Grainfather

[Andrew]

Boiling away here but thermostat never reached boil. Its just sitting at 99. Is there a way to calibrate it?

The STC200 has a temp measurement range of -40c to 90c, Looks like I know the first bit of kit that is going to get replaced.

[beanstalk]

I plugged out the therm and plugged it in again and it hit the 'HH' ok then, sometimes it would back down to 99 and then start beeping when it hi 'hh'. thats a wee bit annoying but not a big deal cus it was boiling the whole time!

Right! what a day! great machine!

Brewed a pale ale (4kg of grain, .25 carapils and .25 crystal 80 with magnum for bittering and citra and amarillo for the the rest.)

First off, I used the calculations given on the instructions and they are not right. It told me that given 4.5kg of grain, i needed 16.35 for mash and 12.5 for sparge. This gave me 24 litres pre-boil so i'm missing 4l somewhere....

here's the way i sorted the tap fitting...



It took 25 minutes to get to mash (67 celcius)



The pump chugged a lot here. I thought i had a stuck sparge pretty much straight away but it came round in the end. Just a little slow i guess with strange temp fluctuations but thats my fault for panicking and ramping up the temp every time it dropped. It did look lovely in the end though and stayed +1/-1 on 67 when i got it right.



The sparge process takes a while but i started ramping up the temp and just as I finished sparging it was ready to boil which was cool, though it took half an hour.

(had a 'wee' spill too )

The grain cake had a really fine level of grain on top which shows how effective the recirculation is.



Boiling was vigorous, but steady. I ended up losing three litres over an hour. I forgot to add the whirlfloc, but i'm not too bothered cus the recirculation seemed to be really effective, and there barley any trub after the boil, which was great!



Overall i'm delighted. I got a 86.92% efficiency but thats with pre-crushed so I know it can do better. I think i read somewhere they correction their calcualtion online which i must get a look at.

Still though, 19l aint bad!

cleaning is easy too!

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

Lets start a list of recommended spare parts to have available at short notice (After all NZ is a loooong way away)

I think the pump connections may be the weakest part of the design.

Please add to this list:

1. The silicon rubber pump connectors and cable ties
2. Rubber Seals that go around the grain basket plates.
3. Glass Lid - I know Im going to drop mine.

[Leann ull]

what about that brass cap that sits on the overflow when you are filling with grain or is it like a standard copper end cap?

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

Thats something worth adding to the list alright, the neef to make a more suitable part that will stay on better.  It can fall off easily enough and looks very cheap against such a well built system.

Lets start a list of recommended spare parts to have available at short notice (After all NZ is a loooong way away)

I think the pump connections may be the weakest part of the design.

Please add to this list:

1. The silicon rubber pump connectors and cable ties
2. Rubber Seals that go around the grain basket plates.
3. Glass Lid - I know Im going to drop mine.
4. Overflow pipe blocker.

[beanstalk]

It fell off on me, was a pain to find again.

Seals for the tap fittings, especially the black one?

Please add to this list:

1. The silicon rubber pump connectors and cable ties
2. Rubber Seals that go around the grain basket plates.
3. Glass Lid - I know Im going to drop mine.
4. Overflow pipe blocker.
5. Tap fitting seals

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

Did my first brew on it today using the mash kit supplied by Get'erbrewed FOC - thanks lads!!!  (Hoppy American Pale Ale)
Overall I am delighted with my purchase, its a very well built product and easy to use.

Would I change anything on it?
Yes - I'd attach some form of handle to the glass lid as i feel Im going to drop it sooner than later.

When chilling, a way of monitoring the temperature of the wort out hose would be valuable.  I made the mistake of watching the temperature on the STC-200 instead of feeling the wort out hose to see how cold it was.  I dont want to feel how cold it is going into the FV, I want to know the exact temperature.

I would like to have my water sparging directly (from above the grainbasket) from vessel to vessel rather than filling a jug and pouring into the grainbasket.  I'll look into making some kind of stand.

When cleaning, the Chiller needs to be attached and taken off twice.  The blue and red hose can get in the way here as they are not needed for this part of the process.  Just an idea but I might look into adding quick disconnects here to remoce those two hoses when not needed.

I used nylon hop boiling bags and had no issues with a blocked hop filter.

Heres a few pictures.


Heres a few pictures.

[Andrew]

what about that brass cap that sits on the overflow when you are filling with grain or is it like a standard copper end cap?

It's not a brass cap, it's a twist top for a small bottle (I would guess minibar spirit bottle size). Alpac probably do a bag of 100 of them for a euro.

[Will_D]

what about that brass cap that sits on the overflow when you are filling with grain or is it like a standard copper end cap?

Its actually a 185 ml wine bottle screw cap - complete with crimp ring!

Clever Kiwis!

[Simon_]

... spare parts to have available at short notice (After all NZ is a loooong way away)...

I've seen a UK representative pop up on the Facebook group so there should be service closer to home.

The Facebook group is pretty useful for stuff. It's not supported by the manufacturers but they are very visible on it.

[arse..biscuits]

First off, I used the calculations given on the instructions and they are not right. It told me that given 4.5kg of grain, i needed 16.35 for mash and 12.5 for sparge. This gave me 24 litres pre-boil so i'm missing 4l somewhere....

Mash volume = (grain kg x 2.7) + 3.5 = (4.5 x 2.7) + 3.5 = 15.65 litres

Sparge volume = (28 - mash water volume ) + (grain kg x 0.8 ) = (28 - 15.65) + ( 4.5 x 0.8 ) = 15.95 litres

[Acott]

First off, I used the calculations given on the instructions and they are not right. It told me that given 4.5kg of grain, i needed 16.35 for mash and 12.5 for sparge. This gave me 24 litres pre-boil so i'm missing 4l somewhere....

Mash volume = (grain kg x 2.7) + 3.5 = (4.5 x 2.7) + 3.5 = 15.65 litres

Sparge volume = (28 - mash water volume ) + (grain kg x 0.8 ) = (28 - 15.65) + ( 4.5 x 0.8 ) = 15.95 litres

Just use the online calculator, I did and hit all my numbers http://www.grainfather.co.nz/#!brewing-calculators/c1vp9

[beanstalk]

Thanks! The makers advise using the online calc themselves too so I'll know in future!

[Will_D]

Thanks! The makers advise using the online calc themselves too so I'll know in future!

Beanstalk: As you have just cast doubt on the printed instructions can you please check your sums!

AFAIK the formula in the printed manual is as posted (by a-Biscuit) a couple of threads above and is correct!

I entered the manuals's formula into an Excel spread sheet and it agrees with the online calculator!

[beanstalk]

Thanks will. Ill check again when I get home
.