Help needed - converting AG mash kits for Grainfather

[BrewDan]

Hi all

Need some help please as I have a brew day tomorrow morning with a mate, I’m also just about to head out after a days work so have no time to look this up properly myself unfortunately.

Having not long ago bought a grainfather my mates bought a couple of AG mash kits from the home brew company, blonde ale @ 4.5% & Citra pale ale kit @ 4.8%

Ive just looked at the instructions and they mention if using the BIAB method or a grainfather, ignore them.

Can anyone advise how to brew these correctly on the grainfather please? I’d assume I’d have to adjust the amount of mash water and sparge water but I am literally just about to head out for the night so am not 100% on how to correctly calculate this.

Thanks for any help!

Cheers!!

 

[Banbeer]

I have an all in one Brewster Beacon and it works with 19L in first for the mash and then sparge to 29L, boil for recipe time jobs a good un for a 23L brew.

 

[BrewDan]

Great thank you

Mash with 19l at temps and times on instructions, sparge with 10l and then boil per instructions

Shall give this a go in the morning and report back once we start drinking it

thanks again

 

[Slid]

Mash water for GF is 3.5L for deadspace, plus 2.7L * number of kilos of grain.

So if grain is 4.5kg, then 2.7*4.5 = 12.15 and then adding 3.5 gets you to 15.65L (spurious accuracy here, of course, anything around 15.5 to 15.75 is "bang on").

Then for the sparge you want to make up the total water used to around 31-32L or so, so that would be another 15 or 16L to sparge, maybe?

 

[Harbey]

The other option is to make a new recipe using the GF app/website. You can just input the amount of grain and hops you've got and the software will tell you the rest. This is probably a good idea anyway if you're wanting to use the connect functionality.

You'll want to mash at about 65C for 60 mins, 75C for 10mins, then boil for 60 mins.

 

[Zephyr259]

If it's a 23L batch then you'll want 28L pre-boil, GF tends to boil off about 3L per hour and has a 2L dead volume when transferring to the FV. Grain absorption will vary but 0.8 L/kg works for me so sparge volume = 28L - mash vol + (0.8 x kg grain).

Everything else should be much the same with hop timings etc. A good whirlpool (manual seems just as effective as the GF whirlpool/aeration paddle) and 15 min rest after boiling helps things settle out away from the filter helps me transfer smoothly.

 

[Slid]

If it's a 23L batch then you'll want 28L pre-boil, GF tends to boil off about 3L per hour and has a 2L dead volume when transferring to the FV. Grain absorption will vary but 0.8 L/kg works for me so sparge volume = 28L - mash vol + (0.8 x kg grain).

Everything else should be much the same with hop timings etc. A good whirlpool (manual seems just as effective as the GF whirlpool/aeration paddle) and 15 min rest after boiling helps things settle out away from the filter helps me transfer smoothly.

I prefer this explanation to the one in my post - it is much neater and easier to understand!

 

[BrewDan]

Thanks all, we did a double brew day to break in the grainfather, which was a lot of fun and they are both fermenting away nicely in the only warm part of the house, under the stairs with an electric heater (no plumbing/heating as we are renovating). Probably perfect for a lager thinking about it!

looking forward to giving them a sample in the new year and getting some more ingredients ordered once we have a useable kitchen so I can get some rolling stock going.

Also a big thanks to one of our forum sponsors brew2bottle for shipping out both of my orders swiftly and well packaged, the second of which was a last minute order of equipment I needed for my weekend brewday as I couldn’t find half the stuff that’s been packed away since we moved... brew2bottle turned this one around in no time at all, Gareth I’ll be back in the new year for more shiny stuff!

cheers

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Thanks all, we did a double brew day to break in the grainfather, which was a lot of fun and they are both fermenting away nicely in the only warm part of the house, under the stairs with an electric heater (no plumbing/heating as we are renovating). Probably perfect for a lager thinking about it!

looking forward to giving them a sample in the new year and getting some more ingredients ordered once we have a useable kitchen so I can get some rolling stock going.

Also a big thanks to one of our forum sponsors brew2bottle for shipping out both of my orders swiftly and well packaged, the second of which was a last minute order of equipment I needed for my weekend brewday as I couldn’t find half the stuff that’s been packed away since we moved... brew2bottle turned this one around in no time at all, Gareth I’ll be back in the new year for more shiny stuff!

cheers

I'd be very interested to know how your HBC Blonde Ale came out. I've just bought this AG kit but was surprised to see it came with S-05 yeast!

 

[BrewDan]

Pretty sure I had mangrove jacks with mine but could be wrong as we have done a lot of brewing since December.

Either way we enjoyed it, so much so that I have another batch I will soon be putting in the keg.

The first lot were bottled, half were primed with normal table sugar and the other half light spray malt , we preferred the ones with table sugar.

Very clear, very easy to drink, not offensive ie dangerous.

The majority of the batch was fermented in a plastic fermenter, I had some left over which I stuck in a demijohn - that actually tasted better and was ready to drink as soon as fermentation had finished.

I’m going to brew a few more of these and change things up each time, I’ve taken delivery of a conical so will take more detailed notes for my next batch, at the moment we are just a bit brew happy since buying a grainfather in December

I’d like to hear what you think of it once you get around to brewing

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Pretty sure I had mangrove jacks with mine but could be wrong as we have done a lot of brewing since December.

Either way we enjoyed it, so much so that I have another batch I will soon be putting in the keg.

The first lot were bottled, half were primed with normal table sugar and the other half light spray malt , we preferred the ones with table sugar.

Very clear, very easy to drink, not offensive ie dangerous.

The majority of the batch was fermented in a plastic fermenter, I had some left over which I stuck in a demijohn - that actually tasted better and was ready to drink as soon as fermentation had finished.

I’m going to brew a few more of these and change things up each time, I’ve taken delivery of a conical so will take more detailed notes for my next batch, at the moment we are just a bit brew happy since buying a grainfather in December

I’d like to hear what you think of it once you get around to brewing

Well that's reasuring. I was wondering whether I needed to tweek it a bit. It says it contains the hops Pacific Gem, Liberty and Newport. A search on brewers friend for recipes using this combination brought up nothing!

 

[BrewDan]

I didn’t treat the water, likely sparged too hot, couldn’t connect up my chiller so had to leave it overnight to cool before pitching and my fermentation temps were not particularly stable as we have no heating at the moment, so it was in a cupboard with a oil heater... even with all that it came out great, all 7 or so people who drank it enjoyed it, this is very sessionable.

Because of this it’s going to be my go to while I tweak things during the brewing and fermentation process to learn more about my new equipment, water chemistry, yeasts and the AG process in general as I’m pretty sure whatever I do I’m going to end up with a nice drink.

Let us know how you get on

 

[cossie.j]

I also bought a couple of all grain kits from the home brew company myself, the instructions aren’t the best to be fair (unless you are doing a BIAB). Not knowing exactly what is i the recipe you can’t input it into the grainfather app? I’m brewing one tomorrow morning, so hopefully all goes well.

One thing i noticed though, I was meant to receive safale US05 yeast for both kits? But instead i have been given mangrove jacks west coast? Not sure how much it’ll impact things, but I’ll give it a try

 

[Harbey]

One thing i noticed though, I was meant to receive safale US05 yeast for both kits? But instead i have been given mangrove jacks west coast? Not sure how much it’ll impact things, but I’ll give it a try

I've used that yeast a few times, including today's brew. Just be aware that if you rehydrate it, it can smell a bit cheesy. It's fine once it gets going in the beer, but a bit off putting initially.

 

[Banbeer]

One thing i noticed though, I was meant to receive safale US05 yeast for both kits? But instead i have been given mangrove jacks west coast? Not sure how much it’ll impact things, but I’ll give it a try

Also be aware that it can take a couple of days to start, I was concerned the first time I used it but now I know it's all fine.

 

[Harbey]

I just came on here to add that it can also takes a bit longer to get going than others. Looks like @Banbeer beat me to it

 

[cossie.j]

Also be aware that it can take a couple of days to start, I was concerned the first time I used it but now I know it's all fine.

Well it’s brewed and in the fermenter now so we’ll see what happens? One thing i noticed though, it was quite dark in colour? I didn’t re hydrate it though! I just pitched halfway through transfer all in all, it was a good day

 

[Slid]

I also bought a couple of all grain kits from the home brew company myself, the instructions aren’t the best to be fair (unless you are doing a BIAB). Not knowing exactly what is i the recipe you can’t input it into the grainfather app? I’m brewing one tomorrow morning, so hopefully all goes well.

One thing i noticed though, I was meant to receive safale US05 yeast for both kits? But instead i have been given mangrove jacks west coast? Not sure how much it’ll impact things, but I’ll give it a try

I expect that both these are essentially the same "chico" strain. Very clean tasting, high attenuating and tolerant of temps of 22C or more. Ideal for a centrally (over) heated house. I use US05 for most beer styles with unfailingly good outcomes.

Would not necessarily claim "exciting". Just "good".

 

[cossie.j]

I expect that both these are essentially the same "chico" strain. Very clean tasting, high attenuating and tolerant of temps of 22C or more. Ideal for a centrally (over) heated house. I use US05 for most beer styles with unfailingly good outcomes. Absolutely,I’ve come quite accustom to US05 recently and had some great results. I bought 2 all grain kits which come with M44 west coast yeast (should have been US05 ) so this one I used the M44 and will have a spare for just in case?... as for the other I’ll use US05 as i have a couple spare in the fridge however though, 7 hours in and no activity with the M44,? whereas with the US05 I’d have plenty of airlock activity by now. So we’ll see how this turns out

Would not necessarily claim "exciting". Just "good".

 

[Harbey]

The one I brewed on Saturday is just starting to show some activity after 48hrs at 19C. Be patient with it.