Grainfather underletting

[Buckie Brewer]

Did my second brew the other day on the grainfather an Irish Red kit from Thehomebrewcompany which I purchased when I got my kegs.

Anyway as I was getting ready to brew I remembered a thread on Jims about under letting, this was used more on mash tuns but the principle seemed to be viable for the Grainfather. A quick internet search didn't bring up anything but it was a used method in BIAB, so I tried it.

I set the grain basket in the sparging position, covered the centre tube as normal and just poured in all the grain. I then slowly lowered the grain basket into the water allowing the water to rise up through the grains slowly enough to not lift them. Once the basket was fully down, a quick stir with my mash spoon was all I needed, no lumps and no fuss. This will definably be my way of mashing in from now on, no one hand pouring and stirring.

Sorry no pics this time but I just thought I would share this tip.

[Dave-Leeds]

might try that tip next time.

whats the crush like in these kits?. did you get any dramas with the sparge?.

think I will get a few of these kits as they look decent. just need some free fvs

cheers

[Buckie Brewer]

Can't really comment on the crush but it seemed as good as the first kit AG kit I did, my only complaint about the kit is their is little info with them, the grain is just one bag marked grain and the hops are just marked with a time, no info on what is in what bag or anything. The instructions are very basic just a few linea as in mash for 90 min at 68c and then boil for 60 mins adding hops at time on bag og will be .... However it is an AG kit and it will depend on the equipment for volumes etc but it went well.
Time will tell I'm away for 6 weeks so it will have plenty of time to ferment out.

[Dave-Leeds]

Cheers mate. Sounds good enough to me am just going by the GF calculations at the moment and just adding a few extra litres to the sparge

[sladeywadey]

I just dump the grain in one go after the water has heated up to strike temp. I then stir away.

[junipurjames]

That seems like a good idea.
I am brewing tomorrow because the temperature here has dropped to more moderate level and I will try that tomorrow.
btw have you tried to throttle the recirculation rate so as to encourage sepage through the mash rather than big overflow?
I am going to try that as well tomorrow.

James

[Fil]

That seems like a good idea.
I am brewing tomorrow because the temperature here has dropped to more moderate level and I will try that tomorrow.
btw have you tried to throttle the recirculation rate so as to encourage sepage through the mash rather than big overflow?
I am going to try that as well tomorrow.

James

no need after the initial 10-15 mins of recirculation the liquor level drops below the overflow and all filters back down thru the grain anyway, if not perhaps try the underletting technique or get the spoon/paddle working harder to mix in the grain to start with..