Brewcommune

Thanks guys. My water source is reverse osmosis. No change there. I used my normal amount of yeast nutrient. A friend suggested that the helles might have been overcarbonated and carbonic acid could be the culprit. It doesn't yet have that metallic flavor, but it did develop a bit of a back-of-the-t...

I've been brewing for a long time, but I've only been kegging for maybe 10 batches. In my last couple of batches, both beers developed an astringent metallic off-flavor after about 2 months in the keg. It particularly sucks for my Helles because it's been really tasty for about two weeks after lager...

Did you plug to the drain in the freezer and add it directly or is it in something?

Awesome!

Any chance I can see it in person at some point?

Have any of you had success building a DIY glycol chiller? I'd like to put something together with a fairly large reservoir (at least 5 gallons, preferably more like 10) that can work for now as well as in the future when I step up to a 15 gallon Brewers Hardware jacketed conical.

I'll be brewing tomorrow with the revised setup. Mash: Grainfather Sparge: My old cooler mash tun will act as the HLT (will heat in the kettle with the HotRod Heat Stick) Boil: Modified ancient Bayou Classic on a Blichmann HellFire Chilling: Grainfather counterflow chiller using a Topsflo TD5 pump a...

Found a really great deal on a Topsflo TD5 ($100), which should serve nicely since I'm a bit of a noise nut. I'm probably going to Brewers Hardware for some fittings to get it to work with my Grainfather, at which point I'll be able to brew and finally properly test the Brewers Hardware jacketed con...

I want to replace the derpy little pump in the Grainfather and get something that is capable of other tasks during the brew day. Brewers Hardware has Chuggers with free ball valves and cam and groove fittings for free right now. I think everyone is trying to eradicate inventory because there are som...

I'll make a meeting at some point! Alas, not this one as I'm out of town.

Posted a four brew review of the Grainfather. TLDR: I'll likely end up using the Grainfather exclusively as a mash/lauter tun. When I can afford to grab a nice immersion chiller or even a decent pump, I'll probably boil in a kettle again. http://www.madalchemist.com/archives/the-grainfather-four-bre...

Looks like I can't edit the original post. I'm probably going to see the Grainfather Conical with Cooling Kit but not the Grainfather Connect itself. I can't afford two of the fermentors but I really like doing split batches with two different yeasts. I'll probably get a pair of SS Brew Buckets or s...

I'm trying to decide on a couple of things with my setup. I might sell these if someone local is interested. I want to both scale up to 10 gallons AND open up the possibility of doing 2.5 gallon batches. The Grainfather Conical is really awesome, but it can't effectively cool a small experimental ba...

I modified my glycol chiller to use its pump directly with the Grainfather Conical and its cooling kit. The pump from the kit is back in the box. This allows me to use up to a 50/50 propylene glycol/water solution. It's closer to 30% glycol now, which is more than enough. The cooling capability of t...

I got the glycol chiller (UBC Kalinka-Ice KG-1/6T) from my buddy at work. Cool provenance on the chiller: It previously belonged to Wes of Bottle Logic. This has good beer in its veins! You can see that I have it indoors right now. It might get moved into the garage because it's not the quietest set...

My first Grainfather batch is cold crashing in the freezer. I'm brewing again tomorrow with a couple of friends from work who don't yet homebrew. I bought a Grainfather Conical with Cooling Kit this past week at Windsor (had to order it). Tomorrow I should also have a used glycol chiller from someon...