Home-grown-father ??? Burco to Grainfather conversion??

[Ricky G]

I'm looking to buy a grain father control box and convert my Burco 40l boiler into a bigger grain father

Tried searching for a post on this but I couldn't see one already, i take it this has been done before?

I've got all the other bits but I'm looking for somewhere to buy the inner pot from or a 600mm deep pot to convert

Does anyone know of suppliers?

Also my burco boiler keeps scorching the wort on the bottom, has anyone found a good replacement element?

cheers!

[aamcle]

I've done something similar, I used a PID/SSR for control such worked very well.

The biggest difficulty is finding a suitably shaped stainless cylinder to use as a malt pipe, I can't find the link but some of the companies who sell stainless glue pipes can order large diameter welded stainless tube.

I bought some polypropylene sheet and cut it to support stainless mesh to use a stop and bottom filters non of this is a problem except getting the malt pipe.

Atb. Aamcle

[Kev888]

I think you meant flue pipes, there. Glue pipes sound more interesting, but messy

[aamcle]

I'm still suffering from Amazon's autocorrect.

Aamcle

[dbambrick996]

I have built a diy braumeister and a diy grainffather as aamcle says, the hardest thing is to get the malt pipe sorted. Getting top and bottom filters, overflow pipe and a grain basket, keeping the basket off the element, holes in the end of malt pipe etc etc. there can be a lot of fluffing around getting it to work.

I recently re-did my system and am kicking myself that I didn’t do it this way in the first place. My new system is modeled on blichmann breweasy. Its a kettle rims system. It’s simple to build and only two vessels. The gf and bm are really two vessel system with the malt pipe inside the kettle and a pump. The brew easy simply puts the malt pipe outside the kettle. The malt pot can be any size, requires a tap, a domed false bottom and a pump to recirc the water from the kettle back into the malt pipe. I get crystal clear wort from recirculating.

This can all be controlled by a pid

I have a blichmann auto spare in mine but it’s really not needed




Have a look at this for a better idea of how it works, check out this guys channel for the build.

https://youtu.be/VjGkS0M0LgY

Best of luck with your build

[dbambrick996]

Also, try bergland for your pots.email them for list and quotes

Catering-Portal.Bergland@msg.afterbuy.de


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[aamcle]

I did one inspired by the breweasy and gf, the upper vessel you have the ballcock in had a gf style top and bottom plate with the central overflow. Doing it that way ensured that the flow rate would be constant enabling the PID to always work to its best.

Sadly I'd put the pump in the base of the lower vessel a 40litre buffalo boiler, that was a mistake I got leaks and blocked pumps and in the end went and got a real gf.

The gf is less satisfying than my builds but the engineering is so much better, better than I could hope to achieve with a jigsaw and an angle grinder.

I doubt that I will build another brewery.


Aamcle

[dbambrick996]

I doubt that I will build another brewery.


Aamcle

Totally agree.

It is now as cheap to buy as it is to build e.g brewdevil, hopcat, klarstein, robobrew.

I would use the Burco for a hlt

[aamcle]

True.

No reason to builc.

[HTH1975]

Building your own brewhouse is in the spirit of homebrew. It IS DIY after all.

[Kev888]

Yes, I mostly DIY in order to get the particular design of system that I prefer, and because I enjoy it. Plus there can be savings through re-using existing equipment (or finding stuff cheap or used).

Though if the aim were to just copy a retail system for which there are already cheaper clones, and involved buying lots of new parts to do so (pumps, vessels, programmable controllers etc), it could be worth doing the sums quite carefully. Plus the results may not be as polished, and the resale value of DIY systems is pitiful these days.

Which isn't (at all) to say don't do it - it can work out well, and you could get a better and/or cheaper result than some existing systems; it just depends on the details.

[dbambrick996]

All my gear is diy, but you won’t save money or build anything as well engineered as the gf

[aamcle]

I did like the BE/GF hybrid it was easy to use and I didn't have to do an awkward dead lift to raise the malt pipe. It was also more flexible with respect to grain weights and easy to sparge.

Still the GF does the job very well and I use a block and tackle to help with the lift so that's not a problem any more.


Aamcle