I know that there is another thread started about the Spike System and someone else's impressions of it. When I posted in this thread about receiving the system, someone asked me to post up a review on it. I just completed my 4th batch on the system, so here goes...
Quality of parts / Packaging
All of the parts are really high quality. The only complaint I had with any of the parts was the quality of the table that came with it. They charge $500 for the table and when I got mine, the "socket" that one of the legs fits into was about 3/8" out of square with the table itself. I was able to make it work by leaving that leg loose, attaching the bottom shelf to the legs, and then tightening the leg in the socket afterwards. Spike does not manufacture the table, they source those from another company. I emailed Spike to let them know of the issue and even though I told them that I didn't want anything, they still compensated me for it and made it right.
As far as packaging goes, everything was packaged together nicely. Everything you needed for each part or kettle was all in a nice little package. The right amount of gaskets and clamps needed for each kettle was all packaged inside each kettle so there was no guessing how many you needed or trying to find parts in another box for the kettle you're working on. For how many parts there are with this system, the packaging was done very nicely. I think including the table, there was 5 boxes.
Installation and Assembly
Installation and assembly was pretty straight forward. If you print off the product guide and use that as a visual when putting everything together, you can get through it pretty easily. The only thing that I think could be improved upon is the instructions for the HERMS coil. They give you the fittings, the coil, and the gaskets, but they don't tell you where the gaskets go. Common sense would tell you that the gaskets go inside the fitting but getting them in there is a pain in the but. Some instructions and tips on how to do that would help.
I did have a guy reach out to me via Instagram asking where these gaskets go. He sent me the attached picture of the HERMS fitting with the gasket on the outside of it and asked for help. I had to explain to him that the gasket goes inside the end of the fitting (blue arrow) inside a groove about where the red line is at (see picture with blue arrow and red line). So, for some people, the placement of the gasket isn't as easy to figure out. This is why I suggest instructions or tips on how to do this.
Using the System - HLT
Pretty straight forward, no issues here. Just make sure that the HERMS coil is pushed into the fittings ALL THE WAY, before your brew day. If you push it in until it comes to a stop, you're not all the way in. You need to push it past that first stop which is the gasket. Once you feel that, then you're in all the way.
Using the MT
The MT is pretty simple to use. When you first dough in, it takes a few minutes for the water to get through the grain and below the false bottom for the dip tube to pick it up. Probably takes almost 5 minutes before you can turn on the pump and get recirculation going. I've learned this the hard way and had quite a bit of dry run time on my wort pump already...
The other key thing to note about the MT is controlling the flow of recirculation. I was first trying to do this with the big black handled ball valve at the recirculation port on the MT. This doesn't work well because that valve is not designed for precise control of flow. You need to use the 3 piece ball valve located right at the out flow of the pump. This valve gives precise control over the flow. Should have been common sense but took me 1 brew day to figure this out.
The only other thing about the MT that I need to get used to is temperatures. The temp probe for the MT is located at the drain port. So it's measuring temp of wort leaving the MT. As it's re-entering the MT, it's going through the 2ft section of silicone tubing that Spike recommends using and back into the grain bed. What I'm noticing is that this seems to cause uneven temps throughout the grain bed. The hot wort is coming back through but it's really only going to one spot. If you check that one spot in the grain bed, it'll be pretty close to your HLT temp but if you check other spots in the grain bed, it varies. I've seen variance of about 8-10 degrees throughout. I think there are a couple of solutions to this
- Go with the SS Brewtech manifold where recirculation touches the entire grain bed or
- Get some sort of circular pie plate or pan, pop a bunch of small holes in it, set that on top of the grain bed with the recirculation hose laid inside it and let the wort fall through those holes.
The other observation is that the wort coming out of the drain port (where the temp probe is) usually measures about 6-7 degrees lower than what the grain bed actually measures. I do not know a solution for this. It's been my understanding that the temp of the grain bed is what matters, not the temp of the worth coming out of the MT drain...? So I've been basing my temps and what not off of the grain bed, not relying on the MT drain temp probe.
Using the BK
Really nothing worth noting on here. The boil kettle is pretty straight forward. This does generate A LOT more steam than I anticipated. I don't have a hood over this system so for now, I have 3 doors in the room I brew in and I open all 3 to get good air flow in to evacuate the steam. Really need to investigate a hood or the steam slayer from Brew Hardware.
Using the Counterflow Chiller
The counterflow chiller is pretty nice. On 7.5 gallons of wort, it chills it to pitching temps in about 12 minutes with running the output of the chiller back through the whirlpool valve on the kettle. The videos all show people running the counterflow chiller directly into their fermenter. However, I've been under the assumption that cold break is generally wanted to be left in the kettle. If you go right from the chiller to the fermenter, you get all of the cold break in the fermenter, no? So why would you NOT want to recirculate from the chiller output back into the kettle until you're at pitching temp?
The only other thing worth noting is the amount of loss by using the counterflow chiller. I've learned that I need to target 7.5 gallons post boil to end up with about 6 gallons in the fermenter. Not sure if there's a way to save all of the wort left behind in hoses and the chiller. I've tried and so far, can't say I've been successful.
Cleaning (CIP?)
Cleaning this system has been the biggest headache and learning curve...
The HLT is simple. No wort is in there so really all you have to do is tilt it with the water pump running to get almost all of the water out and then 1 rag will soak up the rest of the water left in.
The MT is a pain in the butt. There's really no way to CIP this vessel, not that I've found anyway. You pretty much have to disconnect it, shovel out the grains, and wash and dry by hand. There's something like .32 gallons of dead space in there that you can't get at with a CIP cycle and you can't get it without taking the false bottom out and you can't get the false bottom out without pulling the drain port off. All in all, I've decided that this vessel just needs to be cleaned by hand. (What may make this easier is getting a BIAB bag for this vessel. This will allow you to pull out all of the grains easily instead of shoveling them out)
The BK is easy to clean in place. Buy a large scrub brush and pump some cleaners through the chiller, the drain port of the BK and the whirlpool port, then pump that into a bucket and you're done.
Conclusion
All in all, this is a great system. The brew day up until cleaning is much easier and smoother. It was nice to purchase 1 package and have everything I need instead of trying to piece together a system. It's definitely a hefty price tag. Had I wanted to wait a bit, it might have been beneficial to wait for SSBT's 3V 20 gal system to come out this month. I think it'll be cheaper that Spike's. Cleaning will definitely add some time. My brew days went from 5 hours using the old cooler mash tun and 1 kettle to 7 hours with this system. On my 4th batch this past Sunday, I got it down to 6 hours and I hope to improve on that yet.
Takeaway's
1. Make sure HERMS coil is installed properly. Push past the first "stop", you should feel it pop in.
2. Temps in MT seem inconsistent. Recirculation should be spread over the whole grain bed, not just one spot. SSBT recirculation manifold or pie tin with holes may help? Temp coming out of drain on MT is usually 6-7*F cooler than what the grain bed measures. Grain bed temp more important...?
3. Plan for an extra 1.5 gallons post boil for hose and chiller loss. Not sure how to save this...?
4. CIP really isn't possible on MT from my experience. This vessel is just easier to manually clean during the boil. BIAB bag to make grain removal easier...?
Thanks for reading. If you have any questions about the system that I didn't touch on, feel free to ask.
Quality of parts / Packaging
All of the parts are really high quality. The only complaint I had with any of the parts was the quality of the table that came with it. They charge $500 for the table and when I got mine, the "socket" that one of the legs fits into was about 3/8" out of square with the table itself. I was able to make it work by leaving that leg loose, attaching the bottom shelf to the legs, and then tightening the leg in the socket afterwards. Spike does not manufacture the table, they source those from another company. I emailed Spike to let them know of the issue and even though I told them that I didn't want anything, they still compensated me for it and made it right.
As far as packaging goes, everything was packaged together nicely. Everything you needed for each part or kettle was all in a nice little package. The right amount of gaskets and clamps needed for each kettle was all packaged inside each kettle so there was no guessing how many you needed or trying to find parts in another box for the kettle you're working on. For how many parts there are with this system, the packaging was done very nicely. I think including the table, there was 5 boxes.
Installation and Assembly
Installation and assembly was pretty straight forward. If you print off the product guide and use that as a visual when putting everything together, you can get through it pretty easily. The only thing that I think could be improved upon is the instructions for the HERMS coil. They give you the fittings, the coil, and the gaskets, but they don't tell you where the gaskets go. Common sense would tell you that the gaskets go inside the fitting but getting them in there is a pain in the but. Some instructions and tips on how to do that would help.
I did have a guy reach out to me via Instagram asking where these gaskets go. He sent me the attached picture of the HERMS fitting with the gasket on the outside of it and asked for help. I had to explain to him that the gasket goes inside the end of the fitting (blue arrow) inside a groove about where the red line is at (see picture with blue arrow and red line). So, for some people, the placement of the gasket isn't as easy to figure out. This is why I suggest instructions or tips on how to do this.
Using the System - HLT
Pretty straight forward, no issues here. Just make sure that the HERMS coil is pushed into the fittings ALL THE WAY, before your brew day. If you push it in until it comes to a stop, you're not all the way in. You need to push it past that first stop which is the gasket. Once you feel that, then you're in all the way.
Using the MT
The MT is pretty simple to use. When you first dough in, it takes a few minutes for the water to get through the grain and below the false bottom for the dip tube to pick it up. Probably takes almost 5 minutes before you can turn on the pump and get recirculation going. I've learned this the hard way and had quite a bit of dry run time on my wort pump already...
The other key thing to note about the MT is controlling the flow of recirculation. I was first trying to do this with the big black handled ball valve at the recirculation port on the MT. This doesn't work well because that valve is not designed for precise control of flow. You need to use the 3 piece ball valve located right at the out flow of the pump. This valve gives precise control over the flow. Should have been common sense but took me 1 brew day to figure this out.
The only other thing about the MT that I need to get used to is temperatures. The temp probe for the MT is located at the drain port. So it's measuring temp of wort leaving the MT. As it's re-entering the MT, it's going through the 2ft section of silicone tubing that Spike recommends using and back into the grain bed. What I'm noticing is that this seems to cause uneven temps throughout the grain bed. The hot wort is coming back through but it's really only going to one spot. If you check that one spot in the grain bed, it'll be pretty close to your HLT temp but if you check other spots in the grain bed, it varies. I've seen variance of about 8-10 degrees throughout. I think there are a couple of solutions to this
- Go with the SS Brewtech manifold where recirculation touches the entire grain bed or
- Get some sort of circular pie plate or pan, pop a bunch of small holes in it, set that on top of the grain bed with the recirculation hose laid inside it and let the wort fall through those holes.
The other observation is that the wort coming out of the drain port (where the temp probe is) usually measures about 6-7 degrees lower than what the grain bed actually measures. I do not know a solution for this. It's been my understanding that the temp of the grain bed is what matters, not the temp of the worth coming out of the MT drain...? So I've been basing my temps and what not off of the grain bed, not relying on the MT drain temp probe.
Using the BK
Really nothing worth noting on here. The boil kettle is pretty straight forward. This does generate A LOT more steam than I anticipated. I don't have a hood over this system so for now, I have 3 doors in the room I brew in and I open all 3 to get good air flow in to evacuate the steam. Really need to investigate a hood or the steam slayer from Brew Hardware.
Using the Counterflow Chiller
The counterflow chiller is pretty nice. On 7.5 gallons of wort, it chills it to pitching temps in about 12 minutes with running the output of the chiller back through the whirlpool valve on the kettle. The videos all show people running the counterflow chiller directly into their fermenter. However, I've been under the assumption that cold break is generally wanted to be left in the kettle. If you go right from the chiller to the fermenter, you get all of the cold break in the fermenter, no? So why would you NOT want to recirculate from the chiller output back into the kettle until you're at pitching temp?
The only other thing worth noting is the amount of loss by using the counterflow chiller. I've learned that I need to target 7.5 gallons post boil to end up with about 6 gallons in the fermenter. Not sure if there's a way to save all of the wort left behind in hoses and the chiller. I've tried and so far, can't say I've been successful.
Cleaning (CIP?)
Cleaning this system has been the biggest headache and learning curve...
The HLT is simple. No wort is in there so really all you have to do is tilt it with the water pump running to get almost all of the water out and then 1 rag will soak up the rest of the water left in.
The MT is a pain in the butt. There's really no way to CIP this vessel, not that I've found anyway. You pretty much have to disconnect it, shovel out the grains, and wash and dry by hand. There's something like .32 gallons of dead space in there that you can't get at with a CIP cycle and you can't get it without taking the false bottom out and you can't get the false bottom out without pulling the drain port off. All in all, I've decided that this vessel just needs to be cleaned by hand. (What may make this easier is getting a BIAB bag for this vessel. This will allow you to pull out all of the grains easily instead of shoveling them out)
The BK is easy to clean in place. Buy a large scrub brush and pump some cleaners through the chiller, the drain port of the BK and the whirlpool port, then pump that into a bucket and you're done.
Conclusion
All in all, this is a great system. The brew day up until cleaning is much easier and smoother. It was nice to purchase 1 package and have everything I need instead of trying to piece together a system. It's definitely a hefty price tag. Had I wanted to wait a bit, it might have been beneficial to wait for SSBT's 3V 20 gal system to come out this month. I think it'll be cheaper that Spike's. Cleaning will definitely add some time. My brew days went from 5 hours using the old cooler mash tun and 1 kettle to 7 hours with this system. On my 4th batch this past Sunday, I got it down to 6 hours and I hope to improve on that yet.
Takeaway's
1. Make sure HERMS coil is installed properly. Push past the first "stop", you should feel it pop in.
2. Temps in MT seem inconsistent. Recirculation should be spread over the whole grain bed, not just one spot. SSBT recirculation manifold or pie tin with holes may help? Temp coming out of drain on MT is usually 6-7*F cooler than what the grain bed measures. Grain bed temp more important...?
3. Plan for an extra 1.5 gallons post boil for hose and chiller loss. Not sure how to save this...?
4. CIP really isn't possible on MT from my experience. This vessel is just easier to manually clean during the boil. BIAB bag to make grain removal easier...?
Thanks for reading. If you have any questions about the system that I didn't touch on, feel free to ask.
