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Just curious if anyone has seen this and what their thoughts are?

http://www.grainfather.co.nz/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Not available in Can yet but expect later this year. Bit pricey at $1000 but seems to be an all-in-one solution.

Jeff

It's interesting, but not sure I'd buy it.

With it being only 30L capacity, it requires you to have sparge water available from another source. You can't do the traditional full volume mash that a single vessel setup would typically use. So you'd either have to heat sparge water on your stove, or sparge using cold water..not really a huge deal, but something to consider.

The other thing I don't like is the custom pump, and temp controller. If they break you're stuck trying to get a replacement from them (likely expensive). I'd rather use something that I can easily find a replacement for.

Something I'm not really sure of myself, but would look into if I was interested in this setup, is the element power. It says it's a 1600w element; is that powerful enough? The boil looked pretty weak in the demo video I watched, and how long does it take to reach a boil?

1600w with that much liquid is definitely weaksauce.

*Edit: My guess is it would take ~2 hours to go from cold water to boiling.

Thanks for the input. Good points. Think I will look at another option.

I heard Noble Grape may be stocking these later.

Yes, that is where I first heard about them. Not in Canada yet.

Jeff

I am thinking about picking one up, the EU model has 2500 W, which should be plenty. Perfect for my new space limited indoor setup, will probably have the grainfather and small kettle on an induction hot plate for sparging in the corner of my storage room.

I'm interested to hear results from anyone who buys one. Definitely been considering it. I've been planning to build my own E-BIAB setup, but this could be another option. The wattage is a little low, but it's probably no slower than my stove-top boil. And if I do build my own system it'll probably only run off 120V because I want flexibility about where to plug it in.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrswEr ... qiq9DY6quw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That guy does a decent compare of the grainfather and another similar system in a 3 parter

gm- wrote:I am thinking about picking one up, the EU model has 2500 W, which should be plenty. Perfect for my new space limited indoor setup, will probably have the grainfather and small kettle on an induction hot plate for sparging in the corner of my storage room.

At a glance, my guess is that they have a 220V element in it, and just rate the North American version at 110V.

Is there any reason you couldn't throw a heat stick in the 120V version to make up the difference?

Every post I've found of someone who actually owns one is fine with the level/speed of boiling achieved, though some have added insulation (they appear to sell their own properly fitted and non-ugly solution to that now with the "graincoat" though they market it as being for brewing outdoors), and one added a heatstick (which definitely worked).

I've been trying to figure out if making my own similar system would actually save any money, and I don't think it would... The thing includes a CFC, pump, and a recirculating mash setup - it's not just a biab setup with a built in heatstick. If I wind up living in a house rather than an apartment (and therefore presumably have some extra 220v plugs somewhere for laundry machines) then I may go with a HERMS setup on that, but as is the grainfather is my current mid to long term goal (with the short term cheapie setup being a propane fired BIAB on the patio - already got the kettle and the chiller, probably getting the burner for christmas)...

Another option depending on your level of respect for Canadian federal excise legislation is that the grainfather is compatible with both styles of turbo 500 lid condensers for "water purification" purposes.

I have an immersion circulator for sous vide cooking (and a big 20 litre cambro for the same purpose) so having a bunch of 170f sparge water would not be a problem for me.

Dave from Everwood told me he can get it in by the way, so that would be where I would ask first if I had the money yet as a matter of personal preference. That may not be true anymore since it looks like grainfather has entered into some type of distribution deal with noble grape (the grainfather newsletter basically said "we don't ship direct to canada anymore, if you want one email noble grape")

Jayme wrote:

gm- wrote:I am thinking about picking one up, the EU model has 2500 W, which should be plenty. Perfect for my new space limited indoor setup, will probably have the grainfather and small kettle on an induction hot plate for sparging in the corner of my storage room.

At a glance, my guess is that they have a 220V element in it, and just rate the North American version at 110V.

That is my guess as well, good thing I live in Europe now.

Going to check it out later this week, a store here got a test batch of them in. They are expensive over here, but if I sell my current gear, I can get one for extra $4-500 or so.

Hey Mitch and others,

Sorry about this misinformation. Noble Grape does not distribute products from imake (creators of the Grainfather). There is quite a bit of confusion the last little while, imake hasn't been much help! Best Case Wholesale (owned by the same folks as Noble Grape) will be distributing the Grainfather to all retailers, this includes our dear Dave at Everwood!

I have used the Grainfather a few times now, as with all units there are a few pro's and con's, but like you've mentioned the boiling time is impressively reasonable compared to what I thought it would be... About 20-30 minutes to mash temp and about 30-45 from sparge to boil.

Cheers,

Jonathan

MitchK wrote:Every post I've found of someone who actually owns one is fine with the level/speed of boiling achieved, though some have added insulation (they appear to sell their own properly fitted and non-ugly solution to that now with the "graincoat" though they market it as being for brewing outdoors), and one added a heatstick (which definitely worked).

I've been trying to figure out if making my own similar system would actually save any money, and I don't think it would... The thing includes a CFC, pump, and a recirculating mash setup - it's not just a biab setup with a built in heatstick. If I wind up living in a house rather than an apartment (and therefore presumably have some extra 220v plugs somewhere for laundry machines) then I may go with a HERMS setup on that, but as is the grainfather is my current mid to long term goal (with the short term cheapie setup being a propane fired BIAB on the patio - already got the kettle and the chiller, probably getting the burner for christmas)...

Another option depending on your level of respect for Canadian federal excise legislation is that the grainfather is compatible with both styles of turbo 500 lid condensers for "water purification" purposes.

I have an immersion circulator for sous vide cooking (and a big 20 litre cambro for the same purpose) so having a bunch of 170f sparge water would not be a problem for me.

Dave from Everwood told me he can get it in by the way, so that would be where I would ask first if I had the money yet as a matter of personal preference. That may not be true anymore since it looks like grainfather has entered into some type of distribution deal with noble grape (the grainfather newsletter basically said "we don't ship direct to canada anymore, if you want one email noble grape")

That's cool, I had been getting mixed messages since Dave mentioned he could order it in and someone at noble grape on oxford said they were going to be the only ones selling it.

A couple USA based stores have implied this will work, but I want to double check with you guys since you'll be selling both products... The t500 condenser lid works with the grainfather right? So if I wanted both I wouldn't have to buy the boiler for the t500...? Also will the graincoat be available in Canada as well? That should help with the boil significantly.

Jimmy's setup IMO is the way to go if you're looking for a all in one setup.

What is his? He isn't the one with the BIAC is he? The small biac is over twice the price of the grainfather and limited to smaller grain bills. The medium BIAC looks like an amazing rig to me but its 240v and several thousand dollars.

I made my own almost 2 years ago. Works well: http://www.brewnosers.org/forums/viewto ... f=3&t=5925" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MitchK wrote:What is his? He isn't the one with the BIAC is he? The small biac is over twice the price of the grainfather and limited to smaller grain bills. The medium BIAC looks like an amazing rig to me but its 240v and several thousand dollars.

Yes, I have the BIAC and love it, but the BIAC and the Grainfather are totally different beasts and appeal to two different crowds.

Jimmy wrote:

MitchK wrote:What is his? He isn't the one with the BIAC is he? The small biac is over twice the price of the grainfather and limited to smaller grain bills. The medium BIAC looks like an amazing rig to me but its 240v and several thousand dollars.

Yes, I have the BIAC and love it, but the BIAC and the Grainfather are totally different beasts and appeal to two different crowds.

Jimmy ..Supposing a stainless steel fabricator offered to make you a new one, entirely to your design and at no cost. What would you change? would you make it bigger. Any frustrating features you'd fix, and how would you fix them.

These all-in-ones are a new concept and in their infancy.

One reason I am asking is, there's no reason someone couldn't make up something themselves. My system isn't perfect, but I'm happy with it. I'd like a jacketed pot instead of the coil, and I'd like a small glycol chiller.

GuingesRock wrote:

Jimmy wrote:

MitchK wrote:What is his? He isn't the one with the BIAC is he? The small biac is over twice the price of the grainfather and limited to smaller grain bills. The medium BIAC looks like an amazing rig to me but its 240v and several thousand dollars.

Yes, I have the BIAC and love it, but the BIAC and the Grainfather are totally different beasts and appeal to two different crowds.

Jimmy ..Supposing a stainless steel fabricator offered to make you a new one, entirely to your design and at no cost. What would you change? would you make it bigger. Any frustrating features you'd fix, and how would you fix them.

These all-in-ones are a new concept and in their infancy.

One reason I am asking is, there's no reason someone couldn't make up something themselves. My system isn't perfect, but I'm happy with it. I'd like a jacketed pot instead of the coil, and I'd like a small glycol chiller.

No real changes to the system other than changing the valves from ball valves to butterfly, and including a racking arm (I did both after purchasing).

I've been very happy with the system - its plenty big (90 liters), can be temp controlled (cold water, or glycol chiller, heater, etc), is all-in-one, minimal cleaning effort, easy to control, and about as sanitary of a setup as you can get.

So you have the medium?

MitchK wrote:So you have the medium?

I do.

Yeah, for me I'm going with 5 gallon patio BIAB (with the ability to easily move up to 10 gallon if I add a cooler) and then basically how settled and wealthy I am by the time I get sick of freezing my ass off and hitting temps with propane will determine whether I go for an 1100 dollar grainfather or the medium BIAC, lol.

MitchK wrote:Yeah, for me I'm going with 5 gallon patio BIAB (with the ability to easily move up to 10 gallon if I add a cooler) and then basically how settled and wealthy I am by the time I get sick of freezing my ass off and hitting temps with propane will determine whether I go for an 1100 dollar grainfather or the medium BIAC, lol.

I loved this setup - the cooler BIAB method. The only reason I switched out was because I wanted to go electric..it all went downhill as soon as I started researching electric brewing