Grainfather upgrade

[Kevin b]

hey all, I’ve been brewing for a couple years now and I’m thinking about upgrading from the traditional pots and cooler mash tun to the grainfather. Any info or suggestions? I’m more or less trying to get off the propane burner and into a one kettle/mash tun combo. I’ve watched a few videos everyone seems to like the grainfather best. Any altertenatives to save money but still have a quality unit? Thanks.

 

[Norlz]

You could look for the robobrew v3.1 as well. It cost less but do the same thing. I bought one and don't regret it.

 

[blubrewbbq]

Yeah same here. I use a robobrew w/o pump and its pretty solid.

Since I dont have a pump, I circulate around 1.5 gallons at 10 and 30 minutes into the mash the old fashion way. Lol.

In the winter months you will need to wrap it in reflectex or some form of insulation to help get to boil quicker along with getting and keeping mash temps.

It takes me about 10# of grain to get into the mid 1050s OG.

 

[Kevin b]

I was tossed between the robobrew and grainfather one of the down falls I noticed was the low watts for the heating element in the robobrew making the time to boil longer and like you said keeping the temp where you want it.

 

[blubrewbbq]

Yeah I'm in Atlanta so it doesn't get so cold to where it's a true issue. However just dumb luck I did notice oday that morebeer had a 9 gallon pot model with 220V so it can use bigger elements. So that could be a consideration. Can't go wrong with either in my opinion. The robobrew will save some coin.

I was tossed between the robobrew and grainfather one of the down falls I noticed was the low watts for the heating element in the robobrew making the time to boil longer and like you said keeping the temp where you want it.

 

[Jag75]

Grainfather is awesome. I use the Gf app for my recipes and it's very accurate. I would buy it all over again. Wifi connect and cfc and solid build imo. You cant go wrong .

 

[Kevin b]

Jag, is the grainfather built to last, with quality materials or is it the typical flimsy metal that dents and bends. I want to be able to use this thing for many years if I’m going to drop a grand on it?

 

[couchsending]

I’ve got 200+ brews on the GF. It has it’s issues but you really can’t go wrong.

 

[monkeymath]

I'm yet another happy grainfather user. Had been using a pot and lauter tun before - and now I think of these brewdays as "why did I do that to myself when I could have gotten a Grainfather earlier?"

Seriously, it's great. So easy to use, efficient cooling and heating (I have the EU-version, which has a tad more power I think), small footprint.

 

[RM-MN]

Have you looked through the BIAB section here on HomeBrewTalk? Simple and cheap, great efficiency.

 

[Jag75]

Jag, is the grainfather built to last, with quality materials or is it the typical flimsy metal that dents and bends. I want to be able to use this thing for many years if I’m going to drop a grand on it?

Yes its solid. I looked at the M&B , Robo and Gf and really researched each one . I even changed my mind as I was going M&B but went to Robo and almost got it. I talked to my Aunt who has had hers for years and has done a ton of brews on it with zero issues. So I pulled the trigger on a Gf connect couple years ago.

 

[WBB]

Save money and still have quality in the same sentence? Well I guess you could wait for the Grainfather to go on sale for 800 bucks. It does every now and then. I picked up mine for 800. Other you’ll be dropping a grand.

 

[monkeymath]

Jag, is the grainfather built to last, with quality materials or is it the typical flimsy metal that dents and bends. I want to be able to use this thing for many years if I’m going to drop a grand on it?

If you're looking for super sturdy I-will-give-this-to-my-grandkids build, the Speidel Braumeister might be for you. A friend of mine has it and I'd say it has a more robust quality to it, but that impression is mostly superficial (I haven't had any issues with the material yet). It also costs roughly twice as much and does not come with a chiller (the upgraded version does have a chilling system that circulates water on the outside, but that is quite inefficient; I'd rather use an external chiller).

 

[pym99]

I have the Grainfather and have been overall pretty happy with it. The main downsides are the weak pump & underpowered heating element. The pump clogs and slows. I can’t get a vigorous boil even with the neoprene jacket. I used the Bluetooth controller and Grainfather app at first but now I build recipes in Brewfather and just manually control the Grainfather. Still, it’s a huge improvement over my old system with coolers and a kettle. Overall it’s a great system—I just wish we could get the 2000 watt system here in the US.

If I were starting over again, I would give a serious look at the Anvil Foundry. You have the option of using 240v with it for a much stronger heating element. At $469 with pump, you have another $500 that could go to upgrading the cooling to the therminator or fermenters, kegerator, etc. Not sure I would buy it instead of the Grainfather, but I’d check it out.

 

[couchsending]

A common misconception is you need a vigorous boil... you don’t.

Too vigorous of a boil can actually be detrimental to some beers, especially lighter lager beers.

Well over 200 batches now and can’t say I’ve ever had the pump itself clog. The filter will get completely covered in hot break and hop debris so the flow will come to an absolute crawl but I’ve never had it completely clog. I’ve probably put 10oz of hops in the grainfather without a hop spider.

Did you take the spring out of the valve at the top of the pipe?

 

[kh54s10]

It is more expensive, but take a look at the Unibrau. It is all off the shelf parts, so if anything goes wrong you can get replacements. For instance it uses a standard heating element that is not sealed somewhere inside the bottom of the unit and inaccessible like many of the other all in one units like the Grainfather. You can also add a second element with an upgrade kit. It does require that you plug it into a separate GFCI circuit though.

I have been looking at the Unibrau but will probably modify my 3 vessel system to electric.

 

[doogster]

Super happy with my Grainfather... I have had mine several years now, and I still brew with the original "old style" controller and have no complaints. The construction quality is solid, and the pump and chiller are very nice features to complete the package. The whole thing just made sense to me when I was researching it. Yeah, I've had the pump slow down on heavily hopped brews, but never stopped.

There are other similar solutions out there now that weren't available when I bought mine, but I've been very happy and always recommend people check it out.

 

[pym99]

A common misconception is you need a vigorous boil... you don’t.

Too vigorous of a boil can actually be detrimental to some beers, especially lighter lager beers.

Well over 200 batches now and can’t say I’ve ever had the pump itself clog. The filter will get completely covered in hot break and hop debris so the flow will come to an absolute crawl but I’ve never had it completely clog. I’ve probably put 10oz of hops in the grainfather without a hop spider.

Did you take the spring out of the valve at the top of the pipe?

I’ve never had it clog completely either, just slow to crawl. I haven’t taken the spring and ball out of the check valve, but I do clean it regularly. I’ll try taking it out. Thanks!

Edit: regarding the boil, I know a vigorous boil isn’t necessary for most styles, and my beer comes out fine from the Grainfather as is. The insulating jacket helps get up to temp a bit faster but doesn’t do much for boil vigor. Kettle caramelization won’t happen on it unless you were to pump out some of the wort or take other steps (I haven’t tried). Nonetheless, the boil is weaker than what I was used to after using a propane burner and even an induction stovetop, and I find it less satisfying even if the beer turns out great all the same.

 

[anotherbeerplease]

Just got one last month and only done 2 brews, overall I think it's great, coming from the cooler + kettle all grain setup. Brew day is faster and easier, far fewer steps but still enough to keep it interesting and fun. GF removes some of the more tedious aspects of brewing such as monitoring mash temps and not having to lauter. The boil is weak but I don't think that matters too much, and raising temps take forever on 120V but it frees me to do other things without having to monitor my old propane burner... and I'm still getting the volume dialed in, right now my volume is too high but gravity too low... following their recommended water amounts in the manual. Overall I think it's a bit overpriced but it does save time and space for me and I would recommend it to others wanting the same.

 

[shortyz]

ya id say im at 200+ brews with my GF with the old controller. its super simple and cleanup is a breeze.

only problems ive had were:
1. replaced receptacle on controller
2. open pump once in a while to clean out any goop that collects in there.

 

[Jag75]

Just got one last month and only done 2 brews, overall I think it's great, coming from the cooler + kettle all grain setup. Brew day is faster and easier, far fewer steps but still enough to keep it interesting and fun. GF removes some of the more tedious aspects of brewing such as monitoring mash temps and not having to lauter. The boil is weak but I don't think that matters too much, and raising temps take forever on 120V but it frees me to do other things without having to monitor my old propane burner... and I'm still getting the volume dialed in, right now my volume is too high but gravity too low... following their recommended water amounts in the manual. Overall I think it's a bit overpriced but it does save time and space for me and I would recommend it to others wanting the same.

I've found the water amount in the manual is off as well. The Gf app is spot on. Toss the manual in the trash and use the app and your water addition will be perfect.

 

[pym99]

The GF app worked well for me, but I didn’t like designing recipes in it. When I switched to Brewer’s Friend, I found the water requirements to be off using the default Grainfather equipment profile. I read in a post on BF that you can dial in the appropriate water by manually calculating the mash density using this formula:

Density to input in the recipe = 2.7 + (3.5/grains weight in kg)
example: 5kg grain bill means that density has to be 2.7+(3.5/5) = 3.4

I found that my water volume and gravity targets were pretty much spot on after making that adjustment.

I’ve since switched to Brewfather from BF, and I’ve been using the manual density calculation to hit my numbers in that software too.

Here’s the link to the post on BF:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/forum/threads/grainfather-configuration.2628/