Back on deck after a very long day yesterday following a late mash in and 5 1/2 hr trip home thanks to roadworks.
Pics & roundup of the Grainfather (this is actually the MkII, which has just been released in NZ, though the test unit has already clocked up about 50 odd brews & travelled some 50,000klm)
Gives a basic idea of the set up. Effective, simple, compact and utilitarian.
Select strike temp to wherever you want it and go wash the dishes (or have a beer) doesn't take long.
Mash in as normal, hit the switch to recirculate or choose your mash step temp and power up the smaller element. Steps take a few minutes to reach. Pretty effective really.
Once you reach mash-out temp, attach the handle and lift the basket, rotate to support. let it drain. Go pour another beer. As you near the end of drain, flick on the larger element to ramp for boil
Boil is vigorous enough @ around 8-10% boil off (can't remember exactly what it was)
Attach the counter flow wort chiller and pour another beer. In summer in hot weather, a small pre-chiller in some ice/water would be of benefit, depending on your water temperatures.
Is it perfect? No. But it is excellent & I believe good value at under AUD $1k
All in all, an impressive piece of kit that will make brew days that much easier for a lot of brewers.
Ramping times are pretty good, boil is sufficiently vigorous, It can mash in up to about 9kg of grain, though it's a rather thick mash. Pump is efficient & quiet.
IMHO, it's a pretty impressive unit based on first exposure to it.
