Grainfather clone

[andrei cotiga]

Hi all, I'm new around here and new to the brewing community in general.

I've brewed some beers starting with kit to extract to mini-mash and now an allgrain BIAB split into two separate brew days (pot not large enough). Now, no longer happy with cloning beers I like, I decided to clone to Grainfather. This post will basically attempt to keep track of my development and if something useful awaits at the end of the road it will hopefully inspire other people.

Rather then attaching links to the items I bought/or will buy I will attach the pictures. Items change on Trademe and Ebay, but having a picture allows for later comparison.

So far I have just ordered the following:

1. Trademe 38l hot water urn - 109$ + delivery. I have yet to receive it. I saw somewhere on this forum that it's actually only 30L. I guess I'll see, but even the Grainfather is about the same (by my calculations), so i guess it will be right. I'm not a big fan of big beers so the 9kg grain limit the grainfather has will more than suffice.

2. Ebay Sestos PID controller with SSD relay for 40A - 47.29AUD = 54.55$ RX-100 models which are cheaper are supposedly problematic when it comes to the setup and apparently not all of them support the PT100 probes. Not sure if that's a problem but most guys recommend the PT100 and not the default K probes. I splashed and decided to go for the Sestos.

3. Ebay PT100 probe - 6.18AUD - 7.13NZD. This is quite a long one (I don't know exactly why I wanted it so long). 2m the cable and 100mm the probe. Or at least this is what I understood from the description. i guess I'll see when I receive it.

4. Ebay Silicone tube - 2metres of clear silicone tube. 8mm ID with 10mm ED. 4.75NZD

5. Ebay 12V hot water pump. 35.5 NZD.

Total so far = 228.93@

Other items I will need:

A sheet of stainless to roll into a basket with an inverted collander. All of them will be riveted together. - estimated 50$

A 12V adapter - will get something from EcoShop for max 5$

A box to keep all bits together. EcoShop again. Say 15$

A copper coil to make a chiller. Don't know yet but happy to combine with someone else from the Canterbury region for one. Worst case scenario get a 60$ copper tube of 6m of 1/2 inch, flatten it a bit and then roll it to make a chiller.

Other bits and pieces, items I may have forgotten now - 40$.

Total estimated of stuff remaining - 170$

Estimated TOTAL = 400$

That's without my priceless time :)

Guess will see. As I receve more items and start working on the thing I'll post more pictures, electric schemes and such.

Cheers and nice to have met you.

[Peter Smith]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0vc5HolpnA

[andrei cotiga]

Cheers. that gives me a couple of ideas. I know I haven't come up with anything new, I'm just trying to put together a system which could be easily be built in NZ benefiting from the available Trademe Urns. The post is aimed to be more of an instructable and it will probably end up on that website.

[Peter Smith]

http://www.trademe.co.nz/home-living/lifestyle/home-brewing/distill...

these if you after bling but wont do a full 20L batch?  its a 25L unit I guess you could squeeze a 23L boil and add a L or 2 of water near the end... 

Good idea I like to see NZ's DIY culture continue  look at this as a possible upgrade later on

https://github.com/matsstaff/stc1000p-ovbsc/tree/work

[andrei cotiga]

That's a hacked STC1000. It's not quite on the same page as a PID. A PID can control the temperature to a fraction of a degree while the STC is not quite so accurate. The STC is a thermostat while the PID knows how much to heat the mash in order to account for termic mass and all that. The grainfather is I think controlled by something simmilar to an STC and that's why it has a 500W heating unit as well as a 2000W. The 2000 would be too hard to control.

For a step mash controller, Auberin has a multi-step PID but it's quite dear. I guess I can make an effort and change the value three times.

Also, the urn you showed is good, but it's 60 more than the 38L one I got. I'm not saying it's wrong, just that I preferred to go for the other one. Will see what comes of it. I guess the best ones would have been the CaterMaster 30L from Savebarn or the Birko units, but that's 450 for the urn only.

[mattd2]

If you have a STC that can be hacked into a STC1000+ you could also hack it into the STC1000PI (don't know if D was implemented in the end or not) which was developed by the same person that did the 1000+.
Just fyi :-)

[Peter Smith]

is that the step fermentation one?  I have a stack of us voltage stc's , have just got some 240:120 auto transformers.    Keen to try to build a step ferment controller

[andrei cotiga]

Cheers. Good to know. However the cost difference between an STC an a PID is not that big and if the hack is anything like the old one, some soldering and Arduino skills would come in handy. 

[Peter Smith]

http://fermentationriot.com/arduinopid.php

web controlled grainpapa ?    the hacks are endless     8)

tell it to warmup as you get on the bus home.....

[andrei cotiga]

Now this is really really cool. Actually I do a lot of Arduino stuff, I don't know why I haven't tried to do it myself. Scratch that. I didn't because I wanted something tried and tested. 

[Peter Smith]

yeah thats why the grainfather is selling so well.....

kiwis lost there sense of adventure?  no DIY left? no garage or shed to potter about in?

[andrei cotiga]

Everybody has a different setting point where laziness is being beaten into submission. Mine is at 1100$ vs 400$ but not at 40$ vs 25$.

[andrei cotiga]

Quick update. The water urn arrived. It's all in Chinese, including the Liter gradations, but I think I'll manage. I expected it to be lower than 38L as many posts here said. This model is however a bit over 28L. It's not a problem for me but just letting you know.

The urn is 330mm in diameter and about 330mm tall with a one piece very thin stainless lid. I'll do some tests with it tonight and post here the time to 54, 54 to 65, 65 to 74 and 74 to full boil. That's without recirculation or added termic mass of the grains.

Next step is to buy a stainless steel bucket from SaveBarn, drill some holes in the bottom, add three stainless bolts to raise it up a bit from the base of the urn. Bucket picture attached. 29$ plus delivery. 295 Dia with 250 height. Should fit pretty well. Mitre10 had some 16L buckets at 36 and 49, if memory serves.

Also need to drill hole and fit the PT100 probe which arrived yesterday.