About to get a Grainfather, couple of Qs

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Fingathing said:
I've just purchased the new grainfather from the home brew company using the forums discount. It work out at about ��£660 after discount and you get a free mash kit worth between ��£12-��£18 and a free bottle of sanitiser. Looks like it will arrive tomorrow or Friday. Can't wait.
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Help! I can't see where in the HBC order process the free mash kit and steriliser options appear. I am about to check out but no freebies. :-(

Edit: I'm answering my own questions here: you put the name of the freebie mash kit in the special information box at checkout (thanks Shane at HBC).
 
MagnusTS said:
Help! I can't see where in the HBC order process the free mash kit and steriliser options appear. I am about to check out but no freebies. :-(

Edit: I'm answering my own questions here: you put the name of the freebie mash kit in the special information box at checkout (thanks Shane at HBC).
Click to expand...

Hope you got it sorted out. I had a few questions too which were answered quickly by Shane. They use DPD as their courier so if you get the DPD app you can gps track it to your door. Which mash kit did you go for?
 
MagnusTS said:
Sorry to be dim, but where do I find the forum discount code for HBC?
I've been wrestling with my conscience about spending so much money an a lovely GrainFather.
But all this talk of prices going up because of exchange rate has persuaded me I need to do this sooner rather than later.

Edit: sorry, just looked this up found link to code posted by MyQul and Chippy_Tea (thanks folks!) in a similar thread. Is the code that ends in '16' still valid?

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=64575
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It will no doubt depend on the stock that they have within the country and the Pound V NZ dollar exchange rate but prices have went up sharply over the last 6 months or so, Brexit in 2 years time could see the price drop a lot or increase further depending how trade agreements workout for foreign imports, it is rare though for prices to ever drop enough to make you kick yourself.
 
Fingathing said:
Hope you got it sorted out. I had a few questions too which were answered quickly by Shane. They use DPD as their courier so if you get the DPD app you can gps track it to your door. Which mash kit did you go for?
Click to expand...

I've gone for the American Pale Ale.

But I've not pulled the trigger yet. It's still sitting in the shopping cart waiting for me to confirm order. I'm still wrestling with the angst of spending £660 on brewing. :-?

Also just read on another thread that people have less trouble with the Bulldog than the GF.
 
MagnusTS said:
I've gone for the American Pale Ale.

But I've not pulled the trigger yet. It's still sitting in the shopping cart waiting for me to confirm order. I'm still wrestling with the angst of spending �£660 on brewing. :-?

Also just read on another thread that people have less trouble with the Bulldog than the GF.
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More people have bought the Grainfather than the other two put together, so I am sure there have been more with problems.
Customer service is good with Grainfather, don't know about the others.
 
the bulldog is a lot cheaper and while ive no direct experience with a bulldog the cost savings are evident, the Upgrades of the G/F CFC Hop filter And controller stand as strong evidence of the parent team responding to feedback and the ongoing development.

Imho the major black mark against the bulldog is its limited controller and its position ;), I could live with the simple friction seal fit of silicone tube to connect pumps and flow returns etc, but on my knees neck bent down at groin level peering upside-down at a controller with my glasses slipping off is far from an attractive brewday prospect ;)

i do have a g/f Mk1 so am biased ;)
 
Thanks for the reassurances folks. I've pulled the trigger. The GF has been ordered.
Now just got to work out how to break it to the family.

Some back of the envelope calculations:
Nice supermarket beers are about £1.80, mash kits work out at about 30p per pint, so I only have to make 440 pints (10 brews) to recoup the £660 cost of the GF.
Mind you compared to kit brews (~60p per pint) I would have to do 65 brews to cover the cost of the GF.

Maybe I'll just hide it in the garage and not mention it to the wife.
 
MagnusTS said:
Thanks for the reassurances folks. I've pulled the trigger. The GF has been ordered.
Now just got to work out how to break it to the family.

Some back of the envelope calculations:
Nice supermarket beers are about �£1.80, mash kits work out at about 30p per pint, so I only have to make 440 pints (10 brews) to recoup the �£660 cost of the GF.
Mind you compared to kit brews (~60p per pint) I would have to do 65 brews to cover the cost of the GF.

Maybe I'll just hide it in the garage and not mention it to the wife.
Click to expand...

But kits are not a patch on all grain so you can only really compare to bottles, even then you can brew better.
 
MagnusTS said:
Thanks for the reassurances folks. I've pulled the trigger. The GF has been ordered.
Now just got to work out how to break it to the family.

Some back of the envelope calculations:
Nice supermarket beers are about �£1.80, mash kits work out at about 30p per pint, so I only have to make 440 pints (10 brews) to recoup the �£660 cost of the GF.
Mind you compared to kit brews (~60p per pint) I would have to do 65 brews to cover the cost of the GF.

Maybe I'll just hide it in the garage and not mention it to the wife.
Click to expand...

A forum member made a graph showing the return on investment for a Grainfather, it turned out it was worth it from a monetary perspective. But also factor in a "I'm paying to do my hobby" tax in the cost, which is well worth it, and the returns look better.
 
Ha, it all packs up neatly inside the kettle too (not inculding the sparge heater in this) so could be stashed in its delivery box at a pinch ;)


When calculating costs and vfm etc, Dont forget the well deserved smug feeling of satisfaction as you contemplate a full glass of your own eminently suppable beer ;) Priceless !!
 
jceg316 said:
A forum member made a graph showing the return on investment for a Grainfather, it turned out it was worth it from a monetary perspective. But also factor in a "I'm paying to do my hobby" tax in the cost, which is well worth it, and the returns look better.
Click to expand...


I remember being surprised at how quick you could break even, that thread is worth a bump.
 
Well the GF arrived. Very quick delivery and excellent service from HBC. And a nice discount using the forum code - thanks folks.

So, can anybody tell me how to put a mash kit recipe into the GF connect app, without having to go through Beersmith (which I don't have) and exporting a Beersmith beerXML file to Dropbox, and then importing that into the GF connect app? I don't seem to be able to just enter a recipe on the GF Connect app. Maybe I am being dim again.

Thanks.
 
MagnusTS said:
Well the GF arrived. Very quick delivery and excellent service from HBC. And a nice discount using the forum code - thanks folks.

So, can anybody tell me how to put a mash kit recipe into the GF connect app, without having to go through Beersmith (which I don't have) and exporting a Beersmith beerXML file to Dropbox, and then importing that into the GF connect app? I don't seem to be able to just enter a recipe on the GF Connect app. Maybe I am being dim again.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

If you go to quick profile you can name the recipe and enter all the weights, hops and steps for the GF to run. Once you have done that all you need to do is connect to the GF and press the plus button at the bottom then select quick profile and your recipe. Worked a treat for my first brew on it, which was a punk IPA. Btw have you had an issue with the recirculation arm as I had to remove the safety valve to get it to work. l also had to file the edges of the grain basket as they were razor sharp and ended up cutting my hand on brew day. I'm still happy with it though. :thumb:
 
or open the grainfather manual to the brew page, take your biab recipe grain bill mass and pop that into the simple strike n sparge formula ;)
 
Fil said:
Ha, it all packs up neatly inside the kettle too (not inculding the sparge heater in this) so could be stashed in its delivery box at a pinch ;)
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Fil, when you stash it all away do you put the counterflow chiller inside the grain basket, resting on the bottom perforated plate? It fits nicely like that, but I am worried that the weight of the chiller might bend the bottom plate.

Thanks.
 
And while I'm at it, one more GF noob question:

What is this big red button on the base of the unit? Main power switch? Boil switch? I can't find any reference to it in the manual.

As you can tell I've not switched the GF on yet. But I know from Gary Oldman in The Fifth Element that you shouldn't go pressing big red buttons willy nilly.

IMG_2816.jpg


fifthelement326.jpg
 
MagnusTS said:
And while I'm at it, one more GF noob question:

What is this big red button on the base of the unit? Main power switch? Boil switch? I can't find any reference to it in the manual.

As you can tell I've not switched the GF on yet. But I know from Gary Oldman in The Fifth Element that you shouldn't go pressing big red buttons willy nilly.
Click to expand...

The red switch is to operate the element.
 
MagnusTS said:
And while I'm at it, one more GF noob question:

What is this big red button on the base of the unit? Main power switch? Boil switch? I can't find any reference to it in the manual.

As you can tell I've not switched the GF on yet. But I know from Gary Oldman in The Fifth Element that you shouldn't go pressing big red buttons willy nilly.
Click to expand...

This button controls the power going to the element. When switched to mash it reduces the power to 500 watts to avoid scorching and more accurately control the mash temperature. It's explained on page 7 of your manual.

Edit: If you've got the new controller, which I haven't yet, I believe you just leave the button switched to 'normal' and the controller reduces the power as necessary. I also believe when they have sold all the stocks of the current Grainfather the new model won't have this switch as it won't be needed.
 

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