Dedicated Grainfather Guide, Problems and Solutions Thread

[N3MIS15]

I'm guessing that it not turning off immediately was because my Pd (Set heating period interval) was set as 5 (seconds)? Would that be correct? I'm thinking I should change this to the minimum of 1.

I have this occur too. I may be totally wrong, but I think that the stc just heats until it reaches desired temp (as it should) but the element takes time to cool down which causes the overshoot. My system overshoots for a small amount of time then drops below the desired temp by 1-2 degrees before the element warms up again and the temp starts climbing back to and past desired temp again. I assume this is just the temp throughout the mash equalizing and hence why I overshoot when stepping. I really hope I'm wrong and someone can tell me exactly what it is I am doing wrong though. I do not claiming to know what I'm doing, just speaking from my experience with it (8ish brews)

 

[butisitart]

thank christ for that. i thought i was going to have to photograph it and learn how to post. me no good with modern technology. h34r:
i also thought there must have been a different design on the newer gf.
so yeah - it were the spring thingy that holds the mash cannister. it's a new game you can play when you get bored of 'throw the mash pipe out with the spent grain'.

 

[butisitart]

He's talking about the support ring (that the tabs/legs on the mash tun rest on when raised) that is removable at the top of the Grainfather body.

Looks like he removed it for cleaning and forgot to put it back in. Bugga.

yep

i'm with meathead, above....
(quote)... Note to self never clean support ring... (unquote)

 

[dibbz]

Just wondering how you guy's have got your grainfather set up, do you have a stand? I'm not sure how to set mine up, I would like to keep it off the floor. I would like to put my urn above it so I could sparge. Any ideas would be great.

Mine's on the floor but a couple of bricks would work, I got some hose to save using a jug to sparge. I can just use the urn to regulate the sparge. I fill the urn to the sparge volume from the grainfather calculator.

 

[butisitart]

Looks good to me. mine stays on floor without bricks - but that's an ergonomics choice, i guess. and mine is done in kitchen, so it gets moved in every time i brew. i assume your chiller has easy access to a tap from the top of the gf.

 

[BrewedCrudeandBitter]

Anyone had any issues with the original controller?

Mine read 23 when I started heating up the mash water and only made it's way up to 26 when my thermometer is reading 66.

 

[carniebrew]

Anyone had any issues with the original controller?

Mine read 23 when I started heating up the mash water and only made it's way up to 26 when my thermometer is reading 66.

I did, early days...my first one wouldn't turn the heat off regardless of the switch setting...got a replacement with no hassles, and it was playing up a bit too, which I realised was due to a loose wire inside the unit. Tightened it up and it's been fine every since.

 

[alimac23]

Hey guys!

I ordered my Grainfather last night, it's due to be delivered next Wednesday, can't wait to get into all grain!

It's coming with a free black jack dry stout kit, has anyone brewed this kit?

 

[kaiserben]

When it reached the target mash temps it didn't turn off immediately. In fact it kept rising another ~0.2C before the element would switch off (and as a result it overshot the main mash step by 2.0C). I'm guessing that it not turning off immediately was because my Pd (Set heating period interval) was set as 5 (seconds)? Would that be correct? I'm thinking I should change this to the minimum of 1.

I have this occur too. I may be totally wrong, but I think that the stc just heats until it reaches desired temp (as it should) but the element takes time to cool down which causes the overshoot.

Yeah - I understand that overshoot will occur, but what's bugging me is that it was still heating when it is 0.2 above the set point (I could tell because the light was on to tell me that the element was still on).

If I can work out how to make it switch off exactly on my set point it won't overshoot by as much as it did. It'll still overshoot, but won't be as drastic.

 

[fishingbrad]

Kaiserben, 2c is overshoot is normal for me when I have the base switch set to normal and 1c overshoot when I have it set to mash. What do you have your base switch set to ?

 

[kaiserben]

Well, for the purposes of STC1000 I've got the bottom switch set to "normal", because I then program the STC1000 what percentage of time the 2000W element should be on for.

When ramping it's on 100% (after it reaches temp to hold it's set at 25%, which mimics the 250W element, as if the bottom swtich was set to "mash")

Like I said though, I understand some overshoot is going to occur, I just want the element power to cut out at the set point I've chosen, rather than a little bit after.

This might be a question for the STC1000p developer on Github.

 

[fishingbrad]

Sorry ben, I did'nt read you put the 1000 in it.

cheers.

 

[kaiserben]

No worries.

I highly recommend the STC1000, by the way. Just trying to fine tune it.

 

[butisitart]

Hey guys!

I ordered my Grainfather last night, it's due to be delivered next Wednesday, can't wait to get into all grain!

It's coming with a free black jack dry stout kit, has anyone brewed this kit?

no. just brew it anyway. it is probably tailor made for gf. after that, just enjoy the journey
and welcome to the wonderful world of gf

 

[Chridech]

Hey guys!
I ordered my Grainfather last night, it's due to be delivered next Wednesday, can't wait to get into all grain!
It's coming with a free black jack dry stout kit, has anyone brewed this kit?

Haven't brewed the blackjack dry stout but have put down two other Grainkids kits. I think they are pretty solid. The grain and hops are vacuum packed and seemed fresh enough. I am drinking the Jacked Up APA now and the hops are very good. Grain crush size is perfect for the GF, pay attention to it, as you will want to replicate the crush size for your own recipes. I'm not sure about the yeast though. The Witbier I brewed first up stalled during ferment. Probably something I did wrong, but there is no way to know how old and in what shape the MJ yeast packs are in. They are certainly not refrigerated. To play it safe I'd suggest using new yeast from your LHBS, probably get the same MJ strain without too much difficulty. Might also be worth pitching an extra sachet if the OG is >1.050, but that's a topic for another thread.

Also, if you are planning on putting down some hoppy brews a hop sock or spider is a pretty good idea. The MJ hop spider looks to be pretty good kit. I have the Keg King version and IMO the mesh is too fine. The MJ version looks better. A hop sock works and is cheap.

 

[welly2]

Today was the day my process was finally tuned in exactly. Made a rye IPA (which is tasting delicious, can't wait until it finishes fermenting!). Everything came together perfectly. I think I got the milling gap spot on - the grain was nicely crushed without too much flour, sparge went well - took about 20 minutes which is fine and to my surprise the OG was dead on as was the volume.

Things I did was get the water amounts just right and adjusted my mill gap. I've got a malt muncher and the gap is basically half way between 0.025 and 0.05. Before the sparge, I took the top plate off and gave the mash a good stir. Not for long but a fairly thorough stir. I measured the loss below the tap in my HLT (a Crown urn) and added the extra water to make up the loss so basically the exact amount of required sparge water went in. I did a 90 minute mash - that was a 75 minute mash at 66c and a 15 minute mash out.

I'll be doing exactly the same thing next brew day and see if I can repeat.

 

[alimac23]

Does the Grainfather come with the cleaner in the box? If not I'll have to run out and get some to do the initial clean.

 

[carniebrew]

Does the Grainfather come with the cleaner in the box? If not I'll have to run out and get some to do the initial clean.

It should have, a little bottle anyway. But lots of alternatives, it's just stainless steel. Got any napisan or other sodium percarbonate?

 

[alimac23]

It should have, a little bottle anyway. But lots of alternatives, it's just stainless steel. Got any napisan or other sodium percarbonate?

I haven't but I can run out and get some, will PBW be ok for the cleaning cycles?

 

[meathead]

I haven't but I can run out and get some, will PBW be ok for the cleaning cycles?

Yep