Your First Grainfather Brew - A Walkthrough

[strange-steve]

Finally got round to this - sorry for the delay.

Good news is that the tests are unaffected by the temperature - so you can definitely get cracking with heating while you fiddle with syringes etc!

I did a little reading and I'm surprised you found no difference. This is from Bru'n Water:

When to Add Acid to Mashing and Sparging Water.

It does make a difference when you add any acid to brewing waters. The alkalinity value that was reported for the tap water was measured in the water near room temperature. As pointed out above, raising the temperature of water reduces the solubility of dissolved carbon dioxide in the water. This decarbonates the water and converts alkalinity in the water (mainly bicarbonate) to undissolved chalk in the water and the carbon dioxide bubbles out of the water.

The alkalinity of heated water is reduced in comparison to its room-temperature alkalinity.

Since acid additions are calculated based on that reported room-temperature alkalinity value, it is important that any acid dose calculated for that water be added prior to heating the water. If the acid is added after the water is heated, the reduced alkalinity of the heated water means that too much acid will be added and the resulting brewing water alkalinity will be lower than predicted.

Add all acid to brewing water prior to heating in order to achieve the alkalinity targeted by brewing water calculations. If acid must be added after the water has been heated, test the alkalinity of the heated water and use that new alkalinity to calculate the acid addition.

 

[ITMA]

Mmm that's interesting. Bear in mind it was just the tests that were unaffected by the temperature, a quick skim of that suggests if adding acid then the treatment won't be effective?

I didn't need to add acid, just bicarb and gypsum but yes I hadn't thought about the effect the temperature would have on the treatment.

(Edit, I also didn't bother testing the effect of the treatment, I just threw it in and carried on. Maybe I'm not suited to this scientific approach!)

 

[MagnusTS]

The plate collapses due to compaction of the grain bed. I manage to achieve this from time to time. Can't find any particular reason why it should be so random.

Could it be something to do with the direction that my recirculation pipe points onto the top plate during the mash? Maybe washing away the grains under the top plate if pointing down too much and flow too fast??

 

[MagnusTS]

Have you checked that the silicon seal ring has not become dislodged? I found it easily gets 'rolled' off the edge which can allow the grain plate to rotate.

I did a brew this weekend and was determined to find the cause of the grain bed collapse.
Of course it all went smoothly, no grain bed collapse, and lovely clear wort into the boil.

But thanks for the tip. I will definitely keep an eye on the seal on the top plate.

 

[Peter Scandlyn]

Could be I guess. Generally I route the discharge pipe past one of the plate grips so it rests against the inside of the malt pipe. I'll have a play and see.

 

[Alastair70]

Cheers Steve, just unpacked and set up my GF. Your guide was invaluable. I expect I’ll be back here tomorrow for the inaugural brew.

 

[strange-steve]

Cheers Steve, just unpacked and set up my GF. Your guide was invaluable. I expect I’ll be back here tomorrow for the inaugural brew.

How did the first brew go then?

 

[Alastair70]

Really well, did Ger er Brewed’s Pimped Up APA kit. Set up was easier than I expected. The connect app is great and helped the day ran smoothly, the whole system is a delight to use.
I upped the strike vol and decreased sparge after reading posts on stuck mashes but must have got my sums wrong. Ended up overshooting on OG ending up at 1.064, expected was 1.055.
Clean up was a doddle afterwards. Can’t wait for its next run out, going to do a Session of some sort to keg for summer day drinking, exact recipe still in research phase.

 

[strange-steve]

Glad it went well. I was a little worried that it might take some of the fun out of the brewday, but not at all, as you say it's a delight to use. Nine points is quite a lot to overshoot by, was your FV volume as expected?

 

[Alastair70]

No, that was the **** up for this brew. I’ve got a 10L stockpot and need to do two runs of 7.5L to give the required sparge volume. I only did one, hence the overshoot. I’ll swig a trial jar next week and see if I’m happy with it as is or want to liquor back. Next addition to the set up will be a cheap cool box with a tap added so I can get the ful sparge volume ready during the boil.

 

[strange-steve]

No, that was the **** up for this brew. I’ve got a 10L stockpot and need to do two runs of 7.5L to give the required sparge volume. I only did one, hence the overshoot. I’ll swig a trial jar next week and see if I’m happy with it as is or want to liquor back. Next addition to the set up will be a cheap cool box with a tap added so I can get the ful sparge volume ready during the boil.

What about just storing the hot sparge water in your FV until you need it? Yeah it'll lose some heat, but if you brought it to the boil, poured it into the FV then started heating the second half it'll still be hot by the time you need it (plus it'll sanitise your FV in the process). Even if it does cool down, a cool sparge has been shown to have very little or no effect on efficiency.

 

[Alastair70]

What about just storing the hot sparge water in your FV until you need it? Yeah it'll lose some heat, but if you brought it to the boil, poured it into the FV then started heating the second half it'll still be hot by the time you need it (plus it'll sanitise your FV in the process). Even if it does cool down, a cool sparge has been shown to have very little or no effect on efficiency.

That is a stellar idea. Thank you.

 

[ClarenceBoddicker]

Thank you so much for this strange-steve. Invaluable to me on Friday night. It was a long night but that was due to other factors like my wort chiller not connecting well to any outlet but I managed. Without this I would have struggled but for first GF brew it is fantastic. My brewfist Caterpillar effort is in my shiny new ss FV and bubbling away.

 

[SteBeardface]

I'm gonna have to skip reading this whole thread and post my issue regardless of the answer being somewhere...

I have a klarstein, pretty much the same set up as the grain father. I've done the mash, sparge and now boiling. Unfortunately, my pre-boil wort is very cloudy and full of bits. I struggled getting the recirculation right as the pump just stopped working as the filter rate through the grain was slower than the pump rate. Is there anyway of preventing this so my wort clears better? Also, will this beer now taste horrible with all the grain bits in the boil?

 

[Rodcx500z]

Hi Steve, I have a Klarstein but no pump, from what I read on this great forum I think the trick is to slow your pump down to the flow through the grain bed, hope this helps

 

[Peter Scandlyn]

First off, sounds like your milling (or whoever did the milling) was too fine.
Guess you'll find out about the taste - wouldn't toss it just yet.
Blowing back down the recirc outlet when flow slows/stops will help in discharging any pump blockage.

 

[DixeySJ]

Re sterilising the chiller - I have been monitoring temperatures while recirculating wort at the end of the boil and after 5 minutes, the temperature has never dropped below 95C, so I don't think there is any need to interrupt to boil in order to sterilise the chiller.

Re microtubes - these are helpful for the smaller grain bills. The only slight snag is that the they don't supply a smaller 'stopper' so the full size one always looks as though it is going to fall out. But it doesn't. My last brew was a mild with a relatively small grain bill (3.8Kg) in a full size (23l) batch and using the full size tubes, it was difficult to get the top plate to sit on the grain bed, so I think anything less than 4Kg would be better with the micro pipes.

 

[Cwrw’r Comin]

Thanks Steve for this guide, really great and well used for my first 2 or 3 brews.
After half a dozen most of it is becoming habit but I still keep your guide handy so I don’t forget something daft.
Removing the ball bearing felt a stressed but was so easy and necessary on one heavy hop brew where it got clogged.
Saved me from losing that one mid brew!
cheers

 

[kelper]

Thanks. It must have taken many edits to get such a perfect text. It's a great guide.

 

[FHFB]

Thanks for this, my GF arrives tomorrow I be using the guide for sure.