Dedicated Grainfather Guide, Problems and Solutions Thread

[butisitart]

back to brother oz at top,
personal history (and recent procurement of minimash mill) suggests to me that....
simple problem is that your grain is milled way too fine. simple.
this got spelled out to me after a run of brews with burnt crap all over the base of the boiler, and difficult mashes. then i threw some spelt malt in - a much smaller grain and so not so pulverised by the shop mill. clean as a whistle. the large vienna malt grain was the worst culprit. that observation was when the theoretical penny dropped.
only had one run on the mill (perle malt), with a coarser crush, and it was a completely different beast. clean as a whistle, with the fastest sparge. still fermenting but it looks like i'll run at around 4.2 abv off 5kgs at 23L. could have been crushed a little finer, but it's killed any problems with the gf. (sparge was around 30 secs on 13L, and that was slowing the sparge a little.)
can't blame the shops - they probably mill to biab, so a finer mill isn't going to affect the bags so much, but they do affect how the gf runs. so if you can't get your supplier to mill a bit coarser, might be time to look at a mill.

 

[Wee Jimmy]

Afternoon Gents,
A question for those of you who keep track of Mash efficiency and brew house efficiency while using the grainfather. I have made 7 batches now first three were Grainkids (good value BTW). The last have been either adaptions from Modern homebrew recipies or recipies from Brewmans database. While im happy with the results im getting, just wondering what others have been achieving as im either missunderstanding posts or terminoligy. With some people claiming 90% brewhouse eff. I have created my own spreadsheet to keep track of my brews and assuming my calculations are correct have been averaging 80% Mash eff and 70% brewhouse. Thanks for your help. Jimmy

 

[paulyman]

I've only done three brews on it so far and the first had issues due to my crush, still managed 75% brew house efficiency. The next 2 since adjusting my crush were the same recipe and it ran at an identical 85% mash efficiency and 80% brew house. I mean identical, to the resolution of my volume measurements, timings and refractometer.

I'm not too concerned about changes of a few percent here or there for different grists, which I know is going to happen, I can adjust during the boil if needed. What the last two brews have given me though, is a confidence that once I've done a recipe once I can probably reproduce it each and every time.

 

[welly2]

I'm making my biggest beer so far this weekend (a 7% IPA). Using just shy of 7kg of grain. Anything I should worry about, need to do or adjust or will it be alright?

 

[carniebrew]

I'm making my biggest beer so far this weekend (a 7% IPA). Using just shy of 7kg of grain. Anything I should worry about, need to do or adjust or will it be alright?

You can expect lower efficiency, 10% or so. Adjust your recipe accordingly

 

[stuartf]

Does anyone else have problems with the hose attachment for the wort chiller leaking? Seems like the cold water inlet doesn't quite seal with my hose so I end up putting a bin under it to catch the leakage (it fills a standard bin pretty quickly so we're not talking a slight dribble here). Not a major drama but I'd prefer it if it didn't leak. Totally willing to think the issue could be the fitting on my hose but wanted to check if anyone else has had this issue first before I go and buy new hose bits.

 

[Chridech]

Does anyone else have problems with the hose attachment for the wort chiller leaking? Seems like the cold water inlet doesn't quite seal with my hose so I end up putting a bin under it to catch the leakage (it fills a standard bin pretty quickly so we're not talking a slight dribble here). Not a major drama but I'd prefer it if it didn't leak. Totally willing to think the issue could be the fitting on my hose but wanted to check if anyone else has had this issue first before I go and buy new hose bits.

There was a black rubber washer and a white rubber washer in the kit that needs to be inserted into the cold water-in hose tap fitting so that it will seal properly. Mine leaked pretty badly until I found the extra washer. Probably worth checking that you have inserted them or that they haven't fallen out. I still do get a slight leak but this is from the garden hose fitting.

 

[stuartf]

Ok thanks I'll go check if they are on or not (probably not I'm thinking)
Cheer

 

[botch]

Has anyone done any 10L or smaller sized batches?

I was planning on doing a few smaller experimental batches and saw this:

http://www.grainfather.com.au/#!online-store/c8k/!/10L-Micro-Pipework/p/62406469/category=11595343

Would those who have done smaller batches think it would be worth getting the smaller pipe work? Or is it fine without?

Cheers

 

[postmaster]

Great for small batches
The plate will sit on the grainbed and its suppose to.

I had one made and had to buy the tube with the hooks on it and that cost $35 so its a very good price.

Also you can use the correct volume of mash and sparge water as per the GF calculator.

 

[butisitart]

There was a black rubber washer and a white rubber washer in the kit that needs to be inserted into the cold water-in hose tap fitting so that it will seal properly. Mine leaked pretty badly until I found the extra washer. Probably worth checking that you have inserted them or that they haven't fallen out. I still do get a slight leak but this is from the garden hose fitting.

oh... i must have missed that in my detailed instruction manual

do i get a leak on every other brew from my tap water hose?? tick yes.
do i have a bunch of supplied seals and plastic bits with no apparent reason for being there?? tick yes.
gosh - how bleedin' obvious
out with the screwdriver and steady hands tomorrow morning. cheers chridech

 

[DrGero]

Hi, anyone using the Brewferm mill? If so, at what setting? And how long does sparge take with that setting?

Cheers

 

[DrGero]

As far as I understand the cooling / transfer to FV procedure, we are left with 3.5 liter / 0.92 US gallons in the GF. Are you tipping the GF to get more wort out, or are you happy with "loosing" that amount of wort?

My cooling / transfer procedure:
1) Recirculate wort for 5 min. to sanitize the cooler.
2) Turn on cold water and recirculate for about 10 min. to get to 165 fahrenheit.
3) Start transfer to FV and adjust flow to maintain pitching temp. in FV
4) Stop transfer when the pump starts to "complain", I am now left with about 3.5 liter / 0.92 US gallons of wort.

Cheers

 

[meathead]

As far as I understand the cooling / transfer to FV procedure, we are left with 3.5 liter / 0.92 US gallons in the GF. Are you tipping the GF to get more wort out, or are you happy with "loosing" that amount of wort?

My cooling / transfer procedure:
1) Recirculate wort for 5 min. to sanitize the cooler.
2) Turn on cold water and recirculate for about 10 min. to get to 165 fahrenheit.
3) Start transfer to FV and adjust flow to maintain pitching temp. in FV
4) Stop transfer when the pump starts to "complain", I am now left with about 3.5 liter / 0.92 US gallons of wort.

Cheers

I tip mine within reason. Always a bit scary, need an extra pair of hands.

 

[Chridech]

I tip mine within reason. Always a bit scary, need an extra pair of hands.

Yep, tip a little without too many dramas gets you another litre or so. Pretty hard to do though for a hoppy brew If you haven't used a hop sock or spider. if you have free hop pellets in the boil the filter tends to clag with about 3.5L to go. Don't get much extra by tipping.

 

[butisitart]

i now tip the easy part through a sieve into the fermenter, then the rest into a sanitised goony (through a sieve) then throw that in a cold bath in the sink. by the time i sort out the fermenter and get the yeast ready to go, it's cooled down enough and trub has settled enough to tip most of the goony into the fermenter. (10mins, more or less). the last little bit i either ditch, or if there's still a reasonable amount, chill it, decant again, and i've got some malt to go towards the next yeast starter. bugger all gets wasted in the end.

 

[meathead]

Goony? Wine cask bladder?

 

[Chridech]

i now tip the easy part through a sieve into the fermenter, then the rest into a sanitised goony (through a sieve) then throw that in a cold bath in the sink. by the time i sort out the fermenter and get the yeast ready to go, it's cooled down enough and trub has settled enough to tip most of the goony into the fermenter. (10mins, more or less). the last little bit i either ditch, or if there's still a reasonable amount, chill it, decant again, and i've got some malt to go towards the next yeast starter. bugger all gets wasted in the end.

Crikey! No beer wasted in the butisitart household. Well done.

 

[Bribie G]

With der GrüngeFührer approaching its second anniversary in Australia, what are the impressions of users, so far, regarding robustness and long term reliability of the unit?

With my beloved Crown Urn now approaching six years old it's time to consider a "succession plan" and thinking of stabling it with a young whipper-snapper unit as a transition to its eventual retirement.

 

[Futur]

With der GrüngeFührer approaching its second anniversary in Australia, what are the impressions of users, so far, regarding robustness and long term reliability of the unit?

With my beloved Crown Urn now approaching six years old it's time to consider a "succession plan" and thinking of stabling it with a young whipper-snapper unit as a transition to its eventual retirement.

You won't be retiring the crown if you buy a GF, you'll be using her as a sparge water heater