSmith and you'll be hitting every gravity and volume target in no time.

My thinking is more efficiency the way I'm doin it. Tho i havnt tasted any tanims. Have people actually tasted things from over sparging or are they educated guesses

 

[carniebrew]

My thinking is more efficiency the way I'm doin it. Tho i havnt tasted any tanims. Have people actually tasted things from over sparging or are they educated guesses

But you sorta indicated in your previous post that you were getting too much efficiency...because you were "too lazy" to adjust your recipe in Beersmith to allow for the huge jump we get from BIAB to GF. It's a bloody lot faster to add top up water after a normal sparge than it is to continue to filter that water through your grain bed...so get lazier and get that mash pipe out of the way!

 

[kaiserben]

^^ Exactly. Not to mention you'll be buying less grains to hit those targets. (rather than buying more and beating those targets, but without much point).

 

[SixStar]

Hey guys just a quick pointer, might already have been mentioned...

If you want to get the crud off the element, cut a lemon in half and use that as a scrubber. Works a treat and will be brand new again in seconds.

Cheers

 

[meathead]

I have been doing no chill with my GF up until yesterday when I used Melbournes icy water thru the CF chiller.
It worked very well, but I had no idea when the wort was cool enough to tfr to the fermenter.
The outlet hose felt cool to the touch within 10 mins but the SC200 was reading 50 ish deg I'm assuming because the element is still hot.
How are people detirmining when to transfer?

 

[wambesi]

I generally know it's cool enough by touch of the hose - that said, I also recirculate back to the GF when chilling until it reaches about 30-40 degrees.
I've got those terrible stick on temp strips on the side of the FV which also gives me an idea when it fills up - not that I am too concerned though.

 

[GalBrew]

Get a Blichmann thrumometer. They are a pretty cheap in line thermometer that you connect to the outlet of your chiller.

 

[bradsbrew]

Get a Blichmann thrumometer. They are a pretty cheap in line thermometer that you connect to the outlet of your chiller.

Do the thrumometers handle the near boiling wort?

 

[slcmorro]

Do the thrumometers handle the near boiling wort?

Won't matter. I'd just connect it when the probe shows the recirc back into the unit showed around 40c, and then slow the flow down and go right into the FV

 

[GalBrew]

Yep. I don't connect mine until I'm ready to pump the wort into the fermenter after recirculating into the
Grainfather.

 

[meathead]

Get a Blichmann thrumometer. They are a pretty cheap in line thermometer that you connect to the outlet of your chiller.

Gold

 

[meathead]

OK now on to the next challenge.
Double batch of Doc Smurtos GA in the GF diluted in the fermenter

Here is the single batch grain bill



Pale Ale Malt 2.40 Kg
Caramalt 0.80 Kg
Wheat Malt 0.80 Kg
Caramunich I 0.25 Kg

Here is the hop bill

Amarillo. 20gm. 60 mins
Amarillo. 15gm. 10mins
Amarillo. 15gm, 5 mins
Amarillo. 15gm. 0min

OG 1.047

So do do a double batch in the GF, do I double the grain bill and if so how much strike water, how much sparge water, how much top up,water in fermenter How does the hop bill change?

A lot to ask but hey we're a community

 

[carniebrew]

That's a tough one to work out...if you're looking to dilute in the fermenter, then the larger grain bill in a similar kettle volume will hurt your efficiency...and the denser wort will also likely lead to less hop acid extraction.

Have a look at Grain & Grape's website, I believe they have some stuff in there on how to do double batches in the braumeister...I think you mash twice in the same water or something like that? You should be able to follow the same instructions for the GF.

Here it is: http://www.grainandgrape.com.au/braumeister-double-mashing

 

[kaiserben]

..., but I had no idea when the wort was cool enough to tfr to the fermenter.
The outlet hose felt cool to the touch within 10 mins but the SC200 was reading 50 ish deg I'm assuming because the element is still hot.
How are people detirmining when to transfer?

I used to stress about this.

I used to recirc and chill as low as it'd possibly go within the GF before transfer to a fermenter. (the lowest I'd get in GF was about 46C, due to the residual heat in the stainless steel. That'd usually result in ~24C in fermenter after transfer). While that works okay, it's not ideal to have the wort at these temps and wasting time while you worry about stuff you don't actually need to worry about.

The people who make the Grainfather replied to a question of mine and said that the chiller works better when the wort starts hotter. That sounds counterintuitive, so I decided to do a transfer while the wort temp in the GF was up around 75C. After the transfer was complete I tested the temperature (using a no-rinsed thermometer) and the wort temp once in fermenter ended up as 21C. So I've never looked back.

In short- I chill to get it under 80C (so around 70-75C) inside the GF, then transfer to fermenter and never have a problem. Sydney tap water.

 

[HBHB]

Do the thrumometers handle the near boiling wort?

Nope. Buggers them up faster than a politician with a book of blank cheques can bugger up a country. Recirc for the sanitising of the chiller for 10 back into the unit, then fit the trumometer and apply 3-4LMP water flow. They'll handle that.

 

[carniebrew]

I'll agree with that, my last couple of brews I've only re-circ'd for a short time and at around 75C i've started the transfer to the FV, ending up with around 22C wort. I use a pretty slow flow rate into the fermenter to achieve that.