Thoughts on grainfather upgrades

[jceg316]

I've had my GF for 3 years now, done many many brews with it and I don't like it. When I was buying I didn't know of other all in one systems but if I was to purchase an all in one today I probably would go for something a lot cheaper. There are a few things I don't like: the recirculation pipe is really hard to clean and grains get stuck in there. The GF cleaner does nothing to remove them. Some of you may remember a while back I posted about all my brews getting infected and the issue was this pipe not being clean. I clean this pipe regularly but I still got bad batches every so often. I have a 56L kettle so after the sparge I now pump the wort into this kettle and boil there and my brews have been fine again. I don't use the CF chiller anymore as there's no way to clean inside there, I have an immersion chiller I use instead.

I was thinking of selling it but it's not in great condition and I wouldn't get much for it, plus I wouldn't want to burden anyone with a system which ruins their beers. I was wondering if there are ways to upgrade the Grainfather to get rid of the recirc pipe. I'd like to:

• Change the outlet to a ball valve
• use a silicone hose to go from the ball valve to pump
• Remove the SS recirc pipe and replace with silicone
• Keep the current ball valve setup so I can use the recirculation arm

Has anyone done something like this before and know of the sizes of taps, washers etc to get?

Something else I want to do is install a ball valve into the sparge heater to "automate" sparging. I have a spare ball valve and Q-max cutter but need to get a drill bit for stainless steel for a pilot hole.

 

[trueblue]

I changed the ball valve for a cam lock fitting for the re-circulation arm and chiller from angel homebrew. Stopped using the grainfather cleaner I find standard oxy does a better job.

 

[uDicko]

I changed the ball valve for a cam lock fitting for the re-circulation arm and chiller from angel homebrew. Stopped using the grainfather cleaner I find standard oxy does a better job.

This works a treat.
A robo brew bottom plate turned with the feet down. Fits perfectly and helps to keep grain out of the pump and filter.

 

[cheeseyfeet]

Wouldn't the recirculation pipe be very hot after the boil, which would kill most bugs?

Especially if you were recirculating for a whirlpool.

 

[trueblue]

Don't think I have ever had grain go into the pump/recirculation pipe. Is your grain crush to fine I crush my own with the rollers set to 1mm.

 

[jceg316]

I changed the ball valve for a cam lock fitting for the re-circulation arm and chiller from angel homebrew. Stopped using the grainfather cleaner I find standard oxy does a better job.

Do you remember what sized fittings you used?

Wouldn't the recirculation pipe be very hot after the boil, which would kill most bugs?

Especially if you were recirculating for a whirlpool.

It does get hot, but if there are bits of grains in there it can get infected again quite easily. Maybe the pipe doesn't get hot enough for long enough, and with any kind of sanitisation it must be surface clean first.

Don't think I have ever had grain go into the pump/recirculation pipe. Is your grain crush to fine I crush my own with the rollers set to 1mm.

My grain crush is about 1.28mm which is what GF recommend.

 

[trueblue]

Do you remember what sized fittings you used?
I bought the ready to fit kit.
https://www.angelhomebrew.co.uk/bre...father-recirculation-arm-camlock-upgrade.htmlMy grain crush is about 1.28mm which is what GF recommend.

My crush is finer than yours yet I don't get any problems strange. The malt miller in his weekly newsletter did an interesting piece on the grain crush