Dedicated Grainfather Guide, Problems and Solutions Thread

[Coodgee]

Stir in hot break at start of boil
Good luck

Skim that filthy scum!!!!

 

[carniebrew]

It kinda depends what side of the fence you sit....if you're using kettle finings such as whirlfloc/irish moss, then most of your hot and cold break will settle to the bottom of the kettle after flameout/chilling. Lots of people prefer to leave that break material behind when racking to their fermenter. But plenty more just tip every last little bit into the fermenter and let it drop out during fermentation.

I reckon with the Grainfather's filter located where it is, it's much easier to leave it behind....you have to tip the GF in order to get it out, so I rarely bother.

 

[alimac23]

Thanks guys, the Grainfather arrived today, I've run it through a clean to get rid of any manufacturing oils / residuals that were left and I'm very impressed so far, I never realised how quiet the whole thing is, the pump especially!

Hopefully I can get to the store and get the grain milled for a smurtos otherwise I'll brew the stout that come with it, I've just noticed that the deltafloc tablet is missing from my mangrove jacks kit, will it make a massive difference if I don't use it or would it be advisable to go and get some?

View attachment 88199

 

[Smokomark]

It kinda depends what side of the fence you sit....if you're using kettle finings such as whirlfloc/irish moss, then most of your hot and cold break will settle to the bottom of the kettle after flameout/chilling. Lots of people prefer to leave that break material behind when racking to their fermenter. But plenty more just tip every last little bit into the fermenter and let it drop out during fermentation.

I reckon with the Grainfather's filter located where it is, it's much easier to leave it behind....you have to tip the GF in order to get it out, so I rarely bother.

Good call Carnie. No tip for chilling or no chill

 

[carniebrew]

Thanks guys, the Grainfather arrived today, I've run it through a clean to get rid of any manufacturing oils / residuals that were left and I'm very impressed so far, I never realised how quiet the whole thing is, the pump especially!

Hopefully I can get to the store and get the grain milled for a smurtos otherwise I'll brew the stout that come with it, I've just noticed that the deltafloc tablet is missing from my mangrove jacks kit, will it make a massive difference if I don't use it or would it be advisable to go and get some?

ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1461152757.898711.jpg

It won't make a massive difference, i've forgotten to add the floc tablet a few times before....clarity won't be as good, but if it's a stout that won't matter much.

 

[N3MIS15]

I just completed my first double batch with grainfather. I was after 1.045 @ 42 litres and ended up with with 1.046 @ 43 litres. I pretty much followed Coldspace's instructions to a tee, but rather than keep topping up the grainfather with the extra sparge, I put it in a pot on the stove and boiled it for 5-10 mins the chilled in sink and added to the fermenter.
Super happy with the results.
Cheers.

 

[tugger]

I came across this video.
http://youtu.be/s9J1jEqAGho

 

[Coldspace]

Nice video, hats off to people who take the time to do these.

I do things abit diff, like the addition of gloves , maybe the health and safety requirements of his country
Or us Aussies are just hard bastards.

I was thinking of a grain bro to up production, but will not get one as they don't come with a malt pipe, and with double batches now for most beers hardly worth the extra 600 cost. Doesn't save much more time except 1 hr or so.
Prob better to mash the double, tip straight into a 40 ltr urn, and sparge finish ,do boil, then mash straight away into the grain father 2 nd batch. Same sort of **** around, to up production.

I think if we could get the second malt pipe then the Grain bro would be the go, but apparently ( according to my Homebrew shop) they won't even sell you the second baskets. Pity mr grain father, if this is true then poor form. Rant lol.

Done 2 double batches today while drinking and playing two up with mates,

Lest we forget!!!!!!!

 

[N3MIS15]

I did my second double batch today (yay long weekend)
some notes:
pre boil (in grainfather) 30l @ 1.063
8l runnings put in a 10l pot @ 1.017 (again, pre boil)
I ended up with 34l @ 1.060 (combined post boil of grainfather and pot runnings)
I added cold water to fermenter to reach 42l @ 1.047 OG.

All in all, very pleased with my double batch attempts.
Cheers, and thanks to all who paved the way.

 

[Goodbeer]

Hello all

Did my first grainfather batch last Saturday...was first all grain too. Now it's done I wish I'd started earlier.

Hit all my targets, ran smoothly, took forever as I was being over cautious with everything, but that should get better with each brew.

Only thing is got a few scorch marks on the element. I gave it a light scrape with the paddle a few times during the brew as I'd read you should, but still got a few.

Scrubbed for close to an hour with hot water and the gf cleaning solution, got rid of most but still a few marks.

Just wondering if anybody had any luck with any other cleaners for this sort of thing?

Thanks

 

[meathead]

Lemon juice does the trick
Welcome to the dark side

 

[Coldspace]

I also find that sodium percarbonate works better than the Grainfather cleaner. I run mine around with pump and 10 ltrs of 60 degree water then scrub with nylon scourer, then rinse with water

 

[tugger]

I am going to try and double batch with the grainfather pumping into my old mash tun, a round cooler with a false bottom and tap, then using a keg King pump with a ball valve on the outlet to pump back to the grainfather.
The gf will keep the temp stable on both mash tuns with 7 kg in each vessel.
The plan is to then sparge into a 50L keggle and end up with 43L of beer in 2 fermenters. I'm going to do this on the weekend. I hope it works out, I need more spare time.
Even if I get 40l at 1.060 I will be happy.

 

[tugger]

And as for cleaning I use steel wool.
Not the smooth kind the rough stainless steel ones and I rip into it.
It's not made of gold, I see people say oh I used perc and Then Tri Chlor/pink and then I used vinegar and some acid with soft sponge,ffs get some steel wool with water and scrub the scale and **** off it.
Your willing to throw the whole periodic table at it but won't touch it with a scourer.
Not aimed at you coldspace I agree perc is an awesome cleaner but some gf snobs won't touch it.

 

[tugger]

I made this a few weeks ago. Might as well share.

http://youtu.be/4bVvrpAVqG4

 

[Parks]

That wasn't a burnt element. Do a witbier and you'll know a burnt element.

 

[Parks]

I am going to try and double batch with the grainfather pumping into my old mash tun, a round cooler with a false bottom and tap, then using a keg King pump with a ball valve on the outlet to pump back to the grainfather.
The gf will keep the temp stable on both mash tuns with 7 kg in each vessel.
The plan is to then sparge into a 50L keggle and end up with 43L of beer in 2 fermenters. I'm going to do this on the weekend. I hope it works out, I need more spare time.
Even if I get 40l at 1.060 I will be happy.

I've done 2 partigyles recently similarly to this but with the grain 100% in my 50L keg mash tun and gravity draining down to the GF. Worked brilliantly.

 

[Goodbeer]

Thanks guys, will try all above and see which works best

 

[tugger]

That's a good idea parks, I might omit the second pump and just sit the mash tun on the bench and gravity Feed the gf with grains in both using the tap on the tun to control the flow. The excess will flow down the overflow, I just need to keep the top tun full.

 

[kaiserben]

Only thing is got a few scorch marks on the element. I gave it a light scrape with the paddle a few times during the brew as I'd read you should, but still got a few.

Scrubbed for close to an hour with hot water and the gf cleaning solution, got rid of most but still a few marks.

I've scorched pretty badly in the past (due more to user error than anything else). I still get minor scorching occasionally, depending on the grain bill.

So I've got a little bit of experience and have tried all sorts of methods. Most recently I soaked 3 times over 72 hours:

Firstly with the GF cleaner, brought liquid to boil then left overnight. Scrubbed in the morning with scouring side of a kitchen sponge.
Secondly with Sodium Perc, brought liquid to boil then left overnight. Scrubbed in the morning with scouring side of a kitchen sponge.
And finally, GF cleaner (stronger than the recommended amount) and washing soda, brought liquid to the boil. Scrubbed in the morning with scouring side of a kitchen sponge and this time, with a little elbow grease, the scorching came off.

So my advice is that sometimes you'll have to do multiple soaks. And sometimes you're going to have to make your cleaning solutions a bit stronger than recommended for a regular clean through.

 

[Futur]

Hello all

Did my first grainfather batch last Saturday...was first all grain too. Now it's done I wish I'd started earlier.

Hit all my targets, ran smoothly, took forever as I was being over cautious with everything, but that should get better with each brew.

Only thing is got a few scorch marks on the element. I gave it a light scrape with the paddle a few times during the brew as I'd read you should, but still got a few.

Scrubbed for close to an hour with hot water and the gf cleaning solution, got rid of most but still a few marks.

Just wondering if anybody had any luck with any other cleaners for this sort of thing?

Thanks

I've used citric acid before which worked a treat. I'm about to give caustic soda a go which I imagine should work just as well.

 

[Coodgee]

I got myself a hop sock from craftbrewer recently to replace some hop bags that were starting to fall apart from old age. When I was chilling (I like to recirculate to get the whole brew down to ~30 degrees) I got the idea to put the outlet of the chiller into the hopsock to filter out some of the cold break. to my surprise it did a really, really good job of this and there was almost no trub at all in the bottom of the grainfather. It was clean wort all the way to bottom. I think I'll continue doing this as it's a good way to increase efficiency because you can transfer every last drop of wort into the fermenter with minimal trub making it in.

 

[Killer Brew]

I've used citric acid before which worked a treat. I'm about to give caustic soda a go which I imagine should work just as well.

I cut a lemon in half and scrubbed the element with that. It cleaned up a treat with minimal elbow grease and I felt at one with nature h34r:

 

[Goodbeer]

I'm down with the lemon. Just did the same as you killer brew, a few drops straight from the lemon and scorch marks pretty much just wiped off with a cloth!

I was scrubbing the element for literally an hour with the gf cleaner at 55 degrees post brew, got me nowhere.

Thanks again

Hey another possibly stupid question, is it normal to wash pre brew as well as post brew? Or do people just wash after use and that's it?

 

[carniebrew]

Just post brew for me.

 

[Chridech]

Post brew then a quick rinse with cold water and flush of the chiller pre-brew for me.

 

[kaiserben]

Just post brew with cleaning product.

However pre-brew I always pump some hot tap water through the system & chiller, then discard that water, then I start the batch with fresh, cold tap water.

 

[paulyman]

Just post brew with cleaning product.

However pre-brew I always pump some hot tap water through the system & chiller, then discard that water, then I start the batch with fresh, cold tap water.

I do exactly the same. Although I'm going to be honest and say that after nearly 5 brews I haven't used the chiller once, it's still untouched. All no chill for me at the moment.

 

[tugger]

Mines packed away too.
I have been immersion chilling for a few months now, I probably won't go back.

 

[welly2]

This sounds interesting!