Homebrewdude Review of Spike CF10 Conical

[homebrewdude76]

I recently sold all my DIY brewing equipment and downsized to a purchased system.
For my brewing setup Stout won over Spike, I have a Stout system.
But for a conical, Spike won out, and I waited for the release.

Pre-sale questions, ordering, shipment and packaging, all top notch from Spike.
I ordered conical, leg extensions, cooling coil and CIP.

There is a disclaimer on the Spike site about the legs. They are really rather flimsy with no restraint on them, Spike sells the restraint. My legs were crooked and seemed to be easily bent at the conical connection. They were so far off, I emailed spike to ask what the center distance was supposed to be. I needed this to make my own restraint/stand.
I decided to make my own restraint/stand/wheels instead of purchasing from Spike, just so I can match my brewing stand made from wood.
After the restraint was added, and legs locked into proper position, it is rock solid.
The point of my rambling, follow Spike's suggestion and get the leg restraints.

The top lid/clamp cut my hand during unpacking. There was a large sharp burr on the edge. I filed it down and is ok now. The lid/clamp is real simple to use and I doubt I will take it apart very often.

CIP seems nice and fits nice. Performance is not what I expected.
I have a centerflow chugger pump with 5/8" size lines.
With this running with water, I could hold my hand opposite the CIP and my hand was not getting wet. So the top dome of the conical doesn't get much spray.
I have more testing to do with a sump pump I used on my keg cleaner, more pressure is probably all it needs.
If I would have known this I would have just used my keg cleaner CIP.

Cooling coil. This is really impressive and better than I thought.
I have a DIY Glycol chiller I built with a pond pump.
38F in the chiller was 45F in the conical. This is without any insulation on the conical or lines.
My first beer entered the conical at 100F, I cleaned up from brewing and it was at 55F, ready to pitch yeast.
ut
I am still on the fence on the bottom dump 2" valve.
I am thinking this could have been 1.5" to standardize size with everything else.. But, maybe later on I will figure out the 2" valve.

Really hope Spike offers the insulation jacket as a separate item!

Will be posting some photos shortly. I have my first beer in it now, will update the review when I try to "clean" the conical with CIP after this beer.

 

[dthompson79]

If I am collecting yeast from the bottom dump I just add a 1/2 inch barb reducer to it and add a length of silicone tubing to go into whatever jar i'm collecting in. Works great

The jacket, and heater can't come soon enough and I believe they plan on selling everything piecemeal as well as packaged

 

[ITV]

My first batch in my Spike I dry hopped a black IPA. No problems with plugging, I'm really happy that I have a 2" dump valve.

 

[homebrewdude76]

Some photos of my conical

 

[bcrawfo2]

If I am collecting yeast from the bottom dump I just add a 1/2 inch barb reducer to it and add a length of silicone tubing to go into whatever jar i'm collecting in. Works great

The jacket, and heater can't come soon enough and I believe they plan on selling everything piecemeal as well as packaged

I made a paper template of the cone my conical and then traced it onto reflectix. It looks pretty good. I may not spring for the spike jacket Makes a big difference on my cooling too

 

[Tuttdog]

I would suggest a different CIP ball such as from glacier tank when you use your sump pump. The difference is huge. I imagine Ben will eventually have two choices for CIP balls, the current one is well mached with a chugger pump but really doesn't do CIP justice like a higher flow one with a sump pump powering it. I have both.

Spike on the bottom and Glacier on the top

 

[homebrewdude76]

Spike advertised the CIP to work with a chugger pump.
And I have the centerflow pump and fittings/tubing oversized.
So I would expect this to work better than they advertised... Like I said in my review, my hand is not even getting wet when inside the conical.

If they didn't advertise it like this, I would not have bought it.
I would have just used my existing CIP ball.

 

[BarleyPopBrewer]

Spike advertised the CIP to work with a chugger pump.
And I have the centerflow pump and fittings/tubing oversized.
So I would expect this to work better than they advertised... Like I said in my review, my hand is not even getting wet when inside the conical.

If they didn't advertise it like this, I would not have bought it.
I would have just used my existing CIP ball.

Sure you're not overlooking something in your setup? By the looks and sounds of the video Spike posted it seems do do a pretty good job with a Chugger.

https://www.facebook.com/SpikeBrewingEq/videos/1356414554382448/

 

[homebrewdude76]

Mine looks like that also, just not directed up at all towards the lid.

 

[augiedoggy]

Mine looks like that also, just not directed up at all towards the lid.

Does your lid need cleaning? after 3 years of use I find it rare that the krausen ever make it high enough to touch the lids of either of my 12.5 gallon conicals thats the point of all the additional headspace... For me it would be a moot point. especially with the taller stout conical I have never had the krausen reach it that I can recall.. I have with my shorter wider (15") conical due to the shorter headspace but its easy enough to wipe off

 

[logdrum]

I want to see the DIY glycol build plans!

 

[homebrewdude76]

Does your lid need cleaning? after 3 years of use I find it rare that the krausen ever make it high enough to touch the lids of either of my 12.5 gallon conicals thats the point of all the additional headspace... For me it would be a moot point. especially with the taller stout conical I have never had the krausen reach it that I can recall.. I have with my shorter wider (15") conical due to the shorter headspace but its easy enough to wipe off

I can see you point, but I paid $$ for an add-on that really doesn't do what it should.

I have a beer in the conical now. When I go to clean it, I will take some videos.

 

[homebrewdude76]

Does your lid need cleaning? after 3 years of use I find it rare that the krausen ever make it high enough to touch the lids of either of my 12.5 gallon conicals thats the point of all the additional headspace... For me it would be a moot point. especially with the taller stout conical I have never had the krausen reach it that I can recall.. I have with my shorter wider (15") conical due to the shorter headspace but its easy enough to wipe off

I can see you point, but I paid $$ for an add-on that really doesn't do what it should.

I have a beer in the conical now. When I go to clean it, I will take some videos.

 

[SpikeBrewing]

Sorry to hear that you're having issues. We have not experienced any lid cleaning issues. Please see below for a slo-mo vid that was shot during initial testing showing how much spray is directed upwards.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luR4CxJIt0w&feature=youtu.be[/ame]

 

[homebrewdude76]

I racked my first beer today. I did purchase the optional racking arm.
I was a bit leary of having to loosen the clamp to rotate the arm. I assumed I would have leakage.

Filled two kegs with no issues. Used a short tube that I typically use in my mash tun.

 

[homebrewdude76]

After racking I flushed the conical and started the CIP process.

 

[homebrewdude76]

After 20min of CIP, this is the results...

Like I said in my other post on trying out the CIP.
There is very little action on the top of the conical, the top is where it needs it the most.

Going to run for another 30min now..

 

[bcrawfo2]

After 20min of CIP, this is the results...

Like I said in my other post on trying out the CIP.
There is very little action on the top of the conical, the top is where it needs it the most.

Going to run for another 30min now..

I need to clean mine tonight. Will post how it goes.

 

[SpikeBrewing]

What temp solution are you using for your CIP? We recommend 160F.

 

[homebrewdude76]

This was cold water per the packet.
Going to try hot water now.

Doubt it will help, cause the water is not even hitting the side of the conical.
I can wipe the debris off with my fingers, it is not dried or stuck on.

I took a video, but not sure I can upload it.

 

[SpikeBrewing]

You'll want to CIP with 160F solution. It sounds like something might be wrong with your process. Please shoot us an email at [email protected] and engineering can try to help you diagnose. Below are results from a test engineering did during R&D. This was 5mins @ 150F.

 

[Drumminguy81]

For the record I purchased the spray ball from spike for my brewhemoth conicals and use it with a harbor freight sump pump. I also have their chiller coil. It works fantastically. I think your process is flawed. I work in a food processing plant and we have many many stainless tanks that we clean regularly so I use the same process at home. 4x4. Rinse with hot 150+ degree water, wash with hot detergent solution, rinse with warm water, sanitize. Works excellent every time. The spray ball hits every part of my conicals. Worth noting that my pump has a much higher output than a chugger but I can feel the spray pattern on the outside of the fermenter and it splashes out the top port if opened.

 

[homebrewdude76]

For the record I purchased the spray ball from spike for my brewhemoth conicals and use it with a harbor freight sump pump. I also have their chiller coil. It works fantastically. I think your process is flawed. I work in a food processing plant and we have many many stainless tanks that we clean regularly so I use the same process at home. 4x4. Rinse with hot 150+ degree water, wash with hot detergent solution, rinse with warm water, sanitize. Works excellent every time. The spray ball hits every part of my conicals. Worth noting that my pump has a much higher output than a chugger but I can feel the spray pattern on the outside of the fermenter and it splashes out the top port if opened.

I also have another spray ball and sump pump I use to clean kegs, I can feel it working also. Based on what I am seeing, if I increased the pump output with the spike spray ball it would work better. But if I would have known my chugger was not strong enough, I would not have purchased the spike product.

So I don't believe my process is flawed, the advertising of the product is flawed...

I noticed the ball was hesitating spinning with the chugger pump, maybe there is a flaw in the spray ball I have.

 

[homebrewdude76]

Now I am comparing my standard spray ball to the spike spray ball.
My standard spins freely, and continues to spin long after the spike stops spinning. It has some slight bind in it, or maybe needs to be broken in?

I attached them both to my larger pump I use to clean kegs.
They both spin and I would say the distance of spray is similar.
The standard ball has more of a globe spray pattern. The spike has limited spray on the bottom of the ball, which would be in the direction of the lid.

I had the large cooling coil out last night, and I could see the spike ball stutter and not continuously spin with my chugger pump.
Maybe I have a bad spray ball? Or maybe it needs to break in?

 

[bcrawfo2]

My experience was better. I have a blichmann pump and recirculated about 165 degree pbw for about 15mins. I followed up with about 5 mins of 165 clean water. I had a small krausen ring. A quick hit with a sponge cleared it right up. I did a final rinse and ended up with this
View attachment IMG_1507509724.603682.jpg

Oh. And i racked my beer thursday night and i did this cleaning on sunday night. I think thats pretty good

 

[bcrawfo2]

By the way...it's very freaky when you fill your conical in prep for CIP and pressurizes the conical and then you turn off the pump.

 

[stevehaun]

Homebrewdude is complaining that the spike spray ball does not clean the upper end of the fermenter (and lid). His pic shows the krausen ring at the 11 gallon mark whereas the spike pic shows the krausen ring at the 6 gallon mark.

Question for Spike: Have you done CIP testing after a 10 gallon batch to assess the spray ball effectiveness at cleaning the upper portion of the fermenter and lid?

 

[SpikeBrewing]

Homebrewdude is complaining that the spike spray ball does not clean the upper end of the fermenter (and lid). His pic shows the krausen ring at the 11 gallon mark whereas the spike pic shows the krausen ring at the 6 gallon mark.

Question for Spike: Have you done CIP testing after a 10 gallon batch to assess the spray ball effectiveness at cleaning the upper portion of the fermenter and lid?

Yes, we have done testing with full batch and half batches. All results have been great (otherwise the product would not have been released).

 

[romsan]

I recently sold all my DIY brewing equipment and downsized to a purchased system.
For my brewing setup Stout won over Spike, I have a Stout system.
But for a conical, Spike won out, and I waited for the release.

Would love to hear why did you chose Stout vs Spike

 

[bluemoon737]

I used the pump from my Marks keg washer and it worked perfectly. I ran a hose from my hot water line of my deep sink to flush first and the again after the hot PBW wash.

 

[homebrewdude76]

I would say we had the exact same results.
I also had to use a "quick hit with the sponge" to clean mine.

My experience was better. I have a blichmann pump and recirculated about 165 degree pbw for about 15mins. I followed up with about 5 mins of 165 clean water. I had a small krausen ring. A quick hit with a sponge cleared it right up. I did a final rinse and ended up with this
View attachment 416691

Oh. And i racked my beer thursday night and i did this cleaning on sunday night. I think thats pretty good

 

[homebrewdude76]

Not sure what the output of the Mark's pump is.
But I used my sump pump for my keg washer and it worked better.

What I am trying to do is use my brew stand chugger pump, the reason I bought the CIP in the first place.

I used the pump from my Marks keg washer and it worked perfectly. I ran a hose from my hot water line of my deep sink to flush first and the again after the hot PBW wash.

 

[homebrewdude76]

I tried to take a photo/video of the spray pattern on my sump pump keg cleaner.

The spike ball is more of a cone shape, with the cone concentration "down" when installed in the conical.
There is very little spray "up" when installed in the conical.

The other brand CIP ball has slits that direct the water down also.
When this is running there is a 360degree globe of spray.

I think the lack of directional slits and lower pressure of the chugger pump is what is causing the issue.
I think a larger sump type pump will compensate the spike slit design and probably allow it to work.

 

[SpikeBrewing]

Our CIP ball has a 360 degree clean radius and we have not had any issues with the CIP working with a Chugger/March pump. I checked with customer service but they have not received a CIP ball inquiry. I'd recommend contacting them as something is not correct. Please see above for the slo-mo video as well as the before and after cleaning pics. What you're experiencing is abnormal and we'd happy to remedy.

 

[homebrewdude76]

Figures, my cell phone takes a better photo than my camera.
This is the spike ball and other CIP ball that I have.

I think these photos capture the lack of globe shape on the Spike CIP.

 

[auburntsts]

Have you contacted SB's customer support as has been suggested? Sounds like they are willing to help you out.

 

[Morrey]

I think your pictures showing the spray pattern achieved tells the story perfectly clear. After seeing this, I feel they should issue you a refund on that attachment.

Even though many say a chugger will provide the lift and pressure necessary to drive the CIP system adequately, I was disappointed with the performance I got. I had a 1/3hp HF sump pump for cleaning my draught line system, so I quit the chugger and began using this HF pump for CIP too.

Warmer PBW soultion temps get better results in my opinion. I have difficulty getting hot water to my system unless I heat some in my kettle (PITA), so I found a pre-soak with a fermenter full of PBW helps break up the krud, then the CIP/pump action cleans it up from there.

 

[BarleyPopBrewer]

Hmm maybe I'm having some lingering affects from last nights home brew but the Spike looks much better to me. The spray pattern looks wider and more powerful. The other ball looks like it has about a 6" spray diameter. Also it looks like 50% of the spray would be directed straight up (towards the lid). I don't know about you but my beer is held at the bottom of my fermenter

 

[Morrey]

True about beer being held at the bottom, but the krausen ring that forms (and dries) near and at the top of the fermenter is the real booger bear to get off. With an active krausen produced by many of the yeast strains I use, the top of my fermenter is the problem zone.

 

[mjfuson]

Why not contact Spike's customer service as they suggested? They said they didn't experience these issues in their testing so maybe you just received a bad CIP ball.