Dedicated Grainfather Guide, Problems and Solutions Thread

[carniebrew]

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.

Same hop issue for me, even in a lightly hopped weizenbock I brewed on the weekend, 40g of Helga, my flow rate was really slow into the fermenter due to all the hop matter clinging to the filter. Helps with the cooling though I suppose with the slow flow. But better sticking with the hop spider or a hop bag.

Can I check on your cooling....once it was at 80 during the recirc, did you then put the flow into the fermenter for the rest of the cooling cycle? Some people have apparently been recircing back into the Grainfather for the whole time, which doesn't work. My brews I let it get to 80 in the grainfather, then I turn off the pump, re-route the wort out into the fermenter, start the pump again and it goes in somewhere between 19 and 22C into the fermenter. The whole process takes less than 10-15 minutes.

 

[Spookism]

Just brewed my 5th as well.
Definitely the smoothest brew I've done. I did the brew without the black rubber on the end of the pump filter.Duct tape I thought was the answer, but it came off during the boil
The hop spider definitely cleared away any fears I had about blockage, especially after the missus used it to grab the loose grain which meant minimal junk in the bottom by the time I transferred to the fermenter.

After a quick chill, the fermenter went into the fridge @ 47 degrees.
Won't call down before I go to work tonight, so I hope she's all good for a yeast infection in about 10 hours...

 

[Coodgee]

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.

I have always used hop bags with my grainfather which makes everything much neater and easier. they only cost about $5 each and you can just hang them over the side and hook the attached rope over the malt pipe and put it into the boil. Just be careful that the top of the wort will stay really hot if you recirculate the wort and put the end of the pipe coming out of the cf chiller down into the middle of the wort. This can cause you to overshoot your IBU calcs with hopstand/whirlpool additions if they are in hop bags near the surface.

That is interesting about the ice water not cooling things down as much as you anticipated. I have been thinking about doing the ice water thing too because I have a pond pump on hand. I would have expected it would be much cooler also. did you test the temperature of the water in the ice bucket? maybe it felt cool but was only a few degrees cooler than ambient?

 

[Coodgee]

my turn to report an issue... stuck sparges... for my first 3 brews with the grainfather sparging was really really fast. Like so fast that I could hardly keep the liquid above the grainbed with a 1 litre jug. This was even with a brew that was 30% wheat. However after that I started getting really slow sparges, like taking 1 or 2 hours to sparge. I have even done the same recipe as one of those early brews and the sparge was really really slow. It was the exact same grain bill and mash schedule. Also for the brews where I get the slow sparge, I also find that the wort overflows down the middle pipe for the entire mash, whereas for the first few brews after about half an hour the wort would not overflow and go crystal clear towards the end of the mash.

The only difference was I used some ph 5.2 stabiliser instead of a teaspoon of gypsum. Could it be possible that the ph 5.2 is gumming up the mash? Doesn't seem likely but possible. Or maybe the gypsum causes the wort to flow more freely?

 

[Shibby]

Hi Carniebrew, Yes once around 80, I turned off and then put the tube into the FV, swaped from hose to ice esky (probably around 40-50L) and turned on again.
It was probably around 35c in weather on Sunday, Im not sure whatt he water from the hose would be maybe mid 25s. But the water going in was very very cold, and came out
probably in the 20s. The only thing I can think of would be get an even bigger pump for a faster, hose pressure like flow.
I may also buy a proper temperture measuring device incase the sticker was telling me the outside temp which was around 35 and it said 34, and the liquid may have been cooler.

 

[Coodgee]

Well there's your answer. Those stickers are complete shit man. Have a look at a pile of them in the home brew shop. They all read different temps.

 

[carniebrew]

Maybe slowing the flow down might help, as it will give the water coming in more time to be cooled down by the ice? A couple of Blichmann thrumometers would be handy here!

 

[carniebrew]

I use one of these little units to check the temp of my wort at various stages: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Digital-Non-Contact-Infrared-IR-Thermometer-Temperature-Laser-Gun-50-to-330-/311407423099

I'm sure it's not perfectly accurate but it's a good guide to the temp of my wort...even seems to work well when I point it at the wort out hose coming out of the chiller.

 

[Shibby]

That temp gun looks pretty cool, would also be useful for testing the temp on my espresso coffee machine.

 

[Coodgee]

you can get a cheap digital stick thermometer for about $20 at most of the forum sponsors. I just sanitize it and measure the temp as it's coming out of the counter flow chiller.

ahem... now how about some love for my sparging issues people!

 

[Bridgey23]

What's ya sparge temp? I had a couple of stuck sparges early on and increased my sparge temp to 80 deg C and haven't had a problem since. Only eight brews in so still learning though. And make sure your mash pH is close to 5.3 as I've noticed slower sparges when my mash pH was higher.
Hope this is of some help I'm pretty much a noob still.

 

[Coodgee]

thanks Bridgey... I've been sparging at 75 degrees and that hasn't changed so I don't think it is likely to be the problem. how are you measuring your ph?

 

[Bridgey23]

I bought a pH meter on evilbay http://www.ebay.com.au/ulk/itm/231727047612
Seems to work ok. I calibrate it before each brew. Doubles as my temp measurement too.

 

[carniebrew]

Coodgee, are you milling your own grain? If not, perhaps whoever is has changed their mill width? If you are, perhaps your rollers have moved...does your crush look any different?

How's your efficiency now compared to those early, fast sparge brews? If you're getting better efficiency it'd also suggest your crush is finer now.

 

[Bridgey23]

Also when I had a stuck sparge I lifted the top plate and gave the grain a gentle stir. Dunno if that's bad but got the sparge moving again and the beer still tasted alright to my uneducated pallet. And I couldn't wait two fucken hours[emoji6]. Sure I saw it on a grainfather vid also.

 

[Coodgee]

Coodgee, are you milling your own grain? If not, perhaps whoever is has changed their mill width? If you are, perhaps your rollers have moved...does your crush look any different?

How's your efficiency now compared to those early, fast sparge brews? If you're getting better efficiency it'd also suggest your crush is finer now.

I am getting much better efficiency on the slow sparges actually. but I get my grain milled by craftbrewer and they assure me that the mill width has not been modified. apparently it's quite a big job to change the width so it doesn't seem like it would happen by accident. I might double check with them though. it does seem likely doesn't it. I have been thinking of getting my own mill actually. might be time.

 

[carniebrew]

That's gotta be the issue mate, much better efficiency and slower sparges has got to be your grain crush.

I know there was some interesting statements made a few months ago in this thread, but when it comes down to it it'll always be a trade off between efficiency and sparge speed.

 

[Killer Brew]

Had a stuck sparge in 1 of my 3 brews with the GF so far. It was 50% wheat though so could be the cause. Lifted the top plate and stirred. Got through ok after that.

My latest sparge of around 16L got through in just under 20 mins. This felt about right and hit efficiency of 80%.

 

[Coodgee]

So I figured out the problem and you wouldn't believe the reason... The mash paddle!!

For my first few brews I was using a stainless serving spoon like what you would use to serve a casserole or stew. I was pouring in 75% of the grain and then only stirring the top half of the mash tun because the spoon could only reach that far. so the heavy husks were falling straight to the bottom. Then I purchased myself a proper SS mash paddle that could reach the bottom of the mash tun. I stirred the shit of the mash as I was adding the grain. I was getting the gf to stir while I added the grain. What I think was happening is that the flour was able to drop out of suspension and clog up the holes in the bottom grate and then the husks were falling on top. I came to this conclusion while I was trying to unstick a stuck sparge. Stirring the top 95% of the of the grain bed did nothing to unstick it. I had to actually scrape the bottom plate.

So last night I went back to the original method of mashing in and the sparge went smooth as a baby's bottom! problem solved!!

 

[Gregos]

So I figured out the problem and you wouldn't believe the reason... The mash paddle!!

For my first few brews I was using a stainless serving spoon like what you would use to serve a casserole or stew. I was pouring in 75% of the grain and then only stirring the top half of the mash tun because the spoon could only reach that far. so the heavy husks were falling straight to the bottom. Then I purchased myself a proper SS mash paddle that could reach the bottom of the mash tun. I stirred the shit of the mash as I was adding the grain. I was getting the gf to stir while I added the grain. What I think was happening is that the flour was able to drop out of suspension and clog up the holes in the bottom grate and then the husks were falling on top. I came to this conclusion while I was trying to unstick a stuck sparge. Stirring the top 95% of the of the grain bed did nothing to unstick it. I had to actually scrape the bottom plate.

So last night I went back to the original method of mashing in and the sparge went smooth as a baby's bottom! problem solved!!

I had 2 stuck sparges when starting out with the GF, got some advice off an old fella, he said to add rice hulls, a further 40 odd brews I've never had a problem.