I put on the all-grain big boy panties about a year ago (this winter will mark my 3rd year of brewing). Once I crossed the all-grain threshold I realized that one of the barriers of entry to making "brewery grade" beers was the ability to regulate temperature and keep oxygen and light out. Moving glass carboys around the house/basement was not sustainable... nor was lowering/raising the thermostat in the house to make the conditions more ideal for beer yeast! The early days of my brewing efforts recieved many a raised-eyebrow from the girlfriend. Enter the grainfather conical fermenter. and later a second.. and even later a third... I've had three of these for about a year now and I will admit while the dump valve is nicer than no dump valve it isn't great. You will have to "pump" it to agitate the trub enough for it to find an exit. Another well-known phenomenon is that fruit flies like beer seemingly more than I do because I certainly wouldn't start a family in leftover trub in the dump valve outlet... that was a fun day. Luckily that's not an issue in Wisconsin for many months out of the year (the cold ones when bugs don't exist). My advice is to cap that when not in use. I made a poor-man's glycol chiller by sealing up the bottom of a keezer filling it up with 25 gallons of 20% glycol and dropping the grainfather cooling pumps (kit) inside. Even in Wisconsin weather which can vary from 0 to 95 I can still maintain set temperatures in the fermenters in the garage. Oh but it gets better! The App is crazy! You can set fermentation profiles: excellent for making lagers! You can configure your profiles to hold at temperature "A" for "x" days ramp up to temperature "B" over the course of "y" days then ramp down to temperature "C" over the course of "z" days. Press 'go' collect lager in approximately 6 weeks. Combine this with the Grainfather G-cast and in addition to monitoring S.G. I can monitor and adjust fermentation temperatures even while I'm away visiting clients on business trips. Priorities people! The only thing that would make it better would be the ability to pressurize it...and a better dump valve. Luckily the bottom fitting is a 2" T.C. so I am in the process of converting one (for now) to use a Brewbuilt dump valve with their flex chamber: fingers crossed! While I do like these I would like to experiment with pressure fermentations and brew larger batches and so a Brewbuilt X3 is already penciled in the budget for this winter. Despite some of its shortcomings at roughly half the price of the X3 the Grainfather is still a sweet deal!

I put on the all-grain big boy panties about a year ago (this winter will mark my 3rd year of brewing). Once I crossed the all-grain threshold I realized that one of the barriers of entry to making "brewery grade" beers was the ability to regulate temperature and keep oxygen and light out. Moving glass carboys around the house/basement was not sustainable... nor was lowering/raising the thermostat in the house to make the conditions more ideal for beer yeast! The early days of my brewing efforts recieved many a raised-eyebrow from the girlfriend. Enter the grainfather conical fermenter. and later a second.. and even later a third... I've had three of these for about a year now and I will admit while the dump valve is nicer than no dump valve it isn't great. You will have to "pump" it to agitate the trub enough for it to find an exit. Another well-known phenomenon is that fruit flies like beer seemingly more than I do because I certainly wouldn't start a family in leftover trub in the dump valve outlet... that was a fun day. Luckily that's not an issue in Wisconsin for many months out of the year (the cold ones when bugs don't exist). My advice is to cap that when not in use. I made a poor-man's glycol chiller by sealing up the bottom of a keezer filling it up with 25 gallons of 20% glycol and dropping the grainfather cooling pumps (kit) inside. Even in Wisconsin weather which can vary from 0 to 95 I can still maintain set temperatures in the fermenters in the garage. Oh but it gets better! The App is crazy! You can set fermentation profiles: excellent for making lagers! You can configure your profiles to hold at temperature "A" for "x" days ramp up to temperature "B" over the course of "y" days then ramp down to temperature "C" over the course of "z" days. Press 'go' collect lager in approximately 6 weeks. Combine this with the Grainfather G-cast and in addition to monitoring S.G. I can monitor and adjust fermentation temperatures even while I'm away visiting clients on business trips. Priorities people! The only thing that would make it better would be the ability to pressurize it...and a better dump valve. Luckily the bottom fitting is a 2" T.C. so I am in the process of converting one (for now) to use a Brewbuilt dump valve with their flex chamber: fingers crossed! While I do like these I would like to experiment with pressure fermentations and brew larger batches and so a Brewbuilt X3 is already penciled in the budget for this winter. Despite some of its shortcomings at roughly half the price of the X3 the Grainfather is still a sweet deal!

I put on the all-grain big boy panties about a year ago (this winter will mark my 3rd year of brewing). Once I crossed the all-grain threshold, I realized that one of the barriers of entry to making "brewery grade" beers was the ability to regulate temperature and keep oxygen and light out. Moving glass carboys around the house/basement was not sustainable... nor was lowering/raising the thermostat in the house to make the conditions more ideal for beer yeast! The early days of my brewing efforts recieved many a raised-eyebrow from the girlfriend.Enter the grainfather conical fermenter. and later a second.. and even later, a third...I've had three of these for about a year now and I will admit, while the dump valve is nicer than no dump valve, it isn't great. You will have to "pump" it to agitate the trub enough for it to find an exit. Another well-known phenomenon is that fruit flies like beer, seemingly, more than I do, because I certainly wouldn't start a family in leftover trub in the dump valve outlet... that was a fun day. Luckily that's not an issue in Wisconsin for many months out of the year (the cold ones, when bugs don't exist). My advice is to cap that when not in use.I made a poor-man's glycol chiller by sealing up the bottom of a keezer, filling it up with 25 gallons of 20% glycol, and dropping the grainfather cooling pumps (kit) inside.Even in Wisconsin weather, which can vary from 0 to 95, I can still maintain set temperatures in the fermenters in the garage.Oh, but it gets better!The App is crazy! You can set fermentation profiles: excellent for making lagers! You can configure your profiles to hold at temperature "A" for "x" days, ramp up to temperature "B" over the course of "y" days, then ramp down to temperature "C" over the course of "z" days. Press 'go', collect lager in approximately 6 weeks. Combine this with the Grainfather G-cast and, in addition to monitoring S.G., I can monitor and adjust fermentation temperatures, even while I'm away visiting clients on business trips. Priorities, people!The only thing that would make it better would be the ability to pressurize it...and a better dump valve. Luckily, the bottom fitting is a 2" T.C. so I am in the process of converting one (for now) to use a Brewbuilt dump valve with their flex chamber: fingers crossed!While I do like these, I would like to experiment with pressure fermentations and brew larger batches, and so, a Brewbuilt X3 is already penciled in the budget for this winter.Despite some of its shortcomings, at roughly half the price of the X3, the Grainfather is still a sweet deal!

I have had two of these for a number of years and dozens of brews and used them in several configurations. I have the neoprene jackets and a glycol chiller and could not be happier. Precise temp control is a breeze any time of the year. There are several advantages I see to these. Since the heating/cooling elements are in the walls the fermenter is smooth and easy to clean. The multivalve is a bit unusual but very easy to use. I have the gauge attachment for the top opening so can transfer beer under CO2 pressure. My beers are much better and last longer as oxygen is no longer an issue. The set up is pricey but I am very pleased.

I have had two of these for a number of years and dozens of brews, and used them in several configurations. I have the neoprene jackets and a glycol chiller and could not be happier. Precise temp control is a breeze any time of the year. There are several advantages I see to these. Since the heating/cooling elements are in the walls, the fermenter is smooth and easy to clean. The multivalve is a bit unusual, but very easy to use. I have the gauge attachment for the top opening so can transfer beer under CO2 pressure. My beers are much better and last longer as oxygen is no longer an issue. The set up is pricey, but I am very pleased.

I have brewed once with this so far. I did a lot of research on conicals and read a lot of reviews about this one and it performed exactly as expected. The heating element worked perfectly and was very tightly controlled. The app was easy to set up and very cool that I can keep tabs on it from my phone or make changes wherever I am. It’s still winter so I haven’t had a chance to try the glycol chiller yet. The conical was very easy to set up easy to use and easy to clean. I did add an aftermarket blow off set up that was a definite must-have for this system in my opinion. As every other review seems to note it is tight quarters working beneath the conical but is totally doable. And I have pretty big hands. The valve combo is simply brilliant. I really love the fact that I can totally control my fermentation temperature but there is almost nothing inside the conical so clean up is super simple. Lagering should be so much easier now with the glycol chiller. And with two conicals I don’t have to worry about one conical being tied up with a prolonged fermentation.

I have brewed once with this so far. I did a lot of research on conicals and read a lot of reviews about this one and it performed exactly as expected. The heating element worked perfectly and was very tightly controlled. The app was easy to set up and very cool that I can keep tabs on it from my phone or make changes, wherever I am. It’s still winter, so I haven’t had a chance to try the glycol chiller yet. The conical was very easy to set up, easy to use and easy to clean. I did add an aftermarket blow off set up that was a definite must-have for this system, in my opinion. As every other review seems to note, it is tight quarters working beneath the conical, but is totally doable. And I have pretty big hands. The valve combo is simply brilliant. I really love the fact that I can totally control my fermentation temperature but there is almost nothing inside the conical, so clean up is super simple. Lagering should be so much easier now with the glycol chiller. And with two conicals I don’t have to worry about one conical being tied up with a prolonged fermentation.

Love that it keeps a steady temperature (within one degree if anything). For the most part steady.

Love that it keeps a steady temperature (within one degree if anything). For the most part, steady.