With your counterflow... Just as you chilled the wort for hop stand run it at full speed in recirculation to chill the whole wort at the the same time. Once most of the way there you can then run it out to your fermenter. Will be a much faster process and fix the consistency for hop timing. Nice video, thanks!
Larry&Brother, Cody again here.. My wife and I just moved into our new home which ironically came with a basement! Our dreams of home brewing began ages ago with our fondness of craft beer. I worked in a brewery for almost year and learned a lot about packaging, transfers, and marketing.. but nothing about making the process of making a brew. Your channel is pretty damn sweet, you literally lay the entire process out plain as day. I hope everyone that searches TH-cam for "craft home brewing" gets directed straight to your channel. I have learned many useful tips from your videos, the facts are on point and the advice gold. We are going to start with a 1/2 barrel system, brewing once a week, carboys will be our fermentation vessels. Hey, thanks again for your awesome advice. Cheers, and keep on keeping on! P.S. We are purchasing the hydrometer and flask kit from Brewing America, on checkout we are going to mention your name as the source of info!
I use the same hop spider, it seems to work great. One thing I use to help remove the grain basket (that darn thing is heavy) is install a cheap harbor freight winch to lift the basket. This also lets me hover it above the hop spider and do a first wort hop then sparge without having to do a lot of lifting the basket. The grainfather sparge heater is a big time saver as well. Great video, enjoy your videos!
BEER-N-BBQ by Larry it works like a charm, the grainfather grain basket can get pretty heavy and I don’t want to hurt my shoulder any more than it already is.
I gravity feed fly sparge with a Digiboil kettle. I do all my water prep directly in the Digiboil. Once you have your designated profile just feed mash water into the Grainfather and your ready to go. Its such a simple set up and being able to hold your sparge water to the perfect temp is awesome. Makes brewing a breeze.
Thanks Larry for this video. Though I'm not at the point in my brewing career to invest in a Grainfather, I like seeing what more advanced brewers are doing. I'm doing BIAB now, and ran into the sludge blocking my MegaPot filter, so you have inspired me to buy a hop spider, and while on Amazon, also purchased a dry hop spider for inside my Speidel fermenter. I laughed at your brother doing the "chatty hand" behind you.
He larry, greetings from the Netherlands! Love your videos👍.. something about the counterflow chiller I was thinking about. In 42:00 you use it too cool down the batch of beer for the last 15 min hop stand.. what if you use the chiller in the same way in the end too cool down the whole batch of beer (recycling in the batch at full flow or something).. and then, when the whole batch is cooled down, pump it into the fermenter.. maybe it will go quicker that way? Do you know what I mean? I don't own a grainfather, I'm thinking about buying one, but I was just thinking. Maybe it works.. or maybe it don't.. gr. Ton.
BEER-N-BBQ by Larry I’m not sure why it would say not to. Cools the whole batch down fast and from what I’ve noticed it improved hop character. Plus you will leave more cold break behind. Cheers!
Great video Larry. I'm just a rookie brewer but I have become obsessed with the NEIPA Style. My thought is that the extra bitterness may have come from the hop addition during the boil. I would suggest only doing hop additions within the last 10 minutes of the boil and keep the additions small. Almost all hop additions should be done during whirl pool or dry hopping. Just a guess from my research. I'm still trying to get my NEIPA perfected also. Its an amazing Style. Thanks for all your hard work.
Just a tip before sparging...Allow the grains to drain then gentle push the top mesh plate down so it sits on top of the grains before the sparge. Has made me want to revisit a hop spider for my grainfather and the massive hop additions for NEIPA style brews.
A good bit of that bittering will even out during fermentation. Also keep in mind NE IPA style is meant to be less bittering hops and more boil out hops and dry hopping with the use of oats/wheat malts during mash for haziness
Another great brew day video. The lighting you set up in the garage looks fantastic! Garages are a tough place to film because of the low ceilings and lack of natural light. The Grainfather looks like a pretty nice brewing system. Thanks for taking the time to explain what went right and what went wrong...saves a lot of folks extra hassle.
43:45 "South Heights" South Chicago Heights? I lived there back in the 70's. I don't remember the water there. Moved out of the Heights altogether before I was 5 years old.
FYI... I added extensions to the wort chiller so you don't have to stick it on top of the grainfather, I don't recommend vinyl tubing. I also found a small cart that had draws and wheels that I sit the grainfather on top of so I can just roll it in and out of storage. The hard part if finding one the right size so you can easily raise the the basket And for the people looking at the grainfather its great if you don't have a lot of space. You don't need a giant mash tun, a large pot, and you can brew inside which is nice if its 100F or 10F outside.
If you haven't been to Dallas you should come on down. We have a great craft beer scene down here as well. Let me know if you're ever in the area and I'll be happy to give you some recommendations.
Good video man. The robobrew lid is identical dimensionally to the G.Father but it has handles. Definitely helps when the unit is hot to remove the lid. You could easily modify yours and fit a couple of handles like the robobrew. Cheers...
I can see the Grain Father being a great asset when it comes to apartment brewing. I am an apartment brewer and forced to brew partial mash (generally 7 pounds grain and 2.5 pounds dme). How easy is it to clean? Looking forward to your next 10 gallon batch..
Hi Larry, good video again. Questions: 1) did you experiment the "air bubble" in the pump tube? It means, when you start the pump, it can take 30 sec or 1 minute to see the water flowing or the wort if you are in the mash phase? 2) I got à mash stuck, my grain bill contain to much wheat. Since this, I use rice hulls. Do you put some in your recipe? 3) when I experimented the mash stuck, for sure I tried to understand and I tested the pump for a while. Do you think we can break easily that kind of hardware? I did another brew with it , it work fine but I"m curious if these are made for that kind of work or...stuck.
Hi Larry, super video again. I really like these. And Chad had an interesting one in the end of the vid when he remarked that it could be used in the kitchen. Yes, it absolutely can be used in the kitchen for it is compact and electric and NO it absolutely can't be used in the kitchen as probably my wife will leave me (until the smell completely vanished...) And that brings me to brewing in the garage: How do you deal with the water vapor during boiling. In my garage I have to leave the door open otherwise it starts to rain inside ;-)
Those that put thumbs down for this video should feel ashamed of themselves. On the positive note, at least there are only 5 silly sally's out there, haha. Glad I've subscribed to this channel. Lots of work has gone into these videos and I've enjoyed the journey with you guys! Keep it up, your efforts are appreciated :D - From Kamloops Canada
Larry, why dont you re-circulate the wort through the wort chiller? And then transfer it to the carboy when its cold enough. Im able to cool my wort from 95C to 20 using only ground water. Pretty cold water though.
Larry I made my 3rd batch of beer and my oxygen tank ran out when aerating. I use the same setup you have. You look like you aerate vigorously. How long do you aerate for and how many batches can you get on a tank? Excellent videos!!
Great info as always Larry, well done. I would like to see if the folks @ Grainfather could lend you their glycol fermentation temp control system. To do some lagers. Perhaps a beautiful Chezk Pils?
Question, could you just fill the grainfather near the top and just drain off your sparge water instead of draining it completely and starting from empty with your mash water? Just a thought. Nice that you're brother was able to brew with you again! Should have used the fermentasaurus under pressure!! Bitterness will drop out with that many hops, a lot will drop out. Cheers Larry! 👍🍻
Short Circuited Brewers: Yes, you can do that method with most recipes... But if you plan on brewing with a high grain build, (more water loss from grain absorption) then the grainfather will barely work... Or you'll be just shy of the water needed to sparge
Jacob Wood I wasn't really talking about doing a no sparge. All I was talking about was heating up a maximum amount of water, draining off the sparge water, and then adding a little bit of Cold water back to the grainfather to bring the temperature down to mash in. I do the same type of process with my three vessel HERMS system
enjoyed your video..i do brew my beer,my big problem with the whole thing is..i have no sense of smell so i miss a lot.lost it about 7 years ago..but i really like brewing my own
Hi. Basic question. When you steep the grains do you get the strike water up to temp and then leave it or do you keep the heat on while steeping to maintain say 66 degrees c? Regards Chris
I believe most beer hydrometer's are read from the top of the meniscus. .. as you cannot see through stouts... had mine double checked through a commercial brewery and this was the case ... did they send a user manual with your new hydrometer?
Good stuff. Im a saison guy but interested in dry hopping, etc. Do you use the grain father fermenter? Id really like to learn cotton controlling ferment temps. My favorite yeasts like warm temps and scaling up to 80-90’s. Great videos
BEER-N-BBQ by Larry cool but what fermentor do you use? It looks like you use a fast fermentor type? Im going to get a heater and temp contol to put on my plastic bucket or get a big mouth glass one from nothern brewer
Hey Larry, I have the grainfather set up as well. I was wondering when you used the hop spider did you still have any residue clogging the grainfathers filter? I had an issue my last brew day with it clogging with only 3 oz of hops. Also, with the hop spider was it an issue when trying to keep an eye out on the boil off with it being immersed and raising the wort on the sides? I try and get an accurate reading on how much water is boiled off during that process. I know that there is an issue with trying to get an accurate reading on the sides with the lack of tick marks on the side. Loved the video and thanks for the help!
BEER-N-BBQ by Larry awesome! I just looked up some videos on TH-cam on the false bottom. Tried to see if amazon had it but no dice. I went to the robobrew website but they have so many on there! Do you know where the best place to order one or know the exact dimensions of the one on robobrews website? I appreciate your time and help on this matter! I also have you on FB and I love your videos! I have learned so much!
Great video Larry. I see you were brewing in your garage in the winter, looks insulated, any idea the temperature in your garage when brewing in the winter? I ask because I don't see any literature from Grainfather on what their temperature range is for it to boil in. Also I just brewed my first Grainfather brew - Schrarzbier last week, to see how it responds to a multiple mash rest. My biggest concerns were it took well over an hour on an 80 degree day, after sparging to boil. I am considering lowering the boil setpoint to 210. My other concern was I had a lot of grain in my boil which in the end I had to blow the pump and discharge pipe out with compressed air. Grainfather told me that grain crush needs to be 1.27mm-1.4mm which is .05 in. on the small side. Just wondering if you experienced similar issues. Thanks for reading.
Enjoyed your video and your perspectives. I was curious; you heated the sparge to 205. How long did it sit and how much temp loss did you have? Did you pre-heat the inside of your HLT cooler before adding the sparge water?
I was thinking that same thing Jeff. I used to use a cooler for a mash tun and I would put a gallon of boiling water in it and slosh it around to preheat it. Then dump it out before adding my mash water. Never missed a mash temp doing it. 👍🍻
Look forward to the tasting video! My take on NE IPA's - use malted (not flaked) oats in decent amount. I've done up to 20%, but I've seen up to 40% in some recipes. Your mileage may vary on that much. Dry hop during fermentation, usually 2-3 days into it, while it's still active. Then dry hop again when it's done, I've had good results in the keg, then pull it after several days. Finally, large whirlpool, small to none during the boil, of hopping. I've seen several different yeasts, but if you haven't used/tried London Ale Yeast, that's the one I've used to pretty decent results. Do everything you can to keep O2 out of the beer. NE IPA's are notorious for fading fast. Drink fresh! By the way, can you post the recipe? The link just takes you to the Grainfather website login screen.
I would imagine doing first wort hopping in the GF wouldn't be like doing it in a normal mash tun, boil kettle set up because the GF keeps heating until it gets to 95oC while you sparge, so the hops are going to be in hotter wort for longer than they would be with a traditional set up
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY I was thinking that in a traditional set up the wort would only be around 75oC because that's what temperature you're sparging at. It wouldn't get hotter until you start the boil. But in a GF the wort is 95oC because it heats up to that temperature while you are sparging
HI Larry, great video. I just got myself a grain father, but I'm unsure about 1 thing. There is a red switch on the bottom, does that need to be on to heat? Or what is its purpose. Thanks
Love your channel Larry. With chilling can you reticulate in the grainfather for a few minutes before transfering to your fermentor? Dropping the wort temp in the kettle might make the whole process a lot quicker with your setup. Cheers Mate
Do you use your own spreadsheet? I'd love to see it if you could share? I use beer Smith but as you said it does all the math for you and I don't really understand the basics
So the delayed start is when the elements turn on? You set yours to 07:30 and that’s when it turned on and started heating? Or was it at temp at 7:30am? Just wondering. Thanks.
That’s what I figured. Currently selling off some of my igloo coolers, a kettle or two (15 gallon mega pots) and some other items to gather up some cash and purchase a GF. Fingers crossed I can get back to brewing soon. Long time sub, love your channel and topics.
Great video, really glad I came across your channel. I love the idea of the copper handle that lowers the hop spider for your first wort hops as you sparge - brilliant. Good points on the calcs of the GF site and your own. When you said you came close to GF calcs, did you adjust your inputs of your brewhouse setup based on your first brew?
Went back and replayed that part again - got it, thanks. I like your skeptical approach when it comes to other peoples' formulas. Admittedly I have been relying on the GF calcs on their website but you've made me rethink that a bit.
Great video! Quick question I want to go beyond my basic starter kit, but I’m not sure what I should get that could make brew day easier or the beer better. Should I get a wort chiller or some water filter or something else?
Hello Larry! Your videos are awesome. Love the great product reviews. I recently bought a grainfather and and looking to get a stainless hop spider. What size micron do you have and are you happy with it? Thanks very much, Rick J.
New brewer here just joining the hobby using extract kits atm but all grain looks like alot of fun. To bad i dont have any good home brew stores around. Anyway love your vids and the grainfather is a beast! I want to try that zombie dust beer but i cant find it here in central illinois.
Ya im going to give that extract kit a whirl that norther brewer has, my only problem is i dont have a standard to set it against so im just going to go ok i like it or i dont lol. thanks for the reply and looking forward for more vids.
Your lid removal while hot predicament could be solved with a 1/4"x3" wood dowel on a string. You would drop the dowel on a string in the hole and it would then turn sideways to allow you to pull lid off! Kinda the same way the doors work on large conical fermenters! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Thought #2: Or you could use your mash basket handle by inserting the 90 degree bend into lid hole and removing that way. Awesome vids, CHEERS!
Hi Larry, if the hop spider isn't draining freely doesn't that mean that the hops aren't properly mixing with the wort? I only use dried leaf hops now and don't get the clogging problems that I was getting with the pellet pulp.
Also, why not just recirculate your counter-flow chiller output back into the boil pot, that way you reduce the temperature of the wort as you would with an immersion chiller to stop any excessive hop bittering and you get to decide in a more controlled fashion when your wort is exactly the right temperature for decanting it into the FV.
Another good one Larry. Here in Bermuda there's no brew shops so importing the all grain is a unique challenge with shipping costs etc. it's tough to do it affordable anyway. Any ideas is greatly appreciated! Just did my first extract brewing kit last night and building my all-grain brewing kit mainly based on yours vids, cheers!
BEER-N-BBQ by Larry may have to, was looking forward to being creative with the grain bill/recipes but it may not be feasible to do the full all-grain here 😞 thanks for the input!
Have you ever cold sparged? It saves me so much time, and i haven't noticed one bit of difference in the final product other than it taking a little longer to get up to a boil.
It would be a good experiment to capture on video, especially with one of your recipes you know you love! I've been doing it for about a year now and the only stuck sparge I had was in a wheat beer but it was my fault for forgetting rice hulls.
Why does it matter if it’s only chilling what’s going through the counterflow, that’s the idea, I do what the instruction say and run it back into the Grainfather until outlet pipe is cool then direct outlet into fermenter, it’s usually about 25c, I’ve always pitched at anything below 28c and then it goes into fermenting fridge at 20c. I’ve used immersion chillers and they take much longer to cool in my experience. The counterflow cools in only a few minutes.
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY thanks for the quick response Larry! I just received my Robobrew v3 220V version. Can't wait to try it out. Thanks for all of your help in your videos.
Yeah a good violent spray from the water hose usually fixes that. Btw muscadine and any grape vines loves the left over hops from boil and dry hopping. My vines grew really big and produces 3 times as much since I started doing so.
Thanks for the awesome video Larry and Chad! Both educational and entertaining as always. I have a question for you Larry... Do you usually adjust your brew water with some water chemistry? And what are you're thoughts about water profiling in general?
Good video as always Larry. am getting ready for my Grainfather's arrival in a couple of months time. i know its not funny but laughed every time your brother get burnt. sorry mate
hi Larry. Love the vids, Would you make a vid sometime about how you made your aluminum measuring stick to tell how much volume is in the mash tun. keep up the great vids sir!!
Hey Larry, the new shirt's look great. You have any of the $3.00 Wal-Mart shirts left?? :) Just kiddin... Grainfather video's are great. Keep'em coming. Getting ready to fire my Grainfather up soon. 1st brew with it.
Hi Larry, I see that you mention that you can´t measure precisely 2.65 gallons. You could do a conversion to litters and be more precise. 2.65 gal = 10.03 liters
Use hot tap water to start with so you only have to heat from 120 deg to 15? deg it saves MUCHO time. Have tried distilled water vs tap water and the only difference I could tell is you don't have empty jugs laying everywhere with tap water. That's here though everyone's tap water differs plus my Bro has a water softener not that Southern Indiana water would have any lime in it :) Cheers!
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY ahh, I see. interesting. Well that looks like another item on my money shopping list then lol. only starting with DME/partial mashes and your vids are helping loads! Hope to see Chad brewing more too!
Great video! Please ignore any comments about making your future vids shorter, there are PLENTY of uploaders with quick brew vids. Your vids is perfect to view while I wait for my mash to finish, and other than the great content the lenght is one of my main reasons for subbing :) So, whats next?
Carbonation will help a bit on the bitterness, I rarely do more than a half oz of fwh hops for my neipa and I might even bring that down. I use the pump to wp my flame out hops and have never had issues with clogging without the hop spider
I love how fast NEIPA's are, can go grain to glass in two weeks easy. I'm sure it will be delicious lol, I liked your comment about "It is a little bitter, well it is an IPA". I've had some bitter Neipa and some that had little to no bitter, they are both delicious in their own right, really enjoy your channel, keep up the great content.
Why don't you just recirculate into the grandfather from the counterflow chiller then once it's to temp shut off the cold flow and just pump into the carboy
Haha if you're ever up near Detroit grab Chad a DRIPA(double rice IPA) from Kuhnhenns- it's incredible! Also do you think the Grainfather will at all replace your home built system? Or do you predict it more as an experimental/smaller batch setup for you?
Larry, i had previously downloaded your Zombie Dust clone recipe, (before Grainfather). Now that i have the Grainfather, do i change anything in the brewing process?
Chad - looks like you in the dog house... Maybe bring some meat to put on the smoker, now that its fixed. And you and Larry can do a twofer. Brew and BBQ.
@@KloWn694 The influence over boil times with the coat on will be at best - negligible - not to mention scorching / melting / burning of the coat during the boiling process so - I would not imagine that the 'coat' would influence temperature boil times but moreso temperature retaining times eg: while mashing
@@apistosig4173 it depends on the size of the surface area where the heat can escape from. Insulating a larger sized tun that has a weaker burner/element will significantly reduce the time it takes to reach boil. I have personally experienced this
I've used brewers friend and tried beersmith. Your spreadsheet actually taught me where the heck I was loosing my volume. It was looking at your brew house setup that I realised there were losses that I hadn't even thought about. I'm a newbie at all grain still I guess but I'm learning, still having fun, and making unique and tasty beer so It's still a win win for me
Have you or will be willing to share you spread sheet? I to feel the same way as you do trusting all them apps out there is hard to know what is real the true info you are looking for.
With your counterflow... Just as you chilled the wort for hop stand run it at full speed in recirculation to chill the whole wort at the the same time. Once most of the way there you can then run it out to your fermenter. Will be a much faster process and fix the consistency for hop timing. Nice video, thanks!
Larry&Brother, Cody again here.. My wife and I just moved into our new home which ironically came with a basement! Our dreams of home brewing began ages ago with our fondness of craft beer. I worked in a brewery for almost year and learned a lot about packaging, transfers, and marketing.. but nothing about making the process of making a brew. Your channel is pretty damn sweet, you literally lay the entire process out plain as day. I hope everyone that searches TH-cam for "craft home brewing" gets directed straight to your channel. I have learned many useful tips from your videos, the facts are on point and the advice gold. We are going to start with a 1/2 barrel system, brewing once a week, carboys will be our fermentation vessels. Hey, thanks again for your awesome advice. Cheers, and keep on keeping on! P.S. We are purchasing the hydrometer and flask kit from Brewing America, on checkout we are going to mention your name as the source of info!
I use the same hop spider, it seems to work great. One thing I use to help remove the grain basket (that darn thing is heavy) is install a cheap harbor freight winch to lift the basket. This also lets me hover it above the hop spider and do a first wort hop then sparge without having to do a lot of lifting the basket. The grainfather sparge heater is a big time saver as well.
Great video, enjoy your videos!
BEER-N-BBQ by Larry it works like a charm, the grainfather grain basket can get pretty heavy and I don’t want to hurt my shoulder any more than it already is.
A winch... His name is Chad.
MJ Hoss LOL
What are you using to whirlpool tool ? Where did you find that plastic tool ?
I gravity feed fly sparge with a Digiboil kettle. I do all my water prep directly in the Digiboil. Once you have your designated profile just feed mash water into the Grainfather and your ready to go. Its such a simple set up and being able to hold your sparge water to the perfect temp is awesome. Makes brewing a breeze.
Thanks Larry for this video. Though I'm not at the point in my brewing career to invest in a Grainfather, I like seeing what more advanced brewers are doing. I'm doing BIAB now, and ran into the sludge blocking my MegaPot filter, so you have inspired me to buy a hop spider, and while on Amazon, also purchased a dry hop spider for inside my Speidel fermenter.
I laughed at your brother doing the "chatty hand" behind you.
“Thats bleepin hot” lol that had me laughing. Great video of a full brew day.
Well I knew it was going to be warm, it was hot!
Larry, I love your videos and your presentation style. You've helped me learn a lot and find some more efficient ways to brew. Keep it up!
He larry, greetings from the Netherlands! Love your videos👍.. something about the counterflow chiller I was thinking about. In 42:00 you use it too cool down the batch of beer for the last 15 min hop stand.. what if you use the chiller in the same way in the end too cool down the whole batch of beer (recycling in the batch at full flow or something).. and then, when the whole batch is cooled down, pump it into the fermenter.. maybe it will go quicker that way? Do you know what I mean? I don't own a grainfather, I'm thinking about buying one, but I was just thinking. Maybe it works.. or maybe it don't.. gr. Ton.
I run my home built parallel counterflow back into my kettle for a whirlpool while cooling. Drop 6 gallons to 65F in less than 5 minutes.
BEER-N-BBQ by Larry I’m not sure why it would say not to. Cools the whole batch down fast and from what I’ve noticed it improved hop character. Plus you will leave more cold break behind. Cheers!
Great video Larry. I'm just a rookie brewer but I have become obsessed with the NEIPA Style. My thought is that the extra bitterness may have come from the hop addition during the boil. I would suggest only doing hop additions within the last 10 minutes of the boil and keep the additions small. Almost all hop additions should be done during whirl pool or dry hopping. Just a guess from my research. I'm still trying to get my NEIPA perfected also. Its an amazing Style. Thanks for all your hard work.
BEER-N-BBQ by Larry Thanks, your channel is a part of the inspiration behind it. I really appreciate your detailed approach to things.
Best beer channel! Keep up the great work Larry
Just a tip before sparging...Allow the grains to drain then gentle push the top mesh plate down so it sits on top of the grains before the sparge. Has made me want to revisit a hop spider for my grainfather and the massive hop additions for NEIPA style brews.
A good bit of that bittering will even out during fermentation. Also keep in mind NE IPA style is meant to be less bittering hops and more boil out hops and dry hopping with the use of oats/wheat malts during mash for haziness
TN they are popping up everywhere. In my little town we have 3 micro breweries/restaurants. Very very good eatery some fan tactic brews
I've been using the GF for over a year with over 30 brews, if you want to learn all about the GF please visit David Heath
I use the little hop balls and drop them in. same screen as the hop spider. They even have a little hook and you can tie some twine to it.
Another great brew day video. The lighting you set up in the garage looks fantastic! Garages are a tough place to film because of the low ceilings and lack of natural light. The Grainfather looks like a pretty nice brewing system. Thanks for taking the time to explain what went right and what went wrong...saves a lot of folks extra hassle.
43:45 "South Heights" South Chicago Heights? I lived there back in the 70's. I don't remember the water there. Moved out of the Heights altogether before I was 5 years old.
Hi Larry thankyou for the great videos ,I am in the UK and just starting out again brewing so your videos really help keep up the good work !
Great video brother....really helps a new brewer like me....
FYI... I added extensions to the wort chiller so you don't have to stick it on top of the grainfather, I don't recommend vinyl tubing. I also found a small cart that had draws and wheels that I sit the grainfather on top of so I can just roll it in and out of storage. The hard part if finding one the right size so you can easily raise the the basket
And for the people looking at the grainfather its great if you don't have a lot of space. You don't need a giant mash tun, a large pot, and you can brew inside which is nice if its 100F or 10F outside.
If you haven't been to Dallas you should come on down. We have a great craft beer scene down here as well. Let me know if you're ever in the area and I'll be happy to give you some recommendations.
Good video man. The robobrew lid is identical dimensionally to the G.Father but it has handles. Definitely helps when the unit is hot to remove the lid. You could easily modify yours and fit a couple of handles like the robobrew. Cheers...
I can see the Grain Father being a great asset when it comes to apartment brewing. I am an apartment brewer and forced to brew partial mash (generally 7 pounds grain and 2.5 pounds dme). How easy is it to clean? Looking forward to your next 10 gallon batch..
You can totally use this thing in an apartment..I liked it
Another idea is to use the grain basket to hold the hops during the boil once the grain has been emptied out.
I've been brewing a lot of NE IPA and I used hop shots for bittering about 5ml and up to 8ml
Hi Larry, good video again.
Questions:
1) did you experiment the "air bubble" in the pump tube? It means, when you start the pump, it can take 30 sec or 1 minute to see the water flowing or the wort if you are in the mash phase?
2) I got à mash stuck, my grain bill contain to much wheat. Since this, I use rice hulls. Do you put some in your recipe?
3) when I experimented the mash stuck, for sure I tried to understand and I tested the pump for a while. Do you think we can break easily that kind of hardware? I did another brew with it , it work fine but I"m curious if these are made for that kind of work or...stuck.
Hi Larry, super video again. I really like these. And Chad had an interesting one in the end of the vid when he remarked that it could be used in the kitchen. Yes, it absolutely can be used in the kitchen for it is compact and electric and NO it absolutely can't be used in the kitchen as probably my wife will leave me (until the smell completely vanished...)
And that brings me to brewing in the garage: How do you deal with the water vapor during boiling. In my garage I have to leave the door open otherwise it starts to rain inside ;-)
Those that put thumbs down for this video should feel ashamed of themselves. On the positive note, at least there are only 5 silly sally's out there, haha. Glad I've subscribed to this channel. Lots of work has gone into these videos and I've enjoyed the journey with you guys! Keep it up, your efforts are appreciated :D - From Kamloops Canada
BEER-N-BBQ by Larry Great way to approach it! Thanks again for your videos, now I just need to save up and get a grainfather - I’m inspired!
Love the hop spider. Getting one today...great tip!
Larry, why dont you re-circulate the wort through the wort chiller? And then transfer it to the carboy when its cold enough. Im able to cool my wort from 95C to 20 using only ground water. Pretty cold water though.
Larry I made my 3rd batch of beer and my oxygen tank ran out when aerating. I use the same setup you have. You look like you aerate vigorously. How long do you aerate for and how many batches can you get on a tank? Excellent videos!!
Thx!
Great info as always Larry, well done. I would like to see if the folks @ Grainfather could lend you their glycol fermentation temp control system. To do some lagers. Perhaps a beautiful Chezk Pils?
That would be epic! You would have all the cool toys! Here I’m thinking of “upgrading” from my buckets to a Spiedle Fermentor...
Are there any alternatives to the CF wort chiller with the grainfather? Looks like a faff measuring the temperature and adjusting so often!
Such a nice video! Could you have used a bag for the first wort hop and then used the hop spider during the boil?
Question, could you just fill the grainfather near the top and just drain off your sparge water instead of draining it completely and starting from empty with your mash water? Just a thought. Nice that you're brother was able to brew with you again! Should have used the fermentasaurus under pressure!! Bitterness will drop out with that many hops, a lot will drop out. Cheers Larry! 👍🍻
BEER-N-BBQ by Larry what I meant was water for the preheat.. Not a no sparge.
Short Circuited Brewers: Yes, you can do that method with most recipes... But if you plan on brewing with a high grain build, (more water loss from grain absorption) then the grainfather will barely work... Or you'll be just shy of the water needed to sparge
Jacob Wood I wasn't really talking about doing a no sparge. All I was talking about was heating up a maximum amount of water, draining off the sparge water, and then adding a little bit of Cold water back to the grainfather to bring the temperature down to mash in. I do the same type of process with my three vessel HERMS system
Short Circuited Brewers Oh I totally misunderstood.. my bad
No problem I think I did not ask the question clearly.. Lol
enjoyed your video..i do brew my beer,my big problem with the whole thing is..i have no sense of smell so i miss a lot.lost it about 7 years ago..but i really like brewing my own
lol...well,guess i better stop then...lol...good one
Hi. Basic question. When you steep the grains do you get the strike water up to temp and then leave it or do you keep the heat on while steeping to maintain say 66 degrees c? Regards Chris
I believe most beer hydrometer's are read from the top of the meniscus. .. as you cannot see through stouts... had mine double checked through a commercial brewery and this was the case ... did they send a user manual with your new hydrometer?
Great video. You should get a thrumeter from blichmann to measure the temperature going into the fermenter.
Good stuff. Im a saison guy but interested in dry hopping, etc. Do you use the grain father fermenter? Id really like to learn cotton controlling ferment temps. My favorite yeasts like warm temps and scaling up to 80-90’s. Great videos
BEER-N-BBQ by Larry cool but what fermentor do you use? It looks like you use a fast fermentor type? Im going to get a heater and temp contol to put on my plastic bucket or get a big mouth glass one from nothern brewer
Another great video Larry
How long is a typical brew day using the grain father and delayed heating?
Hey Larry, I have the grainfather set up as well. I was wondering when you used the hop spider did you still have any residue clogging the grainfathers filter? I had an issue my last brew day with it clogging with only 3 oz of hops. Also, with the hop spider was it an issue when trying to keep an eye out on the boil off with it being immersed and raising the wort on the sides? I try and get an accurate reading on how much water is boiled off during that process. I know that there is an issue with trying to get an accurate reading on the sides with the lack of tick marks on the side. Loved the video and thanks for the help!
Haha I stopped the video 45 seconds before you showed the filter afterwards! I think I will invest in the hop spider
BEER-N-BBQ by Larry awesome! I just looked up some videos on TH-cam on the false bottom. Tried to see if amazon had it but no dice. I went to the robobrew website but they have so many on there! Do you know where the best place to order one or know the exact dimensions of the one on robobrews website? I appreciate your time and help on this matter! I also have you on FB and I love your videos! I have learned so much!
Great video Larry. I see you were brewing in your garage in the winter, looks insulated, any idea the temperature in your garage when brewing in the winter? I ask because I don't see any literature from Grainfather on what their temperature range is for it to boil in. Also I just brewed my first Grainfather brew - Schrarzbier last week, to see how it responds to a multiple mash rest. My biggest concerns were it took well over an hour on an 80 degree day, after sparging to boil. I am considering lowering the boil setpoint to 210. My other concern was I had a lot of grain in my boil which in the end I had to blow the pump and discharge pipe out with compressed air. Grainfather told me that grain crush needs to be 1.27mm-1.4mm which is .05 in. on the small side. Just wondering if you experienced similar issues. Thanks for reading.
Enjoyed your video and your perspectives. I was curious; you heated the sparge to 205. How long did it sit and how much temp loss did you have? Did you pre-heat the inside of your HLT cooler before adding the sparge water?
I was thinking that same thing Jeff. I used to use a cooler for a mash tun and I would put a gallon of boiling water in it and slosh it around to preheat it. Then dump it out before adding my mash water. Never missed a mash temp doing it. 👍🍻
BEER-N-BBQ by Larry I hear ya..
Look forward to the tasting video! My take on NE IPA's - use malted (not flaked) oats in decent amount. I've done up to 20%, but I've seen up to 40% in some recipes. Your mileage may vary on that much. Dry hop during fermentation, usually 2-3 days into it, while it's still active. Then dry hop again when it's done, I've had good results in the keg, then pull it after several days. Finally, large whirlpool, small to none during the boil, of hopping. I've seen several different yeasts, but if you haven't used/tried London Ale Yeast, that's the one I've used to pretty decent results. Do everything you can to keep O2 out of the beer. NE IPA's are notorious for fading fast. Drink fresh!
By the way, can you post the recipe? The link just takes you to the Grainfather website login screen.
Great brew video Larry. Sorry if I missed it but what was the post boil gravity? Pre boil was 1.065 correct?
I would imagine doing first wort hopping in the GF wouldn't be like doing it in a normal mash tun, boil kettle set up because the GF keeps heating until it gets to 95oC while you sparge, so the hops are going to be in hotter wort for longer than they would be with a traditional set up
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY I was thinking that in a traditional set up the wort would only be around 75oC because that's what temperature you're sparging at. It wouldn't get hotter until you start the boil. But in a GF the wort is 95oC because it heats up to that temperature while you are sparging
HI Larry, great video. I just got myself a grain father, but I'm unsure about 1 thing. There is a red switch on the bottom, does that need to be on to heat? Or what is its purpose. Thanks
Love your channel Larry. With chilling can you reticulate in the grainfather for a few minutes before transfering to your fermentor? Dropping the wort temp in the kettle might make the whole process a lot quicker with your setup. Cheers Mate
Do you use your own spreadsheet? I'd love to see it if you could share? I use beer Smith but as you said it does all the math for you and I don't really understand the basics
Larry. I like the floor in your garage. Did you install it yourself? Where did you get the material? I would like to do that myself.
So the delayed start is when the elements turn on? You set yours to 07:30 and that’s when it turned on and started heating? Or was it at temp at 7:30am? Just wondering. Thanks.
That’s what I figured. Currently selling off some of my igloo coolers, a kettle or two (15 gallon mega pots) and some other items to gather up some cash and purchase a GF. Fingers crossed I can get back to brewing soon. Long time sub, love your channel and topics.
where did you get the device to lower the hop spider into the grainfather?
Great video, really glad I came across your channel. I love the idea of the copper handle that lowers the hop spider for your first wort hops as you sparge - brilliant. Good points on the calcs of the GF site and your own. When you said you came close to GF calcs, did you adjust your inputs of your brewhouse setup based on your first brew?
Went back and replayed that part again - got it, thanks. I like your skeptical approach when it comes to other peoples' formulas. Admittedly I have been relying on the GF calcs on their website but you've made me rethink that a bit.
Great video Larry. Keep the videos coming.
Great video!
Quick question I want to go beyond my basic starter kit, but I’m not sure what I should get that could make brew day easier or the beer better. Should I get a wort chiller or some water filter or something else?
Hello Larry! Your videos are awesome. Love the great product reviews. I recently bought a grainfather and and looking to get a stainless hop spider. What size micron do you have and are you happy with it? Thanks very much,
Rick J.
Thank you for the quick reply. Travel safe!
New brewer here just joining the hobby using extract kits atm but all grain looks like alot of fun. To bad i dont have any good home brew stores around. Anyway love your vids and the grainfather is a beast! I want to try that zombie dust beer but i cant find it here in central illinois.
Ya im going to give that extract kit a whirl that norther brewer has, my only problem is i dont have a standard to set it against so im just going to go ok i like it or i dont lol. thanks for the reply and looking forward for more vids.
Your lid removal while hot predicament could be solved with a 1/4"x3" wood dowel on a string. You would drop the dowel on a string in the hole and it would then turn sideways to allow you to pull lid off! Kinda the same way the doors work on large conical fermenters! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Thought #2: Or you could use your mash basket handle by inserting the 90 degree bend into lid hole and removing that way. Awesome vids, CHEERS!
Like to see your worksheet on these beers.
I also liked the approximate times in the description, since it is a long video.
Hoss
Yes I was referring to your worksheet.
Hi Larry, if the hop spider isn't draining freely doesn't that mean that the hops aren't properly mixing with the wort? I only use dried leaf hops now and don't get the clogging problems that I was getting with the pellet pulp.
Also, why not just recirculate your counter-flow chiller output back into the boil pot, that way you reduce the temperature of the wort as you would with an immersion chiller to stop any excessive hop bittering and you get to decide in a more controlled fashion when your wort is exactly the right temperature for decanting it into the FV.
Another good one Larry. Here in Bermuda there's no brew shops so importing the all grain is a unique challenge with shipping costs etc. it's tough to do it affordable anyway. Any ideas is greatly appreciated!
Just did my first extract brewing kit last night and building my all-grain brewing kit mainly based on yours vids, cheers!
BEER-N-BBQ by Larry may have to, was looking forward to being creative with the grain bill/recipes but it may not be feasible to do the full all-grain here 😞 thanks for the input!
BEER-N-BBQ by Larry looks like the way to go! cheers 🍻
Have you ever cold sparged? It saves me so much time, and i haven't noticed one bit of difference in the final product other than it taking a little longer to get up to a boil.
It would be a good experiment to capture on video, especially with one of your recipes you know you love! I've been doing it for about a year now and the only stuck sparge I had was in a wheat beer but it was my fault for forgetting rice hulls.
Hi Larry, any chance you could put a link up for your spreadsheet?
Thanks mate, will check it out. Haven't got to that video yet. Great work, keep them coming.
Wait. Immersion chiller cools faster than counterflow? I heard counterflows kick butt. Plate chillers too.
Why does it matter if it’s only chilling what’s going through the counterflow, that’s the idea, I do what the instruction say and run it back into the Grainfather until outlet pipe is cool then direct outlet into fermenter, it’s usually about 25c, I’ve always pitched at anything below 28c and then it goes into fermenting fridge at 20c. I’ve used immersion chillers and they take much longer to cool in my experience. The counterflow cools in only a few minutes.
I don't remember hearing this in the video but did you use whirlfloc?
Do you still use/recommend the 300 micron hop spider?
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY thanks for the quick response Larry! I just received my Robobrew v3 220V version. Can't wait to try it out. Thanks for all of your help in your videos.
Hope you enjoyed the hop spider. Love mine
Yeah a good violent spray from the water hose usually fixes that. Btw muscadine and any grape vines loves the left over hops from boil and dry hopping. My vines grew really big and produces 3 times as much since I started doing so.
Thanks for the awesome video Larry and Chad! Both educational and entertaining as always. I have a question for you Larry... Do you usually adjust your brew water
with some water chemistry?
And what are you're thoughts about water profiling in general?
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY okay thanks man! :)
Good video as always Larry. am getting ready for my Grainfather's arrival in a couple of months time. i know its not funny but laughed every time your brother get burnt. sorry mate
So The Grainfather is the Iphone of homebrewery!
Great video, what grain mill are you using, 2,3,4 roller and what size grain crush
BEER-N-BBQ by Larry thanks Larry
Great vid, as always. I hope, one day, I will have the opportunity to buy grainfather :) . Greetings from Serbia
hi Larry. Love the vids, Would you make a vid sometime about how you made your aluminum measuring stick to tell how much volume is in the mash tun. keep up the great vids sir!!
that would be awesome Larry. Thank You
what if you put your hops in your sparge water?
Hey Larry, the new shirt's look great. You have any of the $3.00 Wal-Mart shirts left?? :) Just kiddin... Grainfather video's are great. Keep'em coming. Getting ready to fire my Grainfather up soon. 1st brew with it.
Confused as to why you used the cooler when you could do everything in th grainfather.
What program do you use for your recipes?
Hi Larry, I see that you mention that you can´t measure precisely 2.65 gallons. You could do a conversion to litters and be more precise. 2.65 gal = 10.03 liters
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY That's America for you!
Great stuff Larry.
Anthony, France
Several good points, thank you
Use hot tap water to start with so you only have to heat from 120 deg to 15? deg it saves MUCHO time. Have tried distilled water vs tap water and the only difference I could tell is you don't have empty jugs laying everywhere with tap water. That's here though everyone's tap water differs plus my Bro has a water softener not that Southern Indiana water would have any lime in it :) Cheers!
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY why remove chlorine before brewing? Doesn't boiling it do that? Thanks
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY ahh, I see. interesting. Well that looks like another item on my money shopping list then lol. only starting with DME/partial mashes and your vids are helping loads! Hope to see Chad brewing more too!
Great video! Please ignore any comments about making your future vids shorter, there are PLENTY of uploaders with quick brew vids. Your vids is perfect to view while I wait for my mash to finish, and other than the great content the lenght is one of my main reasons for subbing :) So, whats next?
Carbonation will help a bit on the bitterness, I rarely do more than a half oz of fwh hops for my neipa and I might even bring that down. I use the pump to wp my flame out hops and have never had issues with clogging without the hop spider
I love how fast NEIPA's are, can go grain to glass in two weeks easy. I'm sure it will be delicious lol, I liked your comment about "It is a little bitter, well it is an IPA". I've had some bitter Neipa and some that had little to no bitter, they are both delicious in their own right, really enjoy your channel, keep up the great content.
Why don't you just recirculate into the grandfather from the counterflow chiller then once it's to temp shut off the cold flow and just pump into the carboy
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY Good to know!
Haha if you're ever up near Detroit grab Chad a DRIPA(double rice IPA) from Kuhnhenns- it's incredible!
Also do you think the Grainfather will at all replace your home built system? Or do you predict it more as an experimental/smaller batch setup for you?
Makes sense, I'm sure brewing with the garage open for a few hours would feel less miserable with the sun instead of frozen wasteland..
you ever use a hop sock?
outstanding video work Larry. your going all out, as usual lol :)
Android all the way. gotta love flexibility
Larry, i had previously downloaded your Zombie Dust clone recipe, (before Grainfather). Now that i have the Grainfather, do i change anything in the brewing process?
Hmm i dont think im that advanced 😒. Lol i was impressed because not even your buddy could tell the difference.
thank you for the review
Larry great video... 17:10 Guess you should try to turn it into a session beer.
Wait...what@&$!@!
Haha...
These are unscripted videos I was just having fun
Chad - looks like you in the dog house...
Maybe bring some meat to put on the smoker, now that its fixed.
And you and Larry can do a twofer. Brew and BBQ.
If we did that the video would be longer...lol
I would not imagine that the 'coat' would influence temperature boil times but moreso temperature retaining times eg: while mashing
They're one in the same. If it helps retain the heat while it's heating it will result in a shorter time needed to reach boil.
@@KloWn694 The influence over boil times with the coat on will be at best - negligible - not to mention scorching / melting / burning of the coat during the boiling process so - I would not imagine that the 'coat' would influence temperature boil times but moreso temperature retaining times eg: while mashing
@@apistosig4173 it depends on the size of the surface area where the heat can escape from. Insulating a larger sized tun that has a weaker burner/element will significantly reduce the time it takes to reach boil. I have personally experienced this
what you're needing is an iodine test to see if the enzyme action has ended
I've used brewers friend and tried beersmith. Your spreadsheet actually taught me where the heck I was loosing my volume. It was looking at your brew house setup that I realised there were losses that I hadn't even thought about. I'm a newbie at all grain still I guess but I'm learning, still having fun, and making unique and tasty beer so It's still a win win for me
Would that work for Whiskey
Why not jailbreak your iPhone?
Man I want one!
Please get your brother a mic for his birthday!
Have you or will be willing to share you spread sheet? I to feel the same way as you do trusting all them apps out there is hard to know what is real the true info you are looking for.
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY Thank you very much