I BOUGHT A SPIKE CF5 CONICAL FERMENTER | Complete Review | WHY I UPGRADED | Spike vs SS Brewtech
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- Опубліковано 10 лип 2024
- This is a complete and unbiased review on the Spike Brewing CF5 Conical Fermenter. For reasons I discuss in the video, I decided to stop using and recommending the Fermzilla (not the all-rounder, I have no complaints with the all-rounder). I bought this Spike fermenter with my own money, Spike never reached out to me, so this completely unbiased. In this video I assembled the fermenter, completed a fermentation in it, did my best to break down all the pros and cons, and compared it to the specs of the SS Brewtech 7 Gallon Unitank. All in all, this is a fantastic piece of equipment that I am very excited to be using, but has its drawbacks. That being said, better equipment does not make better beer-Better brewers make better beer. This type of equipment just makes the fermentation process a lot easier and more controllable, leading to better consistency. As always if you're in the market for this type of thing, do your own research, weigh the pros and cons and decide if its right for you.
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0:00 Intro
1:10 Why I'm Done Using the Fermzilla
2:55 What Comes in the Base Kit
4:23 Additional Accessories I Got
6:10 Assembly Timelapse
7:21 Fermenting in the Spike
8:53 Pros
18:23 Cons
24:10 Spike CF5 vs SS Brewtech Unitanks
28:24 TL;DR
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Full disclosure, most of the links on this page are affiliate links. This means if you buy through them I make a small percentage from the sale at no additional cost to you. All money earned through the channel goes back into the videos and brews you see on my channel. As always, don't just take my word for it, do your research before you decide to buy.
Music provided by Epidemic Sound: share.epidemicsound.com/0go1wp
#Spike #Brewing #Conical #beer #brewing #homebrew #fermenter #CF5 #CF10 #CF15 #review - Навчання та стиль
If you want to skip the assembly and fermentation and go straight to the review, skip ahead to 8:53
Added a comment you should really read some info you posted from what I have read is wrong and dangerous from what I gather
Care to elaborate??
Psi rating about 1/2 way down the page. For home brewing ss has nothing over 15 psi and telling people 30 is dangerous and could get someone heart
Having a little trouble adding the link with the ss psi info
www.ssbrewtech.com/pages/chronical-brewmaster-edition
Gotcha, to clarify, I WAS NOT talking about the chronical. I am talking about the UNITANK. Two very different products. SS Brewtech lists explicitly that their unitank is tested to 60 PSI. Specs are listed here: cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0239/5187/files/Chonical_unitank_all_unitsnew.jpg?11887141875371638501
That being said, I would never recommend anyone try to bring it to that limit, because yes, it could be very dangerous.
3:48 I use to be a tig welding making exhaust headers and turbo kits for race cars, a lot of us went into the brewing industry, that's why the welding is so good, lots of experience with stainless steel welding.
The only thing I would add is to emphasize the need to have a PRV in place for pressure (Anything) I know it's shown in the video. People need to know it is MUST BE IN PLACE. Thorough overview and comparison. Cheers! 👍🍻
Absolutely - thanks for the addition. Anytime you add pressure to the fermenter that is necessary. Cheers!
@@TheApartmentBrewer Agreed! 👍
Super impressive review! I have been looking for an in depth review for a while. Thank you sir!
My pleasure!
I really appreciate the fact that you bought it yourself and can give an unbiased review.
I'm glad, I know I would have appreciated it if I were doing research as a customer.
The one thing about nice equipment like this is it makes fermentation so much easier. The idea that better equipment doesn't make better beer is slightly misleading. Now that I have a conical with a glycol chiller I can control fermentation temperature ramps, dump yeast before dry hopping, dry-hop oxygen-free, cold crash, pressure transfer, and clean in place. I am only have a couple batches on my conical so far but it has allowed me to implement so many techniques I couldn't before.
Very thorough! Lots of helpful unbiased information for homebrewers. Thanks!
Thanks for watching!
Solid review. Very thorough and informative. Thank you! Cheers!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great review. Congrats on your bonus and enjoy the new toy!
Thanks! So far it's been great!
great review -thanks---re fermzilla tri conical yeast container -i have just removed yeast container & added a 3inch to 1.5inch reducer with 1.5ich tri clover butterfly valve. This means no leaks , broken yeast containers. Also can add a hose to butterfly valve & dump yeast and hops easily.---just a thought for trial
Great review, thanks!
Being fairly new to brewing, I am still enamored with watching the snow globe effect of fermentation in my clear Fermonster. I guess when I'm over that I will move on to SS. I enjoyed your review just the same. Congrats on the new equipment purchase!
There is nothing like being able to see everything going on with your fermenter, I agree completely!
Nice review! I have been pricing out this unit for a few months now and it's good to see a solid review. I currently use a ss brew bucket and fermzilla, and they both help me produce really good beer. I just like the idea of having a unit similar to the pros. Now I just need to convince my wife that it's a good purchase. Cheers!!
Stainless bucket fermenters are really the sweet spot for quality vs cost in my opinion. Like I said in the video, the biggest benefit of the unitank is all the convenience features. Good luck, this is why I purchased mine before getting married haha
That is a nice piece of Kit you have got yourself, and the definition of an independent thorough review.
Thank you! I figured if I were looking at this kind of equipment and on the other side of a review video I would appreciate transparency.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Yep. I don't mind the sponsored content (it's good, and awesome that you can get that kind of gig), but the transparency is much respected!
I try to mix it up. I'm not gonna take up any sponsorship unless they allow me to be critical.
I thought I saw something shiny and new in your Irish Red vid! Have fun with it and great review video!
I was trying SO HARD to hide it 🤣
Thanks for the review. I am in the market and this helped a lot
Glad I could help!
Great stuff, thank you!
Yes I agree with the fermzilla, keeps breaking. Thanks for the vid, thinking of getting this too. Love pressure fermentation.
Nice! Congrats mate! Stay safe, and drink good.
Cheers, and thank you!
Congrats on the upgrade. I've recently upgraded to the Grainfather conical and the glycol chiller to go with it. No regrets..
Very nice! I bet the glycol chiller is a great, I can't justify the cost of that for myself right now but may in the future at some point. Cheers!
Great video as always. So incredibly thorough, and it's so obvious you're as excited as I would be if I was putting something like that together.
Question, what does the carbonation/o2 stone look like? It looked like you just plugged a can if o2 into a basic input opening.
So its essentially your standard carb stone with a stainless wrap that plugs directly into the 1.5" TC. This way the carb stone is shielded against impacts
Congrats on the new fermenter. 2 tips
-spike has a 2" tc to 1/2 barb. Use that to dump trub/yeast with their tubing. You'll never go back. (Learned this from a pro brewer)
-If you have keg lube on hand, put that on the main lid gasket. Like a descent amount. It won't fall out. (Learned this from my father in law that does HVAC stuff)
Enjoy
Thanks for watching and I appreciated the tips!
Does this imply that the 2 inch dump port is totally overkill?
@@marklpaulick I wouldn't say that. Something I have vanilla beans or something that I wouldn't have been able to get out otherwise. It also gives the trub and hops more space to collect.
Nice video, Just wanted to add I am able to cool down the fermenter with the TC-100 temp control system with a cooler , water and a couple bags of ice. was able to bring temp down to 39 degrees
Great review! As a Spike Flex owner and pro brewer here's some tips! The Do Not Lift Handles are a warning so you don't blow your back out carrying 80 lbs of liquid. The handles can take it, its just so people don't injure themselves. You might want to invest in extra valves too. I put one on the blow-off port so I can easily close it off and swap between blow off and gas post. Very useful for oxygen sensitive situations when you want to adjust pressure/relieve pressure. Also you never know when you'll need to do some valve to valve connections (they happen a lot on the pro side of things at least). I've found that the lid gasket slips out when I sanitize it with Isopropyl but letting it dry it fits in snug. Extra clamps, gaskets, and coins (aka the TC caps) are always useful. If there's something you wish there was a TC fitting for, chances are you can find it on the market and since they're universal they don't have to be from Spike.
Appreciate the feedback and the tips! I've actually already been using that valve technique you explained here for O2 free dry hopping and its been awesome. But to your point I think I'll end up getting another one at some point, just super useful. Non-spike TC accessories are definitely a good move, brewhardware.com has a lot of useful attachments. Cheers!
Agree on the handle warning. I called spike on this and they said the handles can handle the weight, but they needed to put that warning on there for insurance / safety reasons.
Well done, great way to use up a bonus!!
Yes it was!
Wow!!! You bought it yourself? I really appreciate that.
With something like this, I think people really need transparency. Glad you enjoyed the video!
@@TheApartmentBrewer Yeah, but there's no shame in getting free stuff either ;-)
Someone who gave a true review.....WOW !!!! most are all biased and giddy after getting it, with few negatives after paying for it.
Super sick piece of kit! I just upgraded to an Anvil bucket fermentor. I can't say it's necessary, but it cuts out the auto-syphon. I'm going to start bottling straight from the fermentor, as it's the best way I can cut down oxygenation without being able to upgrade to a keg system. Bottling the first beer I put through it tonight (a pecan porter). Going to fill it with a saison braggot tomorrow (Wyeast 3274).
I think SS bucket fermenters really are the sweet spot for fermentation equipment! Both beers you're working on right now sound awesome!!
Another excellent video 👍 🍺🍺
Thank you!!
Wow stepping up your game hoss. Looks good.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
It has a real "war of the worlds" vibe happening with those extended legs on! 😄
Haha it totally does!
Yeah I bought myself the same spike conical fermenter. I can't wait until I get it. I think it's the best one out there. Cheers 🍻
So far, my experience has been pretty awesome, just minus the cons I went over in the video. I can't wait to do some more advanced fermentations with it!
That is a serious part of equipment, very cool!
Thanks! I am really enjoying the upgrade!
Great job! Just bought one myself but I use my keezer with a 5 gallon bucket in it for my cool source. Excited to see you use in and transfers etc. Love to learn all the ways to maximize my investment.
Thank you! I think I may move it to the keezer since it would get a bit colder. I'm planning on doing some follow up videos on the fermenter (cleaning, transfers etc) so stay tuned!
It would save power since you are not running both coolers. Looking forward to the follow on videos
Setup same arrangement and it worked great! Cooled 6 gallons of water in CF5 from 68 to 42 in 20 mins. Very impressed and certainly saved a boat load of money
you need to have the bucket in keezer already cooled before pumping it into coil since the keezer would be asked to cool the 5 gallons of water in the keezer at same time it tries to cool the 5 gallons in the fermenter, I added frozen gallon jugs to the bucket in keezer to help keezer cool the water.
Would this be good for wine and mead and does pressure help them ferment or just good for beer
Great review! I'm at an upgrade crossroads myself between an all rounder and a brewbucket. I'll bet you 10 dollars in a few years we're all back to plastic buckets though 😆
Thats a tough choice. All-rounder gives you pressure fermentation capability and brewbucket is stainless! I would probably urge you towards the brewbucket for all the stainless benefits but thats just me. The all-rounder is a great piece of equipment too
@@TheApartmentBrewer cheers for
that. closed transfer is probably the main benefit with me, but i could do a 'close enough' one with the brewbucket i guess. And SS always looks great!
Oh please do another NEIPA soon. I wanna see how you utilize this new toy!
No doubt!!
Those Fermizilla All Rounders are a great piece of kit. And cheap too. Grab the pressure kit/floating dip tube and thermowell and stick it in a ferm chamber with Inkbird controller and be done with it. Or, just grab some kegs to ferment in.
Yeah, I really enjoy my all-rounder! Very good for most brews in general.
Great review. I have the CF10. How did you use the second sight glass?
Thanks! I use it either on the racking arm to watch the sediment level or as a way to dry hop
Fantastic t-shirt 👌
Thanks, just got it!
Wow that’s some piece of kit! Probably way out of my price range right now, but intrigued how you dry hop with this? Is it a case of taking the lid off or can you do it some other way?
Thanks! Its as easy as tossing them in through one of the lid ports, but what I plan on doing for an oxygen free method is using a butterfly valve on the lid port, and adding dry hops in via an attached tube or sight glass which can be purged with CO2. I plan on making a video in the future that goes into detail on this.
I have the spike fermenter flex-+. Seems to have nice accessories also.
I think the flex+ is a great deal as well pretty much has everything I go over here without the dump port and conical part
Nice indepth review! But saying its your last fermenter might be the famous last words... lol!
Thanks Trent! I may have been getting a bit ahead of myself but I hope its true. Great seeing you on the hoppy hour the other night!
@@TheApartmentBrewer haha I hope so too. And thanks for tuning it, was a fun time!
hey, do you have a video on the chiller you use? I'm debating on the spike cf10, but don't want to spend an additional 1k on a glycol chiller. please let me know! thanks
Spikes all in 1 spunding ,prv and pressure transfer valve is awesome 3 types for 150.00 fits on the lids 1.5" TC
Picked up mine today as my shop was going out of business and was selling off their inventory. Bittersweet moment. First stainless steel (well other than my corny kegs I ferment my mead in) fermentor vs home-brew shop of ten years going under.
Sorry to hear about the shop, but congrats on the new fermenter!
Great.. you are genuine
Thanks!
To help with ensuring a gas tight seal you should use sanitary lubricants on the TC and band clamp (lid) gaskets.
Thats a great point, I have some sanitary keg lube lying around, and I might use that when I pressure ferment in this
Great video, nice to see an unbiased review. I also have a conical (ss brewtech), and think I agree with your experiences. Stainless conical fermenting is fun! As you mentioned, I do sometimes have issues with the 1.5" dump getting clogged and dumping slowly, but it eventually all comes out. The racking arm does come off in the brewtech, so that's not an issue (it's attached to the 1.5" butterfly valve). I have a 14gal, and I do half batches all the time with the temp control and readings working fine. I don't know about the 7gal, though.
You mention that the more important thing than the equipment is brewing fundaments. Do you think you will make a video at some point going over some of these fundamentals? I feel like I make good beer, but always looking to improve my techniques.
Also, I have been able to cold crash (
Good stuff to hear - I did ask people to correct if wrong and you delivered, thats definitely a good thing. Whats the blowoff cane cleaning look like for you? Yes, I'm starting to do a lot more content thats not just plain old grain to glass so I can work that sort of thing in over time. Great feedback, thank you!
@@TheApartmentBrewer The blowoff cane doesn't get cleaned with the CIP ball, sadly. You probably could take it off and submerge it in a bathtub or something, but that's a pain. So I run my pump up through the cane (have a hose barb for the end of it) into the vessel with hot PBW to clean it then again with star san to sanitize.
I love the grain to glass videos - I've brewed 4 of your recipes, and it's really nice to have them turn out as you describe. Great content, keep up the good work.
@@jarrodleddy343 Thats truly awesome that you've had my recipes turn out great, glad to hear!!
On the lid gasket, make sure you don’t have it installed upside down. The gasket has a flat side and a beveled side (aka pointed side). The flat side goes against the lid and the beveled side goes against the conical. If your gasket is falling out almost guaranteed that it’s in upside down. That could also be the source of your pressure leak.
I guess thats what I had been doing. Had no idea and will try it out the other way around next time. Thanks for sharing!
I splurged and got the Penguin glycol chiller too. I can cold crash down to the low 30s!
Jealous!!
Hey man how’s it going. Great videos as always. My question is when and how often do you dump the trub throughout the fermentation
Thanks
Mike
I honestly haven't found myself doing that all that often. But when I do dump trub it's when things start to settle after fermentation so about day 8 or so
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thanks for the info
Is that a hose barb adapter in the bottom 2" dump port or a quick connect port?
Its a quick connect port but you can actually slide a silicone hose over it pretty easily.
So pleasantly thorough. Are you an engineer or something? Hahaha
Ha! Only 9-5...just kidding I can't escape it
Excellent review! Congrats man!! Looks great... just curious, how would you dry hop? Wouldn't the lid need to be lifted? Does that concern you? Thanks so much! ✌
My plan is to use a hop dropper (that's one reason why I have a second sight glass and butterfly valve). I plan on covering this in a future video
You can dry hop with a little extra equipment. Get a section of TC pipe or view glass, add a TC lid on one end and a butterfly valve on the other, attach to the top of the fermenter and you can dry hop that way. You can even do it under pressure if you get a lid for the dry hopper with a gas connection and fill it with CO2 to pressure first.
@@jarrodleddy343 so I'm guessing the hops would be free floating. how would you rack/separate the plant matter?
@@SchmegmaOnToast Yeah, the hops would be free-floating. The conical is quite good at separating the beer from the particulates due to its shape, so the hops will eventually settle down to the bottom of the vessel. Since the racking arm/valve is 6 inches up (and you rotate it to be facing down during fermentation, facing up during transfer), you manage to avoid getting trub, hops, etc when you transfer out. You can also attach a filter while you transfer if you want to make extra sure nothing extra is getting through.
@@TheApartmentBrewer looking forward to that video! Thanks!
It’s soooo nice looking, man I haven’t even used my Fermzilla yet, it’s still in the box. I’ve heard lots of (issues) with it.
👍🏻👍🏻🍺 cheers
Its still a good system and does its job but I just am sick of fixing the collection jar. If you don't use that part its not so bad. And ultimately its a good low bar for price in getting into pressure fermentation. Cheers Tom!
@@TheApartmentBrewer I’ll mess with it eventually, hey cool seeing ya on the live chat the other day 👍🏻👍🏻🍺
Same to you! Had a great time, hope to get more than 30 min in next time!
@@TheApartmentBrewer yeah I showed up a little late myself
congrats! i'm not loyal to any brand, but I love my ss brewtech stuff ;-)
They make great stuff! At the end of the day it's all very similar
Very nice I’m jealous! Ha! At what point do you harvest the yeast? When fermentation is completely over? Also to control temperature could this be connected to a glycol system? Best of luck with this beautiful fermenter.
I think it varies a bit, once the trub settles out but the yeast is still in suspension you can dump just trub, and then later dump yeast after it starts to drop out. Or you can just dump it all at once at the end and wash the yeast. This can definitely be hooked up to a glycol chiller, I think Martin from the Homebrew Challenge does this, however I really don't want to spend that much money on a chilling system!
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thank you. I completely understand the $$$.
I'm guessing the pressure loss is from the lid gasket. Even when only finger tight, I've found tri-clamp fittings are pressure tight even at the higher pressures I use, I don't use a Spike CF, but have used one with a similar lid and it too had pressure holding issues
I think you may be right. I have to do a test with dish soap and look for the bubbles.
Check out Perlick or ForgeFit sample valves. They are smaller, better pouring, and they are sanitary so no need to disassemble to sanitize.
Thanks for the suggestion, I'm going to look into that right now!
Really awesome review! Small question, how do you carbonate beer at 15 PSI? I mean if you ferment at room temp or even at lager temperatures I think it wont give you too much levels of CO2 after the cold crash (probably I'm missing something ;) ) Again, really nice and detailed review, congrats!
It's through the use of a carbonation/diffusion stone. Basically it has microscopic holes which increase the rate of absorption of gas pumped through the stone. With 15 psi of external CO2 pressure and a carb stone you can carbonate a beer overnight!
@@TheApartmentBrewer awesome! I knew I was missing something, thank you!
@@TheApartmentBrewer But you mentioned 50F was as cold as temp controller would take it with chilled water...15psi at that temp gives 2.3v which is low for many styles. At ale temps in the 60s that pressure gives you
Hi! Im thinking of getting a ss fermenter to myself but im between the CF5 and the FLEX+ a have a freezer for temp control and i also like brewin my lagers under pressure, so, and dont know well the pro's and cons they have each other, what would you recommend
If you're using a freezer for temp control the spike flex+ will fit in it a lot easier, that's probably the biggest difference other than being able to dump yeast and trub from the CF5. Its up to you which factors matter the most to you
Just for the record I did not envet this , but I feel like I should own one since my name is on it
I am a brewer but I'm into Mead ,Cider , and distilling. I've always wondered if a SS fermenter could be converted into a still it would be awesome to go from fermenter to still with a modular system.
It seems like it would be very doable even a reflux still has very little water column pressure and certianlly nothing near 15psi.
Not my area of expertise, but I'm someone else on the internet has probably done something similar
Is it possible to use a keg to pressure ferment?
Absolutely, you just need a spunding valve
Did you consider the CF10? If you primarily do 5 gallon batches, the CF10 works great for that batch size too? Or did you plan on using the CF 5 for smaller 2.5 gallon batches?
The CF5 really just works the best for my current situation. If I ever do a half batch, it probably would be a 2.5 gallon batch.
As the owner of a (used) SS Brewtech 7g Unitank I can confirm almost all of your points.
But 15 PSI - does not get you far when carbonating at room temperature?!
- the CIP Ball sits at a better position of the Unitank thou
- the 2" vs 1.5" - I dont now what you have to do to ever clog the 38mm opening of a 1,5" TC connection
- the customer service at SS Brewtech is pretty mediocre - they dont really seem to care ...
best regards - love all of your videos!
At room temperature you'll get up to about 1.75 volumes of CO2 if using a carb stone, but if you drop to 45 or 50 degrees you can easily get much higher. I agree with all of your other points though!
Wished these were available in Europe!
Did you list all the extras you bought with the fermenter? Thanks.
4:23 I list everything else I got
Hey. Went to bottle my beer and my capper I got in my kit was missing a piece. It’s been 2 week and I’m suppose to be bottling. Does it matter if I wait till they send me a new one? Or is it ruined now? Probably won’t get to bottle it now for another week.
Unless its sitting on old dry hops or is exposed to oxygen, your beer is probably fine to sit for as long as you need it to.
At the beginning "let me explain" Ya how did that go with the Mrs.?
How do you dry hop with this fermentor?
Usually you can use the magnet technique or add in via a hop dropper
Great review, it looks like a great system. If you dont mind saying. How much did you spend with all the bells and whistles?
I appreciate where you're coming from but id rather not just put the number out there. Depending on what people want out of the system and its various accessories, each person will come up with a different number. It's slightly more than the SS Brewtech full kit though.
Never had a problem with the fermzilla. Got 6.
I really did enjoy mine and it was good as an entry point for unitank type functionality, but it just kept cracking like I said. Are you using the collection jar under pressure and taking everything apart after brewing? I just got sick of doing that plus the need to replace parts all the time.
Do you still have problems with it holding pressure? I'm considering buying one to use as both a fermenter and as a keg to serve out of, but with so many reviewers having issues with it keeping pressure I'm a bit wary in making the investment.
Of course experiences may vary, but I've held pressure in mine for a straight month so far now. I keep forgetting to clean it after my last brew, but that is a whole other issue
I sold my original fermzilla on offerup and bought a all rounder and a 4 pack . That lid on the collection jar was a bitch to dry hop
Agreed, it was a lot of extra effort to take apart and clean the valve assembly after as well. Really enjoy my all-rounder though!
Did you still have stability issues with the extended brace plate in place?
Yes, not as much as with the regular brace, but enough to be annoying
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thanks. That is my biggest concern with this fermenter.
Or you could just wrap the threads in thermal tape? Just an idea.
Any way to dry hop while pressure fermenting?
My plan is to use a hop dropper. This will definitely be covered in a future video
There is, yeah, you just need some extra equipment. I don't want to link another channel's youtube video here, but there are some out there that show you how to do it.
Basically, you need a piece of TC pipe or view glass, a butterfly valve on one end, and a lid with a gas connect and PRV on the other end. You connect the butterfly valve to the top of the vessel, fill the pipe/glass with the hops, put on the lid and then fill with CO2 to pressure, releasing the PRV a bit to get the O2 out. Turn the butterfly valve and the hops fall right in with no oxygenation.
Exactly what I'm planning to do with hop dropper!
@@jarrodleddy343 Yep! Nice piece of equipment for sure!
Well boys, when that stimmy check hits, you know what I'm getting.
This or $GME
@@TheApartmentBrewer You know me too well. Off to the moon we go.
I just looked at one of these.
They're everything I want, but I feel like they're selling half a fermenter when they don't include some of the very basic accessories you need to use this the way they intended.
Its $600 base price, but you can absolutely double the price getting other parts to maximize your benefits from a conical with their other accessories.
I agree, it is frustrating that they don't include everything in one kit
If you decide to look around for other accessories, like a better valve for collecting gravity samples. Look at the distilling community. The awesome thing is with triclamps, the options are almost limitless. even needle valves i do believe. You dont have to get accessories from just spike. Anyplace that sells moonshine stills, or even Amazon. Just dont buy anything made for a vevor. They are Chinese with their own specivic flanges. So i have heard.
Definitely eye candy
Dude... Buying good fermentors has over 50% to do with quality. I from boil to ferment... Have a perfect conditioning, with zero oxidization. And rack straight to the keg with pressurized CO2. It makes a far superior beer. Oh... And you never mentioned Brewbuilt fermentors that not only offer heated fermentation... But both heated and chilled. In a one-off standalone fermentor. I'm just finishing a very delicate Kolschbier. Ales, and lagers are especially difficult without chilled fermentation.
If you search spike web site somewhere it says you can use handles with it full. It is just heavy and awkward , have had no problem with mine.
I'm curious why they would stamp it on the handles advising people to do otherwise. It seems counterintuitive.
Lawyers
Fair point
The lack of accessories is a downer. My SS Brewtech unitank came with everything almost. I did buy a spunding valve.
Yeah, not my favorite aspect of it. But it does certainly lower the barrier to entry for some folks.
My thoughts exactly. Any issues with the SS Brewtech unitank? I'm looking at both of these options rn...
You want to spin these fermenters when moving, like how people move welding gas bottles.
Pro: Spike built in USA🇺🇸
what watch is that ? :D
Depends on which part of the video you're watching!
Me want
Hi
Better brewers make better beer, I'm screwed.
As a welder myself, I would bet that those welds are done by a robot. I could be wrong of course
It's possible but given that this is something spike brewing brands themselves on, its unlikely
@@TheApartmentBrewer after doing some research it looks like it is all handcrafted. Pretty impressive 👏
If you can serve from fermenter why not try a cask style-esque ale
I probably should but that would keep me from turning over brews a bit. As far as the unitnak functionality, I'll be using it for pressure fermentation and carbing.
Treat yourself (again) and get a Tilt Hydrometer. Never use the sample port again!
I've been looking at it. Shame it doesn't have wifi, I would like to be able to check the readouts when I'm not at home
@@TheApartmentBrewer Ipair mine with an old iPhone 4s and leave it plugged in on top of the fermenter. It syncs with the cloud and I can check it wherever!
You can't make great beer with extracts and a bucket. I promise!!