The Grainfather

[HBHB]

I have heard that the cleaner is mainly sodium metasilicate; a fairly common "brewers detergent". Not sure what the tetrasodium EDTA does to the mix, what percentage, or if there are any other ingredients.
I picked my Grainfather up during the week. All assembled and running some cleaner through it now, before the first brewday tomorrow.

Sodium meta silicate and a chelating agent. Good cleaner, but wear gloves.

Used some this morning and it's certainly a bloody good cleaning agent.

Andrew.....yup.

Spoke to one of the guys who got an early Christmas present about a half hr ago . 0.012 points OG over his BIAB recipe favourite and he's stoked.

 

[wambesi]

Does it come with a specific cleaner?

Surely PBW or other similar things would work fine.

 

[Maverick]

Hi guys,

Just managed to secure one of the last Grainfathers in the Xmas shipment from the lads over at Brewers Choice in Brisbane.

I've been contemplating a Braumeister system for about 8 months but could not justify the price given how many BIAB'ers are on these forums producing some brilliant (sounding) beers with much less outlay and a bit of good old fashion hard work.

So about to pick up an Urn based system and saw the Grainfather - what a great balance for price point, features and quality. I think there has been a hole in the market for a while at that point which these guys are going to plug up well.

My XP in brewing is limited, a few kit and kilo's, fresh wort kits and watching mates do their BIAB's so this is going to be my first 'all-grain' xp. Hoping to become a bit more active on this forum through it all too.

Not sure where to post this next question, so please advise if this is not the spot, but I'm wanting to tailor a recipe from Brewing Classic Styles (only cause i have the book) but am a bit concerned about 'scaling' the recipe to the Grainfather brewing instructions in terms of mash in water volumes and sparge water volumes for the Grainfather as the BCS book is simple single infusion with no sparge.
Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated. I'm thinking to start with a simple APA to get things off the ground but welcome any advice

Peace out and Merry xmas!

Mav

 

[Tahoose]

Do you have any brewing software? Brewmate is free to download, if you plug in your ingredients into that and then go to the brew day tab it will tell you "total water required".

I'd assume with this sort of system and a reasonable crush that you should be ok in assuming 75% efficiency for your first brew.

 

[wynnum1]

The all grain kits seem a little over priced

 

[Maverick]

Do you have any brewing software? Brewmate is free to download, if you plug in your ingredients into that and then go to the brew day tab it will tell you "total water required".

I'd assume with this sort of system and a reasonable crush that you should be ok in assuming 75% efficiency for your first brew.

Hi mate, yeah I've got BeerSmith (mobile) and managed to set up a rough profile with 75% efficiency to start of with and refine that over the average of about 5 brews I'd say. I guess i'm just a little hesitant to use a recipe from BCS and then use the simple grainfather calculations for mash/sparge water volumes. I'm probably overthinking it but I wanted to see what others had done or thought I'll give it a go and see what happens!

 

[bradsbrew]

Mashed in at 9.10. Chilled, pitched and unit cleaned by 1.00.

Pretty happy with that.

 

[HBHB]

The all grain kits seem a little over priced

Certainly not as cheap as you could put it together yourself. But, Re-wholesaled weighed, Packaged as they are to have a decent shelf life and freighted to LHBS so they can be used by Brewers not quite up to speed with how to do it cheaper on their own, don't know how or where to source ingredients or off the major freight routes, they're reasonably priced since nobody works for a bowl of rice here. It's just one way to get a recipe together in a hurry if needed.

 

[Blind Dog]

Hi mate, yeah I've got BeerSmith (mobile) and managed to set up a rough profile with 75% efficiency to start of with and refine that over the average of about 5 brews I'd say. I guess i'm just a little hesitant to use a recipe from BCS and then use the simple grainfather calculations for mash/sparge water volumes. I'm probably overthinking it but I wanted to see what others had done or thought I'll give it a go and see what happens!

You'll be fine. I've brewed s fair few BCSesque revipes (I just can't resist 'improving' the printed recipe) on a 20L BM without issue and don't see why the GF would be any different

 

[Maverick]

You'll be fine. I've brewed s fair few BCSesque revipes (I just can't resist 'improving' the printed recipe) on a 20L BM without issue and don't see why the GF would be any different

Thanks mate, thats good to know that someone is applying the BCS recipes on a similar system! I'm so excited. I cannot wait for it to arrive tomorrow!

 

[wynnum1]

Certainly not as cheap as you could put it together yourself. But, Re-wholesaled weighed, Packaged as they are to have a decent shelf life and freighted to LHBS so they can be used by Brewers not quite up to speed with how to do it cheaper on their own, don't know how or where to source ingredients or off the major freight routes, they're reasonably priced since nobody works for a bowl of rice here. It's just one way to get a recipe together in a hurry if needed.

Buying off , one of the online sellers in your state probably easier , cheaper and fresher .

 

[slcmorro]

Because I've had too many and it's XMas Day, I can't be arsed searching. Is anyone kind enough to list the Aus Distributors of the Grainfather here?

 

[HBHB]

Because I've had too many and it's XMas Day, I can't be arsed searching. Is anyone kind enough to list the Aus Distributors of the Grainfather here?

Pretty much nearly any bricks and mortar HBS will be able to source them mate.

Or do you want the wholesale distributors?

 

[buck_star]

I have got grain father cost me 900 kiwi, and loving it makes life easier.

 

[bradsbrew]

Certainly does. I done a 3 hr no chill this morning. Done by 10.30.

 

[iambj]

Funny old 3V systems are a thing of the past, remember some that had a HERMS thing attached to it as well? 4V :lol: :lol:

They worked but so antiquated these days.

 

[aamcle]

Bradsbrew/Buck_Star

Congrats on your new systems, liking what I've heard about the GF.

May I ask what is the diameter of the central overflow pipe? 15 or 22mm or bigger?

Thanks. Aamcle

 

[aamcle]

Many thanks. Aamcle

 

[paulmclaren11]

As a BM owner - a question to others who run a BM - would you consider selling up and getting one of these?

 

[Crusty]

As a BM owner - a question to others who run a BM - would you consider selling up and getting one of these?

No.

 

[tiprya]

I think my Braumeister is a nicer piece of kit, much simpler and more programmable, so I wouldn't sell it.

Having said that, it's not 2.5x as good, if the grainfather was around when I bought my braumeister, I think I would have saved my coin and gotten the grainfather.

 

[dicko]

No.

I think the GF is a good concept but it has a way to go to be as user friendly as the German Godfather :lol: :lol:

:icon_chickcheers: :icon_cheers:

 

[Crusty]

I think the GF is a good concept but it has a way to go to be as user friendly as the German Godfather :lol: :lol:

:icon_chickcheers: :icon_cheers:

I haven't seen one in the flesh so I can't really give an honest opinion but what little of it I have seen, it looks ok & certainly a step up from the Urn if you want the step mashing capabilities. Sure, you can do anything in the Urn as well but it's a darn site harder doing it manually. The price point is pretty good & it's not going to make less of a beer than the more expensive BM but I'm with the boys from Germany on this one. The BM has a very accurate temp control unit, I like the malt pipe, I now have both sizes & the workmanship is pretty awesome. Is it worth an extra couple of grand???? Probably not but I'm stoked that I own one.
It all boils down to what you can afford really & the reviews on the GF seem pretty positive.

 

[tiprya]

If urns are $300-400, then I reckon the grainfather is a bargain. [SIZE=14.1666660308838px]Comes with temp control, and a chiller - you'd have to be pretty skint to use an[/SIZE] urn for BIAB now.

 

[Feldon]

If urns are $300-400, then I reckon the grainfather is a bargain. [SIZE=14.16px]Comes with temp control, and a chiller - you'd have to be pretty skint to use an[/SIZE] urn for BIAB now.

And so, in the final days of the fourteenth year of the new millennium the Urn Wars began...

 

[Bomber Watson]

R2 Urn2?

Had a chat with the owner of the LHBS yesterday morning, he will have one in stock shortly....

So, the only question in my mind, do i buy one now, or wait six months and see if they bring out any more flash options....Hmmm.

Cheers.

 

[Autopilot80]

And so, in the final days of the fourteenth year of the new millennium the Urn Wars began...

... and to the victor the spoils, they urn'd it.

 

[wambesi]

I thought I'd share my first brew day on the Grainfather - http://bit.ly/1xAWHzU

I was going to do a video but that will come in a brew day or two time.

 

[slcmorro]

Am I right in assuming that there are no units anywhere left for sale in Aus at the moment?

 

[panzerd18]

Am I right in assuming that there are no units anywhere left for sale in Aus at the moment?

Sunbury home brew has one for sale in store.