Grainfather first brew - bit of a disaster

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Fil
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Re: Grainfather first brew - bit of a disaster

Post by Fil » Tue May 15, 2018 7:56 pm

the trick to evacuating the steam from a room is to employ a natural draught, in my case its as simple as opening both the door and window, and on all but windy days the steam from my 100l kettle or the g/f simply leaves... i did start using a large ebay bargain 45cm fan to help the airflow, but after forgetting to turn it on one day i discovered it wasnt necessary..
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate :(

Jomay
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Re: Grainfather first brew - bit of a disaster

Post by Jomay » Tue May 15, 2018 9:27 pm

Hi again

Its not so much now. In many ways, for me at the moment, its easier and simpler to brew in the garage. Its in the winter. As I have not done it I dont know for sure but Im thinking I dont want windows and doors open in the depths of winter. As I already have a RKV extractor fan, I was thinking I could rig that up in my small utility room. There is an outlet for the tumble drier, I was thinking to utilise that, but some sort of hood may be required for the GF. This would need to be determined and rigged up. Obviously just opening a door and window would be much simpler and easier but am thinking that would make the whole house cold. Maybe I could give it a try as the utility room has a door between it and the main rooms of the house, it may be possible to leave the door and window open in the utility room without affecting the rest of the house too much ??? :-)

Very best wishes - John

Kingfisher4
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Re: Grainfather first brew - bit of a disaster

Post by Kingfisher4 » Wed May 16, 2018 5:41 pm

Jomay wrote:
Tue May 15, 2018 9:27 pm
Hi again

Its not so much now. In many ways, for me at the moment, its easier and simpler to brew in the garage. Its in the winter. As I have not done it I dont know for sure but Im thinking I dont want windows and doors open in the depths of winter. As I already have a RKV extractor fan, I was thinking I could rig that up in my small utility room. There is an outlet for the tumble drier, I was thinking to utilise that, but some sort of hood may be required for the GF. This would need to be determined and rigged up. Obviously just opening a door and window would be much simpler and easier but am thinking that would make the whole house cold. Maybe I could give it a try as the utility room has a door between it and the main rooms of the house, it may be possible to leave the door and window open in the utility room without affecting the rest of the house too much ??? :-)

Very best wishes - John
Having brewed several batches now all in the utility room with door and window open ( only really needed during boil) with a fan if insufficient natural draught, keeping the door to the kitchen shut has prevented steam / cold / smell entering the rest of the house pretty effectively. Give it a go.

Brewed in temperatures from about 4 degrees outside to 22 ( yesterday).

MarkF_2703
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Re: Grainfather first brew - bit of a disaster

Post by MarkF_2703 » Wed May 16, 2018 7:24 pm

Monkeybrew wrote:
Mon May 14, 2018 8:18 pm
Certainly been an interesting little read this thread.

I am ordering my GF this week and will be coming from a 3V system, so expect to see a time saving on my normal brewday and clean up, which normally takes about 6 hours.


Cheers

MB
Hmmm, 10 brews in on a Grainfather and for a 90 min boil from switch on to final cleaning and drying is about 6 hours, cleaning as I go along, but there is a fair bit of downtime where you can clutter off and do other things, the mash takes care of itself, once the boil is rolling and no fear of a boil over apart from additions you can leave it until 15 mins to go for FLOC if you use it and sterise the chiller. Again the biggest time cleaning is waiting for the water to get up to 60 degrees for the chemical clean on the chiller and boiler.

Switched on at 0840 this morning and in the FV at 20 deg by 1330, tidying up and chemical clean/drying was finished by 1445.

Nice to brew in shorts rather than shivering in the garage .

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Coffeeuk
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Re: Grainfather first brew - bit of a disaster

Post by Coffeeuk » Wed May 16, 2018 8:24 pm

My typical brew day is 4.5 hours with a few tricks and some preparation the night before.

8am start- water is ready waiting at mash in temp using the delayed start function

Grains and water treatment all weighed out and ready to go, done the previous night.

Mash in and mash for an hour followed by a 10 min mashout. If you do this manually rather than programming it, it’s a lot quicker as it messes about between 74 and 75 for about 10 mins before it starts the timer.

9.30 lift grain basket and start sparge. Usually takes around 15 mins. It used to take 35 until I started adding 200g of rice hulls in the mash. Wort is a lot clearer too now.

9.45 basket off and waiting for boil to get to 100c which takes around 15-20 mins. I have the grain coat jacket thing which helps speed things up in winter.

10.10 1 hour boil. Once it’s rolling you can clean the basket etc and prepare the yeast.

11.10 start chilling. This usually takes 15 - 25 mins depending on the time of year. I save the hottest water in a bucket for cleaning and the rest goes on the garden.

11.40 yeast added and fermenter put in fridge.

11.50 start cleaning. Usually takes about 40 mins. I join the sparge pipe to the chiller and clean them both at once. Rinse out dry with cloth and put it away for next time.

12.30 all done.


Aub
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Re: Grainfather first brew - bit of a disaster

Post by Aub » Sun May 20, 2018 3:30 am

[quote=Robhaigh post_id=832846 time=1526205133 user_id=18118]
[quote="Dave S"][quote=Robhaigh post_id=832844 time=1526202467 user_id=18118]
Curious Dave.
Do you calculate the figure manually using the formula in the ibstructions or do you use the figure the app gives you?

Sent from my Mi A1 using Tapatalk
[/quote]

The formula in the manual and that in the app are the same. I don't use either.[/quote]Cheers Dave.
Can't say I have noticed I am short when using the gf formula but, will definitely check on the next brew.

Sent from my Mi A1 using Tapatalk
[/quote]

Hi, this is my first post here and it piqued my curiosity too. I use the Grainfather mash and sparge numbers and usually end up with 22.5 to 23 liters in the fermenter, sometimes 22. I normally use a 1 liter starter, so maybe that makes up the shortfall in the grain absorption figure?

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Monkeybrew
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Re: Grainfather first brew - bit of a disaster

Post by Monkeybrew » Mon May 21, 2018 5:02 pm

I'm probably way behind with this, but I was playing with the GF recipe designer at the weekend and noticed that the Grainfather absorption rate is now adjustable.

Literally waiting for DPD to deliver mine today.

Cheers

MB
FV:


Conditioning:
AG#41 - Vienna Lager - 5.6%
AG#42 - Heritage Double Ale - 10.5%

On Tap:
AG#44 - Harvest ESB - 5.4%
AG#45 - Amarillo Gold APA - 5.2%

chefgage
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Re: Grainfather first brew - bit of a disaster

Post by chefgage » Tue May 22, 2018 11:42 am

Monkeybrew wrote:
Mon May 21, 2018 5:02 pm
I'm probably way behind with this, but I was playing with the GF recipe designer at the weekend and noticed that the Grainfather absorption rate is now adjustable.

Literally waiting for DPD to deliver mine today.

Cheers

MB
You have always been able to change the absorbtion rate after the recipe has been created and when you click on brew recipe. The issue is that you have created a recipe i think based on the default 0.8l/kg grain absorbtion rate. If you then change it to say 2l/kg when you have clicked on brew recipe what it does is add more water to the sparge total but keeps the OG the same.

The issue i have with this is that using the default 0.8l/kg, i achieve the calculated OG using the water totals it tells me to use. I end up 2l short each time into the fermentor. But if i was to change the figure to 2l/kg then i would probably have my missing 2l in the ferementor but the OG would be lower as i have added more sparge water.

The App does not take this into account. What needs to happen is the ability to change the absorbtion rate AS you are creating the recipe NOT after it.

Wazza
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Re: Grainfather first brew - bit of a disaster

Post by Wazza » Tue May 22, 2018 10:25 pm

After switching from a 3 vessel system to the grainfather I only have one criticism. That filter. I use a hop spider but still have issues with the filter blocking. It would be the only reason why I would sell my gf. The wort doesn’t seem as clear as it did with the 3v system either

steviebobs83
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Re: Grainfather first brew - bit of a disaster

Post by steviebobs83 » Wed May 23, 2018 8:05 am

[quote="Wazza"]After switching from a 3 vessel system to the grainfather I only have one criticism. That filter. I use a hop spider but still have issues with the filter blocking. It would be the only reason why I would sell my gf. The wort doesn’t seem as clear as it did with the 3v system either[/quote]I couldn't agree more. Love the system, hate the filter. It's even worse if you knock the rubber cap off and suck all the hops into the pump.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


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FUBAR
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Re: Grainfather first brew - bit of a disaster

Post by FUBAR » Wed May 23, 2018 2:06 pm

steviebobs83 wrote:
Wed May 23, 2018 8:05 am
Wazza wrote:After switching from a 3 vessel system to the grainfather I only have one criticism. That filter. I use a hop spider but still have issues with the filter blocking. It would be the only reason why I would sell my gf. The wort doesn’t seem as clear as it did with the 3v system either
I couldn't agree more. Love the system, hate the filter. It's even worse if you knock the rubber cap off and suck all the hops into the pump.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
Not,touch wood had a problem with my filter but it's bound to happen at some stage.The filter design is long overdue an upgrade,I can't see it being a major problem or expense to improve it.
I buy my grain & hops from here http://www.homebrewkent.co.uk/


I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me - Winston Churchill

Kingfisher4
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Re: Grainfather first brew - bit of a disaster

Post by Kingfisher4 » Thu May 24, 2018 9:04 pm

Wazza wrote:
Tue May 22, 2018 10:25 pm
After switching from a 3 vessel system to the grainfather I only have one criticism. That filter. I use a hop spider but still have issues with the filter blocking. It would be the only reason why I would sell my gf. The wort doesn’t seem as clear as it did with the 3v system either
Agree with the comments that it doesn't seem to match the quality of the rest of the GF; but the only real issue I have had with it was the single batch so far that was all hop pellets ( almost 200gm total) no real issue with "leaf" hops

Dave S
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Re: Grainfather first brew - bit of a disaster

Post by Dave S » Sat May 26, 2018 11:36 am

FUBAR wrote:
Wed May 23, 2018 2:06 pm
steviebobs83 wrote:
Wed May 23, 2018 8:05 am
Wazza wrote:After switching from a 3 vessel system to the grainfather I only have one criticism. That filter. I use a hop spider but still have issues with the filter blocking. It would be the only reason why I would sell my gf. The wort doesn’t seem as clear as it did with the 3v system either
I couldn't agree more. Love the system, hate the filter. It's even worse if you knock the rubber cap off and suck all the hops into the pump.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
Not,touch wood had a problem with my filter but it's bound to happen at some stage.The filter design is long overdue an upgrade,I can't see it being a major problem or expense to improve it.
I had a problem with it a couple of years ago when my paddle knocked it off two or three times. I fitted it with a SS jubilee clip and have not had a problem since.
Best wishes

Dave

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Monkeybrew
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Re: Grainfather first brew - bit of a disaster

Post by Monkeybrew » Sat May 26, 2018 7:33 pm

Well, did my first Grainfather brew last night and all went fairly well.

Having never used a counterflow chiller before, I was being a bit of a numpty with the whole process, but then realised that I needed to slow the hot wort flow down! #-o

I went with the Grainfather recipe figures for this this brew and knowingly collect 0.5L too much wort for the boil, so ended up with 23.5L in my FV.

For this brew at least, the numbers worked out ok.

Cheers

MB
FV:


Conditioning:
AG#41 - Vienna Lager - 5.6%
AG#42 - Heritage Double Ale - 10.5%

On Tap:
AG#44 - Harvest ESB - 5.4%
AG#45 - Amarillo Gold APA - 5.2%

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SouthfolkBrewing
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Re: Grainfather first brew - bit of a disaster

Post by SouthfolkBrewing » Thu May 31, 2018 3:54 pm

I am on my 15th brew with the GF
I try and make my sparge last 30 mins sometimes if I use Wheat or Rye then it can take longer.
As I do not rush my brew days I do not switch to boil until after I have removed the Grain basket

Out of the 15 brews I have only had once had the problem with water droplets, It was so bad that I had to switch off the fan as it was making puddles beneath it, I put it down to the weather, It was not raining or sunny but more overcast. Not had the same problem since.
The OG and volume is something that you will get right eventually, You have to work out your own figures as the ones on any brewing programme do not seem to work correctly.
I set my brew efficiency at 72% on the GF site, Which after 15 brews it is starting to creep up to 75%, but I keep it at 72%

Cleaning takes me about an hour 8L with the cleaning agent in at 60C for 30 min then rinse with 6L at tap temp just to rinse through.
Let me know if you have any more Q's

I am not saying my way is the right way, But it is my way :)

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