Very impressed.

[Wardy]

Just ramping up to a test boil and so far every temperature calibration check is spot on at 50, 55, 60, 65, 70 and 75C it's getting a bit too hot to hold my glass thermometer in now so I'll have to trust the temperature readings up to the boil. It's a gorgeous looking bit of kit too.

.

 

[Wardy]

Won't do this on brew day. All the boiling water going down the drain. I know it's a waste but at least it isn't wort.

 

[Wardy]

 

[ManseMasher]

Merry Christmas mate, and glad it all worked out!

 

[Wardy]

Thanks MM. Brew day tomorrow with my first AG brew. I'm glad I ran through a trial because I was a bit worried about using new equipment and a process I've only read about. All went well and the brew day is planned out so hopefully it will go well. It's a AG kit to start me off (on the dark side😉).

 

[cheapbrew]

That looks very nice, I wish you well on the first proper run, but it sounds like you are getting well prepared:thumb:

 

[Wardy]

That looks very nice, I wish you well on the first proper run, but it sounds like you are getting well prepared:thumb:

Thanks, I'll post the results tomorrow evening with a short report on how good the Grainfather is.

 

[Wardy]

Brew day is postponed. It's a good job I test things before starting something. I had everything ready and was about to add water to the Grainfather and heat it up but decided to put a couple of litres in a borrowed water heater to make sure it worked; it doesn't and after testing the fuse and element I had to brake the news to my friend that the element was open circuit so needed replacing. He then told me he remembers it cutting off the last time he used it but thought it was a thermal cut out. It could have given me loads of stress if I had started the mash.
Off to buy a water heater of my own now so brew day might be new years day.

 

[Dads_Ale]

Brew day is postponed. It's a good job I test things before starting something. I had everything ready and was about to add water to the Grainfather and heat it up but decided to put a couple of litres in a borrowed water heater to make sure it worked; it doesn't and after testing the fuse and element I had to brake the news to my friend that the element was open circuit so needed replacing. He then told me he remembers it cutting off the last time he used it but thought it was a thermal cut out. It could have given me loads of stress if I had started the mash.
Off to buy a water heater of my own now so brew day might be new years day.

Good job you found out before starting :). Good luck with the future brew day

 

[cheapbrew]

Sorry to hear you had to abort at the last minute you must be gutted when you were almost there!

 

[Wardy]

Sorry to hear you had to abort at the last minute you must be gutted when you were almost there!

Thanks, yes I was at the time but I've accepted it now. I was tempted to just do it and boil water in pans and the kettle then store in the broken heater and cool to 75C when needed but decided a sparge water heater of my own would be much better and worth the wait.

 

[dweb]

Definitely better with a water heater to run in tandem with the GF.
I also added 3 rubber peices of bicycle tube to each leg of the chiller as it can slide about a fair bit on the glass lid.

 

[Wardy]

Definitely better with a water heater to run in tandem with the GF.
I also added 3 rubber peices of bicycle tube to each leg of the chiller as it can slide about a fair bit on the glass lid.

Thanks for that, I will look at doing something similar. All tips are appreciated :)
I'm going to build a custom fit sparge coil too because I have lots of micro bore copper tubing and my water heater won't arrive until mid week so I've got plenty of spare time.