Dedicated Grainfather Guide, Problems and Solutions Thread

[N3MIS15]

Indeed it does. If they have mash/boil steps this would be very intriguing (even as a stc1000+ user)

 

[paulyman]

Where did you find that bit of gold Welly?

 

[Hippy]

This sounds interesting!

13267950_10153729401622879_8266060801187308993_n.jpg

Good news.

 

[welly2]

Where did you find that bit of gold Welly?

It was on the Grainfather Users Facebook group. I think it was leaked a bit early - someone from iMake came on and said they were planning on announcing it tomorrow by email.

 

[paulyman]

Ah, woke up to see the email had arrived overnight. Exciting, now we just need to wait for price.

 

[A.B.]

yeah wonder how much the price of a new unit will go up, and how much for just the box to retro-fit...

 

[tugger]

I'm thinking around 300 bucks is fair.

 

[Coodgee]

I don't think I'd get $300 worth of utility out of being able to program the mash steps and set/monitor via bluetooth. It would be nice to be able to have the grainfather filled with mash water the night before then grab my phone at 6am and set it to start heating while I snooze for another half hour. But I could acheive the same outcome with a $10 timer. I don't do much step mashing lately but I'm usually hovering around the grain father anyway, testing mash ph, adding salts, testing again etc.

 

[stuartf]

Reading the release in the gf Facebook page it sounds pretty interesting with full pid control of steps etc via Bluetooth etc. I'll look forward to hearing some reviews of the beta units that are being tested.

 

[MastersBrewery]

I don't think I'd get $300 worth of utility out of being able to program the mash steps and set/monitor via bluetooth. It would be nice to be able to have the grainfather filled with mash water the night before then grab my phone at 6am and set it to start heating while I snooze for another half hour. But I could acheive the same outcome with a $10 timer. I don't do much step mashing lately but I'm usually hovering around the grain father anyway, testing mash ph, adding salts, testing again etc.

I don't have a grainfather, I built a brauclone, one of the best features is being able to mash in and walk away for a few hours, mow the lawns catch up on the honey do-s. Means I can brew more often and the boss is happy too. The bluetooth app is a big bonus. If your young and single with no ankle biters 4-6 hrs of brewing only is all good. Kids, Wife, Work impact on time to brew for most, this is a great move forward for bloke multitasking.

 

[kaiserben]

Yesterday I left my self-upgraded controller (STC1000p) doing a 55C > 64C > 72C > 75C step mash while I went off to have Yum Cha. Came back as it was rising to the 75C step.

So there's a lot of bonuses in having an improved controller. Dunno that it'll cost as much as $300 either.

 

[stuartf]

The gf post suggests the cost of upgrading to the new controller will be the same as buying a new gf with the new controller so I doubt they would bump the price up $300? One of the big strengths is the cost vs the brewmeister so they would want to maintain that i think.

 

[welly2]

There was a mention of it costing around $200 on the Facebook group although not sure where that information came from. I'd be surprised if it's any less than $150 somehow.

 

[kaiserben]

My guess is between $100-150.

I reckon it cost me $50 to upgrade to STC1000 and flash it with firmware (but that firmware is free and not guaranteed in any way).

I recently built a fridge temp controller (that with a little more work could be turned into a PID GF controller) using a Raspberry Pi with in-built wifi, which graphs my temperatures and allows me to set ferment shcedules using my phone or PC. It cost me roughly $75, but I had someone doing all the coding for me for free.

 

[griffin_rm]

My pump doesn't seem to work well. Water will only trickle out of it slightly. I reset the machine and cleaned the discharge pipe, but that still didn't work. Has anyone else had this issue, or have any potential solutions? Thanks

 

[stuartf]

Never had issues with the pump, have you used it before with no problems? Maybe check all the obvious things like spring and ball bearing are in the right way around, fittings are screwed on correctly and not cross threaded?

 

[wambesi]

The pumps are usually really good - it is easy to pull apart and have a look inside. Also get in touch with your retailer if you can't get it working as if it's not that old we may be able to get you a new/refurb one - they may even have one around.

 

[wildwhitty]

The only time I had trouble with the pump it was hop debris in the spring and ball
They have been sitting in the spare parts drawer ever since.

 

[TSMill]

Hi guys, helping a mate commission his grainfather today. In the instructions part 11, I'm not sure why the soak/holds for beta glucan and protein rests are via the normal (2kW) setting, and sacchrification using mash (500W) setting. ANY logic in this, I would have thought large element to ramp and small to soak in all cases.

 

[Wee Jimmy]

The times of each are normally 5 - 10 minutes leaving the switch on normal is easy to operate then the 60 min mash on mash - 500w setting.

 

[carniebrew]

Hi guys, helping a mate commission his grainfather today. In the instructions part 11, I'm not sure why the soak/holds for beta glucan and protein rests are via the normal (2kW) setting, and sacchrification using mash (500W) setting. ANY logic in this, I would have thought large element to ramp and small to soak in all cases.

I figure the soak/holds for the earlier steps aren't considered as temp critical, whereas sacc is. But I reckon you'd be fine using 2kw to ramp, then switching to 500W for each hold step regardless of temp.

 

[Killer Brew]

Yeah, think using the smaller element provides more accurate temp control at a holding point. I usually switch to the 500W at any holding temp if i remember to do it and then back to full for ramping.

 

[mxd]

hi All.

I've borrowed our clubs GF to brew demo to a friend. Well my efficiency sucked, 55% planed for 75
An APA 5kg (added 1.5kg dme for efficiency) 150g hops, 23 into fermenter

some things to consider when I try again tomorrow.

finer crush
this was the crush which is my normal 4v crush

The sparge was super quick not too sure what I may have done wrong, could I have had the top plate up too high during mash, I pushed it down for the sparge. ?

More water in mash, to overcome my **** sparge ?

may recirc mash back over grain basket ?

I plan on doing a GF and 4V

thoughts.

It seemed a long day, it struggled to get to boil.
temp overshoot, a PID (which is coming I believe) would be great.
it's skinny and my mash paddle is almost too big
I used a hop basket so it was pretty clear till the end
first time I have chilled, it chilled to 15 at full flow and only used 80 ltrs of water (i used to clean my rig for tomorrow)

cheers

 

[carniebrew]

hi All.

I've borrowed our clubs GF to brew demo to a friend. Well my efficiency sucked, 55% planed for 75
An APA 5kg (added 1.5kg dme for efficiency) 150g hops, 23 into fermenter

some things to consider when I try again tomorrow.

finer crush
this was the crush which is my normal 4v crush

The sparge was super quick not too sure what I may have done wrong, could I have had the top plate up too high during mash, I pushed it down for the sparge. ?

More water in mash, to overcome my **** sparge ?

may recirc mash back over grain basket ?

I plan on doing a GF and 4V

thoughts.

It seemed a long day, it struggled to get to boil.
temp overshoot, a PID (which is coming I believe) would be great.
it's skinny and my mash paddle is almost too big
I used a hop basket so it was pretty clear till the end
first time I have chilled, it chilled to 15 at full flow and only used 80 ltrs of water (i used to clean my rig for tomorrow)

cheers

Did you not recirc during the mash? You're certainly supposed to.
On the temp overshoot, did you switch the element over during the mash so it was only using the 500w instead of 2kw?
Why the DME? 5kg of grain is a breeze for the GF, with the right crush, mash out and sparge you should be hitting 75% min, often over 80% efficiency.
Having the top plate high during the mash shouldn't be an issue. Pushing it down for sparge is ok, if you pushed it down to hard then it'd likely slow your sparge rather than speed it up.

 

[mxd]

==Did you not recirc during the mash? You're certainly supposed to.

I did, I meant recirc for sparge

===On the temp overshoot, did you switch the element over during the mash so it was only using the 500w instead of 2kw?

I switched when it hit temp (65) then hit 67.


===Why the DME? 5kg of grain is a breeze for the GF, with the right crush, mash out and sparge you should be hitting 75% min, often over 80% efficiency.

as I said my efficiency was 55%

==Having the top plate high during the mash shouldn't be an issue. Pushing it down for sparge is ok, if you pushed it down to hard then it'd likely slow your sparge rather than speed it up.

my sparge was super quick

 

[N3MIS15]

I think a finer crush would help quite a bit. I used a course crush at first with grainfather but found a bit finer helped with my efficiency.

 

[Chridech]

==Did you not recirc during the mash? You're certainly supposed to.

I did, I meant recirc for sparge

===On the temp overshoot, did you switch the element over during the mash so it was only using the 500w instead of 2kw?

I switched when it hit temp (65) then hit 67.


===Why the DME? 5kg of grain is a breeze for the GF, with the right crush, mash out and sparge you should be hitting 75% min, often over 80% efficiency.

as I said my efficiency was 55%

==Having the top plate high during the mash shouldn't be an issue. Pushing it down for sparge is ok, if you pushed it down to hard then it'd likely slow your sparge rather than speed it up.

my sparge was super quick

Efficiency of 75-85% can be expected with the GF if everything falls into line. Following on from the discussion above ^^ the other factors that could potentially affect efficiency are mash pH too high or a too coarse grain crush. Given that you had a very quick sparge I suspect that grain crush may have been a little too coarse for the GF. My first brew I had too coarse a crush and probably too high mash pH and my efficiency was 53%. I have a friend with a 3V system who uses a far more coarse crush than I do with the GF but get similar efficiency. Try a finer crush, not much use recommending a mill setting as it differs depending upon the make.

Edit: N3MI beat me to it!

 

[mxd]

ok

dong this one today

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: 23 ltr AIPA Grainfather
Brewer: Matt
Asst Brewer:
Style: American IPA
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 25.81 l
Post Boil Volume: 23.92 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 23.00 l
Bottling Volume: 23.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.069 SG
Estimated Color: 30.9 EBC
Estimated IBU: 59.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.19 oz Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 1 -
5.50 kg Golden Promise (Bairds) (10.4 EBC) Grain 2 82.1 %
0.50 kg Munich I (Weyermann) (27.6 EBC) Grain 3 7.5 %
0.50 kg Wheat Malt, Malt Craft (Joe White) (7.0 Grain 4 7.5 %
0.20 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (465.7 EBC) Grain 5 3.0 %
30.00 g Citra [11.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 32.8 IBUs
18.60 oz Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 7 -
40.00 g Amarillo [8.60 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 8 12.4 IBUs
40.00 g Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 9 14.4 IBUs
40.00 g Citra [11.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
3.4 pkg American Ale II 1272 (Wyeast #1272) Yeast 11 -
20.00 g Citra [11.00 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
20.00 g Mosaic [12.50 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs

I will make i a finer crush and see how I go
ta

 

[mxd]

ok, so i did a fine crush, probably stuck sparge to come up

the big diff now whilst it's mashing is the overflow pipe is being used, yesterday it could run freely through the grist.

I will let you know how it goes and how the beer is (my first chilling time, so my recipes have been adjusted for that )

 

[N3MIS15]

I would allow a little more liquid for the boil. grainfather should boil off 2.5l per half hour.