Sparge Water Heater

It’s hard to imagine using my Grainfather Connect without this sparge water heater. It’s been such a great addition to my homebrewing process. Yes, as others point out, the temperature setting is in Celsius, but it doesn’t take long to convert. And most brewers sparge at a pretty constant temperature (168 deg F), so it’s basically a set-it-and-forget-it thing. Of note, this thing will draw every bit of 13 amps, so you’ll want to run it on a separate circuit from your Grainfather if you’re running them simultaneously and don’t have a 30 amp breaker installed. I love this thing — heats up fast and gets the job done. Highly recommend.

I like having hot water for tea, snacks, etc.

Great, efficient way to heat sparge water. Volume is limited, but works fine for standard 5gal recipes.

We bought one for ourselves after years of coffee urns "good enough" to do the trick and a couple of Israeli style "meycham" that never got really hot enough. I stumbled over this on Amazon and got it. I had no idea that the company gears its products towards home brewing until we decided to recommend it to friends and went to their website. (we were thoroughly entertained by that.) Our friends got one and love it and we actually *did* donate one right after to our synagogue because they really did need a good hot water heater in the library and the capacity of this is great. Not the cheapest on the market but specifically made for heating water so worth every penny.

Works great! Expect a 30-40 minute warmup for about 4-5 gallons. Also, get an app to change over C to F as the dial is in C. For 165-170F set to the 75C setting. For those tired of using a propane burner just to heat water this is the ticket! The only downside I have is that it’s relatively small unless you are only doing 5 gallon batches; in which case it absolutely fine.

No sight glass, but has ball valve. Not sure if grainfather redid this but the coffee-pot style push/valve or picnic tap is gone and there's a ball valve now. However, the sight glass is gone. You still have markings, but you'll have to open the lid to keep an eye on run-off.

Item pictured was exactly what I received. Grainfather sparge heater with picnic valve. Perfect size for sparging a 5 gallon batch of all grain beer.

After a couple uses the heater light failed. After a couple more uses the on off switch light failed. Still functional no big deal. Then after a couple more uses the heating element failed. That’s really disappointing. We don’t mind paying a premium price for a premium product. We expect quality and durability. In this case it didn’t hit the mark and we will try another brand. It’s a shame because we love out grainfather brewer.

Paired this water heater unit with the Grainfather Brewing system. High quality 304 stainless steel. Heats up quickly with 1500watt electric elements and maintains constant temperature. Volume indicator is visible through glass sight. No leaks from tap. There are two tabs on the lid. To secure lid rotate tabs and align with handle on heater. The base on the heater rest on plastic trim. The side of the heater does get hot when in operation. Great addition for heating sparge water and portable so you do not need to be by a stove. The power cord is long enough to allow flexibility in placement of the heater. If an extension cord is required I suggest a 12 gauge or heavier cord. Starting the unit as you mash will give adequate time to heat up the sparge water. I recommend placing unit on a counter and not on the floor for easy access to the tap. I do not feel comfortable moving the unit full of hot water with the handles. Expensive, but worth it to have one less thing to worry about when making wort. Grainfather recommends cleaning the unit with TSP or PBW before first use.

Works so well with the Grainfather system, love it.

It is nothing more than a coffee urn and perhaps could be purchased at a cheaper price

I like 120 volt power and few controls. Profile is slim, it fits easy on my brew setup table. Turn it on 35 minutes before brew start (say, while I’m having morning coffee and breakfast). Temperature is confirmed by thermapen. Safe convenient electricity instead of propane in my garage brewery. Before getting this I would regularly run short of strike or sparge water. I love it!

Works perfect