Grainfather

[itry]

Hi. I used my grainfather for the first time last night. Having never brewed using it or full grain I was a bit worried. But what a waste of time that was. What an awesome peice of kit!!!! I loaded the recipie into the gf and it told me what to do every step of the way. Amazing. So now I have my first thing on brew. I'm going to attempt 3 more brews this weekend on it. If your thinking of getting one just do it. Totally worth the money

 

[BrannBrew]

I have had the internal angel/devil on my shoulder all week about getting one.
Looking into brewing and reading/watching some hints and tips it seems if i remember then my first brew could be good on it too. Have 1 week until my galactic panda (galaxy black IPA) is out the fermenter. Which gives me time to look into it a bit more and order it in. I can see/hopeful that my brew day woes fade away using it.

 

[Slid]

I have discovered several ways to cock it up in the past. Recurrent woe stems from too fine a grain crush which gives too much flour for the boil, leading to cutting out around 80C.

Earlier on I did things like knocking off the hop filter, and once even the top half of the central overflow pipe.

So, idiot proof it may be, but it ain't Slid proof.

 

[Manxnorton]

Hahahaha! Aye not Brian proof!!
Time n time again I do stupid mishaps...usual not contintrate when the heat the strike water for mash out and overshot temp!!
Brain retention at my lowest!! Lol
But after must be ova a hundred brews only thing is I replaced the silicone gaskets..and I keep meaning to sort out that loose filter and the black end cap...
Apart from that worth the weight in gold...took me two months humming n harring wether ta buy!
So next thing is upgrading to gf controller...
I always use oat husks etc for drainage and never had a prob of stuck sparge etc for ages!
Tbh a trial n tested system like the gf is a god send...I’d hate to go with the choice again with all these Chinese or foreign systems that cost less that the gf,..even though the gf originally from newzealand lol but the customers service and online help is top notch..
The Best Buy I done tbh
Bri

 

[BrannBrew]

Tbh a trial n tested system like the gf is a god send...I’d hate to go with the choice again with all these Chinese or foreign systems that cost less that the gf
The Best Buy I done tbh
Bri

I like doing brews of beers I've done before and want consistent results and the least amount of faff over the brewday, In the past buying things and trying to make shift a similar type of system but usually a hiccup occurs at some stage of the brew. So I have been one of those people. That's why I actually decided to get one. I don't react to stress too well and when something on my old system like the ball value getting blocked the wife knows not to go neither me for awhile (slight over exaggeration maybe). Homebrew is a hobby I do enjoy & is of interest to me and I obviously enjoy the results. I recently bought a fridge to help keep my kegs cool and with the fermentor and now getting a GF to make brewdays run more smoothly. Not unlike golfers who want better clubs/newer tech. or Photographers who want a newer better lense

 

[itry]

All hail the grain father

 

[Slid]

All hail the grain father

Nope - you need a good understanding of basic processes and recipe structures to get the best from any equipment.

This sort of set-up is far from perfect as there are some limitations. Having back up stuff like a grain bag and a spare FV really help when things go a bit wrong

 

[itry]

As I stated I'm new to full grain brewing. Using this product is giving me a great understanding of the principles involved. It also enables people with no prior skills to join the hobby and create pretty dam good beer. In my mind this product deserves an award. All hail the grainfather.

 

[itry]

Today i am completing brew 3 on the grainfather. And I'm really enjoying it. I plan on doing brew 4 today also. So far I've made a cascade pale ale. A porter. Right now I'm making a ringwood 49er clone. Later a kronenburg 1664 blanc clone. I use beersmiths to help me decide. And use the grainfather brew . I'm beyond impressed with it.

 

[BrewJarreau]

Hi. I used my grainfather for the first time last night. Having never brewed using it or full grain I was a bit worried. But what a waste of time that was. What an awesome peice of kit!!!! I loaded the recipie into the gf and it told me what to do every step of the way. Amazing. So now I have my first thing on brew. I'm going to attempt 3 more brews this weekend on it. If your thinking of getting one just do it. Totally worth the money

Welcome to the party! I had a good year in business last year and decided to treat myself to a sweet gift. Having never brewed before - on my own - only with other folks. I went balls deep and bought the GF connect and the GF conical ferm. These two items are a complete brewery. Since feb. I’ve brewed 4 beers. An American wheat ale, stone clone, juicifer clone and a Hefeweizen. - I would have done more but I had a house fire and an brewing remotely-
Each brew has had some small mishap, only one brew came out poorly- note - the GF has a capacity of 8 gallons of liquid, and 19.8 pounds of grain- DO NOT try to make an 8 gallon recipe with 22.8 pounds of grain- you will fail!! There is a process called iteration mashing for this.
I forgot to put the filter on the pump inlet last time - the major point of failure for me has been the ball valvue. Open’er up and pitch that **** in the trash. It catches and clogs with grain and hops endlessly.
Use a solid hop spider , bags, whatever - try to keep as much hop matter out of your wort as possible - b/c it will clog the pump...
I watched a lot of David Heath’s videos for tips and tricks .
This kit is worth every penny though- **** the plastic base - but whatever, it’s still amazing. I would love to get my hands on a 220 version. I highly recommend a grain coat to insulate the GF and help bring up temp.
Best tip- there is a timer- you can filler up the night before and tell it to warm the water before you brew. Waking up to a Gf hot and full of your strike water before you start brewing is sweet, dump what you need for struck - lever the rest and let it cool a bit- you can CC if you want- then start your mash!


Also- I envy you’re 8 brews in one day- what are your batch volumes? Small yeah? You nut!
Cheers!!!

 

[Slid]

Welcome to the party! I had a good year in business last year and decided to treat myself to a sweet gift. Having never brewed before - on my own - only with other folks. I went balls deep and bought the GF connect and the GF conical ferm. These two items are a complete brewery. Since feb. I’ve brewed 4 beers. An American wheat ale, stone clone, juicifer clone and a Hefeweizen. - I would have done more but I had a house fire and an brewing remotely-
Each brew has had some small mishap, only one brew came out poorly- note - the GF has a capacity of 8 gallons of liquid, and 19.8 pounds of grain- DO NOT try to make an 8 gallon recipe with 22.8 pounds of grain- you will fail!! There is a process called iteration mashing for this.
I forgot to put the filter on the pump inlet last time - the major point of failure for me has been the ball valvue. Open’er up and pitch that **** in the trash. It catches and clogs with grain and hops endlessly.
Use a solid hop spider , bags, whatever - try to keep as much hop matter out of your wort as possible - b/c it will clog the pump...
I watched a lot of David Heath’s videos for tips and tricks .
This kit is worth every penny though- **** the plastic base - but whatever, it’s still amazing. I would love to get my hands on a 220 version. I highly recommend a grain coat to insulate the GF and help bring up temp.
Best tip- there is a timer- you can filler up the night before and tell it to warm the water before you brew. Waking up to a Gf hot and full of your strike water before you start brewing is sweet, dump what you need for struck - lever the rest and let it cool a bit- you can CC if you want- then start your mash!


Also- I envy you’re 8 brews in one day- what are your batch volumes? Small yeah? You nut!
Cheers!!!

Great post there, mate. David Heath is "the Grainfather man", for mine.
Do you mind if I enquire, from a linguistic perspective, where you live and how you end up posting on this forum?

Just intrigued, that's all!

 

[BrewJarreau]

Great post there, mate. David Heath is "the Grainfather man", for mine.
Do you mind if I enquire, from a linguistic perspective, where you live and how you end up posting on this forum?

Just intrigued, that's all!

Hi Slid,
Sure - I live in New Orleans, Louisiana- way down in the bottom of the us on the Gulf of Mexico. (I’m assuming you might live out side the us- I think a lot of the users in this forum are)
My apologies for my lackluster grammar- the WiFi is weak in our rental home and I often do a lot of interneting from my phone, so lots of errors .
Also - I was feeling fresh this morning and lazy in my language.

Not sure how I found the forum. When I decided I wanted to start brewing , I did a lot of research, which landed me on a lot of blogs and forums. Also, always searching for more Grainfather users, more tips and tricks and anyone else who has screwed up or done dumb stuff - so I feel less foolish.

While I have you here... when I bottled my hefe on Tuesday - I noticed I had a lot of foam while bottling - like almost a neck worth . I’m going to open one today just to see how it’s coming. - any thoughts on the foam?