Dedicated Grainfather Guide, Problems and Solutions Thread

[mrsupraboy]

Best pics i could take

 

[bradsbrew]

I get 79% for 27L from 4.67kg

 

[slcmorro]

They're some expensive lemons you're using there!

 

[warnerbrew]

Got a question for other grainfather users - do you clean your GF immediately prior to use? And when I say clean - do you just rinse, or run it through a full cleaning cycle? or ....

My question comes from having done 4 brews on the GF - the first came out with a chemical tasting off flavour, the second had a hint of that chemical taste, the third was ok and the 4th that has just finished fermenting has an incredibly strong metallic taste.

In going from 1st to 3rd brew, I thought I had eliminate most of my 'noob' errors, but the 4th is as undrinkable as the first.

So - in the process of elimination - the GF has been sitting idle for 2 weeks, i'm about to do a CHUR! pale ale - one of the 'grain kids' and want to ensure i'm doing everything I can to not screw it up!

Thanks.

 

[kaiserben]

Full clean cycle straight after use (which includes a rinse).

Then a quick rinse before the next use.

I've noticed the water rinsing the chiller (before next use) starts off discoloured, so it's probably very wise to be rinsing that before use - even if it's going to get sanitised with boiling wort.

 

[wambesi]

I do a full clean and dry straight after a brew day.

I have a look before on the brew day, if it needs a rinse I do - most of the time - I do not.
First three beers have tasted fine - and the fifth is being made right now.

Sounds like maybe the first clean didn't go right. Try filling it up with water, then grab cup of water and taste it. Then boil for 60 minutes or so and (once cooled) taste again - that could help to see if it is a cleaning or chemical issue perhaps.

 

[warnerbrew]

Cheers Kaiserben and Wambesi

Yes - I do a full clean and rinse after use but i'll do another rinse and clean before hand.

Yes I also suspected that my first clean wasn't thorough enough so I grabbed some more cleaning solution and spend an hour recycling solution and another hour and a half recycling clean water at 80 degrees.

I'll try your suggestion this afternoon Wambesi.

Thanks.

 

[wambesi]

Cheers Kaiserben and Wambesi

Yes - I do a full clean and rinse after use but i'll do another rinse and clean before hand.

Yes I also suspected that my first clean wasn't thorough enough so I grabbed some more cleaning solution and spend an hour recycling solution and another hour and a half recycling clean water at 80 degrees.

I'll try your suggestion this afternoon Wambesi.

Thanks.

That's a long cycle - but I understand if you suspect the tainted tastes coming through there.
What solution are you using? I've been using PBW since my second brew.

Each cleaning/rinse cycle is only 10-15 minutes now.

Hope you get it sorted.

With the ultra metallic brew, pour a few drops on the back of your hand, give it a little run and smell it - if it is metallic this will increase the odour somewhat.

Do you keg/bottle? You could split a batch and see if one lot has the taste and another doesn't?

 

[warnerbrew]

Yes it was a long cycle but i'm trying to eliminate the problem - very new to all-grain and i've botched 3/4 so getting paranoid on what steps i'm either not doing or doing poorly.

I keg - this batch hasn't entered the keg yet - I took a final sample out of the primary and it smelt fine but tastes very metallic. It's sitting in the secondary now with gelatine but not sure if it will make the keg. Rubbing it on the back of my hand brings out a sharp metallic odour. The only thing that I changed that I recall is adding a hop spider which is SS - it's now soaking in a PWB solution and I might not use it tomorrow - just use a hop sock instead.

I went and bought a bottle of the GF cleaner to use just to try and be on the safer side.

Unit has just reached the boil with some clean water - so cooling a sample from the unit and the chiller.

 

[The Village Idiot]

Pretty sure this question was asked earlier but can't see an answer..... can the unit be purchased without the chiller???

 

[acarey]

Pretty sure this question was asked earlier but can't see an answer..... can the unit be purchased without the chiller???

I don't think so, plus you kinda need it to pump the beer out, even when no chilling.

You could make something up to do the job but I haven't been bothered.

 

[wambesi]

Pretty sure this question was asked earlier but can't see an answer..... can the unit be purchased without the chiller???

Not at this point, no.

I don't think so, plus you kinda need it to pump the beer out, even when no chilling.

You could make something up to do the job but I haven't been bothered.

No, you could quite simply use the return arm and just slip the existing hose off, put a longer one on and run it through a different chiller (plate) or to the fermenter if using an immersion chiller.

I was actually going to do this with my plate chiller, but the included one is great - so my plate chiller now lives at another brewers house...permanently.

 

[acarey]

Not at this point, no.


No, you could quite simply use the return arm and just slip the existing hose off, put a longer one on and run it through a different chiller (plate) or to the fermenter if using an immersion chiller.

I was actually going to do this with my plate chiller, but the included one is great - so my plate chiller now lives at another brewers house...permanently.

This is classed as making something (in my super lazy book)

 

[jc64]

Yes it was a long cycle but i'm trying to eliminate the problem - very new to all-grain and i've botched 3/4 so getting paranoid on what steps i'm either not doing or doing poorly.

I keg - this batch hasn't entered the keg yet - I took a final sample out of the primary and it smelt fine but tastes very metallic. It's sitting in the secondary now with gelatine but not sure if it will make the keg. Rubbing it on the back of my hand brings out a sharp metallic odour. The only thing that I changed that I recall is adding a hop spider which is SS - it's now soaking in a PWB solution and I might not use it tomorrow - just use a hop sock instead.

I went and bought a bottle of the GF cleaner to use just to try and be on the safer side.

Unit has just reached the boil with some clean water - so cooling a sample from the unit and the chiller.

How does the water taste? If you have a lot of chlorine or chloramines in you tap water and don't carbon filter it can impart a metallic flavour.

 

[warnerbrew]

Water tasted fine after this experiment - I use a 2 stage filter (under sink type) which has a particulate and a carbon. Water report from my area is pretty good - water straight out of the tap is fine to drink, not much chlorine or metals.

I inspected the GF and I noticed a stain on the bottom mash plate - so I took it apart - do you guys take this apart every time you clean? Found something that looked like rust between the nut and the perf plate. It's now sitting in a high concentration of pwb. Not sure if this would cause my metallic taste though but maybe?

 

[BJB]

Water tasted fine after this experiment - I use a 2 stage filter (under sink type) which has a particulate and a carbon. Water report from my area is pretty good - water straight out of the tap is fine to drink, not much chlorine or metals.

I inspected the GF and I noticed a stain on the bottom mash plate - so I took it apart - do you guys take this apart every time you clean? Found something that looked like rust between the nut and the perf plate. It's now sitting in a high concentration of pwb. Not sure if this would cause my metallic taste though but maybe?

My guess is yes it would, it's rust by the look of that. I'd pickle that so called stainless.

 

[warnerbrew]

hrm ok - I think I read that you can use a high concentration of star san to pickle? That right?

 

[postmaster]

Good luck with the cleaning.
[SIZE=12pt]What is the consensus on the crush size.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]I am using a 2 roller barley crusher set at .036 inch or .91 mm, not sure if this is two fine for a pilsner malt.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Any thoughts. [/SIZE]

 

[wambesi]

Yeah that rust sign is not good, are you in the Facebook group? If so put it on there so the reps can see.

I take it all apart for cleaning and drying myself and haven't seen anything like that yet.

As to the crush size, mate that will vary from mill to mill.

I'm currently playing with 1.2 to 1.25 on my Mashmaster Minimill. It seems the GF favours a coarser crush.

 

[slcmorro]

I don't think so, plus you kinda need it to pump the beer out, even when no chilling.

Eh? What?

No mate. I just use another tube on the return arm and bang it right into a cube at 90+c.

Why would you need to pump the wort through the chiller, if you're not actually chilling?