First impression on grainnfather

[steambrew]

Yesterday I received my grainnfather from Brew uk which was a retirement gift it looks first class a few sharp edges but nothing that a few minutes with a file / emery paper would not cure waiting until the weekend to get a brew on, I think a tank with a pump on to make spargeing easy along with a timer would make this a serious rival for the Bm

[Matt12398]

No need to file a BM though.

[Fil]

got any pics of the areas needing filling??


forgive me if im trying to teach you to suck eggs but the few lessons i learnt form my first g/f brew are :

i suggest you add some length to the chiller beer in feed tube so you dont need to balance it on the lid when chilling, it can get in the way if adding late or flame out hops while sanitising the cfc with a 15 minute boil recirculation through it..

and i found a step ladder useful when lifting up the malt tube for the sparge, unlike beerlover, with the step ladder i didnt have any trouble lifting clear without scrapping the boiler walls.

Oh and while you may not fall into this trap like i did when fixing the chiller And the recirc arm, push both into the ball valve before turning to fix on, just screwing on without the push down can possibly let you think its tight and sealed when its not..

when chilling USE the restriction valve to minimise the beer flow, i didnt and as a result my beer temp post chilling was a slightly high 30C

and at the end of the final drain a slight lean forward will help minimise the deadspace by keeping the hop filter submerged a little longer (another reason not to sit the chiller on the lid - that is a style over function design feature imho)

all in all it just works as its expected to enjoy..

ps if you want a 5gallon(to the brim) burco for heating the sparge liquor pm me i have an old (1950's) ally burco ideal for the job going spare £30 ono?? will need a new plug and power flex..

[steambrew]

Thanks fil for all your advice sorry no pics, my brother who is a engineer collected it this morning and just after lunch he had a brew going one from wheelers (arkells clone) he sparged using his hot water boiler and a solar pump which through his sparge bar worked great it looks like I have lost it for know but he has more time on his hands than me I will be sending my bottles to him

[meursault]

what size rotating sparge arm would fit the GF?

[steambrew]

I will have to find out the dia of the rotating sparge bar as my brother still has the grainnfather on talking to him on the phone he told me it just fits inside with the top fixed arm resting on the top of the basket D>

[Fil]

I will measure the malt tube diameter t'moro..