Dedicated Grainfather Guide, Problems and Solutions Thread

[Chridech]

did they mill the grain for you or did you do it yourself?

I think Killer Brew may be onto something. Easy sparge with 58% wheat and then lower than expected efficiency. My money is on too coarse a crush for the GF +/- something gone awry with your mash pH.

 

[Chridech]

Chridech it didn't go too well.

The process was easy enough, just took a bit of time.

Not sure why, still a fair novice, only my 3rd all grain. Previous 2 hit all my targets, all went to plan.

Was aiming for 1052 OG. Came out at 1040. Ended up with 2L extra wort than I was after, probably didn't help my cause...but wouldn't have thought would've made a difference of 12 points??

It was about 5 degrees whilst brewing. Had a couple of towels wrapped around gf as I brew outside.

Anyhow just had a taste. Granted only day 2, down to 1016, funnily enough tastes like light wheat beer!

Anyhow will post back once bottled

Provided you can get the hefe down to 1005 you will end up with around 4.6% beer, in the ballpark for most commercial hefes. Bottle it with Dex. to 3 atmospheres and get yourself another 0.5%.
Nothing wrong with that. What temp are you fermenting at?

 

[Goodbeer]

Yeah I was thinking possibly grain too...didn't wanna just point the blame elsewhere, but I guess that's the most likely answer.

Again will do the same brew next batch but will get my grain from elsewhere and see if there's a difference.

Fermenting @21. Normally do wheats 19-20, but trying a bit higher for something different, maybe a touch more banana.

Still bubbling quite regularly, might raise a touch tonight

 

[Killer Brew]

Yeah I was thinking possibly grain too...didn't wanna just point the blame elsewhere, but I guess that's the most likely answer.

Again will do the same brew next batch but will get my grain from elsewhere and see if there's a difference.

Fermenting @21. Normally do wheats 19-20, but trying a bit higher for something different, maybe a touch more banana.

Still bubbling quite regularly, might raise a touch tonight

Sounds like a plan. If you are unsure take a picture of your milled grain and upload here for others opinions on the crush.

 

[Reedy]

Brewing a Hefeweizen this morning & knocked the pump filter off while whirlpooling. I've since transferred to a cube (no chill) and whilst most of the hop matter/trub appeared to be left behind, I know quite a bit will have ended up in the cube.

My question is how do I limit the amount of it that gets transferred to the FV?

Was considering using a piece of hopsock held over the opening of the cube with a rubber band/cable tie to try & keep as much out as possible.

Normally I wouldn't be too concerned as it would drop out during cold crash after fermentation, but I wasn't intending on CC'ing the Hefe as I want it cloudy.

Any thoughts?

 

[Chridech]

Brewing a Hefeweizen this morning & knocked the pump filter off while whirlpooling. I've since transferred to a cube (no chill) and whilst most of the hop matter/trub appeared to be left behind, I know quite a bit will have ended up in the cube.
My question is how do I limit the amount of it that gets transferred to the FV?
Was considering using a piece of hopsock held over the opening of the cube with a rubber band/cable tie to try & keep as much out as possible.
Normally I wouldn't be too concerned as it would drop out during cold crash after fermentation, but I wasn't intending on CC'ing the Hefe as I want it cloudy.
Any thoughts?

Presumably there won't be much hop matter if it's a Hefe. A fair bit of cold break makes it through the pump filter anyway as it precipitates out in the chiller on the way to the FV. Cold break and hop matter will settle at the bottom of the FV during fermentation. Cloudiness in a Hefe is due to low flocculation of yeast; CC'ing a Hefe might make it a little clearer but will still be to style. If you are worried I think a CC would be fine, based on my experience of one CCed Hefe! By the sound of it you have no-chilled into a cube? If so you could leave the trub behind if you decant into a separate FV at pitching time.

 

[fishingbrad]

Success ! 2nd attempt on Saturday for double batch. 8.5kg grain. ended up with 46lts @ 1.045. Big shout out to Coldspace for leading the way :beerbang:
​
Now to improve my process to make brew day shorter.

 

[kaiserben]

Have been working to 75%, and has been spot on, using beersmith.

Had 58% wheat.

Grain bills with a lot of wheat usually take a hit to efficiency. For my recipes with >50% wheat I'll drop my efficiency down (currently still fiddling with it, but about 67% will be where I set it for my next weizen).

 

[Coldspace]

Success ! 2nd attempt on Saturday for double batch. 8.5kg grain. ended up with 46lts @ 1.045. Big shout out to Coldspace for leading the way :beerbang:
​
Now to improve my process to make brew day shorter.[/quote

]Also, buy one of those over the side immersion heaters from ebay for about $75. I use this to assist the Gf to come upto the boil after sparging a lot faster. Especially when it's at the fullish level for double batching. Once it's cranking, the gf element is plenty . If you have some more saved runnings that you've captured after removal of malt pipe, then I plug the immersion heater in as well when topping up, so if the boil drops off it only takes a minute to crank again. Then turn it off. You may need to run immersion heater from another circuit thou so you don't trip out a circuit breaker. I find this cuts approx 40 to 50 mins per brew because of much faster ramps.

Also good for quick pre heat to 66 or what ever on start up.

Cheers

 

[fishingbrad]

Thanks Coldspace. I have a separate urn/ boiler (used for making other drinks h34r that I used to boil the runnings,​ so the GF only had 28lts, so I had 2 boiling vessels boiling together. (I'm a sparky so overload is a problem) as the GF evaporated off, I topped up from the urn until boil had complete. Then emptied the remaining from urn to the GF. This brought the level right up to the top and not a drop more. first time fluke, bet this wont happen again. let it sit for hop stand/ hot break. Really happy getting 2 brews in 1 session.

Now, where to get those 15lt cubes without buying FWK.

Cheers.

 

[Motmo]

Hi All,
First time poster here, mainly because of some kind of technical problem when i signed up. But any way couple of things i have learnt that i haven't read so far in the topic.

My pump stalls sometimes but to get it going again just switch the pump off give it a light tap (impeller end) switch back on. Repeat if necessary. You will need to take the cover off, mines permanently off. But it will save you having to drain the lot to pull apart the impeller housing to inspect possible blockages etc.

Better efficiency, I've found, is to do a larger mash in water volume with smaller sparge. I believe due to the continual re-circulation most off the sugar's are extracted pre-sparge and from experience the SG is very low half way through sparge. Don't shoot me but works for me. Plus i'm a high gravity kind of kid.

Instead of using the Hop spider during the boil i use it to filter the wort during the five to ten minutes while sanitizing the chiller just before end of boil. I.e outlet of chiller fed into hop spider let liquid pass through hop gunk and trub left in mesh. I stop once or twice to empty gunk. I don't bother with the bottom filter anymore and the only floaties that get through is final hop addition which is easily cleared up when transferring for 2nd stage FV.

After sanitizing your chiller chuck in final hop addition turn off pump and run cold water through chiller this brings the copper coil temperature down dramatically quicker than if you were trying to transfer straight away with hot coils.

As i said i don't bother with bottom filter anymore and the ball and spring from the check valve are long gone. I realize my pump issues are probably due to extra solids getting through but once that filter clogs up, the flow through the chiller is painful. If you have to scrape it, your only pushing it through to the FV anyway. I find it's a much quicker transfer to cold side, since the filter is removed, retains more hop flavour/ aroma rather than waiting for it to all trickle through a blocked filter at higher temperatures.

Any way my 2 cents,
Happy brewing.

 

[Killer Brew]

Hi All,
First time poster here, mainly because of some kind of technical problem when i signed up. But any way couple of things i have learnt that i haven't read so far in the topic.

My pump stalls sometimes but to get it going again just switch the pump off give it a light tap (impeller end) switch back on. Repeat if necessary. You will need to take the cover off, mines permanently off. But it will save you having to drain the lot to pull apart the impeller housing to inspect possible blockages etc.

Better efficiency, I've found, is to do a larger mash in water volume with smaller sparge. I believe due to the continual re-circulation most off the sugar's are extracted pre-sparge and from experience the SG is very low half way through sparge. Don't shoot me but works for me. Plus i'm a high gravity kind of kid.

Instead of using the Hop spider during the boil i use it to filter the wort during the five to ten minutes while sanitizing the chiller just before end of boil. I.e outlet of chiller fed into hop spider let liquid pass through hop gunk and trub left in mesh. I stop once or twice to empty gunk. I don't bother with the bottom filter anymore and the only floaties that get through is final hop addition which is easily cleared up when transferring for 2nd stage FV.

After sanitizing your chiller chuck in final hop addition turn off pump and run cold water through chiller this brings the copper coil temperature down dramatically quicker than if you were trying to transfer straight away with hot coils.

As i said i don't bother with bottom filter anymore and the ball and spring from the check valve are long gone. I realize my pump issues are probably due to extra solids getting through but once that filter clogs up, the flow through the chiller is painful. If you have to scrape it, your only pushing it through to the FV anyway. I find it's a much quicker transfer to cold side, since the filter is removed, retains more hop flavour/ aroma rather than waiting for it to all trickle through a blocked filter at higher temperatures.

Any way my 2 cents,
Happy brewing.

Solid first post! I had wondered about mashing with more water and how it would go. Mine last night was 16L mash with a 16L sparge which seems excessive.

 

[N3MIS15]

What sort of effeciency are you guys getting with 9kg of grain? I calculate at around 72% eff with 9kg and seem to get my numbers. Im curious on what others are getting as my crush might not be perfect,
EDIT: just checked last batch and it was actually 70% not 72%

 

[Motmo]

Solid first post! I had wondered about mashing with more water and how it would go. Mine last night was 16L mash with a 16L sparge which seems excessive.

I know some of the sparge vols seem out there to say the least, with hindsight. I couldn't get any where near calculated gravities so just started doing some trial and error and found i wasn't losing as much to grain absorbtion and decided to do about 23 litres for mash in and about 6 litres sparge for a 6.5kg grain bill and still end up with around 26L pre boil and have numbers i'm happy with. Still Haven't mastered Beer Smith though work in progress.
What was your grain weight? Did you hit your numbers?

 

[Killer Brew]

Grain weight of 4.65kg and ended up with 26L @ 1045 preboil. Added a couple of litres of water and ended fairly much on target at 1043 for 28L preboil (target was 1042).

 

[Killer Brew]

What sort of effeciency are you guys getting with 9kg of grain? I calculate at around 72% eff with 9kg and seem to get my numbers. Im curious on what others are getting as my crush might not be perfect,
EDIT: just checked last batch and it was actually 70% not 72%

In my experience that is good efficiency with a large grain bill. I havent cracked 70% with high gravity on the GF which i have put down to small sparge. A few pages back somebody was having success with additional sparging into a second vessel and then adding back in as evaporation in both made space. I intend to give that a try next time around.

 

[panzerd18]

This sounds interesting!

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Looks like I will wait until October!

 

[HBHB]

Looks like I will wait until October!

No need. Plan is that new controller priced units once they're released will be the same price as current unit plus upgrade. The upgrade units will be reasonably priced, based on expected rrp.

If you get one now, you'll always have a "plan B" controller in the event of a mishap.

 

[Goodbeer]

Hello all

Bottled up my failed hefe, as I've now called it, on Thursday.

Ended up 1010, was hoping for a bit less, but gave me 4%, not the end of the world.

Tasted odd, certainly not a hefe, but might be ok with conditioning.

In the process of attempt 2, have changed the recipe a bit, used a different brewshop, but same mash steps...got a good feeling about this one.

Will post results...nothing real interesting, just said I'd post back on bottling and next brew.

Go beer

 

[carniebrew]

Hello all
Bottled up my failed hefe, as I've now called it, on Thursday.
Ended up 1010, was hoping for a bit less, but gave me 4%, not the end of the world.
Tasted odd, certainly not a hefe, but might be ok with conditioning.
In the process of attempt 2, have changed the recipe a bit, used a different brewshop, but same mash steps...got a good feeling about this one.
Will post results...nothing real interesting, just said I'd post back on bottling and next brew.
Go beer

Don't get too stressed about step mashing your hef's. I've been making this style regularly since my first ever home brew, it's the beer that got me in to craft in the first place. I've found step mashing to be unnecessary to make a great hefe, it's all about under pitching the yeast a little (I suggest around 80% of what you'd normally pitch on an ale), and fermenting at 17 degrees. And only ever with liquid yeast, preferably Wyeast 3068.