Anyone have an experience with the GrainFather Brewing System? Looking to buy this and wanted some input. If you have one, is it worth the investment? What do you like and dislike about it?
Why would anyone want to brew indoors in Florida? The Grainfather looks well engineered, but I would be concerned about the cost of proprietary replacement parts. Looks like the best of electric systems.
I live in an apartment/townhome deal, so not much space on the outside of my place. Plus it gets so hot out during summer it can be ridiculous. When I want to enjoy the weather I'll just grab a stainless growler of something on tap and go hit up the pool! Cheers man.
I've got one and love it. It was the only way I was going to go all-grain. I didn't want a bunch of 'stuff' to get into it. For the US version you do get penalized, in a way, because we typically have 120 voltage in our homes and that means a longer time to get to boil, versus the 220V that the rest of the world uses, apparently. There are more and more videos on youTube now for Grainfather. Watch them all, ask users questions. I think I got mine from AIH.
I've got one myself, had it since Thanksgiving....I wouldn't want to brew any other way, now. I brewed forever with pots, turkey fryers, cooler-mash tun, etc....but the single vessel brew system is so much easier to use now. What @ronobvious2 says is true, however. The only penalty, is your boil time/vigorousness. I'm not always 100% content with my boils I get at 212+ degrees, but it is enough to get the job done.
Well, I turn my Grainfather to boil settings, during the end of sparging. It takes roughly 30-45 minutes I've seen, for me at least.
It helps, but it's no miracle worker. I can't give you times on how long it takes with one or without. My reaction either way when I check on it is "damn, ain't boiling yet". Grainfather now sells a neoprene jacket (they call it the Graincoat - whatever) but the Reflectix I made and what you show goes all the way to the top, plus covers all the way to the bottom, plus I wrapped the pipe coming from the pump in Reflective too. Some auxiliary heating mechanism (those bucket heaters? I've never used one) can help get up to speed. Again, youTube is your friend here.
I used one for the first time this past weekend. Indoor setting probably around 60 degrees in the basement. No grain coat, and boiling occurred. No grain coat, boiling occurred, but not like my propane burners. More controlled. I was worried about dms, but the guy brewing on it said it was the same as the last two beers, which he had on tap, and no dms was present. On a side note the pico brew systems never boil, but are just below boiling ( I believe a degree) Previously I was thinking about the Blichman system, but it's just to expensive to go all electric that way, I'm hoping to do my first batch on my unit soon. I didn't time it, and arrived at the beginning of a step mash, 120-150(1hr) 167 mash out, to a boil. Then I left was about 2-2.5 hrs. Using the secondary heating element to get close to the mash increments.
I've heard rumors of Grainfather releasing 220v version in US in the coming months. When they do I'm going to get that and run a new outlet in my basement for 220v.
Give a try here : https://beerandbrewing.com/brew-test-electric-all-in-one-brewing-systems-2016-update/
Awesome! Love it! Has a few drawbacks but the ease of use and cleanup outweighs those for sure. Might take a little while to heat up but with the new controller you can set it to heat up while you're sleeping or while doing other tasks. I double down on the Reflectix and get a great rolling boil. Can't remember my exact boil off rate but it's no slouch. Counter flow wort chiller works so quickly. Cool to pitch temps in less than 5 minutes. I've done 25-30 batches on mine since last June and no issues at all. (Except for the filer coming off once from to reckless of a whirlpool) I've put upwards of 10oz of pellet hops in there with no clogging issues. Just use a little whirlfloc and get a nice whirlpool going. Actually all the hops act as a second filtration system. Buy one, you won't regret it.
