First attempt with Grainfather

CletePurcel · Jul 5, 2015

Doing my first all grain with the grainfather. All going well so far at the mash stage.

I am doing the Beerworks Timothy Taylor Landlord Clone, but I don't think it is particularly accurate from what I can gather online.

Dads_Ale · Jul 5, 2015

Good luck.

Seems to be a lot of Grainfathers getting about

CletePurcel · Jul 5, 2015

Ended up with quite a cloudy wort into the fermenter. Not sure if I did something wrong.

Walk through is here:
http://sheffieldhomebrew.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/first-day-with-grainfather-all-grain.html

DoctorMick · Jul 6, 2015

Did you add any protofloc or irish moss to help with clearing? I wouldn't worry either way, it'll clear up quite a bit in the FV. How long did your sparge take?

Also, I'd get in touch with the people at The Grainfather about it not reading HH when boiling, sounds like a fault with your machine to me.

CletePurcel · Jul 6, 2015

DoctorMick said:
Did you add any protofloc or irish moss to help with clearing? I wouldn't worry either way, it'll clear up quite a bit in the FV. How long did your sparge take?

Also, I'd get in touch with the people at The Grainfather about it not reading HH when boiling, sounds like a fault with your machine to me.

Hi Mick

I added a protafloc tablet 15 minutes before the end.

This is what the wort looked like after the sparge:

You can see bits settling at the bottom of the cylinder whereas the wort was really clear before sparging.

This is what it looked like after the boil:

Much worse.

The sparge took about 15 minutes which I am guessing is quite fast, but this was my first AG brew so I am not sure how long it should really take. Grainfather suggest 30 minutes I think.

I contacted them and they said the temperature is not always accurate above 80C as they calibrated the thermostat to be best at mashing temperatures and to just go by eye when the boil starts (I did get a nice rolling boil). A video on their site also suggests that the temperature probe needs to be pushed in further to cure the problem so I will try that next time.

They also said that the hot break can cause proteins in the wort to coagulate causing the cloudy effect and that this would settle out in the FV.

The brew is bubbling away nicely at 18C at the moment so fingers crossed.

DoctorMick · Jul 6, 2015

How long did it take to bring the temp down and did you measure the temp in the FV as it was transferring?

CletePurcel · Jul 6, 2015

DoctorMick said:
How long did it take to bring the temp down and did you measure the temp in the FV as it was transferring?

It took about 20 minutes or so to get the temperature down to 22C which was what was going into the FV.

First attempt with Grainfather

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First attempt with Grainfather

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