BrewJacket reviews

[Patcreery]

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone had used the brewjacket temp control system, and if so, [emoji106],[emoji107]? Worth the money?

 

[mattdnyc]

I bought one during the original Kickstarter and it came just as I hit a layoff in brewing. Finally used it on a batch on Labor Day, and I have to say overall it's a solid product. Better than having a dedicated fermentation chamber? Almost certainly not. But as an apartment dweller that's not in the cards for me.

Pros

• It really does hold temperature well. Had an ale in primary for almost two weeks at a consistent temperature of 67 (unless the probe was lying).
• Fairly quiet operation
• Set it and forget it.

Cons

• It drops temperature slooooowly. Get your wort pretty much at pitching temperature with your chiller, do not rely on this to get you all the way there.
• Also with above, if you're going to cold crash before kegging/bottling, you're going to need to plan well in advance for it to cool to that temp then to actually crash.
• Regarding how low it can go, the jury it still out for me. I got it to 49, and really couldn't get it lower. Then again the temp in the room it was in (spare bedroom) was constantly hitting 75+. My on deck brew is going to use it in a dark closet (in a non-summer month) so that might help.
• The bag is a bit of a PITA. Would have been nice if it were zippered, but plan on a little wrastling to get it together.

Not sure if this is helpful, but once my second brew goes through with it I'll report back.

 

[DeLiquid]

My initial 2 cents-

I ordered 3 immersion pros in late June or early July 2017 as well as some fermenter lids- 2 fermonster lids and 1 bucket lid. Buying 3 priced the units at about 200$ a pop so it defrayed the cost a bit. The estimated delivery date was late August. All 3 units arrived mid August ahead of expected delivery by a week or so and in excellent condition.

I use the immersion pros with new ported 7 gallon fermonsters from morebeer. Prior to this I was using plastic buckets that I shuttled up and down stairs based on temp and then in a temp controlled spare fridge that has since been reclaimed by SWMBO. I was initially concerned about 3 things with my new setup- 1. the smallish blowoff tube, 2. the amount of rod submerged in the beer not being adequate for heat exchange, and 3. the port getting caught up in the brewjackets and causing a leak.

None of my fears have been realized...
1. The 7 gallon fermonsters provide ample head space so that krausen has not even come close to the lid despite pitching over 200 billion cells from a yeast starter per fermenter and very healthy fermentations;
2. Temps can adjusted and maintained without issue despite about 1/3 of the rod being above liquid level; and
3. I just make sure to press out a little pocket of space in the brewjacket where the port faces before inserting the fermenters, slide them in carefully, and slip my hand in after to feel that the ports have a little room.

One minor thing I don't love is that the head units rest on the blowoff elbows and tip the head unit a bit. This wouldn't be an issue if using plastic carboys with the blowoff in the neck or buckets. Regardless, it hasn't yet caused any issue as far as I can tell. Out of curiosity, on my last batch I left one unit a little higher in the bung collar so that it sits above the elbow and a little rod (~1/4") is exposed. That unit displays a 0.1 degree difference in temp compared to unit with it pushed all the way in and resting on the elbow. The temp differential may or may not be related and it could be causing the unit to cycle the fan more often but I haven't noticed it.

All told I have fermented 33 gallons of NEIPA with them in my basement; three 11 gallon batches split between 2 fermenters. I live in central Massachusetts and my brew dates were in late August, early October and mid November (November batch is on day 9 now in the fermenters).

Overall, so far I have to say that they have performed as well as expected and I am very pleased with my purchase. That being said, my basement has been in the 50 to 65 degree range so I am not asking a lot of the units. I have been fermenting at around 66 and then ramping up to the mid 70s after primary winds down. The units have been responding well and I find their simplicity of use to be great. I bumped temp from 68 to 74 in the morning just yesterday and they had hit 74 by the time I got home from work about 9 hours later. I cold crash in kegs in a kegerator so I cannot comment on how they would handle that function and cooling demand.

The only other thing I don't love so far is the fact that you can't use starsan directly on the rods. The first time I used the rods I made 5 gallons of IO and hated dumping it after because it seemed wasteful. The last 2 brew days I made a gallon of IO (easier to measure by the gallon) then filled a spray bottle and dumped the rest but it still seems wasteful. I see on the brewjacket website that they sell a 10-pack of baggies that slip over the rods so you can sanitize the baggies with starsan so I like that they responded to that consumer demand.

Compared to other more expensive or complicated options, I am very pleased with my set up so far. My brew buddy covets them whenever he sees them and wants to buy the 3rd unit from me. I am going to try a lager in the summer and see how they hold up to those demands but until then I dig them and have had no issues other have complained about on other posts.