This is great! I love my Spike Brewing kettles on my single tier propane based rig and now I want to buy this system! This will really improve my temps I think. Thanks for showing the process! Cheers!
Thanks for this video! I have had to guess how to use your system. mine is gas but other than that the same. I never knew how you recommended to brew with your system. I would love to see a video like this with just a little more detail. I love my SPIKE equipment!!
Hi, great video. I noticed that during the cleaning sequence there were no spent grains in the mash tun. How do you empty the mash tun before cleaning?
Personally, I scoop the grains out with a big plastic pitcher until there's maybe 2-3 inches of grain at the bottom, and finish off with a wet/dry shop vac... Works VERY well.
So.... Spike, it looks like you would have to remove the false bottom from the mash-tun after removing the grains, prior to cleaning, with the brew wash, but this wasn't clear to me after watching the video. The video seems to indicate the system can be cleaned without removing the false bottom, but if that is so it seems there would be grain residue and liquid solution trapped under it, which couldn't be removed any other way than inverting the tun and letting it drain out. To clarify, is cleaning done with the false bottom in place or removed? Thanks in advance.
I would think going from top to bottom in the HLT coil would allow "easier" flow. Would i benefit from going bottom to top? I too have a 3 vessel set up.
@@mmichaelou812 Good thought, but the whirlpool is too gentle, it doesn't oxygenate the wort. At best, the aeration can increase the level by about 8% which doesn't move the needle much, maybe 2ppm. It takes a micron stone or some pretty aggressive agitation to get the numbers up to 8-10ppm.
Have You considered a sligtly conical button of the boil kettle, with a centered valve? This would make an even better whirlpooling, and easy trub exit/dranage.... ;-)
Great video! I see while mashing in, you guys kept the recirculation going instead of mashing in with the valves closed and then opening them back up to recirculate. Any noticing differences in either method? Im supposing many stop the recirculation while mashing in, to avoid compressing the grain bed while trying to get all of the dough balls out. Recirculating while mashing in gives the opportunity of the HERMS system to regulate the temperature loss from adding grain.
I've ran maybe 20 batches on my Spike System and I have had the greatest success (fewest stuck sparges) by leaving the re-circulation going maybe 50% and just slowly pouring in my grains with a light stir. This does let the HERMS moderate the temperature loss and helps to set the grain bed without jamming anything up.
Hello, I have a question regarding sparging temperature. In the mashing process the hlt is at about 150°F im I correct? If you have to sparge at 167°F, how do you heat up that water instantly so to sparge at said temperature? Its not clear in the video when you heat up the sparge water to get to 167°F. My guess is that you start the sparging at mashing temp and heat the water until you get to sparging temp? Am I correct? Would love some help in this issue. Cheers!
If you're mashing at 155F your HLT will be about 157-158F. If you would like to sparge with 167F you can turn your HLT up the last 5-10mins when mashing or turn the HLT up at beginning of sparge and it will gain the 10 degrees in less than 10mins.
Hello from Argentina. I've some questions. What do you do with the cold break? Do you let the cold trub get into the fermenter? Your system rocks!! Cheers!
Hopefully you have already found out by now but for other people no you can't just multiply to work out required ingredients for larger batches but you can use programs like beersmith to scale recipes up and down.
Why did you place the output of the pumps lower than the input? If you flipped them around and had the output of the pump as the highest point any air in the system would naturally flow out. It would almost elminate the need for the air bleed system and also prevent a slow building up air in the pump head when your moving low volumes of water.
We found this orientation with air bleeds to work the best and be the most fool proof. One example of the way you described being an issue with from the MT out to the pump to the HERMS coil. When the coil is filled with wort/water the air can't bleed through the system. The air gets trapped between the MT out and HERMS coil in. This can cause the pump to not prime.
Spike Brewing I am sure you have done alot of testing to come to this conclusion. I have just never seen the output of the pump lower than the input. I thought i needed an air bleed untill i changed the orientation of my pump. Having the output higher has mitigated any air bleed issues. It might be worth just flipping the pumps around and seeing how it works.
Awesomeness...cannot wait for me to buy once and cry once albeit 10 gallon system... one thing to lowrr my crying factor...is I an electronic tech so I have already made my control panel .lol
Great informative video, hope to pull together some equipment and start brewing soon! Sláinte 🇮🇪
Great video!! Thanks for sharing.
This is great! I love my Spike Brewing kettles on my single tier propane based rig and now I want to buy this system! This will really improve my temps I think. Thanks for showing the process! Cheers!
Hi, do you buy this machinery for bottle your own beer? or for a local business pub? thanks
Personal use.
Thanks for this video! I have had to guess how to use your system. mine is gas but other than that the same. I never knew how you recommended to brew with your system. I would love to see a video like this with just a little more detail. I love my SPIKE equipment!!
Nice Setup! ... A little fast for an old timer like me, but I'll watch it again until I get it. Thanks!
Great video. Been using my HERMs for some time but still picked up pointers. Spike System certainly looks like a nice setup.
That looks like a really nice system.
This is great! Just got my 15 gallon Spike and this has been really helpful!
Hi, great video. I noticed that during the cleaning sequence there were no spent grains in the mash tun. How do you empty the mash tun before cleaning?
Disconnect it and dump it? or scoop it out?
Personally, I scoop the grains out with a big plastic pitcher until there's maybe 2-3 inches of grain at the bottom, and finish off with a wet/dry shop vac... Works VERY well.
So.... Spike, it looks like you would have to remove the false bottom from the mash-tun after removing the grains, prior to cleaning, with the brew wash, but this wasn't clear to me after watching the video. The video seems to indicate the system can be cleaned without removing the false bottom, but if that is so it seems there would be grain residue and liquid solution trapped under it, which couldn't be removed any other way than inverting the tun and letting it drain out. To clarify, is cleaning done with the false bottom in place or removed? Thanks in advance.
The false bottom needs to be removed
I would think going from top to bottom in the HLT coil would allow "easier" flow. Would i benefit from going bottom to top? I too have a 3 vessel set up.
Something I noticed, there's no oxygenation stage when moving wort to the fermenter, or after pitching yeast. By design?
I would guess that's what the whirlpool stage is for
@@mmichaelou812 Good thought, but the whirlpool is too gentle, it doesn't oxygenate the wort. At best, the aeration can increase the level by about 8% which doesn't move the needle much, maybe 2ppm. It takes a micron stone or some pretty aggressive agitation to get the numbers up to 8-10ppm.
Good to know - I have been using my auto siphon to pump air into the wort and so far so good. But I'm just a hack haha
@@mmichaelou812 Nothing wrong with that; what you're doing definitely gets oxygen in there, more so than doing nothing.
Have You considered a sligtly conical button of the boil kettle, with a centered valve?
This would make an even better whirlpooling, and easy trub exit/dranage.... ;-)
Henry seems like the nicest dude
Great video! I see while mashing in, you guys kept the recirculation going instead of mashing in with the valves closed and then opening them back up to recirculate. Any noticing differences in either method? Im supposing many stop the recirculation while mashing in, to avoid compressing the grain bed while trying to get all of the dough balls out. Recirculating while mashing in gives the opportunity of the HERMS system to regulate the temperature loss from adding grain.
I've ran maybe 20 batches on my Spike System and I have had the greatest success (fewest stuck sparges) by leaving the re-circulation going maybe 50% and just slowly pouring in my grains with a light stir. This does let the HERMS moderate the temperature loss and helps to set the grain bed without jamming anything up.
Hello, I have a question regarding sparging temperature. In the mashing process the hlt is at about 150°F im I correct? If you have to sparge at 167°F, how do you heat up that water instantly so to sparge at said temperature? Its not clear in the video when you heat up the sparge water to get to 167°F. My guess is that you start the sparging at mashing temp and heat the water until you get to sparging temp? Am I correct? Would love some help in this issue. Cheers!
If you're mashing at 155F your HLT will be about 157-158F. If you would like to sparge with 167F you can turn your HLT up the last 5-10mins when mashing or turn the HLT up at beginning of sparge and it will gain the 10 degrees in less than 10mins.
How do you aerate if you go straight from whirlpool into the conical?
We recommend aerating in the conical using our carb/oxygen stone
Hello from Argentina. I've some questions. What do you do with the cold break? Do you let the cold trub get into the fermenter? Your system rocks!! Cheers!
So the recipes on the site are directly scaleable from 5 gallons to the 15 gallon system? Just triple the ingredients? Rookie question I know.
Think all his beer that he brews are scaled down to 5 gallon home brew recipes
Hopefully you have already found out by now but for other people no you can't just multiply to work out required ingredients for larger batches but you can use programs like beersmith to scale recipes up and down.
Why did you place the output of the pumps lower than the input? If you flipped them around and had the output of the pump as the highest point any air in the system would naturally flow out. It would almost elminate the need for the air bleed system and also prevent a slow building up air in the pump head when your moving low volumes of water.
We found this orientation with air bleeds to work the best and be the most fool proof. One example of the way you described being an issue with from the MT out to the pump to the HERMS coil. When the coil is filled with wort/water the air can't bleed through the system. The air gets trapped between the MT out and HERMS coil in. This can cause the pump to not prime.
Spike Brewing I am sure you have done alot of testing to come to this conclusion. I have just never seen the output of the pump lower than the input. I thought i needed an air bleed untill i changed the orientation of my pump. Having the output higher has mitigated any air bleed issues. It might be worth just flipping the pumps around and seeing how it works.
This was one of the first setups we tried. The air bleeds were a much more reliable option from our testing.
Now I really would love to buy one of these
Systems one can dream right? Reality though
Love it, except i drooled my beer onto my keyboard. How can we win a 20 gal system?
Awesomeness...cannot wait for me to buy once and cry once albeit 10 gallon system... one thing to lowrr my crying factor...is I an electronic tech so I have already made my control panel .lol
can u make spirits with this system as well? gin , vodka, whisky and rum?
Rhubarb!? That has no place in beer. In a pie, with custard on top.
music is a bit of distraction ... good content otherwise.