Ideas for the Grainfather to increase productivity

[nickrjsmith]

Hi,

I have bought myself a spanky new Grainfather. I have been brewing with a converted coolbox and tea urn for a few years now and decided to go improve things... mainly because the temp control on the cooler was difficult. I started a mash around 70 and ended a 1 1/2 hr mash at 50. Not good.

My love of the cooler was that it was massive... huge.. I could mash and sparge enough grains to fill two boilers at the same time using a partigyle technique.

I am trying to think of ways to get two brews out of a brew day with the Grainfather. I have two ideas that i'd like to get feedback on.

1) Do a 4.5kg mash, sparge this, then pump this into my old tea urn boiler for the boil, letting me mash another 4.5kg then boil that in the Grainfather.

2) Mash about 8kg, sparge that into two separate containers (15l each), top up with water to 27 l then run two boils (add a little sugar to each to raise gravity).

Question. If i do number two, it will save me more time. Will the beer lack body if i have essentially spit a big gravity mash into two and top up with water? Or will the original gravity be enough to keep the beers OK?

thanks for any advice / thoughts.

N

 

[Leon103]

I would go with option 1. You can make two totally different beers.

 

[DoctorMick]

If you're happy to spend a few quid extra have a look at the grain brother, it's basically a partial grainfather so you can kick off another brew once the first is boiling. That's basically option 1 I guess.

 

[jackthehat]

I've done a few double brew days on the Grainfather.

My process was basically to use the time when the first one was boiling to prepare the goods and liquor in my HLT. Probably what made it tolerable was using no-chill cubes to cut out the time to cool the worts. Still felt like a long day though.

 

[Fil]

Im far from the most organised brewer and often spend a lot of time racing between house n brewshed for the odd item i NEED!!
So taking that into account the brewday with the grainfather is about 5 hours, that is from start to finish with pitched beer in the FV and the G/F draining dry upside down on the draining board, next to the cfc and malt tube i will admit i often miss the odd external splash on the outside which gets a clean up the following day or when noticed (usually when warming up for the next use..)

how about option 3 brew 1 x grainfather brew, and 1 x brew in your old kit, tea urn and tun, side by side, or are you limited by a power supply?..

 

[JapanBrew]

I wonder if the sell a separate basket?

 

[DoctorMick]

I wonder if the sell a separate basket?

They do although it's £80 which seems steep to me.

 

[nickrjsmith]

Thanks guys, The first brew will be a single.

After that, i reckon i'll mash, boil in a sparate urn while i mash number two, then boil that one in the grain father.

Only an extra 100 mins of mashing time really as the first one will be boiling while mashing the second.

 

[nickrjsmith]

Yes.. that's essentially option 1. A separate boiler for the first brew. :)

 

[MrEgg]

sorry to bring up an oldish thread - but Im sure Ive seen something called a Grainbrother Its a Grainfather, minus a grain basket and chiller.