HarrowBrewer
Regular.
That's what I reckoned from the instructions, but there doesn't seem to be one. I'll email the supplier and see!
Grainfather trial feedback
- Thread starter ManseMasher
- Start date
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Soton
some random guy
Have you tried turning the sliding overflow pipe over end and fitting it that way as you may have it upside down
HarrowBrewer
Regular.
That's what I have, but it just slides straight over the bottom pipe, whichever end is which.
A bit of tweeting with a pair of pliers might be the answer
Soton
some random guy
You just need to push those springs you can see in the picture closer together so they grip on tighter to the pipe it slides over
Soton
some random guy
Just thinking about the idea of on the Grainfather of using the runnings to sparge the grains with, will this change anything? By that I mean is clean water better for cleaning through the grains to extract the remaining sugars, would using the runnings maybe extract more unwanted tannins ect, or is using the runnings to sparge with a better idea the with certain beers?
Dose anyone know anymore about this?
I think it is not unusual to re-circulate the first runnings back through the grain at the start of the sparge. Ideally you want to use clean water for the main sparge so my suggestion is a compromise.
During the mash with the GF it is re-circulating the wort through the grains and I suppose what I am suggesting is to extend this process into the sparge and then let the grains drain.
The only way to find out is to try it.
HarrowBrewer
Regular.
I just turn the boiler off before I attach the chiller, doesn't seem to have done any harm...I could have sworn the instructions said to but it's been a while since I read them.
Soton
some random guy
i think you have got it right, I may of picked up that bad idea from a youtube video.
I have now changed the silicone hose from the pump to the chiller for one just a bit longer, so now I don't have to sit it on-top of the Grainfather lid and can sterilise the chiller during the boil with out any frothing worries
ManseMasher
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For all members, please take note this thread is for those who have signed up for the grainfather trial to post their findings.
If you wish to discuss your own machines, please start another thread!
I tried this today with a black Gold kit, It said the OG should be 10.62 mine managed 10.56 but I did have a massive spill when the grain basket support gave way and the basket fell back in causing a stout tsunami.. all over the kitchen floor
ManseMasher
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oophs! sorry, I thought it would be ok because i was replying to someone that had trialed it.
I can appreciate MM wanting to keep this thread clean but I think you were OK to reply.
I asked the question and you answered it and I think the answer is useful to other testers(and perhaps GF themselves ). We now know you can successfully start a brew without needing a second source of hot water.
(No offence MM).
Follow-up on the Deuchars brew. Took a few bottles away this weekend for a family get-together. It was universally liked by the attendant beer drinkers and they complained I didn't bring enough.
F00b4r
Landlord.
Grainfather review
Apologies for the late posting on this but I was not able to get this completed prior to being abroad, where unfortunately the internet was pretty much non-existent.
I had a couple of issues that were sorted out pretty quickly by the Grainfather guys (although it caused a bit of a delay in testing), these were not things that would effect anyone buying a new machine though so I think it is not really relevant to the review.
I am pretty new to all grain and have a BIAB Buffalo system setup with a dedicated space, including pulley and a dedicated fermentation fridge in the garage (but unfortunately barely used as after setting it up the garage has been full until very recently with equipment for a garden renovation). I have also done some extract brewing as well and spent a LOT of time researching and reading about AG and brewing in general, so have a fair bit of background knowledge but in terms of hands on experience I am coming from more of a newcomers perspective. I brewed twice on the machine, a dark bitter (Barnsley Brewer's Old Bernard which I no chilled in a cube) and a Munich Helles (Brulospher's recipe chilled using the Grainfather's chiller).
The machine I received I believe is similar to the UK launch model, i.e. it contains a number of upgrades from the original version although still is not quite what you would receive now if you bought one new e.g. one I used still had the older overflow inlet/flimsy overflow pipe cap and the older hop filter. I did not use the cap but instead a piece of disposable cling film to prevent grain getting in the pipe whilst preparing the mash and found this to be quite adequate. However, having seen the newer overflow pipe system I can see that it appears to be a nice improvement to the system and highlights the benefit of the very modular approach they seem to have taken to building this machine; I like the fact that you are not stuck with the generation that you bought and really like the fact that any changes appear to be available as upgrade kits.
First impressions of the machine is that the build quality is pretty good and they have taken a very modular and simple approach to most things, so hopefully it should not cost you almost the same as a new machine to fix if something big goes wrong later on. The unit itself is all pretty sturdy, although the metal of the boiler body itself is pretty thin but as long as you are relatively careful with it then it should not be an issue (I would be careful about transporting it long distances though and ensure it is well packaged or will dent).
It really is a neat piece of kit and does not require much space at all (it isn't much bigger in floor space than a large very tall fermenter and all the ancillary stuff fits neatly inside it if required, the only caveat with that though is that I would store the counterflow chiller separately to avoid getting dirty water back into your newly cleaned machine).
The instructions are very clear although for me the best thing was to go to the Grainfather site and watch the various videos they have created, these have the advantage of having the latest tweaks to technique and show how to use the upgraded parts as well; they really are a plus point for the system and a little while watching them and a couple of You Tubers made it pretty simple to get started.
The clean in place system, where you recirculate hot water with cleaner in through the whole system, is pretty cool and seems to work well although annoyingly you end up doing two cleans, one with the recirculation pipe on the machine and one using the counterflow chiller to ensure that it is cleaned as well, I have seen online since that some people have hooked all of these together to simplify things and cut down on wasted time. Overall though it is good and I found that using the garden hose on jet setting to give a quick clean out of the debris, followed by using the clean in place system meant that it was not too painful cleaning up (I get the feeling that people coming from 3 vessel systems would feel the benefit a lot more).
I was shocked by how quiet the system was and had to check the pump was actually working as it does little more than hum. I didn't have any issues with the pump or piping getting blocked, despite the older hop filter but I did deliberately excessive amounts of hops (100g of noble hops was the maximum i used in a batch); if using more it is easy to use a BIAB bag or hop spider to avoid issues and I would do as I have heard this can cause problems (not sure how the newer hop filter copes).
I loved the fact that you could so easily mash in at 45C to avoid dough balls then raise the temperature to whatever you wanted to mash at, hold it there and then raise it again to do a mash out, all whilst having everything recirculated to keep an even temperature. I also found sparging to be a breeze as well after reading online to start immediately when the basket is raised (this seems to ensure it goes quickly and does not stick). For some people this will be a downside of the Grainfather as it requires a second vessel to heat water in but I have a Sous Vide Supreme water bath that made it very easy for me to hold the required water at the right temperature immediately ready for use (well about a litre less but i moved that to the mash).
It does take a while for the machine to take itself from the low nineties to boiling and the Grainfather instructions/videos do say to scrape the element to help remove any build up of crud to avoid it taking too long, unfortunately due to the narrow tall shape of the Grainfather you are unlikely to be able to do this with your current mash paddle as it is likely a few inches too short, you can buy a longer metal paddle direct from the Grainfather guys but it seems an odd thing to leave out from the included accessories unless it was to ensure a price point could be hit (luckily they are not gouging you for it in terms of price but it did annoy me at the time, especially since I would have no reason to buy one for trialling the machine).
The Grainfather being tall and narrow though does meant that it is easy to find a vessel to put the inner mash basket in after it has drained and been removed for the boil.
I no chilled my first brew as I only had one fermentation fridge at the time (rectified today :) ) and it was really easy to just pump the hot wort directly in the no chill cube. For the Helles I chilled using the counter flow chiller and was really impressed at how good it was and Grainfather include adaptors for almost every situation (hose, kitchen tap etc.). I did have an issue with only being able to run it at a lower pressure than I would have liked (at higher pressure the cold tap connection with the chiller came off) but a jubilee clip would fix this annoyance (not sure if this was just missing from the demo kit as there were clips on other parts to stop this sort of thing).
The efficiency with the Grainfather was through the roof, i did use high quality freshly milled grain but my first brew that I used the Grainfather online calculator will end up being about 5.9% rather than 4.7% (it is still in the cube but I am not sure I want to dilute it too much in case I lose too much bitterness). For the second batch I altered my efficiency calculations and was just above so it seems to be consistent and just needs dialling in.
Overall I am really impressed with it and when I think about all the bits and pieces it cost for me to setup my BIAB system I am very tempted to get one as it makes brewing very relaxed and possible in the garden on a sunny day, I am going to go back and do some brews on my BIAB system and test the Braumeister as well to see how they compare. If I hadn't just bought my setup though I would definitely go and buy one straight off the bat.
I will update this thread though after doing a couple more brews on my BIAB setup to see whether I am swayed enough.
Let me know if you have any questions though and I will try my best to answer them and thanks to the forum and Grainfather guys for letting me test the system.
EDIT: There was one last slight negative although minor, the power cord was pretty short and although it is easy to use an extension cable i thought it strange that it seemed you needed to be VERY close to a plug socket to use it without an extension.
Apologies for the late posting on this but I was not able to get this completed prior to being abroad, where unfortunately the internet was pretty much non-existent.
I had a couple of issues that were sorted out pretty quickly by the Grainfather guys (although it caused a bit of a delay in testing), these were not things that would effect anyone buying a new machine though so I think it is not really relevant to the review.
I am pretty new to all grain and have a BIAB Buffalo system setup with a dedicated space, including pulley and a dedicated fermentation fridge in the garage (but unfortunately barely used as after setting it up the garage has been full until very recently with equipment for a garden renovation). I have also done some extract brewing as well and spent a LOT of time researching and reading about AG and brewing in general, so have a fair bit of background knowledge but in terms of hands on experience I am coming from more of a newcomers perspective. I brewed twice on the machine, a dark bitter (Barnsley Brewer's Old Bernard which I no chilled in a cube) and a Munich Helles (Brulospher's recipe chilled using the Grainfather's chiller).
The machine I received I believe is similar to the UK launch model, i.e. it contains a number of upgrades from the original version although still is not quite what you would receive now if you bought one new e.g. one I used still had the older overflow inlet/flimsy overflow pipe cap and the older hop filter. I did not use the cap but instead a piece of disposable cling film to prevent grain getting in the pipe whilst preparing the mash and found this to be quite adequate. However, having seen the newer overflow pipe system I can see that it appears to be a nice improvement to the system and highlights the benefit of the very modular approach they seem to have taken to building this machine; I like the fact that you are not stuck with the generation that you bought and really like the fact that any changes appear to be available as upgrade kits.
First impressions of the machine is that the build quality is pretty good and they have taken a very modular and simple approach to most things, so hopefully it should not cost you almost the same as a new machine to fix if something big goes wrong later on. The unit itself is all pretty sturdy, although the metal of the boiler body itself is pretty thin but as long as you are relatively careful with it then it should not be an issue (I would be careful about transporting it long distances though and ensure it is well packaged or will dent).
It really is a neat piece of kit and does not require much space at all (it isn't much bigger in floor space than a large very tall fermenter and all the ancillary stuff fits neatly inside it if required, the only caveat with that though is that I would store the counterflow chiller separately to avoid getting dirty water back into your newly cleaned machine).
The instructions are very clear although for me the best thing was to go to the Grainfather site and watch the various videos they have created, these have the advantage of having the latest tweaks to technique and show how to use the upgraded parts as well; they really are a plus point for the system and a little while watching them and a couple of You Tubers made it pretty simple to get started.
The clean in place system, where you recirculate hot water with cleaner in through the whole system, is pretty cool and seems to work well although annoyingly you end up doing two cleans, one with the recirculation pipe on the machine and one using the counterflow chiller to ensure that it is cleaned as well, I have seen online since that some people have hooked all of these together to simplify things and cut down on wasted time. Overall though it is good and I found that using the garden hose on jet setting to give a quick clean out of the debris, followed by using the clean in place system meant that it was not too painful cleaning up (I get the feeling that people coming from 3 vessel systems would feel the benefit a lot more).
I was shocked by how quiet the system was and had to check the pump was actually working as it does little more than hum. I didn't have any issues with the pump or piping getting blocked, despite the older hop filter but I did deliberately excessive amounts of hops (100g of noble hops was the maximum i used in a batch); if using more it is easy to use a BIAB bag or hop spider to avoid issues and I would do as I have heard this can cause problems (not sure how the newer hop filter copes).
I loved the fact that you could so easily mash in at 45C to avoid dough balls then raise the temperature to whatever you wanted to mash at, hold it there and then raise it again to do a mash out, all whilst having everything recirculated to keep an even temperature. I also found sparging to be a breeze as well after reading online to start immediately when the basket is raised (this seems to ensure it goes quickly and does not stick). For some people this will be a downside of the Grainfather as it requires a second vessel to heat water in but I have a Sous Vide Supreme water bath that made it very easy for me to hold the required water at the right temperature immediately ready for use (well about a litre less but i moved that to the mash).
It does take a while for the machine to take itself from the low nineties to boiling and the Grainfather instructions/videos do say to scrape the element to help remove any build up of crud to avoid it taking too long, unfortunately due to the narrow tall shape of the Grainfather you are unlikely to be able to do this with your current mash paddle as it is likely a few inches too short, you can buy a longer metal paddle direct from the Grainfather guys but it seems an odd thing to leave out from the included accessories unless it was to ensure a price point could be hit (luckily they are not gouging you for it in terms of price but it did annoy me at the time, especially since I would have no reason to buy one for trialling the machine).
The Grainfather being tall and narrow though does meant that it is easy to find a vessel to put the inner mash basket in after it has drained and been removed for the boil.
I no chilled my first brew as I only had one fermentation fridge at the time (rectified today :) ) and it was really easy to just pump the hot wort directly in the no chill cube. For the Helles I chilled using the counter flow chiller and was really impressed at how good it was and Grainfather include adaptors for almost every situation (hose, kitchen tap etc.). I did have an issue with only being able to run it at a lower pressure than I would have liked (at higher pressure the cold tap connection with the chiller came off) but a jubilee clip would fix this annoyance (not sure if this was just missing from the demo kit as there were clips on other parts to stop this sort of thing).
The efficiency with the Grainfather was through the roof, i did use high quality freshly milled grain but my first brew that I used the Grainfather online calculator will end up being about 5.9% rather than 4.7% (it is still in the cube but I am not sure I want to dilute it too much in case I lose too much bitterness). For the second batch I altered my efficiency calculations and was just above so it seems to be consistent and just needs dialling in.
Overall I am really impressed with it and when I think about all the bits and pieces it cost for me to setup my BIAB system I am very tempted to get one as it makes brewing very relaxed and possible in the garden on a sunny day, I am going to go back and do some brews on my BIAB system and test the Braumeister as well to see how they compare. If I hadn't just bought my setup though I would definitely go and buy one straight off the bat.
I will update this thread though after doing a couple more brews on my BIAB setup to see whether I am swayed enough.
Let me know if you have any questions though and I will try my best to answer them and thanks to the forum and Grainfather guys for letting me test the system.
EDIT: There was one last slight negative although minor, the power cord was pretty short and although it is easy to use an extension cable i thought it strange that it seemed you needed to be VERY close to a plug socket to use it without an extension.
Last edited:
ManseMasher
Regular.
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2014
- Messages
- 463
- Reaction score
- 345
Excellent review, very informative. Thanks very much!
ManseMasher
Regular.
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2014
- Messages
- 463
- Reaction score
- 345
Just to let you grainfather trialees know - I spoke with Paul at GF today. He has received good feedback so far, and is working through the list to make sure everyone on it gets a fair crack. Thanks to all who have participated, and to those of you who have yet to get your mitts on one. But hurry up, I'm last on the list!!!
