Dedicated Grainfather Guide, Problems and Solutions Thread

[meathead]

The ability to readily cross thread the connector on the top of the stainless pipe, have a geyser of boiling wort shoot out the pipe if you forget the cap and have leaks around the pump are issues that affect the fitness for purpose for the purposes of Australian consumer law. The free upgrade, which is actually $13 at my lhbs, goes part way there but some adapters for the dodgy connector which incorporate a safety valve and serviceable threading solution should be included.

Plus one on this. And to hbhb who I bought my gf from, cars have recalls all the time. I can put up with the thread issue but nowhere did I see on the website make sure you have a towel on the floor to soak up the leaks.

 

[butisitart]

To be fair, back then the GF's RRP was $1k. Now it's $1,150.

it's now 1150 not cos of the upgrades, but cos they realised they were popular enough and without any real competition that they could bump it without huge complaints. component part cost of upgrade minus component part cost of original is $2.31. not $150 that they have to pass on.
so in effect, we're paying for the prototype that financed them enough to put the finished product out.
a nominal $20 or $30 to cover admin and postage would be arguable fair. anything above that is not

having said all that, i haven't done the free or otherwise upgrade anyway. maybe one day, but in the meantime, i'm rolling happy enough with the unit as is.

 

[Seaquebrew]

I'm thinking the lower AUD has more to do with the increase

Cheers

 

[fishingbrad]

As we move into summer here in Brisvegas and the tap water temp rises into the 20s, I think it's time to put the CFC away and bring out the No Chill Cubes.
I have weighted up getting a pre chiller, but thats more equipment to purchase, clean, store, ice to buy on the day and I still don't see it getting my wort down to lager pitching temps ?? I'd like to hear what others are doing coming into summer. Cheers.

 

[welly2]

As we move into summer here in Brisvegas and the tap water temp rises into the 20s, I think it's time to put the CFC away and bring out the No Chill Cubes.
I have weighted up getting a pre chiller, but thats more equipment to purchase, clean, store, ice to buy on the day and I still don't see it getting my wort down to lager pitching temps ?? I'd like to hear what others are doing coming into summer. Cheers.

Being as the water temperature up this way never drops below the high 20s year round, I've done a mixture of no chilling and using an immersion chiller (pre-GF) and recirculating water through an ice bath.

I've had success with both although no chilling is definitely less of a pain in the arse. I usually finish my brewday around mid afternoon and then what I've been doing is sticking my cube in the fermenting fridge, surrounding the whole thing with sheets (fridges work better when full) and I have the temperature down from pretty much boiling to pitching temperature sometimes by late in the evenings (11-12pm) and other times I have to wait the next morning to pitch. As I move down south next month, I'm planning on taking advantage of the cooler water and give the CF chiller a first outing.

I did think about setting up a glycol chiller but to be honest, seemed like a hassle so no chilling (for the majority of beers) was the way forward for me.

 

[Yob]

Being as the water temperature up this way never drops below the high 20s year round, I've done a mixture of no chilling and using an immersion chiller (pre-GF) and recirculating water through an ice bath.

I've had success with both although no chilling is definitely less of a pain in the arse. I usually finish my brewday around mid afternoon and then what I've been doing is sticking my cube in the fermenting fridge, surrounding the whole thing with sheets (fridges work better when full) and I have the temperature down from pretty much boiling to pitching temperature sometimes by late in the evenings (11-12pm) and other times I have to wait the next morning to pitch. As I move down south next month, I'm planning on taking advantage of the cooler water and give the CF chiller a first outing.

I did think about setting up a glycol chiller but to be honest, seemed like a hassle so no chilling (for the majority of beers) was the way forward for me.

how far south you going?

 

[kaiserben]

If you don't have a ferment fridge I'd just go the no-chill option. It's so easy & convenient.

 

[fishingbrad]

Yep, have a ferment fridge but I'm still waiting up to 12hours before pinching the yeast which I don't like. also doing the no chill gives me more time to muck around with the starter, sanitize the fermentor etc, etc.
Does anyone else feel pressured/ semi stressed having everything ready at once ?

 

[welly2]

how far south you going?

Ah not that south - Sydney. More south than here, anyway.

 

[Killer Brew]

I have now knocked out my first 2 brews with my Grainfather. Plenty of user errors but that is part of the learning curve. The main thing is I can already recognise the potential for the unit to considerably improve my beer through improved temp control at the mash, the constant recirculation of the wort and faster chill.

First brew was an APA with my main hiccup being the knocking off of the rubber filter cap when trying to scrape the element with the mash paddle during the boil. Didn't realise at the time but quickly became aware once I began the pump post boil and it clogged up almost immediately. This lead to me having to syphon hot wort to the fermenter, cleaning out the whole unit then running water through the pump to clear out, return the wort to the boil to sanitise and start the chill again. Led to a long brew day and only got 17L to the fermenter. Good news is that it tastes like a ripper of a beer as it nears the end of fermentation!

Second brew was a version of Doc's Golden Ale. This went a lot more smoothly initially until the sparge stuck (I blame the 25% wheat and perhaps pushing the plate down too firmly). Had to remove the top plate, give the grain a stir and recommence the sparge). After that was smooth sailing and got 23L into the fermenter at an efficiency of 80%.

In all really happy and looking forward to applying my learnings to future brews. Money well spent.

 

[BrewedCrudeandBitter]

Yeah I'm 2 brews down also and I've really enjoyed the whole experience. First was Smurto Golden using 100% Vic Secret which tasted fantastic before bottling but I'm guessing was pretty well oxidised by the time it came out of the bottle and was pretty disappointing. I can't think of any other reason for it. I suppose I'll have to seriously look into kegging which terrifies me for some reason.

I put down brew number 2 on the weekend and the whole process went very smoothly albeit with not as good a efficiency as I was hoping for (about 68%). It's an american style wheat beer that I'll throw a couple of kilos of raspberries into as fermentation starts to slow.

 

[kaiserben]

... tasted fantastic before bottling but I'm guessing was pretty well oxidised by the time it came out of the bottle and was pretty disappointing. I can't think of any other reason for it.

I've had a couple of early batches like that (amazing straight out of fermenter, but only average after it has carbed up).

I've become a lot more careful transferring from fermenter to bottling bucket. Not sure if that was the problem in the first place, but I've not had the same problem appear since.

I now use tubing that goes from my fermenter tap to the bottom of the bottling bucket. Start the flow slowly until bottom of the tubing is well and truly under wort and then speed up the flow till it's safely going at full bore.

 

[Killer Brew]

Interesting. I recently did a US style pale ale that had fantastic taste before bottling but ended up with a fresh pine like flavour after bottling. Completely different. Had thought to look to my hop schedule but perhaps my racking process also needs attention.

 

[BrewedCrudeandBitter]

I've had a couple of early batches like that (amazing straight out of fermenter, but only average after it has carbed up).

I've become a lot more careful transferring from fermenter to bottling bucket. Not sure if that was the problem in the first place, but I've not had the same problem appear since.

I now use tubing that goes from my fermenter tap to the bottom of the bottling bucket. Start the flow slowly until bottom of the tubing is well and truly under wort and then speed up the flow till it's safely going at full bore.

I generally bottle direct from the fermenter without transferring to another vessel. Before bottling I got loads of really juicy hop flavour and aroma. After bottling it came out a bit cardboardy and most of the hop flavour had fallen flat and lost the lovely citrus aroma.

 

[kaiserben]

After being a bit underwhelmed by aromas from dry hopping in primary, I tried transferring to secondary before dry hopping - and the hop aroma was definitely improved (problem being that this involves extra effort, plus there's extra chance of introducing infection or oxidation). Although I'm wondering if a bigger/better aroma boost might come by staggering out my dry hop additions rather than one big addition that I've been doing up till now?

So there's quite a few different options to combat different issues or potential issues.

Another method I'm about to utilise for the first time is crash chilling before transfer to bottling bucket. Up till now I didn't have a fridge for this and my dry-hopped beers ended up with a lot of hop matter in the bottle (and I'm certain this means they don't stay fresh for as long as they could).

 

[carniebrew]

After being a bit underwhelmed by aromas from dry hopping in primary, I tried transferring to secondary before dry hopping - and the hop aroma was definitely improved (problem being that this involves extra effort, plus there's extra chance of introducing infection or oxidation). Although I'm wondering if a bigger/better aroma boost might come by staggering out my dry hop additions rather than one big addition that I've been doing up till now?
So there's quite a few different options to combat different issues or potential issues.

Another method I'm about to utilise for the first time is crash chilling before transfer to bottling bucket. Up till now I didn't have a fridge for this and my dry-hopped beers ended up with a lot of hop matter in the bottle (and I'm certain this means they don't stay fresh for as long as they could).

What do you call "one big addition", and what's your process?

I used to rack my pale ales/ipa's to secondary before dry hopping, but now that I'm fermenting in the SS brewbucket conicals I no longer bother. I let the beer get to final gravity, leave it there 2 or 3 days at ferment temps (e.g. 19C), then I cool it to around 12 degrees. Then dry hop straight into the fermenter at a rate of around 6-7 grams a litre...i.e. 120-140gm in a 20 litre batch. Leave that for 2-3 days, then crash the beer to around 2C for a week to ten days. By this time all the hops have settled to the bottom. I then pour off a little bit to ensure it's running clear, then transfer direct to the keg.

The hop aroma on my beers has been amazing since I started doing it like this.

 

[kaiserben]

What do you call "one big addition", and what's your process?

My process usually quite is similar to yours, except:

1. I don't have a conical,
2. (until now) i didn't have fridge/temp control.
3. I bottle, no kegs.

Same batch size, same ~6g/L amount, always for 3 days. I add my dry hops in a hop sock tied off at both ends.

I've only bothered with secondary twice, but both times there was noticeable aroma improvement.

 

[Linkatme]

So, here I am! After 5 batchs I got one original stc-1000 in oredr to have more automation.

First I programmed the stc-1000 connected to an Arduino Uno, the OVBS software was my choice. Changing from stc-200 to stc-1000 in the Grainfather box was quite easy, I had only to be sure about all connections done correctly.
Then the test: one wasn't enough, I have some tips for anyone who wants to upgrade!

Switches in NORMAL and MASH positions while mashing, pump ON; NORMAL and BOIL while boiling, pump OFF. While boiling the stc-1000 is useful only to remaind hops additions.

While mashing it works fine, no need to stay beside GF for one hour at least. The only settings to be verified are:

SO: 50% means 1000W (50% of 2000W, the biggest heater); it works 50% while ramping to set temperature;
PO: 25%, 500W during mashing steps;
Ht 95° C
HO 75%
Hd 15', enough to sparge;
bO 100%
tc 0.1° C
Pd 5: the heater works 5 seconds then pause 2.

With these settings I got 0.4° C more than set temperature, I think it's the best I can do at the moment.

To stop the buzzer sound I've to press the SET botton on stc-1000, POWER to resume the program.

During boiling, right after mash end, I set the switch on BOIL to bypass stc-1000, I think wort boils faster.

The pump: manual control is still nedeed unless a SSR is placed to bypass the switch, I prefer to control it manually.

stc-1000 isn't a piece of cake to be set for a batch but there are only 2 settings for mashing, Ptx for temperature and Pdx for duration, 6 programmable steps (0 duration means no step), and one for boiling, hdx for hops alarm (0=no addition), 4 alarms settable.

And that's it! Sorry for my English, during the next batch I hope to provide You a small video, cheers!

 

[carniebrew]

Just a little reminder for everyone to check the various connections on your chiller. The cold water in hose blew off where it connects to the brass inlet on the chiller as I ramped the flow up on yesterday's brew. Water ALL over my brewcave, but thankfully none in the beer or wrecking anything electronic.

I sat down and checked all the connections on my chiller today, pretty much everything that could be tightened needing tightening, so check yours before it happens to you!

 

[Shibby]

I did my 5th GF brew on Sunday, which was a LCPA clone. I put the new filter on the unit and didn't use the hop basket to see how it would go. It still completely blocked and I had to stir around the filter it for the pump to work. After that if was enough for the pump to keep going when transferring to Fermenter but just at a very slow rate.
Anyone else still having issues or any tips on what to do? Or just stick with the basket option?

Also for the cooling, I cooled back into itself for 5-10 mins to sanitise the line and it dropped to low 80's. I purchased a pond pump from bunnings that can transfer 1400L an hour, and put this in a large esky full of lots of ice and water. I connected the pond pump to the GF cooling unit, but at the end the temperature was around 34C in the fermenter. I was a little disappointed and expected it to be alot closer to 20. The flow rate wasnt as fast as the hose, but I thought it was still decent. It also didnt feel so hot coming out the red pipe on the end. Any tried this method or having any thoughts. I ended up glad wrapping the tap and sticking the FV in the esky of ice. It dropped close to 20 in no time. A few squirts or star san on the outside after around the tap too.