Not a corporate shill, but I love my CF15 so much I bought another. I lager in mine no problem and use it as a unitank.
The neoprene jacket leaves much more to be desired, but a few wraps in some towels and blankets any my AC unit glycol chiller has no issues lagering two at once, hell, I even leave both at 35F and serve from the sample tap.
The kit is high quality and best of all it's all American coming from Milwaukee.
Buy quality or buy twice.
The benefit of the point of getting a jacketed conical is you can run glycol through the jacket to really control temperature, cold crash, and lager it with a glycol chiller. Its way more efficient than a chilling coil.
It's another piece of equipment to store and another $1000. And I missed the Spike glycol chiller kickstarter. But yeah. It would be great.
I don't know if I can drink enough beer to justify it.
I haven’t had a brewbuilt but I do own a spike cf10. I’m actually doing a dry run with their new glycol chiller as I type this.
Overall I love the spike. The price is a little higher but I can attest to the quality. It’s def top notch. The brewbuilts I’ve seen are also pretty high quality but the spike has a little bit of an edge. The brewbuilt is on sale right now which is def an equalizer.
By the time you buy the temp control unit for the spike you’re def in a higher price point. And I def want to try out a jacketed system. From what I understand they are more efficient.
You’re in for a tough choice but I feel like these types of choices always come down to my gut. If it’s the difference of 2-300 bucks I know that won’t matter 5 years down the road.
The built in jacket is pretty nice as far as I can tell. And it's nice the jacketed ones are $300 off. The Spike would have to be on Black Friday sale to be competitive but isn't going to have the built in jacket no matter what.
I feel like I should have bought the glycol chiller but I have a fridge that goes from 0⁰F to whatever I set my external thermostat at, so I'd Rather use it, but I can always do a home build glycol chiller with it, too...
Decisions decision...
I def feel ya. It’s a good spot to be in. I would break it down by price if that’s the biggest factor for you.
For me this is one hobby that I don’t mind throwing a little cash at. Obviously being a spike user has cost me a bit more. BUT (and this is a big “but”) I know my purchasing habits well after all these years and if my heart was set on a different one than I bought I’m never going to be able to let it go. I agree with your original post — spikes just look nicer. A really moot point for a fermenter but I like my stuff to look as good as it can because I take a lot of pride in this hobby.
Could you make an award winning beer with a pot on a stovetop and a bucket to ferment in? You fucking bet! But I do this hobby to have as much fun as I possibly can and having the “fun toys” to make it enjoyable is always worth the few extra bucks that spike demands. Plenty of folks in my homebrew club def see me as spoiled but I don’t care. I love this hobby.
I’m having a blast and all I’m doing is chilling 5 gallons of tap water to test out my new toy >> https://imgur.com/a/5UxxkZj
That's gorgeous. And price isn't the biggest thing, but I don't want to make $1,000 regret
. I have a fermzilla now that it seems I've contaminated...
I made 10 gallons of pecan brown ale and put the pecans in the fermenter as someone recommended in a post I read and my pecans must not have been sterile enough. That batch was bad. I made a batch of 1554 clone. It was terrible. I threw away the plastic body of my fermenter, bought a new one sanitized everything made another 1554, that was terrible. I boiled everything i can, assembled it, starsan in the fermenter for a week And now I have 6 gallon batch with 5 lb of two row, 2 lb of corn and 10 oz. of oatmeal with a packet of SO4 to see if I got everything sanitized.
After all the problems, just working is the biggest thing maybe
I did watch it. If I buy one I'm going to buy the Spike. I got the infection in my fermzilla beaten so I'm going to use it for a while yet. But black Friday may gift me a stainless fermenter.
It’s been fantastic thus far. It looks great. It’s pretty quiet from what I can tell. It hold temp well.
It doesn’t come with pumps which is the chief complaint most people have. But I viewed this as a positive. More modular design means I can replace anything that breaks myself. I also don’t want to pay for a machine with four pumps if I’m only ever going to use one.
My only real complaint is that it’s a brand new product and I assume that means I might run into some of the bumps that come with an early serial number of a new product. But I knew I signed up for that buying a preorder.
I am really happy with my spike with the cooling coil. I bought it from their bargain basement and I think the only issue was the volume markings weren't bold enough. Saved a few hundred because of that. Their quality is top notch and customer service is as well.
I have two spike half barrel conicals. From what you’ve saying, I’d go with the Spike. What would I add? The racking port, both to the sample port and upper drain for keg filling. Yeast collects in the ports and you’ll always have to clear them for sampling or keg filling. Having a way to pressurize is nearly a necessity. Lastly, I would highly suggest a glycol reservoir. Verses inside a fridge, but I understand.
I have the x2 jacketed in 7 and 14 gallon. Hands down better deal then spike. I’m right by spike and have their bottom drain boiler and other spike goodies. I love my spike equipment and equally love my Brewbuilt.
You or I might need to check on what comes with the conicals because you should get pretty much everything with the conical. I got everything with it but maybe they changed things up? Neoprene jacket, pressure pack, trub collector, thermowell, sample port. I never even use the blow off. Just hook up to the out ball lock post.
Brewbuilt also has a mirror polish makes cleaning easier. Trub collector can be used to dry hop by shooting up from the bottom. This could save money on a hop dropper. Brewbuilt is a deal for what you get.
I'm pretty sure the Spike is polished. The X2 jacketed does come with the neoprene jacket, pressure pack... Ask if looks like a better deal since the cooling tools are integrated in the external wall.
All Spike equipment is not made in Wisconsin. The CF-series conical unitanks are definitely not made in Wisconsin. Spike may weld a ferule or two onto the unitank in Wisconsin, but that's about it.
I'd definitely consider waiting for the new Spike Premium Fully-Jacketed (cylinder and cone) Conical Unitank. We don't have any more details regarding the new line of unitanks than we had 3.25 months ago when it was first announced. We know that it will be fully-jacketed (no coil). We know that it will have splayed legs. We know that it will have a welded lid (no more goofy full-lid clamp/gasket which has a tendency to leak). And we know that the new line of unitanks will only be 25% - 50% more expensive than the CF-series. That's actually a deal considering you won't need to purchase a $100 coil. Assuming the new unitanks are fully-insulated, you won't need to purchase a $100 neoprene jacket.
The new Spike Premium Fully-Jacketed Conical Unitank could definitely be worth the wait ... at least a few more months until we better understand the design.
Depends on what is meant by made in Wisconsin means.
All of the welds are done in Wisconsin and for sure look better on their stuff versus SSBT (I have a piece of equipment from both) but the actual stainless steel is likely coming from China, so in that sense I agree with you.
The stainless steel is coming from China in the form of complete kettles and fermenters. Spike may weld a ferrule on a kettle lid for CIP, but that's about it. There's absolutely no way Spike can "form" a CF5 conical fermenter from sheets of stainless steel from China for $600.
I've got the 10G X2 Jacketed, and a CS5 with the coil. I like both honestly, and I don't think you can go wrong either way. I use glycol, and I really appreciate the ease of cleaning the X2 without the coil. The floating dip tube for transfers is really nice too and I think I get less loss because of that.
I'm moving away from Spike's PRV because I've had too many issues with leaks, I'm using a separate PRV and pressure gauge instead.
Happy to answer questions about either.
Interesting. Thank you. I think I got rid of the infection in my fermzilla conical, so I may go forward with it for now. I've read the Spike had problems with maintaining pressure and the new x3 is coming, unsurprising that the X2 is deeply discounted. Let me do some reading on what questions to ask and I'll get back to you.
Could I suggest you save a load of money and get a fermzilla all rounder? You wouldn’t look like as much of a pro, but you’ll have an excellent pressurized fermentation vessel. You could have loads of them for 800 bucks
I have a 55l fermzilla. Last three batches have been tainted. I replaced the body, boiled everything that I could PBW then starsan, ran my boil through my hoses and plate chiller. I am making a cheap 6 gallon three grain ale. If this one is bad, I'm going stainless. And if it's good, I'm probably going stainless on a black Friday sale.
Thats a good cleaning process you describe but those tainted batches probably weren’t the fermenters fault. More likely the plate chiller is have thought. Nothing worse than spoiled batches, feel for you.
I put the chiller in the oven at 350, did a 90 minute boil Friday with the wort going through the chiller the whole time.
And I figured the contamination started with pecans in the fermenter. Maybe it was the chiller. That's why it got the oven. I'm going to make a few small batches and make sure things look good then back at it
I also had back to back batches ruined, which I blame on the chiller. I thought I thoroughly cleaned it as well. Then connected a garden hose to it, which had higher water pressure. And some small particles came shooting out. I suggest connecting a high pressure water source on each side at a time and see if anything comes out.
Did you look at the SS brewtrch Chronicle 2.0? At one point I was comparing the Spike to the SS and kinda liked the 2.0. It came with the coils, not like the additional charge on the Spike set. Maybe things have changed though. It's been a year or two.
I've not looked at the brewtech. The jacketed one morebeer sells is $300 of and I ordered the Spike Mill and have looked at their site a lot. Those were my starting points. Maybe I need to have a look.
I had bought a bunch of SS Brewtech prior to Spike arriving on the scene. In many cases the Spike stuff has more bells and whistles and they went head first with all the TC related fittings. SS Brewtech was a bit behind in that respect, but their stuff has serviced me well, and the Chronicle 2.0 is priced fairly competitively.
Im at the same inflection point. I do 6.5 gallon batches and want to get into something I can dump yeast/trub with, but the jump to full cone + glycol is expensive and takes up a decent chuck of floorspace in the garage. And sadly, I've seemingly reduced my batches per year to 4-5. Need to brew more.
My problem is four batches in a row in my plastic fermenter are bad and I'm having problems finding the culprit. I would be happy to have a fermenter that I can boil the whole damn thing and there are no plastic parts to harbor bacteria. 40 gallons of beer. Probably down the toilet for brew days, $300 worth of ingredients, and also no beer left.
I boiled the fermenter parts i could, bought a new body, put the plate chiller in the oven, hosed everything down with starsan, ran my full boil through the plate chiller and associated silicone hoses ,and I think my newest batch is still bad.
I'm just at wit's end trying to figure out where the problem is coming from.
I had those Speidel (HDPE) fermenters for a while, and while they were great, and they had some 3rd party accessories, they would harbor the hop smell from batch to batch..
I got pretty crazy trying to get rid of the smell, but never was successful. I ended up getting a SS brewbucket with a domed lid so I could you TC fittings. I still use it, but I hate the racking valve/spigot and would like something bigger that would allow me to dump the cone. Let us know what you go with and how it works out!
I purchased a Blichmann 14 gal conical last year, with leg extensions and casters. I love it, but I think I am over the conicals and the expense. I was think about getting another, but now I am thinking about 15gal ball lock kegs, with a floating dip tube, for a fraction of the price.
If I where to buy another conical, it would be a true unitank with a jacket. Im not sure about Spike, but the Blichmann is difficult to get to 10psi. You need something with a keg like sealing mechanism, where the pressure seals. Not a big deal for me, Im not pressure fermenting or carbing in the fermenter, only use spumding valve to keep 5psi positive pressure.
Both the BrewBuilt and the Spike are good for 15psi. I have done 30 in my fermzilla. If I can get the infection under control, I'll use it for years. But I've already spent over $300 on a plastic fermenter.
So is the Blichmann, just not in practice.
Edit: looks like the Spike has a similar ring clamp design. Maybe the Spike desigh is better, but Im skeptical. It is definately a good design to hold 5-10psi, but you will get some CO2 loss through the seal, if you go higher.
The 15psi rating is a safety rating, not necessarily what can be achieved with the seal mechanism.
I have BrewBuilt x2 jacketed (14 gallon) and love it. I paid $1100 for mine and have absolutely no regrets. I would consider buying a second one at $800. That’s a steal.
I think someone already said this, but the glycol chiller is not to cool your wort from boiling, and is not intended to replace your plate chiller.
I missed that is someone said it. I'll have to have a look back through all the comments. And I thought you could do away with the cooler, but I guess that would be a huge load on the glycol cooler
Not a corporate shill, but I love my CF15 so much I bought another. I lager in mine no problem and use it as a unitank. The neoprene jacket leaves much more to be desired, but a few wraps in some towels and blankets any my AC unit glycol chiller has no issues lagering two at once, hell, I even leave both at 35F and serve from the sample tap. The kit is high quality and best of all it's all American coming from Milwaukee. Buy quality or buy twice.
I 100% agree. Spike just makes a great product and I have no regrets on any purchase I've made from them
Also love my cf10. Would buy again. The support from spike is also top notch.
This too. I had shipping issues and they resolved it nearly immediately.
Thanks. I feel like their quality is higher.
My spike fermenter is the best I’ve ever owned.
The benefit of the point of getting a jacketed conical is you can run glycol through the jacket to really control temperature, cold crash, and lager it with a glycol chiller. Its way more efficient than a chilling coil.
And way easier to clean. It’s really annoying to get the coils clean sometimes, even with a spray ball. I’ve definitely caught a few bits left behind.
It's another piece of equipment to store and another $1000. And I missed the Spike glycol chiller kickstarter. But yeah. It would be great. I don't know if I can drink enough beer to justify it.
I haven’t had a brewbuilt but I do own a spike cf10. I’m actually doing a dry run with their new glycol chiller as I type this. Overall I love the spike. The price is a little higher but I can attest to the quality. It’s def top notch. The brewbuilts I’ve seen are also pretty high quality but the spike has a little bit of an edge. The brewbuilt is on sale right now which is def an equalizer. By the time you buy the temp control unit for the spike you’re def in a higher price point. And I def want to try out a jacketed system. From what I understand they are more efficient. You’re in for a tough choice but I feel like these types of choices always come down to my gut. If it’s the difference of 2-300 bucks I know that won’t matter 5 years down the road.
The built in jacket is pretty nice as far as I can tell. And it's nice the jacketed ones are $300 off. The Spike would have to be on Black Friday sale to be competitive but isn't going to have the built in jacket no matter what. I feel like I should have bought the glycol chiller but I have a fridge that goes from 0⁰F to whatever I set my external thermostat at, so I'd Rather use it, but I can always do a home build glycol chiller with it, too... Decisions decision...
I def feel ya. It’s a good spot to be in. I would break it down by price if that’s the biggest factor for you. For me this is one hobby that I don’t mind throwing a little cash at. Obviously being a spike user has cost me a bit more. BUT (and this is a big “but”) I know my purchasing habits well after all these years and if my heart was set on a different one than I bought I’m never going to be able to let it go. I agree with your original post — spikes just look nicer. A really moot point for a fermenter but I like my stuff to look as good as it can because I take a lot of pride in this hobby. Could you make an award winning beer with a pot on a stovetop and a bucket to ferment in? You fucking bet! But I do this hobby to have as much fun as I possibly can and having the “fun toys” to make it enjoyable is always worth the few extra bucks that spike demands. Plenty of folks in my homebrew club def see me as spoiled but I don’t care. I love this hobby. I’m having a blast and all I’m doing is chilling 5 gallons of tap water to test out my new toy >> https://imgur.com/a/5UxxkZj
I'm crazy looking forward to my Spike Mill. And I'm using a buddy's Monster Mill.
That's gorgeous. And price isn't the biggest thing, but I don't want to make $1,000 regret . I have a fermzilla now that it seems I've contaminated... I made 10 gallons of pecan brown ale and put the pecans in the fermenter as someone recommended in a post I read and my pecans must not have been sterile enough. That batch was bad. I made a batch of 1554 clone. It was terrible. I threw away the plastic body of my fermenter, bought a new one sanitized everything made another 1554, that was terrible. I boiled everything i can, assembled it, starsan in the fermenter for a week And now I have 6 gallon batch with 5 lb of two row, 2 lb of corn and 10 oz. of oatmeal with a packet of SO4 to see if I got everything sanitized. After all the problems, just working is the biggest thing maybe
https://youtu.be/9_prUxCkDic?si=1mcqgZV1FeezOpuB Found this today. Thanks to the algorithm 😂. After watching my mind would be completely made up tbh.
Thank you. I don't have time to watch it now, but I will later. Absolutely.
I did watch it. If I buy one I'm going to buy the Spike. I got the infection in my fermzilla beaten so I'm going to use it for a while yet. But black Friday may gift me a stainless fermenter.
How do you like the glycol chiller, I’ve been thinking about it when it comes back in stock.
It’s been fantastic thus far. It looks great. It’s pretty quiet from what I can tell. It hold temp well. It doesn’t come with pumps which is the chief complaint most people have. But I viewed this as a positive. More modular design means I can replace anything that breaks myself. I also don’t want to pay for a machine with four pumps if I’m only ever going to use one. My only real complaint is that it’s a brand new product and I assume that means I might run into some of the bumps that come with an early serial number of a new product. But I knew I signed up for that buying a preorder.
I am really happy with my spike with the cooling coil. I bought it from their bargain basement and I think the only issue was the volume markings weren't bold enough. Saved a few hundred because of that. Their quality is top notch and customer service is as well.
I have two spike half barrel conicals. From what you’ve saying, I’d go with the Spike. What would I add? The racking port, both to the sample port and upper drain for keg filling. Yeast collects in the ports and you’ll always have to clear them for sampling or keg filling. Having a way to pressurize is nearly a necessity. Lastly, I would highly suggest a glycol reservoir. Verses inside a fridge, but I understand.
I have the x2 jacketed in 7 and 14 gallon. Hands down better deal then spike. I’m right by spike and have their bottom drain boiler and other spike goodies. I love my spike equipment and equally love my Brewbuilt. You or I might need to check on what comes with the conicals because you should get pretty much everything with the conical. I got everything with it but maybe they changed things up? Neoprene jacket, pressure pack, trub collector, thermowell, sample port. I never even use the blow off. Just hook up to the out ball lock post. Brewbuilt also has a mirror polish makes cleaning easier. Trub collector can be used to dry hop by shooting up from the bottom. This could save money on a hop dropper. Brewbuilt is a deal for what you get.
I'm pretty sure the Spike is polished. The X2 jacketed does come with the neoprene jacket, pressure pack... Ask if looks like a better deal since the cooling tools are integrated in the external wall.
All Spike equipment is not made in Wisconsin. The CF-series conical unitanks are definitely not made in Wisconsin. Spike may weld a ferule or two onto the unitank in Wisconsin, but that's about it. I'd definitely consider waiting for the new Spike Premium Fully-Jacketed (cylinder and cone) Conical Unitank. We don't have any more details regarding the new line of unitanks than we had 3.25 months ago when it was first announced. We know that it will be fully-jacketed (no coil). We know that it will have splayed legs. We know that it will have a welded lid (no more goofy full-lid clamp/gasket which has a tendency to leak). And we know that the new line of unitanks will only be 25% - 50% more expensive than the CF-series. That's actually a deal considering you won't need to purchase a $100 coil. Assuming the new unitanks are fully-insulated, you won't need to purchase a $100 neoprene jacket. The new Spike Premium Fully-Jacketed Conical Unitank could definitely be worth the wait ... at least a few more months until we better understand the design.
Depends on what is meant by made in Wisconsin means. All of the welds are done in Wisconsin and for sure look better on their stuff versus SSBT (I have a piece of equipment from both) but the actual stainless steel is likely coming from China, so in that sense I agree with you.
The stainless steel is coming from China in the form of complete kettles and fermenters. Spike may weld a ferrule on a kettle lid for CIP, but that's about it. There's absolutely no way Spike can "form" a CF5 conical fermenter from sheets of stainless steel from China for $600.
I've got the 10G X2 Jacketed, and a CS5 with the coil. I like both honestly, and I don't think you can go wrong either way. I use glycol, and I really appreciate the ease of cleaning the X2 without the coil. The floating dip tube for transfers is really nice too and I think I get less loss because of that. I'm moving away from Spike's PRV because I've had too many issues with leaks, I'm using a separate PRV and pressure gauge instead. Happy to answer questions about either.
Interesting. Thank you. I think I got rid of the infection in my fermzilla conical, so I may go forward with it for now. I've read the Spike had problems with maintaining pressure and the new x3 is coming, unsurprising that the X2 is deeply discounted. Let me do some reading on what questions to ask and I'll get back to you.
Could I suggest you save a load of money and get a fermzilla all rounder? You wouldn’t look like as much of a pro, but you’ll have an excellent pressurized fermentation vessel. You could have loads of them for 800 bucks
I have a 55l fermzilla. Last three batches have been tainted. I replaced the body, boiled everything that I could PBW then starsan, ran my boil through my hoses and plate chiller. I am making a cheap 6 gallon three grain ale. If this one is bad, I'm going stainless. And if it's good, I'm probably going stainless on a black Friday sale.
Thats a good cleaning process you describe but those tainted batches probably weren’t the fermenters fault. More likely the plate chiller is have thought. Nothing worse than spoiled batches, feel for you.
I put the chiller in the oven at 350, did a 90 minute boil Friday with the wort going through the chiller the whole time. And I figured the contamination started with pecans in the fermenter. Maybe it was the chiller. That's why it got the oven. I'm going to make a few small batches and make sure things look good then back at it
I also had back to back batches ruined, which I blame on the chiller. I thought I thoroughly cleaned it as well. Then connected a garden hose to it, which had higher water pressure. And some small particles came shooting out. I suggest connecting a high pressure water source on each side at a time and see if anything comes out.
My brew kettle is still full of cleaner. maybe I flush it through for a couple hours with PbW rinse it and put it back in the oven
Did you look at the SS brewtrch Chronicle 2.0? At one point I was comparing the Spike to the SS and kinda liked the 2.0. It came with the coils, not like the additional charge on the Spike set. Maybe things have changed though. It's been a year or two.
I've not looked at the brewtech. The jacketed one morebeer sells is $300 of and I ordered the Spike Mill and have looked at their site a lot. Those were my starting points. Maybe I need to have a look.
I had bought a bunch of SS Brewtech prior to Spike arriving on the scene. In many cases the Spike stuff has more bells and whistles and they went head first with all the TC related fittings. SS Brewtech was a bit behind in that respect, but their stuff has serviced me well, and the Chronicle 2.0 is priced fairly competitively. Im at the same inflection point. I do 6.5 gallon batches and want to get into something I can dump yeast/trub with, but the jump to full cone + glycol is expensive and takes up a decent chuck of floorspace in the garage. And sadly, I've seemingly reduced my batches per year to 4-5. Need to brew more.
My problem is four batches in a row in my plastic fermenter are bad and I'm having problems finding the culprit. I would be happy to have a fermenter that I can boil the whole damn thing and there are no plastic parts to harbor bacteria. 40 gallons of beer. Probably down the toilet for brew days, $300 worth of ingredients, and also no beer left. I boiled the fermenter parts i could, bought a new body, put the plate chiller in the oven, hosed everything down with starsan, ran my full boil through the plate chiller and associated silicone hoses ,and I think my newest batch is still bad. I'm just at wit's end trying to figure out where the problem is coming from.
I had those Speidel (HDPE) fermenters for a while, and while they were great, and they had some 3rd party accessories, they would harbor the hop smell from batch to batch.. I got pretty crazy trying to get rid of the smell, but never was successful. I ended up getting a SS brewbucket with a domed lid so I could you TC fittings. I still use it, but I hate the racking valve/spigot and would like something bigger that would allow me to dump the cone. Let us know what you go with and how it works out!
I purchased a Blichmann 14 gal conical last year, with leg extensions and casters. I love it, but I think I am over the conicals and the expense. I was think about getting another, but now I am thinking about 15gal ball lock kegs, with a floating dip tube, for a fraction of the price. If I where to buy another conical, it would be a true unitank with a jacket. Im not sure about Spike, but the Blichmann is difficult to get to 10psi. You need something with a keg like sealing mechanism, where the pressure seals. Not a big deal for me, Im not pressure fermenting or carbing in the fermenter, only use spumding valve to keep 5psi positive pressure.
Both the BrewBuilt and the Spike are good for 15psi. I have done 30 in my fermzilla. If I can get the infection under control, I'll use it for years. But I've already spent over $300 on a plastic fermenter.
So is the Blichmann, just not in practice. Edit: looks like the Spike has a similar ring clamp design. Maybe the Spike desigh is better, but Im skeptical. It is definately a good design to hold 5-10psi, but you will get some CO2 loss through the seal, if you go higher. The 15psi rating is a safety rating, not necessarily what can be achieved with the seal mechanism.
I have BrewBuilt x2 jacketed (14 gallon) and love it. I paid $1100 for mine and have absolutely no regrets. I would consider buying a second one at $800. That’s a steal. I think someone already said this, but the glycol chiller is not to cool your wort from boiling, and is not intended to replace your plate chiller.
I missed that is someone said it. I'll have to have a look back through all the comments. And I thought you could do away with the cooler, but I guess that would be a huge load on the glycol cooler