The Grain Father

[Peter Smith]

http://www.grainfather.com/

Mangrove Jacks new all grain unit - its nice

[Grant R Baker]

Have to agree.. the grainfather looks pretty good for the money... had it been a touch bigger so you can brew higher ABV beers and still get 23l finished... it would be even better.

I like build my own system, bit by bit... but this kind of system is really good. Seems to compare well to the Farra system too.

[Cain Harland]

I have only brewed above 1.080 once and to do that I the mash tun was filled to capacity plus I added 2 cans of LME, turned out great. So I agree its not much of a limit.

[Scott H]

Think you could do something similar for less. It wouldn't be as tidy looking

30L electric urn with a PID and custom sized insert with a false bottom kinda thing. And a pump. Running the system similar to that you could use one if those cheap pumps only good to 80C.
Drop the cf chiller and use immersion one for 1/2 the price.

[Crusader-Rob]

What  is the litre size of the unit?

[Scott H]

30L capacity on that one I think. I would imagine that if sales are good they may do a bigger version.

[Crusader-Rob]

as its a single unit, it'd make a good Elec Re-circ BIAB unit, if they made a 50L version, I'd probably get one.

[Mark Weusten]

So the grainfather is available in 3 weeks. I am 99% sure I will get one. I wondered if there was any new information around about this product. I have watched the online videos and talked to a couple of brew shops which will be stocking the product. eBrewcraft warned me the first model may have a few flaws but mangrove jacks would fix any issues. For me it ticks all the boxes.

[Dene McDonald]

I think it's a little misleading to say that this is a single vessel unit like the braumeister. You mash in with around 50% of the water, and then when the mash is done you need to sparge the remaining water. So start with say 15 litres, and then sparge with 15 litres. So that requires another pot with at about 20 litres with a heat source. So not really the all in one unit for for small space brewing that people think it is. Not trying to put a downer on it and I do think it's a good product for people who don't want to tinker with their own system. If you want to make your own I'd say it could be done for cheaper.

DIY Base Model

40 Urn from Trade Me: $265.00

Pump from US Solar Pumps: $88.00

STC1000 from Trade Me: $32

Bits for building STC 100: $20

BIAB Bag: $15

Silicon Hose for recirc: $23

Ball Valve and Cam Locks from Ali Baba: $50 

Wort Chiller from Trademe: $99

Total: $592

Deluxe Model

If you wanted to upgrade you could use use the following instead

Birko Urn: $450 from Southern Hospitality

BIAB Basket from US: $300

Counter Flow Chiller from Aliexpress: $225

Total for deluxe model: $1188

Keggle Model

Or go for a keg and weldless element (either 2.4 or 3.6 kw) from 5 Star Distilling

Keg from Trademe $100

Element from 5 Star: $150

Total Base Model: $577

Total Deluxe Model: $988

[Mark Weusten]

I agree a little misleading as you need hot water source. My main issue is time at the moment. I agree you could put together a better system for the same money if you were prepared to gather the bits. Apparently the hot water urn that goes with the unit will be available to buy with it 6 weeks after the release. Any urn would do I guess. I think the biggest negative is batch size for me but I am struggling with storage space as it is. Other negative I heard is it doesn't like finely crushed grains.

[Peter Smith]

I think that the Grain father is going to make great beer...   Its totally possible to buy a $50 pot, sit it on an old 2 ring, steal the bbq gas bottle etc   and also make great beer, or speed $1,000's on a way way bigger system.   For a huge number of people the Grainfather is going to be the entry into AG brewing, buy for $1000 and if later on they want to goto 3 polished kegs or a 10gall cooler mash tun etc etc then they will make the jump,   but right out of the box the Grainfather is going to make pretty good beers, and you can store it almost anywhere with the cooler on top of it.   

At worst case these will resale 2nd hand on trademe for around $7-800 I imagine, not too much can go wrong , perhaps an element or pid/temp controller or pump but MJ will have these avaliable to purchase...    vs a home built system you will lose more the 20% of your purchase price,  all the taps hoses etc you just dont get your money back if you ever sell it.   Also its super easy to know what you want once you have been brewing for a few years, not so easy if you have never done an AG batch.    Damn it makes hitting and maintaining mash temps easy!

I think MJ will be very supportive of the early adopters if there are issues so that the feedback on the street is good.   In a years time there might be twice as many people posting on here!

[Dene McDonald]

Yeah agreed Peter, it's the right system for the right person.

[Mark Weusten]

Update 28 litre hot water urns on trademe for 89 bucks