I did a porter last week and noticed a lot of grain had gotten into the boil, not good.
My crush was a little too fine so maybe some of the grain had creeped through the holes in the bottom plate. I sampled the beer a week into fermentation and I could taste the over bitter astringency associated with grain in the boil, especially roasted grains.
So I decided to do the same beer again this week, as it is for the nationals.
I adjusted my grain crush to 1.4mm, it had been a little finer. After sparging, I pumped the wort back out through a hop spider into my sparge water heater just to see how much actual grain had gotten through. In the picture (that I cannot upload >:D ) you will see what came out of my spider. There was a lot of more coarser grain left over in the Grainfather too, way too much for my liking.
So just a heads up, if you can, its worth trying to see how much grain particles may or may not be sneaking into your boil.
I'm going to do a blind side by side tasting at our next meet to see how much of a difference there is between the 2 beers.
I noticed the very same with my ACE system. For my latest brew on Tuesday, for the mash, I put a full size BIAB bag in the kettle first and then put my grain basket in. I caught an unbelievable amount of flour and gunk that would usually end up in the boil. I'll report back if I notice any differences too as my brew also happens to be a rebrew for the nationals.
I might try out a BIAB style bag in the Grainfather myself too, good idea.
Where would you get a bag to suit?
I got a bag for my old MT here: https://www.brewinabag.com/?aff=3
Might try using it in the GF and see if it makes a difference. You def spot some grain getting through.
Try mashedin.beer free shipping and great quality bags, and they do custom sizes
Quote from: darren996 on December 24, 2017, 08:42:55 AM
Try mashedin.beer free shipping and great quality bags, and they do custom sizes
This ^^^^
I had one made for a keggle, they even made a proper cutout for a return port so that it would sit over the top of keg and under the port....very good quality and service
Cheers lads, I'll give them a try and see who can do one that's suitable for the Grainfather. Accommodating the overflow pipe that runs through the middle would be a sticking point.
Quote from: fishjam45 (Colin) on December 24, 2017, 10:31:30 AM
Cheers lads, I'll give them a try and see who can do one that's suitable for the Grainfather. Accommodating the overflow pipe that runs through the middle would be a sticking point.
Just it it on the outside of the malt pipe and make sure it's not loose on the bottom? Or screw the malt pipe on over. Wouldn't fully righted but might be enough.
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That's what I was getting at with my post. No need to put a hole in the bag, just put the malt pipe into the bag.
I never thought of that ;D
This is why I got a brew bag. Once I copped this issue my vorlauf was taking ages. With the brew bag it catches all the grain, nó wait, no vorlauf.