Spike Conical- observations and best practices

[Stand]

Actually reach out to @Jaybird and he can probably make it for you just the way you need.

Edited to add check this thread if you don’t use the TC100 I really think @Jaybird can do exactly what you need and do it well.

Do you need a 1 off Stainless part built for your system? Let's discuss it.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/index.php?threads/Do-you-need-a-1-off-Stainless-part-built-for-your-system?--Let's-discuss-it..582539/

Well ****, I'll pause and reach out to him before I order. I've tapped threads before, but SS is frightening stuff.

Dang! Their PRV looks like it might be very simple for me to mount. I can drill SS without much issue. https://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/OEM-Pressure-Relief-Valve.html

 

[Nate R]

Well poopy, I'll pause and reach out to him before I order. I've tapped threads before, but SS is frightening stuff.

Dang! Their PRV looks like it might be very simple for me to mount. I can drill SS without much issue. https://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/OEM-Pressure-Relief-Valve.html

I have met Jay (when he had his store) and ordered a few items from him as well.
If it is not already on his website, he can make it!
Good stuff and his shipping is very fair!!

 

[Vale71]

I'm here asking how to do this safely. Reckless? Sounds like you've got a deep knowledge on this subject that demands my attention.

It's simple common sense, really. A safety feature must be set up in a way that it canot be disabled by mistake. Using a ball-lock QD means that if you remove the PRV, for example for cleaning, the attachment will self-seal and if you forget to reattach the PRV the tank can be preassurized but without the safety feature. One simple mistake and you now have a ticking bomb in your basement (or garage, or whatever).
In large tanks PRVs are built-in and get cleaned in place. The 1.5" TC PRV that was linked in a previous post is adequate because if you remove it and then forget about it you'll have a big 1.5" sized hole in your tank which will render it unable to build up any pressure.

 

[Stand]

Good points all. It's why I ask these questions here.

"If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you'll never learn." -Ray Bradbury

 

[brewohio]

Filled up my CF5 for the first time last night. Ordered a racking arm, barb fitting and the gas manifold bundle. Thank you for the suggestions. Weather was too nice and couldn't wait for the racking arm so I'll try it on the next batch. Should get those tomorrow.

Now that I finally have a unitank I guess I'm a little unsure on how I want to go about the rest of the process. How are you guys dry hopping? Are you pressure dumping to reduce o2? When are you swapping out the blow off barb for the gas manifold? I'd like to spund the last bit of fermentation. Is the ball lock spunding valve setup a safe route to use since the spike prv would still be in place? Maybe not this batch since dry hopping probably wouldn't be a great idea with partially carbonated beer. Also my thought was something to keep gas manifold attached from the start while having a tee to a valved hose barb for blow off so once I was ready to spund I could just close the valve. Although would leaving it on during fermentation cause the PRV to potentially gunk up if fermentation was really vigorous?

 

[mongoose33]

When the bubbling slows down you can swap the barb for the pressure manifold. That'll be after 2 or 3 days, likely.

Maybe dry hopping is best left for a future batch. I'm fermenting a pale ale right now, and I do dry hopping by using a sight glass and butterfly valve on the top TC connection:

I use a Tilt hydrometer to monitor this, but you could use the sample valve to pull off a couple samples to see where you are. I close up the fermenter with about 7 points of gravity to go so it self carbs, and at that point I'll drop the hops. I can get 3 ounces of hops in there.

When done, and after I crash, I'll have the beer at about 7psi. I'll rack to a keg (pushing with CO2), and then finish the carbing with set and forget.

I have kegged in as short a time as a week, otherwise more typically 2 weeks, so there's still some conditioning to be done. Thus, set-and-forget works just fine.

About kegging in a week: the last time I brewed the beer I'm fermenting now was December 8th; I kegged that beer in, I think, 8 days. That beer, BTW, was gone on January 8th. So I'm brewing it again. Probably won't last more than 3 or 4 weeks either.

Here's the TILT log. There's a little flakiness in the SG readings as I've been trying to get it to warm up in my cold garage. I'm using Kveik yeast, Omega's Hothead, so the temp is just fine. I wanted it higher but even with supplemental heat and covering the fermenter with a moving blanket, about 72.5 degrees is as much as I can get.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11jKVDhIGjYGKRDnIyqXUP8xEiBGdgHFRSJBxO6zYcN0/htmlview#

 

[jturman35]

I’m getting this in the future for all of my NEIPA’s.

 

[brewohio]

When the bubbling slows down you can swap the barb for the pressure manifold. That'll be after 2 or 3 days, likely.

Maybe dry hopping is best left for a future batch. I'm fermenting a pale ale right now, and I do dry hopping by using a sight glass and butterfly valve on the top TC connection:

View attachment 661708

I use a Tilt hydrometer to monitor this, but you could use the sample valve to pull off a couple samples to see where you are. I close up the fermenter with about 7 points of gravity to go so it self carbs, and at that point I'll drop the hops. I can get 3 ounces of hops in there.

When done, and after I crash, I'll have the beer at about 7psi. I'll rack to a keg (pushing with CO2), and then finish the carbing with set and forget.

I have kegged in as short a time as a week, otherwise more typically 2 weeks, so there's still some conditioning to be done. Thus, set-and-forget works just fine.

About kegging in a week: the last time I brewed the beer I'm fermenting now was December 8th; I kegged that beer in, I think, 8 days. That beer, BTW, was gone on January 8th. So I'm brewing it again. Probably won't last more than 3 or 4 weeks either.

Here's the TILT log. There's a little flakiness in the SG readings as I've been trying to get it to warm up in my cold garage. I'm using Kveik yeast, Omega's Hothead, so the temp is just fine. I wanted it higher but even with supplemental heat and covering the fermenter with a moving blanket, about 72.5 degrees is as much as I can get.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11jKVDhIGjYGKRDnIyqXUP8xEiBGdgHFRSJBxO6zYcN0/htmlview#

That dry hop setup is awesome! I've been thinking about a tilt for awhile would help with timing everything without a bunch of samples.

 

[eric19312]

I dry hopped yesterday with about 3 gravity points to go. I bubbled CO2 through the carb stone while tank was open. Swapped barb for manifold. Vented headspace five times by releasing the PRV and sealed it up.

2 hours later I roused the hops with CO2 piped in through the dump valve. I’ll do that again today. Last beer I found nearly intact pellets clogging the dump valve when I tried to dump the hops.

 

[KyleF318is]

Sorry, the dry hopping topic is really interesting and helpful to see how other people are trying their best to do it oxygen free.

But, I’m just about to pull the trigger on what feels like months of research and debating on my setup. It’s been answered but just want to feel like someone other than the seller or myself is throwing their two cents in.

CF10 can do 5 gallon batches without an issue? The CF10 coils will reach a 5 gallon batch when being used to chill and cold crash? There won’t be any negative side effects about having that much empty head space?

This thread was really helpful when discussing CF5 and CF10 because I might move up to 10 gallon batches but I don’t see that happening within 2 years minimum.

Thanks to everyone on here. This thread is a great resource for people who are trying to do their research and “get it right” the first time.

 

[CodeSection]

Sorry, the dry hopping topic is really interesting and helpful to see how other people are trying their best to do it oxygen free.

But, I’m just about to pull the trigger on what feels like months of research and debating on my setup. It’s been answered but just want to feel like someone other than the seller or myself is throwing their two cents in.

CF10 can do 5 gallon batches without an issue? The CF10 coils will reach a 5 gallon batch when being used to chill and cold crash? There won’t be any negative side effects about having that much empty head space?

This thread was really helpful when discussing CF5 and CF10 because I might move up to 10 gallon batches but I don’t see that happening within 2 years minimum.

Thanks to everyone on here. This thread is a great resource for people who are trying to do their research and “get it right” the first time.

Many members here are brewing five gallon batches with their CF10. There MAY be issues when cold crashing, but I suspect that has more to do with your environment and chiller specs.

If you buy a CF5, you can never brew a 10 gallon batch with it. However, if you buy a CF10, you can brew both five gallon batches as well as 10 gallon batches. The difference in price is only $115-$120 (CF pricing difference $100 and TC-100 bundle pricing difference $15-$20 depending if you are getting a heater).

Based upon the small increase in pricing and based upon keeping options open (unless you can clearly see the future), I would recommend the CF10.

 

[Gozie Boy]

When the bubbling slows down you can swap the barb for the pressure manifold. That'll be after 2 or 3 days, likely.

Maybe dry hopping is best left for a future batch. I'm fermenting a pale ale right now, and I do dry hopping by using a sight glass and butterfly valve on the top TC connection:

View attachment 661708

I use a Tilt hydrometer to monitor this, but you could use the sample valve to pull off a couple samples to see where you are. I close up the fermenter with about 7 points of gravity to go so it self carbs, and at that point I'll drop the hops. I can get 3 ounces of hops in there.

When done, and after I crash, I'll have the beer at about 7psi. I'll rack to a keg (pushing with CO2), and then finish the carbing with set and forget.

I have kegged in as short a time as a week, otherwise more typically 2 weeks, so there's still some conditioning to be done. Thus, set-and-forget works just fine.

About kegging in a week: the last time I brewed the beer I'm fermenting now was December 8th; I kegged that beer in, I think, 8 days. That beer, BTW, was gone on January 8th. So I'm brewing it again. Probably won't last more than 3 or 4 weeks either.

Here's the TILT log. There's a little flakiness in the SG readings as I've been trying to get it to warm up in my cold garage. I'm using Kveik yeast, Omega's Hothead, so the temp is just fine. I wanted it higher but even with supplemental heat and covering the fermenter with a moving blanket, about 72.5 degrees is as much as I can get.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11jKVDhIGjYGKRDnIyqXUP8xEiBGdgHFRSJBxO6zYcN0/htmlview#

Very nice dry hopping set up. Since you are doing this to minimize O2 exposure (versus opening the TC at top and dumping hops), then I'm sure you go through some purging of the sight glass before releasing the hops. Do you think this is effective in displacing O2 which may be entrained within the pellets themselves, or does your purge process attempt to deal with that (maybe by several purges over a long period of time)?

 

[jturman35]

Looks to me like you have the option of cracking the valve just enough to let the co2 from fermentation process purge the site glass full of hops of any oxygen? Where the co2 is hooked up just run that tube to a bucket full of startsan.

 

[Gozie Boy]

Looks to me like you have the option of cracking the valve just enough to let the co2 from fermentation process purge the site glass full of hops of any oxygen? Where the co2 is hooked up just run that tube to a bucket full of startsan.

This may be a better solution. I was thinking again about the purging of that sight glass through the header's prv, and the potential of getting hop bits blown up through and stuck in there, which could be a safety issue...

 

[mongoose33]

Very nice dry hopping set up. Since you are doing this to minimize O2 exposure (versus opening the TC at top and dumping hops), then I'm sure you go through some purging of the sight glass before releasing the hops. Do you think this is effective in displacing O2 which may be entrained within the pellets themselves, or does your purge process attempt to deal with that (maybe by several purges over a long period of time)?

@jturman35 hit it on the head:

Looks to me like you have the option of cracking the valve just enough to let the co2 from fermentation process purge the site glass full of hops of any oxygen? Where the co2 is hooked up just run that tube to a bucket full of startsan.

I crack the butterfly valve so the CO2 produced goes out through the hops in the sight glass and that tube goes into a blowoff jar (same idea as a bucket of Star-San).

Fermentation produces prodigious amounts of C02--it's about a volume of CO2 for every 2 points of gravity. So if I have, say, 10 points to go and I load the sight glass and crack the butterfly valve, that space will have been purged many, many times over.

If my math is correct, the volume of the sight glass and pressure manifold is about 7 cubic inches (give or take). Five gallons of beer is 1155 cubic inches, so each 2 points if producing 1155/7 = 165 times the volume of that sight glass/manifold in CO2. And that's just for 2 points of gravity. I do it for about 10 points, so that sight glass and hops is as purged of O2 as I can make it.

********

As an aside, I dropped the hops this morning. I got a bridge of the hops I couldn't shake loose, so I applied some CO2 to the manifold to pressurize the fermenter and then released the PRV so the escaping pressure pushed up on the hops and broke loose the bridge. Then they dropped with some light tapping.

But I then discovered a piece of hop pellet had flown up into the PRV and wouldn't allow it to close completely. Well, that's NG, so I closed the butterfly valve, removed the PRV, cleared the hop debris, then reinstalled it.

If there's a next time I have to do this I'll use a QD to release the pressure rather than the PRV.

 

[mongoose33]

This may be a better solution. I was thinking again about the purging of that sight glass through the header's prv, and the potential of getting hop bits blown up through and stuck in there, which could be a safety issue...

Well, it turned out to be the opposite of a safety issue (see previous post). I couldn't get the PRV to seal, so I closed the butterfly valve, removed the PRV, removed the piece of hop debris, and reinstalled it.

The opposite of the safety issue is the PRV wouldn't seal.

 

[cubsfan16]

This may be a better solution. I was thinking again about the purging of that sight glass through the header's prv, and the potential of getting hop bits blown up through and stuck in there, which could be a safety issue...

I’ve used the sight glass and purged with CO2 like pictured and confirm if you use too much pressure you get hop powder everywhere and stuck in the PRV, sometimes making it hard to get it to get reseated. I like the idea of letting the CO2 pass through the hops from fermentation but think the moisture in the off gas may cause the hops to clump up and not fall into the fermenter once the butterfly valve is opened...which they already can be difficult to get to fall using the forced purge method.

 

[jturman35]

My only concern would be if the co2 from fermentation is degrading the hops in chamber over a period of time? Wouldn’t be that big a deal if your doing the bio trans hopping, but if your waiting till a few days before keying surely the co2 passing through into the starsan is taking some aroma with it?

 

[Nate R]

My only concern would be if the co2 from fermentation is degrading the hops in chamber over a period of time? Wouldn’t be that big a deal if your doing the bio trans hopping, but if your waiting till a few days before keying surely the co2 passing through into the starsan is taking some aroma with it?

+1 to this... this was also a concern i thought of.
Mongoose... you seem to me to be a very precise and thoughtful brewer... have you noticed this? Done any trials?

I know we all try to keep our hops vacumn sealed (for oxygen) but i would think the escaping C02 would carry away at least a portion of the aroma.

 

[mongoose33]

+1 to this... this was also a concern i thought of.
Mongoose... you seem to me to be a very precise and thoughtful brewer... have you noticed this? Done any trials?

No, I haven't done any trials. The beer is very aromatic, and tastes great. Would it be better if I hadn't done the purging thing in the sight glass? I don't know. My focus has been more on keeping O2 out of the process which should extend the shelf life of hoppy beers.

I know we all try to keep our hops vacumn sealed (for oxygen) but i would think the escaping C02 would carry away at least a portion of the aroma.

When I had to address my bridging issue today, prior to that I sniffed the blowoff jar and there was the faintest note of hops....I think.

When I released the PRV to allow the bridge to break up....wow, what a hoppy aroma came out of the fermenter. Wonderful, aromatic, delicious....


When I first looked into doing this, I asked Spike if I could get them to add a second TC port on the lid, but they said they would not--something about it's been engineered for only one port, yada, yada, yada. OK, I get that if they hadn't tested it they wouldn't take the chance, though people add ports to their kettles all the time and that isn't an issue.

But that second port would solve a lot of problems.

I've also given thought to drilling a hole in the the temp control coil "lid" and adding a blowoff barb in some form to that. It would allow one to just purge the sight glass as desired....but I'd also have to have some way to shut off the barb. I suppose I could add a port with maybe a camlock male connector and then close it off with a cap....I haven't thought further than that, there's probably a more elegant way.

 

[Nate R]

No, I haven't done any trials. The beer is very aromatic, and tastes great. Would it be better if I hadn't done the purging thing in the sight glass? I don't know. My focus has been more on keeping O2 out of the process which should extend the shelf life of hoppy beers.



When I had to address my bridging issue today, prior to that I sniffed the blowoff jar and there was the faintest note of hops....I think.

When I released the PRV to allow the bridge to break up....wow, what a hoppy aroma came out of the fermenter. Wonderful, aromatic, delicious....


When I first looked into doing this, I asked Spike if I could get them to add a second TC port on the lid, but they said they would not--something about it's been engineered for only one port, yada, yada, yada. OK, I get that if they hadn't tested it they wouldn't take the chance, though people add ports to their kettles all the time and that isn't an issue.

But that second port would solve a lot of problems.

I've also given thought to drilling a hole in the the temp control coil "lid" and adding a blowoff barb in some form to that. It would allow one to just purge the sight glass as desired....but I'd also have to have some way to shut off the barb. I suppose I could add a port with maybe a camlock male connector and then close it off with a cap....I haven't thought further than that, there's probably a more elegant way.

Uh-oh... down a new rabbit hole?!?! Lol. This darn 'hobby'. Obsession?

 

[Gozie Boy]

Uh-oh... down a new rabbit hole?!?! Lol. This darn 'hobby'. Obsession?

Yeah, if Spike put another hole in their fermenter top then they would have to de-rate its (relatively high) pressure rating, and this then gets into a MUCH bigger issue that they don't want to deal with for a small portion of their market. (Having dealt a little with pressure vessel certification, I greatly appreciate this).

Sounds like we have to pick our poison -- reduced aroma (How much? Significant?) versus some O2 exposure (How much? Significant?). May still be a clever way of flowing a little low pressure CO2 through the sight glass (to remove most of the bulk air) and then live with what's left within the hop matrix (hopefully minimal).

 

[mongoose33]

Uh-oh... down a new rabbit hole?!?! Lol. This darn 'hobby'. Obsession?

It's hard to explain. The scientist in me wants to create the optimal conditions. Beer brewing is very causal, in that when you adjust variables you get different outcomes. There are a lot of variables thus adjusting them just so...to get a certain outcome is challenging.

I've long been what I call a serial hobbyist. That is, I'll get VERY interested in something, and as soon as I master it--meaning I've reached some level of high proficiency--I tend to lose interest in it. It's the journey toward mastery that's fun for me, not the eventual mastery. It's kind of sad when I get there.

Rotisserie (fantasy) baseball: developed game theory, did statistical analyses, published nationally, won my leagues about half the time....solved it. Move on.

Golf: learned to do it, took lessons, eventually shot a round of par golf by the rules on a regulation course. Once there, the joy diminished....

Shooting sports: reloaded for accuracy (under 1 MOA), then trap shooting. Shot 100 straight, and then the need to prove to myself I could do it....was satisfied.

Casting my own bullets, powder coating them....can I make my own stuff and have it perform better than commercial ammo? Yeah.

There have been other things as well. Now it's beer. What's the end game? Not there yet--still developing methods like the hop dropper. But I'm close. Have friends who want to buy it at market prices, a local bar wants to sell it. Journey over? Don't know yet, but I am closer to the end than the beginning.

Looking into learning to fly. Took an introductory lesson last week. Deliciously complicated, a certain level of danger (not unlike reloading); can I master this? Not sure yet about pursuing it, as its price will exceed everything I have invested in brewing.

So...obsession? Yeah. Every....single....time.

 

[Nate R]

It's hard to explain. The scientist in me wants to create the optimal conditions. Beer brewing is very causal, in that when you adjust variables you get different outcomes. There are a lot of variables thus adjusting them just so...to get a certain outcome is challenging.

I've long been what I call a serial hobbyist. That is, I'll get VERY interested in something, and as soon as I master it--meaning I've reached some level of high proficiency--I tend to lose interest in it. It's the journey toward mastery that's fun for me, not the eventual mastery. It's kind of sad when I get there.

Rotisserie (fantasy) baseball: developed game theory, did statistical analyses, published nationally, won my leagues about half the time....solved it. Move on.

Golf: learned to do it, took lessons, eventually shot a round of par golf by the rules on a regulation course. Once there, the joy diminished....

Shooting sports: reloaded for accuracy (under 1 MOA), then trap shooting. Shot 100 straight, and then the need to prove to myself I could do it....was satisfied.

Casting my own bullets, powder coating them....can I make my own stuff and have it perform better than commercial ammo? Yeah.

There have been other things as well. Now it's beer. What's the end game? Not there yet--still developing methods like the hop dropper. But I'm close. Have friends who want to buy it at market prices, a local bar wants to sell it. Journey over? Don't know yet, but I am closer to the end than the beginning.

Looking into learning to fly. Took an introductory lesson last week. Deliciously complicated, a certain level of danger (not unlike reloading); can I master this? Not sure yet about pursuing it, as its price will exceed everything I have invested in brewing.

So...obsession? Yeah. Every....single....time.

Well... when you master it and get bored, we all want to buy your stuff!!

 

[Nate R]

....

Sounds like we have to pick our poison -- reduced aroma (How much? Significant?) versus some O2 exposure (How much? Significant?). May still be a clever way of flowing a little low pressure CO2 through the sight glass (to remove most of the bulk air) and then live with what's left within the hop matrix (hopefully minimal).

Great points... what is the trade off wanted? Also, one could add more hops to account for any loss maybe- say 2.5 oz instead of 2.0? (unless you needed the full 3 oz in there).

For now, for me- i will stick to my current way: as quick as i can pop off the 1.5" pressure top, dump the hops as fast as i can (loose a few in the process), get frustrated i forgot to re-sanitize the gasket, realize my star san spray bottle is just out of reach, eventually get it all put together anyways... then just purge it twice or so with co2, figure ah heck it ain't all that bad, then relax, don't worry.... you get it

 

[mongoose33]

Great points... what is the trade off wanted? Also, one could add more hops to account for any loss maybe- say 2.5 oz instead of 2.0? (unless you needed the full 3 oz in there).

For now, for me- i will stick to my current way: as quick as i can pop off the 1.5" pressure top, dump the hops as fast as i can (loose a few in the process), get frustrated i forgot to re-sanitize the gasket, realize my star san spray bottle is just out of reach, eventually get it all put together anyways... then just purge it twice or so with co2, figure ah heck it ain't all that bad, then relax, don't worry.... you get it

Unless you have some pretty athletic microbes that have learned how to crawl from the gasket down into the beer, don't worry about it.

 

[logdrum]

Many members here are brewing five gallon batches with their CF10. There MAY be issues when cold crashing, but I suspect that has more to do with your environment and chiller specs.

If you buy a CF5, you can never brew a 10 gallon batch with it. However, if you buy a CF10, you can brew both five gallon batches as well as 10 gallon batches. The difference in price is only $115-$120 (CF pricing difference $100 and TC-100 bundle pricing difference $15-$20 depending if you are getting a heater).

Based upon the small increase in pricing and based upon keeping options open (unless you can clearly see the future), I would recommend the CF10.

I do a lot of 6.5 & 7.5 gallon batches in my CF10, I did have to supplement the keg farm with a few of the smaller 1.5 & 2.5 gal kegs, but I really like being able to grab a small keg to go, or if I tap the 5 gallon keg first,use it as a "time to brew indicator".

 

[CodeSection]

....Sounds like we have to pick our poison -- reduced aroma (How much? Significant?) versus some O2 exposure (How much? Significant?).....

Why settle for that? While I like @mongoose33's setup, as can be seen in post #1165, for a few dollars more you can buy a NorCal Yeast Brink to inject hops.....no reduced aroma....no O2 exposure.

It is worth buying the sight glass version vs the canning jar version since you will not have to be concerned about any pressure issues.

 

[brewohio]

Can anyone confirm that their racking arm looks the same as these pictures on the inside or not. Seems to have a groove inside that lines up with the inner tc fitting that faces conical. I don't know if I'm being too critical because of the price of the conical but that doesn't seem right to have a recess that I can't actually see into from a sanitation standpoint. Thanks!

 

[stevehaun]

Can anyone confirm that their racking arm looks the same as these pictures on the inside or not. Seems to have a groove inside that lines up with the inner tc fitting that faces conical. I don't know if I'm being too critical because of the price of the conical but that doesn't seem right to have a recess that I can't actually see into from a sanitation standpoint. Thanks!

Mine looks exactly like that. Queried Spike and they told me it wouldn’t cause any problems. FWIW, I now am many batches down the road with no issues.

 

[brewohio]

It looks like the tube is in 2 pieces which doesn't make sense to me. I also reached out to Spike to see what they had to say.

 

[stevehaun]

It looks like the tube is in 2 pieces which doesn't make sense to me. I also reached out to Spike to see what they had to say.

It is one piece. The line is the weld of tubing to the triclover fitting.

 

[Brooothru]

It's hard to explain. The scientist in me wants to create the optimal conditions. Beer brewing is very causal, in that when you adjust variables you get different outcomes. There are a lot of variables thus adjusting them just so...to get a certain outcome is challenging.

I've long been what I call a serial hobbyist. That is, I'll get VERY interested in something, and as soon as I master it--meaning I've reached some level of high proficiency--I tend to lose interest in it. It's the journey toward mastery that's fun for me, not the eventual mastery. It's kind of sad when I get there.

Rotisserie (fantasy) baseball: developed game theory, did statistical analyses, published nationally, won my leagues about half the time....solved it. Move on.

Golf: learned to do it, took lessons, eventually shot a round of par golf by the rules on a regulation course. Once there, the joy diminished....

Shooting sports: reloaded for accuracy (under 1 MOA), then trap shooting. Shot 100 straight, and then the need to prove to myself I could do it....was satisfied.

Casting my own bullets, powder coating them....can I make my own stuff and have it perform better than commercial ammo? Yeah.

There have been other things as well. Now it's beer. What's the end game? Not there yet--still developing methods like the hop dropper. But I'm close. Have friends who want to buy it at market prices, a local bar wants to sell it. Journey over? Don't know yet, but I am closer to the end than the beginning.

Looking into learning to fly. Took an introductory lesson last week. Deliciously complicated, a certain level of danger (not unlike reloading); can I master this? Not sure yet about pursuing it, as its price will exceed everything I have invested in brewing.

So...obsession? Yeah. Every....single....time.

Were we separated at birth? Or maybe I have multiple personality syndrome and am unknowingly answering myself.

Be careful with the aviation thing, though. It can become the obsession that becomes the one that displaces all others for all time! Started out as a ride in an old Beech Bonanza more years ago than I'd like to remember. Now after two separate careers of hangin' out around airplanes, all I can say is you may learn to control it but you'll never master it!

Brooo Brother

 

[brewohio]

It is one piece. The line is the weld of tubing to the triclover fitting.

I sent the same two pictures as I posted. Spike got back to me and is shipping me a new racking arm. They mentioned this is something they rarely see so either they have come across this issue before or their customer support is just going above and beyond and just sent one out. I could see either as they are top notch. However hopefully the new one is actually different and they just didn't send me a new one for no reason.

 

[Nate R]

I sent the same two pictures as I posted. Spike got back to me and is shipping me a new racking arm. They mentioned this is something they rarely see so either they have come across this issue before or their customer support is just going above and beyond and just sent one out. I could see either as they are top notch. However hopefully the new one is actually different and they just didn't send me a new one for no reason.

Thanks for sharing. Of course, please update us with pics of what a "good" one looks like please! (I have yet to get a racking arm).
Also, yeah +1 for their service. I have heard almost all positive feedback.

 

[stevehaun]

These are the pics I sent to Spike. Brewohio - please report back what the new racking arm looks like.

 

[sicktght311]

Sorry for hijacking this thread, but random question since i'm almost ready to pull the trigger on a CF10

On the CF10, whats the lowest level that the dip tube picks up at? And for you folks fermenting 5 gallons in the CF10, do you scale up your recipes by a gallon or so to account for the lost space?

 

[CodeSection]

Sorry for hijacking this thread, but random question since i'm almost ready to pull the trigger on a CF10

On the CF10, whats the lowest level that the dip tube picks up at? And for you folks fermenting 5 gallons in the CF10, do you scale up your recipes by a gallon or so to account for the lost space?

These links will help to answer your question....https://spikebrewing.freshdesk.com/...idths-depths-and-volumes-of-our-conical-lines and https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/35019548652/original/Conical Cutaway Drawings 7-10-18.PDF?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAS6FNSMY2WD6T3JNC/20200115/us-east-1/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20200115T193338Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Signature=9552b9e854bb3198ec9c4ab12bf96f8bbab944c034c906d3a3a6b1cf0cbb3691&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=Host&response-content-type=application/pdf

Yes, my recipes are scaled up to account for waste in my CF10, CFC, lines, trub dumping, bright tank, multi-head counter pressure bottle filler, etc....

 

[sicktght311]

These links will answer your question....https://spikebrewing.freshdesk.com/...idths-depths-and-volumes-of-our-conical-lines and https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/35019548652/original/Conical Cutaway Drawings 7-10-18.PDF?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAS6FNSMY2WD6T3JNC/20200115/us-east-1/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20200115T193338Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Signature=9552b9e854bb3198ec9c4ab12bf96f8bbab944c034c906d3a3a6b1cf0cbb3691&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=Host&response-content-type=application/pdf

Yes, my recipes are scaled up to account for waste in my CF10, CFC, lines, trub dumping, bright tank, etc....

Exactly what i needed!!! Thanks! And how much do you scale up? Per the chart i would think about half a gallon? Just out of curiosity

 

[CodeSection]

Exactly what i needed!!! Thanks! And how much do you scale up? Per the chart i would think about half a gallon? Just out of curiosity

To answer just about the CF10, it shows .6 gallons below the racking arm. However, a lot has to do with your recipe and process. Do you cold break in the BK or fermenter? Do you add hops in the CF10? Are you dumping trub? Etc....

Over time, I have refined my processes that has caused me to increase my recipes ingredients.... So, I focus on every variable item on a recipe-to-recipe basis....