Grainfather vs Biab

[doctr-dan]

Howdy howdy howdy

So it's my 11th year wedding anniversary coming up and I feel I deserve something. So I floated the idea of a Grainfather which seemed to float okay at this point.
Before firm up the idea I have a few questions

Is it as hassle free clean and compact as it seems?

How long does a brew day with the grainfather take from getting your gear out to putting it away again?

What's the the cost of your average brew? Please specify if you buy bulk or just enough for each brew?

I read something about its harder to get a high alcohol beer? Please explain? I'm assuming you still are able to brew 6% etc . What's the disadvantage? Do higher alcohol beers have more flavour or is it just a get pissed quicker thing?

BIAB ?

Cost of setup?

Length of brew day?

The setup itself is it still something you can setup on the floor or bench of the kitchen like the grainfather?

Is it as compact?

Does it create more mess etc hoisting the bag up or anything like that?

I'm sure I'll think of more questions.

Things to keep in mind, I have a 5yr old and a newborn is about to hit the eject button in the next few weeks so I need to keep it safe.
While a brew day is always going to be a brew day I would like to keep it as hassle free as possible.
As far as brews go, I have done mainly done kits and bits , a few extracts and one Biab in a 30l urn

Pictures etc would be appreciated then I can visualise what I would need to store etc

Any other tips or things you can think of.
Thanks

 

[slcmorro]

Is it as hassle free clean and compact as it seems?

Yes.

How long does a brew day with the grainfather take from getting your gear out to putting it away again?

For me who no chills, I can be done in as little as 4 hrs with a quick wipe down and rinse.

What's the the cost of your average brew? Please specify if you buy bulk or just enough for each brew?

Really depends on what you brew. I bulk buy up to 150kgs of malt at a time and hops in larger sizes too, so this one is kind of an open ended question. On average, if a batch is costing you more than $30 for ingredients alone (unless you spend $14ish every time on liquid yeast of course), you're on the upper end of the scale.

I read something about its harder to get a high alcohol beer? Please explain? I'm assuming you still are able to brew 6% etc . What's the disadvantage? Do higher alcohol beers have more flavour or is it just a get pissed quicker thing?

Again, another open ended question and one that adds in the subjective factor of personal taste. You can do higher ABV beers in the GF, but your overall yield will be lower due to the mashing/handling capacities of more grain, less water. There are plenty of threads and discussions on this topic in particular. 6% is as easy as pie. You start struggling when you're trying to pump out batches with 9+ kgs of grain to achieve a much higher ABV.

BIAB ?

Cost of setup?

3/5ths of **** all really. A pot/vessel, something to heat the pot (gas stove, gas burner) and a bit of muslin cloth/grain bag. Maybe a spoon/mash paddle too. As little as $30, depending on what you can find and/or have lying around.

Length of brew day?

Depends how long it takes for you to reach strike temp and then boiling, plus your own regimented cleanup routine and/or chilling etc. I used to average 6 hrs on my gas fired CUB keggle setup, including heating strike water and then no chilling.

The setup itself is it still something you can setup on the floor or bench of the kitchen like the grainfather?

Mine wasn't as compact, but still not overly huge. A CUB keg on a custom built stand with a gas bottle and a simple 1:1 pulley system above on a rafter to lift the bag.

Is it as compact?

No and yes. Depends on your own setup.

Does it create more mess etc hoisting the bag up or anything like that?

It has potential to, yes. Depends how clumsy you are.

I'm sure I'll think of more questions.

Things to keep in mind, I have a 5yr old and a newborn is about to hit the eject button in the next few weeks so I need to keep it safe.
While a brew day is always going to be a brew day I would like to keep it as hassle free as possible.
As far as brews go, I have done mainly done kits and bits , a few extracts and one Biab in a 30l urn

Pictures etc would be appreciated then I can visualise what I would need to store etc

Any other tips or things you can think of.
Thanks

There are plenty of pics of BIAB setups getting around the place. For the simple ease of use and the electric vs gas fired factor, I picked my Grainfather over BIABing for a couple of years. I now have hassle free brew days, where I can get a consistent product everytime with a lot of hands off effort. I regularly brew 2 x 20L batches in a day, sometimes as quickly as 6 hrs if I chill the first batch and collect the hot water for the next mash or if I partigyle brew.

Hope this helps.

 

[welly2]

I've done biab, 3 vessel and now Grainfather. You can make great beer with any of those three methods and the cost of getting a system in place rise in that order.

I'm settled on my Grainfather until a. I want to make more beer at a time and b. I have more space. I used to brew with my Grainfather in an small apartment.

What does the Grainfather do that biab doesn't? Probably offers more flexibility and control. With the exception of a few occasional fluctuations, when you're mashing and set the mash temperature, that's what you get from start to finish. In my experience, you don't get the same accuracy from biab but I'm sure some people do.

Otherwise, they're both a means to an end - making beer. If you've got the money for a Grainfather, I'd get one. They're a brilliant piece of equipment.

Can you do high alcohol beers? Absolutely. You'll get up to 9kg of grain in a Grainfather although you're pushing the limit. But you can always make smaller batches of strong beer. If you make a half batch, 9kg of grain will make you a face puncher of a beer.

The Grainfather won't make beer for you and won't really do anything you'd have to do with biab or a 3 vessel system but it does make it easier and less messy with great accuracy.

 

[AJS2154]

So it's my 11th year wedding anniversary coming up and I feel I deserve something.

I think you deserve something too doc.....if its anything like my place you probably should have a whip and a chair most nights. Failing that, please be the recipient of my married mans' well deserved medal.

 

[pist]

I think the grainfather is a fantastic unit, BUT, the capacity is what kills it for me. Time to brew is a premium for me due to family and work commitments so brewing more beer less often is what works in my situation. No chill has been a god send

 

[doctr-dan]

I think the grainfather is a fantastic unit, BUT, the capacity is what kills it for me. Time to brew is a premium for me due to family and work commitments so brewing more beer less often is what works in my situation. No chill has been a god send

I don't think the capacity is a issue for me, if Im organising a brew day Im sure I can do back to back if I wanted

 

[doctr-dan]

I think you deserve something too doc.....if its anything like my place you probably should have a whip and a chair most nights. Failing that, please be the recipient of my married mans' well deserved medal.

A whip and chair does sound exciting though!

 

[hellbent]

A whip and chair does sound exciting though!

50 Lashes??

 

[doctr-dan]

A friend does 40ltr batches and the cost was $200 to brew a Hop Hog style!
Is this common?

 

[kaiserben]

A friend does 40ltr batches and the cost was $200 to brew a Hop Hog style!
Is this common?

Using a Grainfather, my batches range from $30-$70 for 23L (about 21L into packaging).

$50-55 is what most 21L batches cost.

$70 was for a double IPA with 300g hops.

And those costs include having the ingredients couriered to me.

 

[MastersBrewery]

Milage with all grain costs vary. Bulk buy grain works out to $2-3 a kilo spec malt around $5. Hops bought in bulk around $60kg. Then there's yeast well if your frugal and grow split and freeze, it can be as cheap as $5. So my belgian tripple double batch will come in at $40 malt $12 hops $40 belgian candy ( yes could have made this at home far cheaper) and $15 yeast; 48L of 12%beer less than $120.

 

[bradsbrew]

A friend does 40ltr batches and the cost was $200 to brew a Hop Hog style!
Is this common?

Wow. My last batch of session bitter, 107 Litres, cost

$45 - grain
$25 - hops
$10- yeast

Throw in an extra $20 for gas and electricity to brew and ferment. I would still be around 100 bucks for 100 Litres of 4.2 % beer.

For $140 I could easily get 140 L of 6% IPA. (34 kg of grain and 1.3 kg hops) Obviously I buy my grain by the sack.

Cheers

 

[Rocker1986]

My batches vary between 21 and 25 litres depending on which cubes I use. I use the smaller cubes for keg only batches. These almost always come in under $30 for all ingredients. I re-use yeast a number of times to reduce that cost, especially with the liquid strains. Because I don't really know how many re-uses I'll get, I just put the whole yeast price into the costing for the first batch it's used in, and then $0 for the following ones. My last batch of German lager cost $16.66 for 24 litres, but it did contain home grown hops for some of the hop bill too.

 

[indica86]

Is this common?

No even slightly.
My favourite 7.5% beer costs $20 for 22 litres.

 

[Blind Dog]

A friend does 40ltr batches and the cost was $200 to brew a Hop Hog style!
Is this common?

Depends on the recipe, whether you buy in bulk or just for the recipe, where you shop, type of yeast used and whether you pick up or have to add freight costs. However, $5 a litre does seem excessive. My standard beers (say 4.5% ABV and 30 to 40 IBU) cost around $1.50 to $2 a litre for ingredients, electricty and incidentals. Bigger beers cost

 

[doctr-dan]

How do most Grainfather users heat up there sparge water? I've been watching a few YouTube clips etc and noticed a few seem to have a urn as well for this purpose.
Is this common ?

 

[GalBrew]

How do most Grainfather users heat up there sparge water? I've been watching a few YouTube clips etc and noticed a few seem to have a urn as well for this purpose.
Is this common ?

I use the Grainfather urn. Seems to work fine.

 

[slcmorro]

A regular old urn.

 

[doctr-dan]

So you really you need to add this onto the price of the grainfather is what Im getting at.

 

[SBOB]

So you really you need to add this onto the price of the grainfather is what Im getting at.

Or suffer a very small efficiency hit and cold water sparge