The Grain Father

[Peter Smith]

http://www.grainfather.com/

Mangrove Jacks new all grain unit - its nice

[Barry]

Your old system was the full McCoy bells and whistles with controlled valves etc wasn't it Guy? That's a glowing review right there.

What are you heating water with?

[MrC]

Thanks Guy.  I appreciate the feedback.

[Crusader-Rob]

I bought one maybe 3 months ago? I love it, its quick ,easy, minimal foot print. Consistent, and makes beer.

I've used many different styles of apparatus, and this is the easiest to use.

Started with kits, moving to extract, then to Partial mash, and then all grain with cooler mash tun.

I went over to BIAb to shorten my brewdays and time.

Before the GF i had a 2 vessel system with pump and recirculation.

The best thing about it is repeatability, and consistency!

I've begun brewing beer for my wedding, and i brewed 40 litres of golden ale in around 9 hours on 1x GF w/ sparge heater.

hit targets needed from the tests i ran on the GF. all exactly the same. thats 3 beers with same Grains/hops yeast, and most importantly same OG.

I've also noticed increased attenuation, comparedto BIAB, I'm only getting 1-2 more points, but its good to get this on clone beers and other peoples recipes.

1 issue i do have is brewing an RIS, I haven't tried to yet, but I'm due to give it a shot soon.
this is because of the limited capacity the unit has.

what I'd love to see from MJ/GF is an extension kit. maybe a sealsed ring around the top of the gf, and a taller basket, thats all that'd be needed (although a taller re-circulation arm would probably help)

Its easy to clean, and maintain.

Good investment for those thinking about it.

[Crusader-Rob]

That might work :)

cheers for that. Although my questions that come out of that are:

- How long do you mash each section for?

- Would you not have to increase the absorption rate for double mashing as well??

for example, standard brew practive (5kg grain bill = 18 litres lets say, you'd have to add some additional water i nthere to account forthat, i assume, which is where the majority of the sugar is collected, then sparge as normal?

[MrC]

Thanks.  I appreciate the feedback.  Repeatability and consistency is crucial for me and not what I'm getting at the moment with my DIY system.

I don't mind adding some extract to my beers so wold probably take that approach for the big beers.

[MrC]

A quick question for all the Grainfatherers,  

What is the min height of the unit for storage?  I've read that the unit height is 733cm.  Just wondering whether it can be made shorter for storage.  Hoping it can go below 640cm to fit in my brewing cupboard.

[MrC]

Thanks.  Looks like it'll be tight fit but it should be OK.

[Crusader-Rob]

if you invert the lid, i assumeyou'd save 20-30mm?

[Kilian Otte]

Sound very good, but the price is really harsh! Personally i dont want to pay that much money.

[Peter Scandlyn]

?? Yet you're planning an electric brewery?

[Kilian Otte]

Dont want to, but may have to ;)

[Barry]

I can promise you first hand that an electric brewery build will cost significantly more than a Grainfather.

My build was probably north of $2.5k in just materials/parts alone, all direct from China (absolutely cheapest prices possible).

Grainfather is a dead set bargain. Compare with the price of a Braumeister.