Grainfather app question

A forum to discuss one pot automated brewing systems.
Post Reply
Robhaigh
Tippler
Posts: 25
Joined: Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:42 pm

Grainfather app question

Post by Robhaigh » Tue Feb 06, 2018 12:48 am

Hi all.
New GF user here. Done 1 brew ,a neipa ... turned out ok, not great, just ok. Think I just rushed everything and was a bit too ambitious with my first brew! Learnt loads though.
Now on my second brew , a chinook and citra pale.... fingers crossed it will be better!

Anyway, here’s my question.
Using the app on my phone if let’s say I am at beginning of the boil and think ‘hmmm, I have yo mins to now go do something else’
I go inside the house ( my brew gear is in the garage). And I am now out of range of the gf.
You would think, great, the timer on the app will tell me when to return to the gf.
But.....
The timer on the app now seems to get all screwy, perhaps it’s the phone ‘going to sleep’ and putting the app in the background or something but , glance at the app after 30mins and it says something stupid like 45mins left.
Walk to within Bluetooth rang of the gf and the time jumps to the correct time left on the boil.

Not a showstopper but, annoying.

Anyone else seen this?

MarkF_2703
Steady Drinker
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2017 6:42 pm

Re: Grainfather app question

Post by MarkF_2703 » Tue Feb 06, 2018 7:28 am

If your phone/tablet loses connection during the brew it will not reconnect and resync, its a right pain. The only was I have found is it restart the brew from the beginning and skip to where you were. Why they never did a wifi option I will never know. I leave my phone on the window sill next to the garage and even then it sometimes loses connection.

chefgage
Hollow Legs
Posts: 492
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2015 10:37 am

Re: Grainfather app question

Post by chefgage » Tue Feb 06, 2018 9:19 am

Like what was said above, as soon as you move out of bluetooth range (which is quite a short distance) the app stops updating. If i do this which only means me walking from the kitchen to another room it stops. If this happens I just finish the brew using the controller as that obviously does not stop.

User avatar
Coffeeuk
Piss Artist
Posts: 283
Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2013 5:05 pm

Re: Grainfather app question

Post by Coffeeuk » Tue Feb 06, 2018 9:36 am

What phone are you guys using ?

On my iPhone if I go out of range I still get notifications to all steps, it just doesn’t tell me what to add, just that it’s a whatever minute addition.

And since update 2.5.3 the app automatically reconnects when I get back in range and resumes where it left off once reopened from the background

Robhaigh
Tippler
Posts: 25
Joined: Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:42 pm

Re: Grainfather app question

Post by Robhaigh » Tue Feb 06, 2018 9:44 am

yep. the app automatically reconnects when I get back in range and 'catches up' , no need to restart anything . but still, a right royal PIA!
yep a wifi version would be so much better.
you would think it would be quite a simple thing for the app to work out.. something along the lines of..
I started a boil at 1.30pm, its a 1hr boil so, whenever someone looks at the app no matter if I am connected to the GF or not...... simple math says 'what time is it now, has an hour passed'!!
shouldnt be that hard to do.
dont get me wrong I thing (so far) the GF is a great bit of kit. They just need to get the programming team working on that app. It could be so much better.
I have wrote to Gf and got the standard 'thanks for your input ... blah, blah , blah)

Another thing I pointed out to them is that , although the app has your recipe loaded in to it and says stuff like 'add your first addition' etc etc... A little more work and it could be so much more helpfull and say stuff like 'add 250g of choc malt', 'add 10g chinook hops' etc etc

chefgage
Hollow Legs
Posts: 492
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2015 10:37 am

Re: Grainfather app question

Post by chefgage » Tue Feb 06, 2018 9:56 am

Coffeeuk wrote:
Tue Feb 06, 2018 9:36 am
What phone are you guys using ?

On my iPhone if I go out of range I still get notifications to all steps, it just doesn’t tell me what to add, just that it’s a whatever minute addition.

And since update 2.5.3 the app automatically reconnects when I get back in range and resumes where it left off once reopened from the background
I am using an android phone. I seem to remember the android version came out a lot later than the ios version. Might be something to do with it not reconnecting when you get back in range. Maybe they will fix this in a later update

Just checked on the play store and it says the android version reconnects when back in range. I will have to test this next time but it does not normally do this.

Robhaigh
Tippler
Posts: 25
Joined: Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:42 pm

Re: Grainfather app question

Post by Robhaigh » Tue Feb 06, 2018 11:04 am

cheers for the input guys.
will try running the app on an ipad and see if its any better.

will also feedback if I get anything back from GF.

MarkF_2703
Steady Drinker
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2017 6:42 pm

Re: Grainfather app question

Post by MarkF_2703 » Wed Feb 07, 2018 8:45 am

Interesting, I am Android too, when I get back in range all I get is the timer info, maybe next time I will use the Ipad.

chefgage
Hollow Legs
Posts: 492
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2015 10:37 am

Re: Grainfather app question

Post by chefgage » Wed Feb 07, 2018 9:24 am

MarkF_2703 wrote:
Wed Feb 07, 2018 8:45 am
Interesting, I am Android too, when I get back in range all I get is the timer info, maybe next time I will use the Ipad.
Yes this is what happens to me on android

Post Reply