THE NEW GRAINFATHER CONICAL FERMENTATION SYSTEM PREVIEW

[@jct4647]

Awesome, especially the upgradeable dual valve.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Sure is :)

[@MrDinksinct]

Great video David! I appreciate how thorough you are in your explanations. It does look pricey!

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

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[@ryanbroom2642]

Thanks David - great video as always.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Thanks Ryan, glad you enjoyed it :)

[@jacobeanyboy]

Well done David , great preview. Thanks

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

+jacobeanyboy Thank you, glad you enjoyed it :)

[@richardcatlett7628]

I think it is fantastic- Richard Catlett, South Africa

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Great :)

[@nevski5585]

Great video as always. I ordered mine yesterday as I got a pre-order bonus of the Dual Valve Tap and the Temperature controller free! Can't wait for the unit to arrive hopefully in mid June!! Now I just need to save up for the chiller..............

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

+Nevski Glad you enjoyed it and that it helped you make your decision :)

[@tonyjones6371]

Hi David, great preview and it looks a good bit of kit. Nice to see the handles on it and wonder why the Grainfather doesn't have them, maybe in another upgrade. I've just purchased my Grainfather and hope to brew my first beer with it very soon. Your videos have helped me a lot so thanks once again. 👍

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

+Tony Jones Yes handles would be nice on the GF brewing system :) Glad you enjoyed the preview.

[@MultiChef888]

Hi David a very good review , i,m very impressed with the system just a tad worried telling the Mrs i,m remortgaging the house to buy it lol , thanks Ivan

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Thanks, Glad you enjoyed it. Hmm best to not mention it , I wont be :P

[@SeBastad666]

I need this, everyone needs this. Cant wait!

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

I do not want to give this one back....but I do not want the Police on my door!

[@SeBastad666]

David Heath it must be maddening to get to play with it, only to send it back. They have to get it back over my glycol chilled corps.

[@user-wv2cg2mr3w]

I'm shocked they did not give it to you! At least you got paid for this?

[@duncanlindley6746]

You'll need a second job to pay for it :)

[@HomebrewGriffo]

Looks like a nice bit of shiny kit! :) Started thinking of where I could place it in the brew shed - always a bad sign! haha Cheers

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Yeah! It sure is mate! I have already decided where mine will go, what I havent worked out quite yet is what to tell the wife :P

[@fystro77]

David Heath Im considering making them ship it to my old man.. I think serious gardening and kindergarten pickups are needed to make this waf-able. Oh dear. I'm writing them a mail now. It looks awesome 👏🏻Great video as always. Thanks 🙌🏻👍🏻

[@sublimemugs]

Thanks for the video. It is a very nice unit. The one thing I don't like is that you require the upgrade to the dual valve system to make this unit more user friendly. If you don't have the valve system you are stuck racking. I guess I will have to wait for the price to see if it makes sense over other stainless steel conicals that come with the bottom valve. Thanks

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

+Mike C Its all about choice and breaking down the cost. I guess many will take the dual valve system immediately. The big difference with this compared to the competition is the fact that it is dual wall with insulation and a cooling sleeve. This provides a large advantage for yeast health.

[@onearmbanditbrewing9012]

Great review David, I can also see that a similar design could be the new Grainfather and have integrated wort chilling instead of using the counter flow chiller

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Glad you liked it :) That certainly is a possibility I guess!

[@fystro77]

Wow! I hope they accept a preorder on this. Sending them a mail right away. Skål David. Takk for flotte videoer 👍🏻

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

+Even Skaaren-Fystro I know many stores are taking preorders, get in fast.

[@IrishCraftBeerShow]

I saw one of these demonstrated at Brewcon in Dublin, very impressive. Price is a little steep so I'm waiting to see how others get on with them before deciding on whether I shall purchase.

[@IrishCraftBeerShow]

Oh and Gratulerer med dagen! Hope you enjoy 17. Mai.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

🍻🍻🍻

[@bobokisama]

Great video and this is looking great! What does this system use for standard cooling, does it come with a ice bath pump setup, or is the glycol cooler going to be the "only" way we can do minor cooling (for fermentation)? Second question, is this unit BT connected so we can watch our temps and or gravity levels and chart them directly from the system?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Glad you liked it Bob. The only way that has been "officially tested" for cooling is with the glycol chiller but of course if you put this in a brew fridge then that will work just fine. The unit "at this point does not have BT connectivity". I did test a Tilt hydrometer with it though and that worked just fine.

[@bobokisama]

That's really good news, I use my Tilt a little excessively already, but was really hoping that they would take this to the next level with BT as they did with the GF.

[@ScottHarder]

David I was about to ask about the Tilt when I saw this reply cheers.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

I guess it could come as a further upgrade in the future for those that want it, that is the nice thing about this system.

[@andrewlevett4274]

The only down side I can see with the GF, is that because it is insulated, it can not be temperature controlled externally. A guy on a forum was fermenting in a room which was 15c and the heat created by the yeast pushed the temperature up to nearly 25c. So the unit is only any good with the glycol chiller. Otherwise a very well thought out stand alone unit.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

+Andrew Levett That has not been my experience. Besides more options are available other than a glycol chiller, stay tuned :)

[@prodanman]

I wonder does the GC4 come with 4 pumps?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

No, as understand it there is one pump serving the 4 positions

[@mrjassupossu]

great video! I am just fermenting my first batch in the conical fermenter, and should bottle within a couple of days. My question is, how do you prime the beer if you do not want to use a secondary bottling vessel? Have you stirred the sugar directly in the fermenter?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Thank you. 2 ways. Firstly use carbonation drops in the bottles. Or do a dump until you hit just beer. Then add bulk priming sugar and give it a very gentle stir. Leave it for afew hours to mix. Then bottle :) Hope this helps!

[@mrjassupossu]

Thank you David, I appreciate you take the time to answer all these questions. Do you yourself use a bottling bucket or directly from the conical fermenter? I am still unsure which way I will go, but would love to eliminate one step if the quality of the beer is not sacrificed. This brings me to my next and hopefully last question. How much of the worth is left in the conical fermenter if you use the lower tap? ps: I also live and brew in Bergen :)

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

No problem :) I go direct from the conical and mostly use carbonation drops when bottling. Its easy :)

[@algirdasvitkus982]

Dear David, im interested in the heating, i do mostly ales and even for lager fermentation my summerhouse basement is quite cold ( specialy in winters - 4 - 6 degrees celcius) and did you ever test what outside inside temp differences it can hold up ? like inside is 10 degrees and for ale i would need around 18-20 ? :)

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Hi, great. I find that mine can heat 10C above room temp in general but sometimes more. Yeast heat becomes a factor.

[@normanhutchinson9402]

By the way purchase adapter for older tempeture controller for grainfather is this suitable for a tea urn for sparg water .

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

+Norman Hutchinson Yes, I know several people using it for that purpose:)

[@warrenfegan8872]

Could have done with one of these as I did my first brew on my New grainfather on Sunday, Monday it blew the bung out of my Fermentation carboy. The Mrs wasn't happy with the mess it caused.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

🍻🍻🍻

[@daz9062]

wow look very good

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

+Can l brew It sure is :)

[@James-sf5bb]

Hi David, yes I know this is an old post ;-). So I’ve been pondering over the last year getting a full temp control setup, and needless to say I’ve bought myself the Grainfather glycol chiller and a couple of their conical fermenters. This was the only option i had due to brew space! When it comes to cold crashing or lagering, does this option still suffer the ‘suck back’ people get using a fridge and standard fermenters? Would i need to adapt the airlock as such to prevent any oxygen entering the fermenter? Many thanks James

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

No problem at all James. Yes, suck back is a risk. I use these to protect against it:- kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJivfa1pYsZrhqs

[@James-sf5bb]

David Heath Homebrew thank you they don’t look convincing? haha but I’ll buy a few anyways as I take your recommendation over anything else. So I won’t need to get balloons of co2 etc these do the trick? My glycol chiller and fermenters aren’t here yet, so it gives me time to get things organised

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

You can get a balloon as a safeguard.

[@James-sf5bb]

David Heath Homebrew is that actually necessary though? Thank you for your time in replying too

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

I don’t use them and have been using these for quite some time without issues.

[@ThePhipse76]

Great video thanks!. This looks great but here a question: it seems the insulation will also have a downside: How do I cool the fermenter (without the glycol cooler) effectively. Fermentation temperature is often 4-6 degrees above outside temperature (especially when brewing high alcohol beers). I currently use ice packs and towels to keep a steady temperature and thereby reduce the heat increase due to fermentation activity. The insulation will reduce the effect of cooling (just as it will reduce the effect of varying outside temp) and so I might be forced to buy a glycol cooler. Also it's not great if you have a fermentation fridge...

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

+ThePhipse76 The system works just fine in a brew fridge for heating and cooling.

[@kdhhhhhh]

Hi David!! Have you had a chance to use the conical yet? Would love to see a full review on it. Cheers!

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

+Kyle Hamp Yes, I have now!! Check out my latest video. A final review will come very soon. I am filming all processes and further judging it as it goes. So far I am very impressed:)

[@kdhhhhhh]

Cool thanks! just watched it!

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

+Kyle Hamp Great, the review will be out early next week once Ive put a beer fully through mine :)

[@ComradeJehannum]

Far outside My brewing limits right now. And as some others have said, I'm surprised it wasn't given to you.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Thanks :)

[@normanhutchinson9402]

Bought the grain father conical tested the conical with cold water at 15 c heated to 26 c once at 26 c poured some out into a glass only read 23 using a new temp prob straight away

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

+Norman Hutchinson Was this test made with a calibrated temperature probe? If so then I would get it touch with GF and report it. Seems you have an inaccurate probe. It can happen.

[@brentb9823]

I noticed there is very little distance between the dual valve tap and ground which looks to make it very awkward to access. Do you think they will be possibly be lengthening the legs on this unit? This seems like almost a given.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

+Store 2347 When using the fermenter I would advise having it raised above the ground,Or have it on the ground until you bottle. All fermenters are like this of course.

[@CervezaDeGaraje]

Some of the solutions are really, really interesting. However those 4ºC are not quite enough for cold crashing. It should be able to go down to -1ºC at a minimum. Any problems with the yeast dumping port? It does not look huge for sure. Cheers!

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Glad you found it interesting. 4 deg c is perfectly adequate to be honest with you, it will do the job. The yeast dump port is at the classic 60 degree angle with a large exit.

[@CervezaDeGaraje]

For getting rid of cold crash and clarification 4ºC is not quite enough. Actually, 1 day at -1ºC is more effective than weeks at 4ºC. And I'm not the one saying it, I heard it from Charles Bamforth (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bamforth) About the yeast dump, I did not mean the port itself, but the valve. Have you tried it with very flocculent yeasts? Cheers!

[@TFS6750]

Really interesting! TY very much. Some questions David: 1) Is it possible to update the firmware of the fermenter programmer to new versions? 2) Is it possible to add in a custom programming (custom 1 or 2) more than 3 steps for different stages in the fermentation? 3) What is the minimum temperature that can be achieved with the glycol cooler? And the last: what is the decibel level of the cooler?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Great, no problem. Here are your answers:- 1) I am not sure if you can but frankly its perfect already 2) Yes, you can program in 5 steps 3) 4 deg c, which is about right in what you would want 4) That I do not have information on currently but I will find out soon hopefully.

[@TFS6750]

Thank you David. I hope your next recipe soon! (Now fermenting Milkshake IPA) :-) Cheers!

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Good to hear Fernando :)

[@Tanax13]

Can the glycol chiller be used to wort chill after boiling? E.g. after boiler, don't cool it, pour it straight into fermenter, use glycol chiller to bring temperature down to fermentation temperature?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

+Tanax13 I do not think so. Its more designed around chilling from much lower temperatures.

[@BiologistRyan]

curious if that chiller can be retrofitted to some of the SS fermentors.

[@vasilismf]

It can't because the temperature controller connects to chiller and gives the order for chilling, so in ss without the grainfather controller you will not able to send glycol out of the chiller to the fermantor. It's a more complicated chiller than the one of SS with the pumps.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

.

[@TrevorFisher]

Can you ferment under pressure?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

+Trevor Fisher No, this is not something home systems offer. Having said that I dont suppose the extra modifications that would be needed and the add to cost would be worth it for most. You can transfer under pressure.

[@lukas09781]

Thanks for the once again great video! How man liters of wort can I actually ferment in it? Is 30 liters the maximum overall content or the maximum amount of Wort to be fermented? Asking because I often ferment between 27 and 31 liters. Cheers, Simon

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Thanks Simon. If you use a blow off then almost to the top. I use a Plaato so I go 25L max. You have 30L to play with.

[@lukas09781]

@@DavidHeathHomebrew Thanks for your fast answer, David. Do you think the chiller would make it to cool down 30 l as low as 4 degrees C (environment around 20 degrees C)?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Sure, I work with similar numbers in my environment.

[@lukas09781]

@@DavidHeathHomebrew thanks!

[@vasilismf]

you could show us the interior too!

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

haha I did take some interior shots but they did not make the final edit, not much to see really!

[@vasilismf]

haha, upload the uncut version :D

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

If you like hit me up on one of the Grainfather facebook groups and ask for an interior photo. I will share it with you there :)

[@HellFireno88]

So you support NUFC? :-)

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

I do? :P

[@phodsdon777]

Price in Australia for each of the components can be found here: distilleryking.com.au/products/grainfather-conical-fermenter

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

🍻🍻🍻

[@normanhutchinson9402]

Tempeture probe only has a time and temperature switch on it name of tempeture probe is kitchen craft don't know how to calibrate it

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

.

[@brianpatnode4680]

Why can't you program this from an app??? so disappointing that IMAKE upsells their community so often...

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

+Brian Patnode Its very simple to program on the unit and most do similar profiles anyway.

[@Perhansen1973]

way to expensive

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

+Per Hansen We all have different budgets of course.