I have a Brewjacket, and I like it. My wife gave it to me way back when, so I can't personally speak to customer service, but here's what I
can say about it:
- I live in SoCal, and my municipal water supply is annoyingly warm. I can't cool my wort to pitching temps without filling a cooler with ice and water, and chilling for way too long (we're talking hours), using one immersion coil in the ice bucket, feeding a second coil in the wort itself. I can get it down to about 85-90°F in a reasonable timeframe, and the Brewjacket can get it down to about 70°F within a few hours. Honestly, it probably takes about as long as the two-chiller ice bucket method, but without needing to go to the store for a $6 bag of ice, and without having to leave my wort outside and semi-exposed for the whole time. Temperatures are reported in my system using the thermal probe, just taped to the outside of my carboy, but inside the insulated sleeve, so I assume that the unit it doing its job.
- As mentioned, you can't use StarSan on the rod, which is annoying because I use StarSan on everything. The acid damages the finish. They recommend Iodophor, which is what I use. It leaves nice brown stains on things if you're not careful.
- It's a nice, compact, solution. Hard to argue against that, especially if you don't have room for a refrigerator. But, that doesn't sound like an issue for you.
- Even through it's nice and compact, you can only use it on one batch at a time. In that sense, it is inferior to a chamber.
- Never had any issues with the seal, at all.
- I would disagree that the unit relies on convection within the wort due to yeast activity to function. The unit operates based on the temperature report of a single remote probe. If you stuck that probe in a thermowell that sat near the control rod, then yes, the unit would probably not work properly. But if you just stick the probe on the side of your fermenter, it's essentially measuring the air temp inside the insulating jacket, meaning that the outer portion of the wort is pretty close to where it should be. If you're making major changes to temps within the fermenter, there will be a lag period of significant differential. That dissipates rather quickly, however.
- Efficiency declines as the temperature delta increases. I'm pretty you that you can do quite a bit better than ±15°F from ambient, but I don't think this is a great solution for lagering, unless you like environmental temps somewhere sound of 65°F. In some areas, it's probably cool enough in winter or shoulder seasons to lager with it, but I would consider it an inconsistent solution, at best, and would involve moving the unit to an area without climate control, which may or may not be possible.
With the above having been said, I would recommend it if:
- You ferment above 60°F;
- You don't have room for a full-blown fermentation chamber;
- You brew five gallon batches; or
- You have a fermentation chamber that can hold multiple fermenters, and want to be able to ferment two different beers, at two different temperatures, simultaneously.
I would not recommend if:
- You brew batches larger than five gallons (the rod just isn't long enough at that point); or
- You regularly ferment below 60°F, unless you live somewhere cold and can leave it outside or in the garage, or are willing to live in a 65° home.