The Grainfather

[squeaker]

 

[moodgett]

Wow im seriously considering this being my step up to all grain. I was looking at an urn. But also potentially a BM and this looks like it will fit my requirements quite well. Although im thinking mainly about the sparging part, I dont have an urn and currently have a couple of 11-12 litre pots. Would rather keep everything happening in the shed and away from the kitchen. whats the minimum sparge water amount would be you guys know? I may be able to get a small butane burner to heat sparge water on that

Or it it possible to do a no sparge in this system?

Cheers

 

[Dan Pratt]

Moodget. I sparge my BM 20Lt with 8lts of water from the tap @ 58c, to get that to 75c it requires a couple of quick boils of the kettle and add those to the sparge water. Sparging is rinsing and you only need to avoid +80c temps ( tannins ) and the use of 75c water for sparging is for viscocity, but this system GF and the BM both use a gravity drain through the grain bed and can be done at any temp.

 

[moodgett]

Moodget. I sparge my BM 20Lt with 8lts of water from the tap @ 58c, to get that to 75c it requires a couple of quick boils of the kettle and add those to the sparge water. Sparging is rinsing and you only need to avoid +80c temps ( tannins ) and the use of 75c water for sparging is for viscocity, but this system GF and the BM both use a gravity drain through the grain bed and can be done at any temp.

Awesome, thanks mate, now just to negotiate further with the minister

 

[blotto]

I reckon I'd be able to plug the Grainfather straight into my "Matho Controller", the only thing I can't see on it is the power in. I'm looking forward to checking these out when Nev gets a few in.

 

[black_labb]

I'm pretty impressed with the price (995 NZ$). Setting up my single vessel system probably cost about AU$ 400 which didn't include the keggle. Much of my cost was expensive stainless fittings and I don't know if they can do a programmed step mash.

 

[MCHammo]

The grainfather won't do a programmed step mash out of the box (but you can do one manually). Word is that they're working on a more advanced controller, capable of step mashes. No idea on an ETA, but I'm expecting several months at least. As it happens, I am also working on such a device. Similar ETA (if it ever gets past prototype - needed adequate motivation).

Should expect to see the grainfathers on the market in the next week or two (hopefully the former!) Pre-ordered mine. Eagerly awaiting news.

 

[MastersBrewery]

The grainfather uses a lower model stc which has a 10k NTC probe, the simplest solution to step mash would then be a hacked stc1000. The guys over at HBT have been working on the firmware for a while. The STC1000+ firmware I believe is complete and aimed at fermentation steps. The next iteration is aimed at mashing it's using the PI part of PID to control temps I don't know if they are at release yet but for a cheap plug in upgrade might be the way to go for some check it out here

 

[Snow]

Well I'm convinced and ordered a Grainfather from Santa

For those of you who have one, have you managed to make it work with Beersmith? eg what equipment profile did you use?

Cheers - Snow.

 

[Batz]

Well I'm convinced and ordered a Grainfather from Santa

For those of you who have one, have you managed to make it work with Beersmith? eg what equipment profile did you use?

Cheers - Snow.

Merry Christmas Snow! :super:

Looks like a nice piece of brew ****, I look forward to seeing some pictures.
You will be able to use Beersmith, plenty of BM owners do.

Batz

 

[moodgett]

Woot joined the club of pre orders

Oh by the way. With the testing being done. What has the total grain bill amount been?
And on another note. Does the unit ship with some cleaner?

 

[aamcle]

Just a quick question, what is the mesh size (holes per inch) of the top filter plate?

I'm supposed to be building a Breweasy type I've even modified a float valve for the auto sparge.
With typical indecision, I was dumb enough to start thinking about it, I find I like the idea of no moving parts and a constant Max flow through the system.

Many Thanks. Aamcle

 

[Snow]

Merry Christmas Snow! :super:

Looks like a nice piece of brew ****, I look forward to seeing some pictures.
You will be able to use Beersmith, plenty of BM owners do.

Batz

Oh you will, Batz! Brew **** comin your way.

:beerbang:

 

[HBHB]

Woot joined the club of pre orders

Oh by the way. With the testing being done. What has the total grain bill amount been?
And on another note. Does the unit ship with some cleaner?

We've done 9.00kg, 8.7, 7.6, 7.4, 6.9, and yesterday an 8.87on a huge Double Chocolate Oatmeal Stout But, most have been in the range of 3.6 kg through 5.8kg.

There will be a container of their cleaner shipped with each unit to get you through the first few batches.

 

[moodgett]

We've done 9.00kg, 8.7, 7.6, 7.4, 6.9, and yesterday an 8.87on a huge Double Chocolate Oatmeal Stout But, most have been in the range of 3.6 kg through 5.8kg.

There will be a container of their cleaner shipped with each unit to get you through the first few batches.

Thanks for that HBHB

What sort of water to grain ratio were you using?

 

[denemc]

I've done a handful of brews on my GF and as an early adopter with the first generation model I've experienced the problems that are well documented. Excluding the chiller none of these problems are big and generally they will be fixed in the next model due out soon. The old chiller was a complete disaster and I'm pleased that this has been redesigned. They are also replacing all of the first generation chillers at no cost - not many companies would go that far. These guys are going to look after their customers.

As far as quality goes I'm pretty happy. The components aren't braumeister quality but they also aren't rubbish. Their goal was to keep the price down and the quality at a reasonable level and they have achieved that.

My brew day is 5 hours from filling my strike water to finishing cleaning. But most of the first few hours it's just doing it's thing heating strike water or pumping through the mash so you aren't really doing much - I could probably bring this down further by being more efficient. The beer quality is excellent and if you know what you are doing you can minimise the trub. A hop spider is a must.

My brew days on the Grainfather are the easiest I have ever had. Coming from BIAB to a 3v and now to the GF my brew days are stress free and I can spend more time refining my technique and recipes rather than worrying about upgrades, breakdowns and so on. There's a great community online and I have started a Grainfather Users group on facebook.

I have typically used 4.5-6 kg of grain no problem and it's obvious that you can use a larger grain bill as the mash basket is huge. I've even talked to guys that have done double batches with 9 kg of grain and top it up in the fermenter. Mash efficiency is around 85% and brewhouse around 76%.

This truly is a fantastic system and I don't know of anyone who had purchased one that regrets it. I sound like a fan boy here, but when I first saw the GF I thought it was rubbish - after using it I'd never go back to a 3v as there's not really anything on a 3v that can't be done on the GF. In fact the equivalent 3v with step mashing, recirculation, pumps, 85% efficiency and a counterflow chiller would cost a lot more than the GF.

Dene

 

[Snow]

Thanks for the great review, HG. Makes me feel even better that I've put an order in!

Do you use Beersmith for recipe formulation? If so, do you mind sharing what settings you are using for the equipment profile?

Cheers - Snow

 

[denemc]

I've got the GF Profile from the manufacturer that I'm using. It's available in the Grainfather Users Group on FB as a download and you can just import it, or here's a screen shot.

 

[Snow]

I've got the GF Profile from the manufacturer that I'm using. It's available in the Grainfather Users Group on FB as a download and you can just import it, or here's a screen shot.

Awesome, thanks HG!

 

[HBHB]

Thanks for that HBHB

What sort of water to grain ratio were you using?

Been following the simple formula supplied for simplicity. Works.

(Grain weight in kg X 2.7) + 3.5 = strike (mash) water

(28-Mash water) + (Grain bill kg x 0.8) = sparge water volume

Pretty much hits around the 28L mark preboil which works