All Grain Brewing System reviews.

[glynb]

hi Glyn.. re the hop filter issues there are 3 options 1) buy the upgraded hop filter they have a bigger one for circar �£15 + pnp iirc,
2) bag hops in socks
3) consider a hop spider..

Hi, I have the upgraded the filter at a cost of £15 and I use pea bags/hop socks and nappy sacks to hold the hops in.

I may have to look at the hop spider.

 

[Soton]

Firstly, sorry to resurrect an old thread but with it being a sticky..hey ho. I have to admit that I'm getting frustrated with my grainfather. The transfer flow rate is very slow due to the filter getting blocked with mush all the time no matter what I do. I've lined the filter with fine mesh.. it gets blocked. Today I used a pair of tights wrapped over the bottom plate and middle tube and even used a pre boiled hop bag.. filter still blocked. Very slow flow rate through the counter wort chiller which worries me because I'm thinking contamination all the time. Buckle up, there's more! I set the mash temp today to 65. I just want to mention that I insulated the outside of it with that silver bubble wrap stuff from B&Q because of this problem.. It supposed to stay within 1 degree either side of your set mash temp. Nope, dropped as low as 60 and then as high as 71. The last problem is the boiler element is too weak. I suggest you turn on the boil feature when you are sparging or you'll be there forever! Getting from 99c to 100c you have to keep pressing the green button until it decides that yes, it's actually boiling as it keeps flicking between 99 and HH (HH is when it hits 100c, it stays at 100 too unless you look at it.. *******.. lol. I'd have like to have seen a little higher on the temp, maybe 101 to make sure as I wasn't confident during the mash stage). And just getting from 98/99 to 100 takes I'd say at least 5 mins.. Then you add your 60 min hops... temp drops again, at least 5 minutes before the beep goes as the temp has dropped to 98. At least 15 mins before the end of the boil time, you have to connect the counter wort chiller and run the pump to sterilise it.. boil temp will drop gain. The efficiency of it extracting what we need from the grain is awesome and IMHO, that's the only thing it has going for it to be honest. At this moment in time I'm glad I didn't sell my trusty ol' coolbox mash tun and sub wort chiller.. If there's a braumister trial happening, I'd love to take part in that. Just like to add that knowing me I've bought a duff one and I'd love to hear if anyone else has experienced these problems.

Take care everyone.

glyn.

I have only had a small problem with the flow rate, I got over this by removing the spring and ball bearing in the shut off tap, (crap was getting caught on the Spring and blocking the flow) if you do this be careful as this is the auto shut off. I also put my hops in a muslin bag, sometimes I still find the flow drops off so I keep a stainless steel paddle ( bought cheaply on eBay) in the wort and gently run it over the filter to remove gunk if the flow drops off, I hope that helps

 

[DoctorMick]

Thought I'd share my recent GrainFather review here for anyone looking in to buying one.

https://northerncodemonkey.wordpress.com/2016/07/07/grainfather-1-year-in/

 

[Wilfy]

http://www.brewcrafterstore.com/

New kid on the block.

€499 delivered.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8E8z047NfA[/ame]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrx9JyDtcEA[/ame]

 

[DoctorMick]

http://www.brewcrafterstore.com/

New kid on the block.

€499 delivered.

no recirc or chilling?

Edit: seen the recirc, have I missed the chilling as well? :lol:

 

[Wilfy]

no recirc or chilling?

Edit: seen the recirc, have I missed the chilling as well? :lol:

Looks like it comes with an immersion chiller in shiny stainless.

 

[DoctorMick]

Looks like it comes with an immersion chiller in shiny stainless.

I haven't done very well here have I? :lol:

It does look good and very similar to a GF, only small criticism from the video is the location of the controller, it'd be a pain lying on the floor to set it. Would be interested to see a side by side comparison.

 

[LarryF]

Would not the single pipe feed in through the lid from the pump cause channelling through the grain bed? I didn't see any mention of a sparge arm or anything like it.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Why is he wearing gloves :-?

 

[BrannBrew]

It does look very good, if you price up the individual items you get a lot for your money, compared to the other all in ones. I do agree also that the controller would be slightly awkward considering it looks the height of the GF.

 

[Linalmeemow]

And yet another challenger appears...

http://www.home-brew-online.com/equipment-c40/hambleton-bard-bulldog-brewer-p2532

Looks alright, and a good £200 less than a Grainfather...

 

[BREWERS DROOP]

i built my own 100ltr for less than £500 all stainless apart from the wort chiller,not sure about all this digital stuff,if it goes wrong what does it cost to replace?

 

[F00b4r]

i built my own 100ltr for less than £500 all stainless apart from the wort chiller,not sure about all this digital stuff,if it goes wrong what does it cost to replace?

The Grainfather and Braumeister are both pretty modular so you can replace the relevant part rather than the whole unit.

 

[BrannBrew]

i built my own 100ltr for less than �£500 all stainless apart from the wort chiller,not sure about all this digital stuff,if it goes wrong what does it cost to replace?

That's probably what I'll be doing now, I've read quite extensively on another thread here about Ace Boilers, I may go down that route and buy parts to make my own kind of version of the systems.

If you have a guide/breakdown of what equipment your system consists of, is it possible for you to share please? it could help both myself and others wanting to get something together as a alternative to the retail all in ones.

 

[BREWERS DROOP]

That's probably what I'll be doing now, I've read quite extensively on another thread here about Ace Boilers, I may go down that route and buy parts to make my own kind of version of the systems.

If you have a guide/breakdown of what equipment your system consists of, is it possible for you to share please? it could help both myself and others wanting to get something together as a alternative to the retail all in ones.

I have 3 98ltr Bergland pots direct from Bergland
2 x 5500kw ultra low watt density Camco heat elements (Amazon us)
False bottom from (Powell)
3 All stainless ball valves (Amazon)
3 temp gauges (Amazon)
3 sight glass (Amazon)
All 8mtrs of battery cable from local electrical wholesaler plus
Electrical junction boxes and waterproof glands
Enclosure box eBay
2 Omron temp controllers eBay
2 heat sinks Amazon
2 ssr 40amp Amazon
Heat sink glue Amazon
30amp isolating switch local wholesalers along with large connecting plugs from the hlt and Kettle to the control box

All connected from a second seperate consumer unit down to the building at the bottom of the garden via armoured cable.

Electrician to wire it up was on mates rates

 

[BREWERS DROOP]

Also added a chugger pump so i can put all 3 pots on the same level instead of gravity fed.

Also i do wish to say that if you have a Grainfather/Braumeister which is a good bit of kit,and all automated to a degree,i didn't want that experience,i wanted hands on brewing,which makes you learn the art whilst in your early stages of my experience of brewing.

I have also learned along the way how to build my own kit,which if anything goes wrong,its very cheap to replace.

 

[GermLish]

Looks awesome.

Sadly I dont have the space.

Grainfather arrived today.

 

[Linalmeemow]

Well, I've decided to step into the dark side of all-grain brewing and will be ordering a Bulldog Brewer today. Intro price of £360 from home brew hop shop in Plymouth has swayed me - more than £200 less than a Grainfather...

 

[Fil]

Well, I've decided to step into the dark side of all-grain brewing and will be ordering a Bulldog Brewer today. Intro price of �£360 from home brew hop shop in Plymouth has swayed me - more than �£200 less than a Grainfather...

Congrats... hope you enjoy both the brewing and the system,, the vids i watched look like its all straight forward, tho initially i would fill with a couple of litres and set it up on the counter befor dropping to ground level for filling and brewing.. the lil amount of liquid in the thing will be to ensure the elements dont burn dry between setting and sitting in the brew spot..

I will look forward to reading about your experiences with it ( lots of pics too please..)