The Grainfather

[panzerd18]

Most HBS in Melbourne will be able to access them. Like all things brewing related, whether they choose to stock them will be up to the store owners.

I think worldwide demand is going to be huge.

 

[real_beer]

If it hasn't been linked here yet this YouTube video gives a good first time user out of the box review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY29_865C8o

 

[Bribie G]

Busier than a one armed painter with the crabs :lol:

And now for the cleanup.

Thanks for the video, real_beer, will stick with my current tried and tested, and simple, system.

 

[Bridges]

Busier than a one armed painter with the crabs :lol:

Looked OK to me. The vid condenses the whole brew into 30 mins he only actually shows you the bits when he is doing something, also his first go at it. I seem way busier when I brew. I currently biab with a 32litre pot on a burner and generally when I'm brewing I'm also looking after kids, mowing the lawn or doing 6 other tasks so it seriously tempts me. As I thought it looked pretty straight forward. I just wish I could get it cheaper and without the chiller as I think I'd never use it, happy with no chill currently.

 

[Bribie G]

That's another point, in NZ and UK, the mains water is bloody freezing in most places and there's no shortage of it. Quite the opposite in much of Australia. If it came without the chiller and a couple of hundred cheaper that would be a bonus.

 

[Linz]

picked mine up today and assembled it and now need some time to play with it

 

[Linz]

meant to ask last night if there's been a hack on the cleaning substance...ie: sod perc(no name nappy wash)??

noticed it lists the chemicals but wondered if we have a chem guru who knows a general access item that is the same??

contains sodium metasilicate and tetrasodium EDTA......WOW caustic burns??

 

[MCHammo]

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.

 

[Batz]

picked mine up today and assembled it and now need some time to play with it

I talked to someone in Gympie today who received theirs as well, couldn't knock his smile off with a stick! :lol:

 

[AndrewQLD]

meant to ask last night if there's been a hack on the cleaning substance...ie: sod perc(no name nappy wash)??

noticed it lists the chemicals but wondered if we have a chem guru who knows a general access item that is the same??

contains sodium metasilicate and tetrasodium EDTA......WOW caustic burns??

Still Spirits the company are very good at this, they make a product and then develop "support" products that will facilitate the use of the original product. It really is good business sense.

 

[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!