The Grain Father

[Peter Smith]

http://www.grainfather.com/

Mangrove Jacks new all grain unit - its nice

[Dene McDonald]

For the people that have purchased a Grainfather, does anyone regret buying it for any reason?

[Mark Thomas]

No.

(only done one brew so far though)

[David M]

I can only speak from a beginner brewer perspective but definitely not.

Has a few quirks but overall very good if you want to work within the scope of what it offers - volume, capacity, brewing style. 23L batch is more than enough for me. I can only drink/give away so much and I prefer to make more beers and improve or try new styles than brew big batches.

I think they have designed it with a clear set of objectives and with a price point in mind and they seem to meet these. Most things have been well thought out.

There are a few minor annoying things for me

• No swivel attachment on the water hose so it twists when you attach it to source - fixed with an inline swivel
• Chiller slides around on top of the glass - fixed by putting something under the feet.
• The connections to the pump outlet are annoying - the o rings can easily get caught but if you are careful and once they have been fastened a couple of times they are ok.
• You can't easily whirlpool - the chiller doesn't cool the wort enough if you cycle it back into the GF. That being said it is designed to chill into the fermenter which is does very well - get 20C output no problem
• The filter before the pump is not bad but I still use a sieve to filter the wort from the chiller to the fermenter. Will see how much haze or stuff remains once fermentation and clarification has been completed.
• Heating rates are a little slow, especially in a breeze or colder ambient temp. This is to be expected though since you can plug it in to a standard power point. They are good enough though to brew effectively.

I am glad I bought it. Would happily recommend it and would buy it again.

I think it may not suit people who are very technical brewers who want to do things a particular way but they should maybe think about building their own systems to get exactly what they want.

It seems to work well if you use the approach and methodology they have designed it for. I have no previous all grain experience so no habits, existing methodologies to conflict with. It does seem pretty flexible so I would be keen to hear what you can't do.

2 brews in the GF under my belt and really enjoying it. Can't wait to taste the results.

Keen to hear how other people have found theirs.

[Dene McDonald]

Nice writeup David, cheers. 

About the only unknown thing now is the actual beer itself. Has anyone tasted the early brews that were done as trails before release? Interested to know if the boil is vigorous enough to drive off all the DMS.

[Mark Weusten]

I can say the boil when the GF is indoors is vigorous but noticed outside in the wind it fell off the rolling boil a few times. In saying that I haven't tried the beer yet.

[Matt Poff]

Just one brew down and another going in later this week (Erdinger Weissbrau clone). Have just transitioned into AG from mini-mashes with this kit so can't compare to results from other methods but I've enjoyed using it so far. You might be interested in this brew-off between a GF and Braumeister over on the AussieBrew forum. The GF was actually speedier to hit temps than the Brau even with the smaller element and the results were favourable.

Agree with David's points on clumsiness of handling the chiller, the filter and the o-rings (they could do with some close-up diagrams on the assembly instructions for fitting those). Some additional weirdness with assembly where a hose clamp has to be taken off one section and fitted to another before use (booboo in factory assembly perhaps?). Also the travel on the outflow valve is confusing - diagrams in the user guide seem to show 180˚C of movement but it swivels around 40˚ (at least mine does).

The only other peeve was that it was delivered by unsigned courier - a bit cavalier for an item of this value.

But the kit itself is generally great to use and I'm looking forward to using it more.

[Mark Weusten]

Hey Dene, MJ are selling a demo one for 775 only done 5 brews. Saw the post on Facebook

[Dene McDonald]

Don't see it there now - which page was it on?

[Mark Weusten]

my bad was posted on Fb by allgrain.co.nz

[Mark Weusten]

[Dave]

https://www.facebook.com/AllGrainNZ?fref=nf

2nd post down.

[Dene McDonald]

Cheers guys, have messaged him but I'm not sure if he wants to post it.