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!

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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.