Grainfather trial feedback

Dads_Ale said:

I used interlink to send mine back. Boxed it back up and dropped it into one of their depots.
You can pay online and print out the label. Cost about �£18 . I put the weight down as 12kg

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Cheers dads will check it out, that's less than I was expecting.

Hi all, the trial is ongoing, but the feedback seems to have dried up a bit? If you have tried the gf out but are yet to post your findings, we are waiting!!

I've tried both beers I made with the grainy now, so thought I'd update my review of the machine and process of using it, to include the actual quality of the beer.

I made my boddingtons clone and a rye pale with it.

Obviously as many have pointed out, it only produces the wort, so a lot of the final beer quality is still down to yeast, fermentation control etc, but the boddingtons has been my best attempt at a bitter yet, and the rye is really nice too, though on a par with previous pales, rather than anything above and beyond. That's probably down to the fact I didn't do anything different with the rye once it went into the fv compared to my usual process/ yeast choice.

The boddingtons did use a better liquid yeast though and I think that's contributed a lot to the final product.

So to return to the grainfather, my experience has shown me it makes perfectly good wort, relatively simply, but it does leave a lot, if not most of the variables affecting outcome under your own control. So if your fermentation process is shonky, the beer could well be. But in retrospect I guess that's obvious.

So, each to their own. I can see why if you can't bear faffing with bags, tuns, HLTs, the gf is a dream machine. If like me you don't mind fannying about in the shed with grain bags, thermometers and the like, and your fermentation control is rustic to non existent, it's not by itself going to improve your beer dramatically.

Anyway, enough writing, I have a lovely rye pale to enjoy!

So, I'm thinking about upgrading my existing kit and buying a Grainfather; thanks to all for the useful advice on here. I see the points about needing a separate boiler for heating sparge water, which is fine as I can use my existing boiler.

However, in my garage, my workbench means that the top of the Grainfather will be too high for a gravity feed of the sparge water into the Grainfather. I see some people talking about pumping the water out - can anyone recommend a pump which would do the job, especially given that the water will be so hot?

Thanks!

Granarian said:

So, I'm thinking about upgrading my existing kit and buying a Grainfather; thanks to all for the useful advice on here. I see the points about needing a separate boiler for heating sparge water, which is fine as I can use my existing boiler.

However, in my garage, my workbench means that the top of the Grainfather will be too high for a gravity feed of the sparge water into the Grainfather. I see some people talking about pumping the water out - can anyone recommend a pump which would do the job, especially given that the water will be so hot?

Thanks!

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You don't need to pump the sparge water, you can just use a jug as in the Grainfather instruction video:
http://www.grainfather.co.uk/#!instructional-videos/coox

One reason for the Grainfather being on the floor is that it would be difficult to lift the grain basket ready for sparging. if it was on bench or worktop. You would need to factor this in if using it on a bench.

Great bit of kit and really enjoyed my trial period :)

How tall is the Grainfather if it's standing on the floor? I think my bench is about1.5m, so if the top is higher than that I would need some sort of pump / alternative way of delivering the sparge water.

So basically its simple to use,and less faffing about? but doesnt it take the pleasure out of the hands on, non automated, part of brewing a good beer that you have watched and hand crafted yourself. I looked at buying one of these,1/ the cost? and 2/ I dont think i would enjoy it.

Granarian said:

How tall is the Grainfather if it's standing on the floor? I think my bench is about1.5m, so if the top is higher than that I would need some sort of pump / alternative way of delivering the sparge water.

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According to their website the Grainfather itself is 650mm high, if you allow 550mm for the basket then the total height to the basket rim when sparging would be about 1200mm, although the top of the grain bed would be lower inside the basket. I measured one of my workbenches and it is 950mm.
Unfortunately I only had a unit on trial so can't actually confirm exact measurements (hopefully a Grainfather owner will oblige :)).
Sparging is easy by just using a jug but if you need a pump then have a look at these:

https://www.brewbuilder.co.uk/pumps.html

I have not used pumps yet but my guess is that as the sparge rate is low so you would probably need the throttle back the pump flow. Looking at the different models this either involved reducing the voltage or restricting the outlet.
I have one of the mag pumps which I intend to use for pumping through my wort chiller but have not got round to using it yet.

I have my GF on a beer crate and heat my sparge water in a Vonshef boiler and just use a 2 litre jug to empty it.If your GF is any higher,you`ll be in bother when you lift the basket of spent grain out to drain after the mash.