Grainfather Maiden Voyage

[Anavrin]

Hi Guys

It's been a long time since I did any serious grain brewing but I've finally got the bug again, I was thinks my of building my own Braumeister type system by buying the standard 20lt malt tube and building it into a thermopot with and element, pump etc.

But time being at a premium and after a little research I decided to take a punt on the Grainfather, I did a brew the other week on my old 3 vessel setup, which I don't really have the space for anymore, it was good to get my hand back into AG but my numbers where way out I ended up with only 19lt after the boil when I was aiming for 25lt, anyway at least it fits in a cornie

I've found the Grainfather app for my phone and it seems like a pretty good guide to remind you what to press and when, it also calculates mash water and sparge water for the required brew length, and tells you what element setting to use an when, has anyone used this app? Is it ok to follow or are there any pit falls to be wary of?

I'm trying to keep my first brew simple, a 25lt IPA, so far I've figured there's 2 litres dead space in the boiler and about 3lt an hour boil off, so to end up with 25lt after the boil I will need 30lt in there before the boil starts, does this sound about right for a 1 hour boil or will there be any more losses I've not taken into account?

I've also mounted the counter flow chiller away from the pot as I didn't like the idea of it setting on top of the glass lid.

[Anavrin]

Hmmm, just had my first ever stuck mash, had to add another litre of water and give it a good stir to loosen up the grain, I used the standard GF calculation of grain weight x 2.7 + 3.5, seems it needed just a little more!

I'll update some more as I go on, some is still going down the overflow but I've read this can happen for the first 15 mins or so.

[Hairybiker]

Never used the GF app a sit is iphone only. I have never had a stuck mash on it (ok only done 4!)
Last one was 6Kg malt in 20L.
Did you turn the pump on and sparge during the mash? Push the top filter down fully?

I find I get 23L using 28L at start of boil (60 min)

[Anavrin]

Hi HairyBiker

Yes I had the pump on during the mash, that's how I discovered it was stuck, everything was going down the overflow and when I turned it off the level didn't drop, I'll just have to be a little more generous with the mash water in future, the app works well so far, I was even able to adjust the mash water used and it automatically reduced the sparge water by the same amount.

I didn't push the top filter down firm though, I just let it rest on the top of the grain bed, sparge went ok and it's now boiling with the first lot of hops, the hot break was a close one! My old 3V boiler was 50lt so I didn't have to worry too much with 29lt in there, I guess I can go and clean the malt tube now

[Anavrin]

Ok finished, still took me around 6 hours, but as it was my first run with the Grainfather I was taking my time, I also did the school run and stopped to eat my tea in between jobs

I found the rolling boil to be perfect for the size of boiler and the counter flow cooler worked perfectly in a single pass to get the wort down to 24°c, even the first runnings through it at the end of the boil where clear straight away, I don't think a single bit of grain or hop leaf made it into the fermenter.

All in all, I've always thought these all in one all grain systems where a bit of a gimmic and way overpriced, but now I've got one and used it, I must say over all I'm quite impressed with it, I can see it producing some great beers with a high degree of consistency between brews, I still think personally it's overpriced, but they seem to be getting more and more popular and be selling like hot cakes!

[D4nny74]

Hi

I followed this using beersmith , for my equipment profile, its spot on for me


http://back-2-basics.com.au/How-To-Page ... beer-smith

[orlando]

Hi

I followed this using beersmith , for my equipment profile, its spot on for me


http://back-2-basics.com.au/How-To-Page ... beer-smith

Find the Add Ons in BS2 and it now contains both BM and GF profiles.

[Fil]

sounds like a good brewday.. the one pot system really shines at the end of the day with a way smaller clean up job,

top marks for spotting the stuck mash, i dont think i would have done so with my first g/f brew, i would probably have accepted it running back thru the central overflow for the duration..

iirc my first g/f brew was just over 5 hours, but i was focused on the brewing, mainly

[Anavrin]

Yeah it was a good day, it was way more efficient than I expected, my SG was 1.050 but I was aiming for 1.042, now I've done my first run with it, I'll make a few adjustments and fine tune it a little for next time, it was a very stress free brew day in comparison to some on my old 3V setup.

I've got Beersmith and down loaded the GF profile, not had too much time but I think it needs a tweek here and there to get it perfect, the GF App was most useful, it can't formulate recipes, but if you've already got you recipe, you can then input it and save it in the GF App and it will do the rest, with alarms and notifications for each stage of the brewday, if no ones already done a review of the Grainfather App, I might put one together with some screen shots etc.

[InsideEdge]

Good write up. Really thinking of splashing out on one of these.

Like you I've already got a 3 vessel setup, so I need a way of justifying it to myself!!

[Fil]

Good write up. Really thinking of splashing out on one of these.

Like you I've already got a 3 vessel setup, so I need a way of justifying it to myself!!

Shirley wanting is enough and the space saving and lighter cleaning needs could help sell it to an on the fence partner/boss