The Grainfather - Brew Day Tips

[@LouSpowell]

Excellent video. I just bought a Grainfather today and it will be taking its maiden voyage tomorrow. Your thorough accounting of the process and tips is exactly what I had hoped to see. Nice work!

[@calprimo11]

Steve, Groovy music and thanks for going to the effort to make this video. I just bought one of these a couple of days ago and having watched your tutorial feel confident enough now to make some home brew! Cheers.

[@coltenhughes9264]

Brilliant, Mate you seem to really have it all figured out when it comes to the Grainfather. I'm loving the Brewery tips. Cheers mate have pint mate, you've shown us that you deserve one. Just brilliant sincerely

[@oscarrull945]

Great video, I was having second thoughts about getting one, but it looks super easy and gets the job done in a super clean way. Buying one for myself as a Christmas present hehe...

[@MrJedisarah]

Excellent video, gives me the confidence to perhaps try brewing for myself. Thanks.

[@juniorsav]

Great video. I like most of your tips, however I wouldn't boil with the lid on the pot. You need to leave the lid off release DMS and some other chemicals that can cause off flavors.

[@hikefishmakemusic]

Dan Savarese great point...thanks for pointing that out!

[@herrjah]

Great stuff, thanks. I just picked up one of these beauties and your tips will no doubt come in useful!

[@samuelbrainsample]

Very nice video. I really want one of these.

[@DrtERotinBasstrd]

Loved this series, as I will be doing a virgin brew with mine tomarrow. Thank you so much and I hope you revisit this part of your channel. Cheers!!

[@joshjensen7106]

Cool video, nice work! I would add another tip (which works for any setup): collect your hot water from chilling, and use it for clean up after your kettle is empty. If you have any left, do a load of laundry. Cheers!

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Really nicely done video and some useful tips! Great job! Subscribed also!

[@happydeux2254]

Excellent video, thanks!

[@bareknucklebbq]

Great video. I am ready to pull the trigger on one of these.

[@keith7023]

Great video. I was hoping to get a couple of friends to go in on this.

[@alessandrozani2006]

Ottima spiegazione, BRAVO

[@huggybear4life573]

Great video...

[@TheBrewQ]

One thing I might suggest is when filling the fermenter from the grainfather, why not use a wire mesh colander that has been sanitized to aerate the wort? No stirring will be necessary that way. It gets very well aerated that way. Cheers!

[@SuperKako17]

Awesome, thanks a ton, you've really helped me make my mind up about getting the GFather. Now concerning Tip 18: I suggest you don't do that if you have a dog. Some like the smell of hops and if they eat a significant amount they will get hyperthermia, which means you'll be up all night making sure they cool off by any means. Sucks.

[@JustRootsAndLeaves]

Don't leave the lid on during the boil. DMS won't evaporate away effectively. There's no point running cold water through the counter-flow chiller before you start chilling. A better idea is to recirculate the hot wort through the chiller BEFORE you turn on the the cold water tap. This will sanitise the chiller where it comes in contact with your precious wort. After 5 minutes or so, turn off the pump and move the end of the hose into your fermenter, turn on the cold water... THEN turn on the pump again. Remove the controller before you start spraying it with water. The ring at the top of the grainfather comes out. It's just a spring.

[@BrentonMacAloney]

I was thinking the same thing at both steps.

[@mikkomannonen2331]

About Tip#17, I simply remove rest bars so cleaning is much easier.

[@tjodalv666]

I do that too!

[@duvenhage00]

You can bake a very nice loaf of bread with the spent grain, too.

[@floridablancabrewing7558]

You should make a video about getting the lid off of that type of fermenter. It's still kicking my ass!

[@howardhuntcurran669]

Have you calculated the Mash Deadspace Loss, and the Loss to Trub? I would like to input those figures into a Beersmith equipment profile.

[@shawncoffin1]

This is the best A-Z video I've seen so far on the Grainfather system! I've heard others mention that it takes too long to bring the unit up to a boil after the mash/sparge process is complete. Have you had any problems with this? Again, great video!

[@hikefishmakemusic]

+shawncoffin1 take a look at my mash & boil tips video, which will answer your question on boil times.

[@michaelmiller9214]

Great video with some great tips, but-- Another tip: Do not boil your wort with the lid on, or else you will have dimethyl sulfides (DMS) in your beer. They need an hour to completely boil off. So I would use a different method of filtering your hops, such as a metal hop rocket that hangs on the side, or tie a bag such as the one in the video to a clip on the outside of the Grainfather.

[@lf2334]

Somewhat off topic question... could I add the water that's going out of the chiller to a bucket and use to do a load of laundry or two? Meaning, can I simply dump the water into my washer? I'm tempted top try, but a bit scared of overflow.

[@xcrunr]

Looks awesome! I'm worried about boil tho... Does it achieve a "nice" rolling boil? I'd love to come take a look at it sometime if you don't mind?

[@hikefishmakemusic]

+Chris Farrington are you in the northern Colorado area?

[@xcrunr]

I'm in Golden... Would love to see your setup sometime tho!

[@TheBrewQ]

This is an excellent overview of the grainfather. I have been contemplating converting my mash tun into a rims setup or just going with this. What would you recommend? Thanks! Great vid!

[@StratBeer]

I just bit the bullet and bought one Cheers Steve

[@samuelbrainsample]

It seems like with these units their equations for calculating mash & sparge water volumes are based around a 6 gallon batch. Usually with pre-assembled kits the target batch size is 5 gallons. Are you adjusting the water volumes at all? Doing a longer boil? Or am I wrong about their formulas?

[@hikefishmakemusic]

+Kelly Beard I don't use pre-assembled kits, so yes, I adjust my grains, targets and all other ingredients to fit the volume I want to brew.

[@MrK-ti5lt]

Just got mine today - great video! Cheers from Fort Collins. (If youre in the Denver area, check out CO-Brew on Broadway for some good gear, if you havent already. Learned a lot from those guys).

[@bobbobless522]

One thing missing is a sight glass. How can you tell when adding sparge water, do you know when to stop?

[@hikefishmakemusic]

There are graduated markers on the inside of the Grainfather - look inside and you can see how much liquid is in the thing.

[@Bastillius]

why dident you do any sparging?

[@forrest4406]

Just got a Grainfather, but the calculations for the mash and sparge water they provide seem wrong. Any tips related to that? According to their formulas, for a 13.5lb grain bill I'd need 5.6 gallons for mash and 3 gallons for sparge. That's definitely too much

[@hikefishmakemusic]

+Forrest Colyer I wouldn't use their calculations. Stick with the tried/true 1.25 quarts per lb of grain for mash-in.

[@forrest4406]

+Steve Schweitzer (Fotofisher) thanks mate! Awesome video btw

[@madshadow85]

Just a FYI on the dog treats, hops can be toxic to dogs. Here is some information from northernbrewer: www.northernbrewer.com/connect/2012/01/a-warning-about-dogs-and-hops/

[@hikefishmakemusic]

Agreed. I only use grains for my dog treats, not spent hops. My dogs don't like hops anyhow!

[@BryonLape]

Would a fly sparge arm work with this unit?

[@hikefishmakemusic]

+Bryon Lape Not sure why a fly sparge arm would be added. That's essentially the function of the recirculation arm and top mesh screen. I guess a fly sparge attachment could be fabricated to fit the recirculation arm and used without the top mesh screen. But that seems somewhat redundant compared to the current recirculation arm used with the top mesh screen.

[@BryonLape]

Steve Schweitzer For the sparging at the end, instead of pouring it through by hand.

[@murphy210]

Cold water doesn't sit on top of hot water. Physics.

[@yannismonastiriotis7067]

Noob question: When did the yeast go in ? :S

[@hikefishmakemusic]

Yeast is added when the cooled wort is put in the primary fermentation vessel. NEVER add yeast during any boil process - you'll kill the yeast.

[@eduardoaguirre1427]

Does anyone know how to change ºF to ºC ??? I don't use that system... =(

[@hikefishmakemusic]

The internet has all kinds of conversion tools, be resourceful and google it!

[@jameskennedy]

Where is the internet?

[@jasonhughes5346]

F*-C* (-32) / 1.8

[@tomrussell2560]

Make dogs treats out of the grain! What a great idea!

[@Mark.Daspit]

Are you using the 110 volt or 220?

[@hikefishmakemusic]

110V

[@Mark.Daspit]

Are you happy with the time it takes to get the boil going.

[@TheDave570]

Nice video but, I really can't afford $1300.00 for a coffee pot on steriods!!! and that's for the low end brewer!!!

[@tonyp6496]

Hi

[@MrJedisarah]

Excellent video, gives me the confidence to perhaps try brewing for myself. Thanks.