Spike Brewing

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Seanana

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First of all I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this so here goes. Was wondering if anyone has had any dealings with these guys yet. I've been brewing on and off for a couple of years now, but never on my own and now I'm wanting to get started on my own. I ran across these guys looking for local brew stuff and was really intrigued buy the prices. But looks can be deceiving and there is such a thing as to good to be true. Thanks for any input.
 
I own the 15 gallon SS with 1 port, I've had it for about 6 months now and love it. I've probably brewed 2 dozen 5-15 gallon batches in it so far if not more. The interior weld doesn't look great but it's held up just fine.
 
That's actually really good news. I've been looking for a good alternative and I think I found the right one. Thanks for the info.
 
I own the 15 gallon SS with 1 port, I've had it for about 6 months now and love it. I've probably brewed 2 dozen 5-15 gallon batches in it so far if not more. The interior weld doesn't look great but it's held up just fine.

In regards to the inside welds... Our welds going forward will all be sanitary welded so they will be as pretty on the inside as on the outside :ban:
 
So I talked to Ben at Spike Brewing and asked for a custom job. I was looking for a 15 gallon bottom drain kettle with port for sight gauge to upgrade my mash tun. Ben got back to me with a quote very fast and even helped me draw up some designs. His price was very good with the false bottom added. He stayed in constant communication with me letting me know the status. He even got the first one back from the welder and it wasn't up to his standards and started again. He emailed me right away and let me know. I thought that was amazing.

I received my mash tun today and I gotta say I'm beyond impressed. The stainless was much thicker then I expected and the entire kettle was higher quality then I imagined. The welds were spot on and perfect. He gave me EXACTLY what I was after in a relatively short time period, being custom work and all for an amazing price.

Without question I will be ordering the rest of my kettles when I upgrade those to 20 gallon from Spike. I highly recommend the company.

High Quality
Good Prices
Amazing Customer Server

Thanks Ben! :mug:
 
Spike's 45 gallon kettle from the "bargain bin" was delivered today in a HUGE box. The box was almost destroyed (scary to see the condition sitting on the porch - oh **** came to mind), but the kettle was unharmed!

Pros: excellent customer service, nice product, fast shipping, nice welds on the fittings.
Cons: cardboard...

As the money comes in, I will order 2 more of these for my build from Spike. I hope the boxes hold up better, but the kettle is really nice! It would be cool if these showed up in the "bargain bin" in about 4 months!!!
 
Hello all! I wanted to pass along a Spike Brewing kettle review and some information about a vendor here on HBT. I have bought two 10 gallon stainless steel brew kettles through Spike Brewing. (http://www.spikebrewing.com/) The first brew pot included all of the accessories for a MLT (lid - included with all pots, False bottom, thermometer, 1/2" valve, and sight glass). I used this pot as a boil kettle and MLT just to see if I wanted to get another pot down the road. Everything was well packaged and shipping was free.....which always makes me feel better! This fist pot was part of a trial to test out the new sight glass design. I was putting the site glass together for the first time and heard a slight 'crunch'. Sure enough I had pushed too hard and cracked the sight glass! I found this out on brew day as I was leaking a tiny bit. After investigation I emailed Ben Caya (owner) and explained what I had done. He was kind enough to send me two replacement tubes free of charge. The sightglass design has now been refined and they flame polish all glass tubes. I have not heard of anyone else having any sight glass issues. I think it was just me being a little over zealous in pushing the glass down and in. Every experience I have had with Ben and my new pots has been quality. My assessment of Spike Brewing is “Quality equipment and quality service”.
The second pot I bought had three TIG welded 1/2" couplers. I had the accessories from an old pot and did not need the additional parts. All in all the pots are strong, safe, and designed to make brew day user friendly.
I looked around at many different pot types and companies ultimately deciding on SpikeBrewing because they looked to offer quality products at great prices. I was not disappointed. If you are in the market for a new HLT/MLT/Brew kettle drop Ben an email.

Passing along my positive homebrew experience!

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Recently I ordered and received my second pot from Ben and Spike Brewing. My first one was supposed to be 10 gallons but when it was ready to ship, Ben emailed and said what was in stock was actually 9 gallons and did I still want it. I did. It worked flawlessly for over 1 year on a stove (straddling 2 burners).
But, I wanted a larger pot for my imperial and double IPA's and also wanted to do some 10 gallon batches. So, I bit the bullet and ordered a 15 gallon with sight glass.

This is a relatively new item for Spike Brewing and I did look elsewhere but the prices were only a tad bit higher than others that were not of the same quality.
I bugged Ben with a few emails and he always got back quickly and even replied to one email on a Sunday! I don't answer work emails on Sunday. :)

The pot arrived and I had a question so I emailed again and he replied within the hour. That's way over the top.
The pot was in pristine condition and within a few days I had a trial run and loved it. So much more room.
The only minor caveat was that the thermometer is not accurate and there's no way to calibrate it but since I have many thermometers, that wasn't a big deal for me. If it is for you, don't buy it from them but order one online that costs twice as much if you feel like spending more money.
I highly recommend Spike Brewing as an A+ company!
 
I am currently upgrading all my equipment as I am moving from extract brewing to all grain. I currently have a 6 gallon aluminum pot to do my brewing and did partial boils of the extract with 4 gallons of water. So with moving to all grain I was in the market for a 10 gallon kettle and was shopping around for the best deal.

I found a deal at a different online brew supply site, but learned after I placed the order that the item was not in stock although their website did not state that. So I cancelled that order as I was needing the new kettle quicker than what I could get it with the original order.

After searching the internet for various kettles, I found Spike Brewing. I had a couple questions and emailed the company only to have my emails answered in under an hour. And one of the emails was sent at 10:30 at night and I still received a reply late. So after I cancelled the order with the other brew supply company, I placed an order for a 10 gallon kettle with 2 horizontal couplers, ss ball valve, and a ss plug (thermometer will be added later). After I placed my order, I received an email 30 minutes later confirming that my order had shipped. WOW!!!

So yesterday my kettle arrived. It is awesome. Heavy and I believe will be a great kettle for years to come. I am impressed with the kettle and would recommend this to anyone in the market for a new one.

Spike Brewing has customer service that is above and beyond and sells a great product! Keep up the great work!
 
I am happy to say I was a very early customer of Ben's purchasing a brew pot back when he first got started. The pot performed fantastically for a while... recently one of the handles came loose and the welds were looking not great at all. I thought I was just going to have to bite the bullet and buy a new pot, but I figured I would contact Ben and see if he had any ideas about how I could fix it. He promptly got back to me and apologized that the pot had not stood up very well over time. After I sent him a few pictures, he got back to me with the idea that he replace the worn out pot! I was astonished.... There was no warranty that was implied but he stood behind his products and I have to say went ABOVE AND BEYOND. He said the company has come along way in the quality department and I might appreciate their new pots. WOW I have to say the replacement pot came and it is BEAUTIFUL. The new pots are much heavier duty and the welds are nice on the inside and out. Also, the handles are not coming off any time soon, they are on there good.

Thank you VERY much Ben, and I will for SURE be buying my next pot from Spike Brewing. I highly recommend this company for a very high quality product and excellent customer service.
 
I figured since i just received the Spike Brewing Kettle 20 gallon capacity, that I would submit a review regarding build quality and my experience with Ben Caya, the owner/founder of Spike Brewing in Wisconsin.

First off let me say that I research everything to the n'th degree when I'm going to make a purchase. I looked at Stout Tanks, Glacier, Blichmann, Bru Gear, and Brewers Hardware. Each had their pros and cons but the elements that led me to purchase a Spike Brewing Kettle were in my eyes much more important.

I believe that all the kettles are sourced from China but modified mostly here in the USA. So after looking at Stout, I found that it appears that their standard configurations on their website are modified in China by welders there. Anything else custom is done by Stout in the US. I read and saw on these boards a few brewers who experienced some pretty significant flaws with the welding quality from Stout. They all also cited some pretty significant issues with Customer service as well. Stout was the most "blingy" kettle that i liked with all the TC fittings and the concave bottom and the very shiny polish on them. I like the way the looked the most, but could not see spending around $650 for a kettle that was prone to rust issues and or leaking (as some brewers reported). Blichmann was a wish list item, but being that it was a weld less design like SS brewing kettles, I thought they were a bit overpriced. (Not SS being overpriced, but blichmann)

Glacier was nice, however i couldn't get what I wanted there, Bru Gear suffered from simiar issues as Stout, and Brewers Hardware, while incredibly nice, was not willing to spend the $$ for it.

So that leaves me to Spike. I contacted Ben back in November to inquire about a kettle and at the time was anticipating getting it before Christmas, but was not done with my research at that point. Ben was great in getting back to me and was very responsive. Every question I had he answered and also checked and double checked with me regarding my order that i placed this month.


Here is how the kettle arrived: Love how the box has the logo on it
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It was packed really well:
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https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd...._=1435382370_bd2b679a1a565fda3109fd914c0502c9


And you can see the Laser Etched numbers on the SightGlass:
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The Kettle:
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One of the things that I really liked about Spike Brewing was that they weld all their fittings here in the USA and they do a fantastic job. Like no joke, the best I've seen anywhere:

TC port for Kettle Element:
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Bottom Drain port and Recirculation port:
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All in all, I'm extremely happy and I am currently cleaning and passivating right now. I can't issue a better recommendation then going with Spike Brewing. Who knows, maybe I'll convert in the future to all Spike kettles in my eHerms setup.
 
Hello, just wanted to share my review on my experience with Spike brewing. Awhile back I ordered a 15gal dual coupler kettle. Have used it many times, it is a great piece, very well made and great clean welds, reasonably priced too. I would have probably ordered another one if the company was more inclined to work with there customers, which brings me to the bad....

I emailed them asking if there was a way I could get an additional kettle lid, so I could cut slits for my chiller. They said they didn't stock extra's. I asked if they could contact the supplier or If I myself could contact the supplier, got "No's" on both. I asked if there was a lid they could recommend that would fit that kettle, again a big fat NO.

I find it ridiculous that there is no way for them to meet this simple request, I feel like they got there money from me and now want nothing to do with me, for that I am no longer a customer. If you want a good kettle, then they have it, but if customer service matters to you, shop elsewhere.
 
Merged two newly-started Spike Brewing review threads into this earlier one. All were on the first page. Please add new reviews to the existing review threads rather than starting a new one.
 
Hello, just wanted to share my review on my experience with Spike brewing. Awhile back I ordered a 15gal dual coupler kettle. Have used it many times, it is a great piece, very well made and great clean welds, reasonably priced too. I would have probably ordered another one if the company was more inclined to work with there customers, which brings me to the bad....

I emailed them asking if there was a way I could get an additional kettle lid, so I could cut slits for my chiller. They said they didn't stock extra's. I asked if they could contact the supplier or If I myself could contact the supplier, got "No's" on both. I asked if there was a lid they could recommend that would fit that kettle, again a big fat NO.

I find it ridiculous that there is no way for them to meet this simple request, I feel like they got there money from me and now want nothing to do with me, for that I am no longer a customer. If you want a good kettle, then they have it, but if customer service matters to you, shop elsewhere.

I'm sorry that you had a negative experience with our customer service. Unfortunately we do not carry extra kettle lids as the kettle/lid come as a set. We can't split the set as we'd have a kettle without a lid. We can't hand out our suppliers contact information for obvious reasons. We could order another lid from them but it would cost $125 with international shipping. Our people are not well versed on other lids that are available on the market. I'm sure a Google search could bring up a bunch of available options. If you have our v2.0 kettle it has the same dimensions as a Blichmann and many other kettles with a 1.2:1 height to width. But we can't give a recommendation as we do not know if those will work for sure or not.

I hope that explanation clears up any issues.
 
I'm sorry that you had a negative experience with our customer service. Unfortunately we do not carry extra kettle lids as the kettle/lid come as a set. We can't split the set as we'd have a kettle without a lid. We can't hand out our suppliers contact information for obvious reasons. We could order another lid from them but it would cost $125 with international shipping. Our people are not well versed on other lids that are available on the market. I'm sure a Google search could bring up a bunch of available options. If you have our v2.0 kettle it has the same dimensions as a Blichmann and many other kettles with a 1.2:1 height to width. But we can't give a recommendation as we do not know if those will work for sure or not.



I hope that explanation clears up any issues.


So- I've never purchased one of your kettles but I find it curious that you make no provisions for service to a customer who damages a kid or for kids you might receive that are damaged in transit. Surely you don't throw out the kettle!
 
So- I've never purchased one of your kettles but I find it curious that you make no provisions for service to a customer who damages a kid or for kids you might receive that are damaged in transit. Surely you don't throw out the kettle!

Took a second to figure that one out (lid to kid autocorrect :drunk:). Honestly I don't think we've ever had a customer ask for a second lid so that's why we don't stock them. We've also never had a lid need to be replaced because of damage. We've had a couple that needed to be sent back as the handle loosened up but we simply repair the lid at our shop. Maybe when we re-order we can get some lids so we have a few on hand. Thanks for all the feedback.
 
Awsome feedback. Looking to purchase a 10 gallon kettle here soon. My only question is would you be able to put gallon markings on the inside of the kettle or would a sight glass be a better route to go?
 
I do not think I would mark/score the inside of the kettle. Using some type of marked mash paddle would be simple enough. The site glass really works perfect for me.
 
Two thumbs way up for Spike. Just ordered a 2nd kettle from them and not only is the quality of their product great the customer service is truly impressive.
 
Spike is actually the supplier when things are ordered from the Electric Brewery. I've had positive experiences when I was building my EB a few years ago. Customer Service is A++. Dealt with quality control problems (not Spike's fault) and the problem was quickly resolved. No hassle, no arguments.

Now that Spike has their own store I'd imagine the quality of customer service is still A++.
 
I've been using SSBrewTech for a couple of years, but decided to try Spike for our latest unitank addition, mostly due to design features that we liked better than the SS. The price of the vessel is a GREAT value, but the heat/cool option seems overpriced. I wasn't thrilled with the temp control system compared to SS, but... we'll it worked flawlessly, and the fancy SS controller was defective out of the box... so. After using the Spike, it's easily my favorite fermenter and I can't wait for Spike to release the 1BBL version. If you're considering a stainless fermenter, I definitely recommend the Spike
 
A quick shout out to Spike for going the extra mile. Two years ago I bought a CF10 conical (I've been very happy with it). I didn't use the included 1.5" butterfly valve starting out, but on my last batch I changed my setup and put it on the racking port. It held okay till I used it but then developed a small leak. I replaced the seat but that didn't work... I think the disk might have been too small to fully seal. I emailed Spike for ideas about how I could fix it and I got a response right back saying "Sorry for all the trouble! We can go ahead and send a replacement... it will be out the door tomorrow." Two days later it was in my mailbox, no charge - no questions. Great stuff Spike Brewing - thank you!
 
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