Dedicated Grainfather Guide, Problems and Solutions Thread

[butisitart]

after a massive shoulder injury layoff, back on the gf, so thought i'd give it a polish up first,, for gf brew #162.
now have a wee problem -
the cold water hose into the reverse chiller is leaking water into the wort as it goes into the fermenter, so between the flow tap (to the fermenter), and the copper inner piping in the chiller. i am guessing i've broken some sort of seal. i know i pulled out bits of silicone here and there...
so, 2 questions, first, anybody else have the problem?? (tried all sorts of searches but found nothing)
2nd - what is the most likely silicone looking sealant?? loctite 577??
and i'm not sure exactly where it's leaking - where the copper tube slides into the brass sleeve is one possibility among a few.
it leaks about 1L during chiller to fermenter (leaks into wort, into fermenter). doesn't seem to do any harm, apart from watering the beer down a bit.
cheers all

 

[jigsawbrewing]

Hey everyone! Thanks for having me. Hope this is the appropriate spot to ask this question.
Looking at cold crashing in a GF conical fermenter. Worried about suck back of sanitiser fluid out of the airlock. Was thinking of sealing the fermenter prior to cold crash to avoid this but then worried about creating a vacuum and crushing the fermenter in. Can't find any specs of what negative pressure it will tolerate without damage. Then had a thought that I could add CO2 (and pressure) prior to sealing the fermenter and while googling found the GF conical fermenter pressure transfer device. Does anyone have any experience with this and does it sound crazy to use it this way? Bonus is can do pressure transfer to keg also. Looks like they're about a hundred bucks so not cheap but might be a cool bit of kit. Thanks in advance!

Did you end up getting the GF conical pressure transfer kit?
I had similar thoughts a while back, and ended up making my own (sort of).

Works out a lot cheaper - picked up all the bits for this from Kegland. So what's going on here and why?
- Conical has been sealed with tri-clamp and a small piece of beer line to a carb cap
- Then I have a couple metres of beer line with quick disconnects
- And then I attach to a bottle with a carb cap, and some more beer line that gets submerged in the solution in the bottle **important - the carb cap on the bottle is fitted very loosely, co2 needs to exit here**

It's basically just a fancy blow off tube, but works nicely for me:
- The couple metres of beer line is full of co2 during fermentation, and is enough to take samples and dump yeast/trub without sucking anything but co2 in
- When transferring to keg I just remove the disconnect closest to the lid and push 1-2 psi from my gas tank

I'm not really able to cold crash with my esky setup - I normally drop to around 14C and that doesn't suck in any solution. Would be interesting to see what happens if crashed down further (I do use sterilised water as the solution in the bottle, just in case there is any suck back)

One other advantage is this is slightly quieter than a standard airlock. I did get complaints about noise from an active fermentation in my house!

 

[stevonz]

Anyone got their hands on any of the new offerings G40: G40 Brewing System
S40: S40 Brewing System

I've been wanting an all-in-one & the G40 might just be it.

 

[razz]

Anyone got their hands on any of the new offerings G40: G40 Brewing System
S40: S40 Brewing System

I've been wanting an all-in-one & the G40 might just be it.

GashSlug has just released a video stevonz. Linky

 

[stevonz]

GashSlug has just released a video stevonz. Linky

Yup and a vid of a brew day too... I'd be pretty happy with something like that! Roll on xmas

 

[Sleepy Weasel]

Anyone got their hands on any of the new offerings G40: G40 Brewing System
S40: S40 Brewing System

I've been wanting an all-in-one & the G40 might just be it.

I'm a little leery of Grainfather after all the bother with the bottom mash plate seal in the G30. If tit looks like they've redesigned the grain basket to eliminate that problem in the newer models (the description of the G40 mentions a perforated basket and rolled edge grain plate), so they might be worth a look. I do really like their conical fermenters, and the bluetooth controller is a neat idea, but not enough so to justify the difference in price between the G40 and the S40.
I see that you will need a 15A outlet to run it at full power, so bear that in mind.

 

[Truman42]

I just brought the G40. Upgraded from the G30. Very happy with it so far. Quality build. It has a great new basket design.

 

[razz]

I just brought the G40. Upgraded from the G30. Very happy with it so far. Quality build. It has a great new basket design.

The video link is broken Truman.

 

[stevonz]

The video link is broken Truman.

it downloads locally when I clicked it

 

[Truman42]

The video link is broken Truman.

I just uploaded it here. Wasnt sure how to link it.

 

[Truman42]

The video link is broken Truman.

Try this.
https://youtube.com/shorts/m1zkgvHL9ec?feature=share

 

[RRising]

Just picked up my G40 from my homebrew shop. Seems pretty schmick, was pleasantly surprised it came with a cloth cover and no styrofoam to throw away, all spacers were cardboard.

got a brew planned for Saturday and cannot wait to give this baby a spin.



Edit... a couple of preliminary thoughts, IEC cable is nice, so no having to dick around with a cable when it comes time to clean but it would have been good if it came with a dust cover, the controller box does so this exclusion is a bit weird. Next, its bloody heavy, not too sure where the extra weight is, it must have a hefty pump and power supply and the false bottom/ hop filter and grain plate seems to be well made and not bent.

 

[Skillz]

Just picked up my G40 from my homebrew shop. Seems pretty schmick, was pleasantly surprised it came with a cloth cover and no styrofoam to throw away, all spacers were cardboard.

got a brew planned for Saturday and cannot wait to give this baby a spin.

View attachment 121269

Edit... a couple of preliminary thoughts, IEC cable is nice, so no having to dick around with a cable when it comes time to clean but it would have been good if it came with a dust cover, the controller box does so this exclusion is a bit weird. Next, its bloody heavy, not too sure where the extra weight is, it must have a hefty pump and power supply and the false bottom/ hop filter and grain plate seems to be well made and not bent.

Congratulations.
I'm this close to buying one so watching with anticipation

 

[Skillz]

Are you planing on running it on 10amp?

 

[RRising]

Are you planing on running it on 10amp?

Yes, it's all i have in my shed, i rent so i can't get a proper 15amp circuit installed.

 

[duncbrewer]

I see glass lid so a separate purchase for a stainless steel lid that you can fit a condenser onto. Interested to see your numbers re efficiency throughout your brew.

 

[Truman42]

... its bloody heavy, not too sure where the extra weight is, it must have a hefty pump and power supply and the false bottom/ hop filter and grain plate seems to be well made and not bent.

Yeh tell me about it, I was surprised how heavy it is and big compared to the GF30 I have and my Guten 40L. I had to re arrange the shelves Im going to store it on so it sits on the bottom shelf. Im also going to sit in on a dolly so I can wheel it out of the garage on brew day to rinse out. Ive fitted ball valve to mine to make draining easier.

 

[Truman42]

Yes, it's all i have in my shed, i rent so i can't get a proper 15amp circuit installed.

Im in the same boat. I think 10amp will still be fine looking at the Youtube vids.

 

[Bourkie]

Super keen to hear buyers reviews. So close to pulling the trigger, but also keen to see what the new BrewZilla is like as well

 

[Skillz]

Super keen to hear buyers reviews. So close to pulling the trigger, but also keen to see what the new BrewZilla is like as well

I'm in the same boat but don't think I can wait any longer for the brewzilla even though I'm sure it will be a great unit. I'm guessing late year release but will have more demand than supply and I have been waiting so long already.