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Blichmann pro or Spike brewing

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Braminator

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Mine came in last week. I’m putting it together this week and brewing Sunday. I’ll let you know
Hey. Looking to get an 1 BBL electric pilot system. Trying to decide between the new Blichmann pro series or a spike system. I had used the spike before , but was wondering if anyone has used the Blichmann pro series and what do you think and how they compare.

https://spikebrewing.com/collections/spike-systems/products/spike-system-50-gallon

http://www.blichmannengineeringproseries.com/category-s/102.htm
 
I’ve been brewing on Blichmann gear for 8 years. I started building my system before they came out with the pro series stuff. But my system is pretty much the exact same thing with a few mods.

I went with a larger mash tun than they suggest. They under size the mash tun in my experience with high gravity beers 1.100 and above. I think the 1bbl has three 55g kettles rather than odd sized kettles so it may be a mute point.

I have a half bbl 3 kettle single tier with the rims rocket. I also have a herms coil (50’ 1/2”) in the HLT.

After several brews on the rims rocket I’ve found I prefer the herms coil for step mashes. I feel the rims rocket a bit underpowered for my 15-20 gallon batch size and I’d assume it’s worse at 1bbl. I believe they don’t recommend the rims rock for step mashes above 1/2bbl so look into that a bit. The herms coil is smoother and more consistent. It’s a bit faster as well but that’s probably due to a larger element in the HLT vs the rims rocket.

The rims rocket is perfectly capable of maintaining temps for single temp mashes. It’s faster to heat strike water in the boil kettle and transfer it than it is to use the rims.

I love blichmanns false bottom. I get a really nice flow through the bed with minimal channeling. It can run from .75 gom as high as 2.0 gpm before I see a beginning of a vacuum on the grain bed. I usually run at 1.5 for the majority of the mash.

I use quick connects but you won’t go wrong with tri clamps that spike offers.

The boil coils clean up easily and are sized ok. The controllers work well. The data com is pretty cool for step mashes and repeatability.

I haven’t had the chance to brew on a spike set up yet. Looks like nice gear!

Have you looked at Ss brewtechs 1bbl set up? That looks nice.

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