The Grain Father

[Peter Smith]

http://www.grainfather.com/

Mangrove Jacks new all grain unit - its nice

[David M]

Tested the inline swivel and works really well - $26 fix. May be cheaper sources out there but Paykels was quick and easy.

[Peter Scandlyn]

Some of you have probably done at some point the chilly bin (eski) mash tun....well you know the stainless braided hose you used and those ends you chopped off and probably threw away?

Excellent. Easiest solution I've seen. Not hard to unpick the braid....then leakproof!

[Taubin]

Awesome, I'll have to pick one up. It looks a lot easier than having to heat it and put it on every time. 

[Peter Smith]

https://byo.com/stories/item/890-how-to-remove-trub

[David M]

Counter flow chiller foot pads - to stop it sliding around.

Tried an idea I had to stop the chiller moving all over the place on the glass lid and it seems to work really well.

I cut up some felt material and made some covers for the plastic feet. I just unscrewed the bolt through the foot and wrapped the felt around the foot before fitting the bolt back. Result = a nice tidy felt covered foot.

Remembered from fly fishing when we allowed to wear felt soled boots to grip slippery rocks in water that they gripped really well.

The felt grips even better when wet/damp.

Now the chiller sits nice and snug on the glass lid and does slide all over the place at the slightest touch.

Only needed 5-6 inches and got from spotlight.

Does anyone have any good tips for cleaning and storing the counter flow chiller. I think it will be very hard to get all the moisture out of it. They say store it dry which could be a bit optimistic.

[Chris]

Hey david, I found a good article in general about cleaning and storing metals https://byo.com/stories/issue/item/1144-metallurgy-for-homebrewers
Basically clean and then drain. Some people blow compresssed air or co2 to try make sure. Some use Iodophors. But just clean thoroughly and drain best you can. Some guides on utube

[Mark Thomas]

For what it's worth, I found that tilting the chiller in a spiral motion helped to tip all of the water out of the pipe. Doing the final rinse with hot water probably helped dry it out too. I gave it a blow with the CO2 bottle just now (three days after brewing) and no water came out.

[Matt Poff]

Check out the cleaning video they posted in one of their email updates if you're on their mailing list. There's a part near the end where (after cleaning and rinsing) they close the wort outflow valve on the chiller with the pump on for a few seconds then stop the pump and open the valve again. The back pressure (and presumably other fluid dynamics coming into play) seems to get the fluid in the chiller draining back into the kettle pretty well.

[Simon H]

Hi

I got my Grainfather last Friday and did my first All Grain ever this weekend. I've been doing extract for a year and a half or so. From my very- amateur-All-Grain point of view the Grainfather was relatively easy to assemble and use. I had a few leaks around the recirculation arm and lower recirculation pipe connection which I sorted out pretty quickly by tightening my hose clamps some more, but other than that the Grainfather assembly was straightforward and stress free. Probably took about 2 hours including testing, tightening and initial clean.

At wort chill time whilst brewing, I did pick up a leak in the chiller which the staff at MG are currently sorting out for me.

Sparging took about 20 min and I had no troubles there. I did a 5.7kg grain bill (pale malt with some crystal) and had an OG of 1.059. Got 20.5l into the fermenter which is bubbling away very nicely. By my calculations I achieved over 78% efficiency, but I'll happily concede that my measurements were inaccurate.

I'm pleased with it so far, but obviously I'll need to wait a few weeks for the real test.

[Mark Weusten]

I did my second brew in the GF yesterday. It was the Chur kit that came with it and I had no issues sparging this time. Hit my volumes and gravities so happy with that. I havent been able to get my wort below 24c though, anyone else have this problem? After the boil finishes and letting the wort sit for 15mins I connect up the counterflow, connect up the cold water and start recirculating it through the boiler. For some reason it pulls down quickly to 55c then stops and wont get any colder (I started getting paranoid the element wasn't turning off). I then chuck the hose in fermenter and end up with 24c. Anyone else experience this?

[Peter Smith]

You could get a big plastic bucket and chill 60L in fridge overnight before brew day then use this 2C water through the counterflow, that would shift it.    In mid summer it takes some time to chill 50L wort with an immersion chiller as the inflow is 15-17C whereas in deep winter I get 5-7C cold water... and super fast chills....  (15min for 40L) some commercial breweries with plate chillers often pre-cool water the day before brew day for this reason, take a governors tour...

[Mark Weusten]

Yes could use chilled water. This counterflow chiller is no where as good as a plate chiller from what I have seen. Might have to bring your immersion chiller round when we brew Peter for comparison.