Grainfather

[xozzx]

I thought it was standard practice just to remove it permanently

Does it not cause a blockage at the connection of the recirc pipe or counterflow cooler if you do this? It is quite a small gap where the pin is to push down the ball. I guess this would be easier to clean tho... Im gonna remove mine and see how it goes

 

[Saisonator]

I've never had any blockages yet, done 12 brews.

 

[Norfolk79]

I've never had any blockages yet, done 12 brews.

To be honest I hadn't in my 11 brews with it. I took it out to clean and forgot to put it back when I did my 12th. Wasn't until cleaning up I realised, so it's still in a bag in my brew box.

 

[Slid]

I suspect Saisonator may be right.

I have had a few incidents with cocking the GF up by knocking the mid-pipe off, removing the pump filter (x2 or 3) and other imaginative ways to cock it up generally.

A last (first in my case) resort is to decant / tip all the wort and grain through a BIAB bag into a FV and sort the GF out by partial de-assemble and clean then re-assemble.

Then you just carry smoothly on from the point at which you were interrupted, with yet another two hours of your life, over and above the planned brewday, that will never be got back, gone.

Only plus side is that efficiencies only get better, unless you lose lots of wort.

 

[MmmBeer]

I made some money this morning via an online stock market trading website; with the market 'crash', it was a little bit like shooting fish in a barrel for a while. Anyway I decided to put it towards some shiny brewing kit, I made enough to comfortably buy a Bulldog / Klarstein / Ace all in one system, but having read the reviews, I am minded to put a little more cash with it and getting a Grainfather.

Having read this thread, I was a tad concerned about blockages / pump failures, but also from looking at suppliers websites, there seem to be an awful lot of optional extras available. I can see how a hop spider could be a valuable addition, but I wouldn't consider a conical fermenter at this stage. Is a sparge heater essential, or can I heat water in a kettle / stock pot for sparging?

Any comments and recommendations would be appreciated.

 

[ITMA]

Others will disagree but I got the hop spider and I think now it was a redundant purchase. Grainfather themselves say that the hops should form a natural filter around the filter itself and after dispensing with the hop spider for the last 3 or 4 brews I'm inclined to agree.

The hops are no problem as long as you're careful not to dislodge the filter OR secure it more firmly in place using jubilee clips. Or turn it the other way around. All of these tricks work.

Edit to add: removing the ball valve permanently, IF you're careful to never accidentally start the pump with no attachment (easy done, especially as the connect unit activates the pump at the start of mash automatically) - is a major improvement. The ball valve is guaranteed to block so getting rid of that is a boon.

Blow with a bike pump through the pipe before each brew.

Sparge tank not needed, yes you can heat your own water. The official sparge tank is just a (overpriced) tea urn really. Personally knowing what I know now, I would find a second hand tea urn and use that for convenience. I wouldn't want to mess around with stockpots etc in my tiny kitchen.

 

[MmmBeer]

Others will disagree but I got the hop spider and I think now it was a redundant purchase. Grainfather themselves say that the hops should form a natural filter around the filter itself and after dispensing with the hop spider for the last 3 or 4 brews I'm inclined to agree.

The hops are no problem as long as you're careful not to dislodge the filter OR secure it more firmly in place using jubilee clips. Or turn it the other way around. All of these tricks work.

Edit to add: removing the ball valve permanently, IF you're careful to never accidentally start the pump with no attachment (easy done, especially as the connect unit activates the pump at the start of mash automatically) - is a major improvement. The ball valve is guaranteed to block so getting rid of that is a boon.

Blow with a bike pump through the pipe before each brew.

Sparge tank not needed, yes you can heat your own water. The official sparge tank is just a (overpriced) tea urn really. Personally knowing what I know now, I would find a second hand tea urn and use that for convenience. I wouldn't want to mess around with stockpots etc in my tiny kitchen.

I have done it, I've ordered one.

Thanks ITMA for your advice

I raised your comments about the hop spider with the shopkeeper, who agreed and recommended using whole leaf hops, or a hop bag if using pellets. I have a 25l fermenter with a tap, filled from a kettle, which I could use temporarily as a sparge water tank, or have a potential good deal on a nearly new 30l Burco boiler.

 

[Norfolk79]

I have to say I did buy a Hop Spider when I purchased my Grainfather. Only used it once before reverting to just throwing the hops in. it was only my brew before last, when I had ordered leaf hops as HBC didn't have the pellets I used the spider.

Last brew I threw my bittering hops in the boil, but used the spider for the 5 minute and flameout additions. My thinking is that the bittering ones then give better utilisation, and form a layer on the filter. Whilst the later additions don't then clog the filter too much at the end as they're in the spider. I think it did make a difference as I managed to get more wort out and into the fermenter.

 

[Saisonator]

I find leaf hops are less likely to clog the filter.

 

[Norfolk79]

I haven't actually really ever had a problem with the filter clogging on any of my 13 brews so far, was more of an experiment with the last brew. Even when I knocked the filter off I still got most of the wort out

Whilst there was less trub in the GF, the hop spider is a right PITA to clean!

 

[Saisonator]

I just found the pellets turn into sludge, but the whole hops keep some shape and can form a blanket to help the filtering.
I have used mostly pellets for ease of storage, never had a blockage but had a couple of slow transfers. Has to carefully scrape the filter with my paddle last time to speed things up, bit risky.

 

[sdt7618]

would it go in a dish washer?

 

[MmmBeer]

I just found the pellets turn into sludge, but the whole hops keep some shape and can form a blanket to help the filtering.
I have used mostly pellets for ease of storage, never had a blockage but had a couple of slow transfers. Has to carefully scrape the filter with my paddle last time to speed things up, bit risky.

I have a mixture of leaf and pellet at the moment, but will try to stick to buying leaf hops from now on.

 

[Norfolk79]

I started off using leaf, but moved over to pellets mainly as they're easier to store and weight out. There is something quite nice though about throwing whole hops into a rolling boil though.

 

[ITMA]

I think I might get my hop spider up onto ebay. It is indeed a PITA to clean.

Good luck mmmbeer! It's fun, but hard work!