Impressions of Spike 15gal Electric System

[phendog]

I have the Spike 15gal Electric System and now have nearly 30 brews through it - perhaps more. So far I only have a few complaints and one recommendation. I don’t know if Spike reps are in this forum or not, but,…….overall all, I absolutely love this system. The control panel is simple and intuitive and the kettles, pumps and other hardware are quality.

• 1st and most critical: Not a fan of the sparge arm/mash recirc. The flow seems to dig a channel down the side of the grain bed and efficiency goes to ****. Thinking about getting the Ss Brewtech manifold as a modification
• 2nd: I wish the dip tub that goes through the mash tun false bottom had a grommet or o-ring and perhaps a gasket around the false bottom as well. Getting grain under the bottom - sometimes a good amount during recirc when the pump is unrestricted
• 3rd: Having some issues with the compression fittings leaking. Specifically, the HERMS coil. Got wort mixed into my HLT while recirculating and pumped all my mash water back into the HLT while heating on another occasion. Recently experienced leaking on the HLT recirc arm. I hope Spike has these fittings for resale!! The HERMS coil in/out extensions (where it plugs into the compression fittings) are not aligned vertically (they are off set left/right by inches) and as such, I think there is stress on the fittings when connected
• 4th: Sight glass etching/markings,…… yeah, don’t rely on them. Especially the HLT. I don’t think the displacement of the HERMS coil was factored into the volume markings. Above 12 gals and below 4 gals your good though ☺
• Lastly: Casters/wheels would be AWESOME as an option on their tables

 

[Rob2010SS]

This timing couldn't have been better. I'm eye balling this setup as I'm going to have some extra cash in the next couple of months.

Other than your comments above, worth it?

The only thing I'm wondering though is can you piece it together yourself for less than what spike charges? I've been chatting with a guy on Instagram who bought the (3) 20 gal vessels from Spike and pieced everything else together on his own. He hasn't been giving me numbers to the penny, but from what he broke down for me, he spent less than $4,500 dollars and spike charges like $6,300 for the turnkey package.

I'm going to be doing some digging on the forum here to see if I can find anything but does anyone know of a thread with a piece by piece detail of what you'd need to build a HERMS setup like this on your own?

 

[Rev2010]

2nd: I wish the dip tub that goes through the mash tun false bottom had a grommet or o-ring and perhaps a gasket around the false bottom as well. Getting grain under the bottom - sometimes a good amount during recirc when the pump is unrestricted

Yeah when I first looked at that false bottom design I couldn't help think the same. Not a very wise design.


Rev.

 

[Youngster]

For your false bottom, buy some stainless steel scrubbies, let them soak in PBW for a couple of days before brewing. Place it on your outlet tube. Just make sure the false bottom is still sitting flat.

 

[SpikeBrewing]

.

Thanks for the feedback! We wanted to touch on a couple points for clarity.

1) We've had a few people ask about a sparge arm 'upgrade'. At this time we do not see the need. Our systems offer mid-80% efficiencies so there's not much room for improvement. We recommend following our Product Guide which shows a short piece of silicone tubing on the end of the sparge arm. We recommend following the steps in our Process Guide which outlines keeping about 1" of water above the grain bed. The water will flow onto the top of the grain bed and disperse. We have not seen any channeling issues when this process is used. We do understand brewers want shiny new toys but at this time our R&D team is busy with items we think will have much more of an impact on brew days than just a shiny new toy!

2) If you're experiencing grain getting under your false bottom you might want to check your crush. The center hole for the false bottom is only .030" oversized so there is only a ~.015" gap around the tube; much smaller than the grain crush and other FB openings. Also the false bottom design paired with our stepped bottom kettle doesn't need a gasket as the more grain that is added the more it pushes against the step creating a better seal. If you continue to have issues please shoot our tech support team and email! We rarely hear issues with the false bottom so I'm sure we can get you sorted out!

3) We do sell spares on our site. Make sure to install the fittings when wet to avoid ripping. There is a chance that they are ripped and/or they are not pressed all the way into the fitting.

4) The sight glasses (which are discontinued) and etchings do not take into account for HERMS coils, elements, hop stoppers, etc. It would be too difficult to do so for each application. Instead they are marked when empty.

5) You should be able to pick up a set of casters for ~$100 from an online source.

Happy brewing and thanks for the feedback!!

 

[phendog]

Wow, this is awesome. I wasn’t looking for a formal response from Spike, but your comments are most welcome and greatly appreciated – Thank you!

Yep, I use the silicone tube trick. I also use a piece of butchers string to suspend the tube output just below the liquid. I run my pump wide open and unrestricted. I know I have sufficient wort above the grain bed (inches) while mash/recirculating for 60mins and I keep 2 inches, or more, on top during the sparge. However, once sparge is done and the wort is below the top of the bed there is a 3 – 4 inch section along the side of the kettle that is 3 – 4 inches deep.

My grist may be a little finer than normal and yes, .015 is pretty tight. I’ll re-post pictures back to this thread after next brew – probably within two weeks.

Thanks for the tip on fittings. Can I use food grade lube – like the stuff you use for keg gaskets?? Copy on the sight glasses and already ordered a set of casters.

Spike Brewing is GREAT – Much love to you guys!!

 

[Rob2010SS]

Question for OP... How long does it take to heat the water from room temp to strike temp on this system? I've been hearing an hour...??? That seems ridiculously long...

 

[phendog]

I would agree with an hour. That said, we're talking ~17gals of water for a 5 gal batch at a minimum. That's 12gal in the HLT (which covers the coil) and ~5 in the tun, which gets heated to strike temp by circulating back through the HERMS. After sparge I still have 3 - 4 gals in the HLT for CIP. Placed into context I don't think it's that bad

 

[Rob2010SS]

I would agree with an hour. That said, we're talking ~17gals of water for a 5 gal batch at a minimum. That's 12gal in the HLT (which covers the coil) and ~5 in the tun, which gets heated to strike temp by circulating back through the HERMS. After sparge I still have 3 - 4 gals in the HLT for CIP. Placed into context I don't think it's that bad

Ok. Yeah that is a lot of water and doesn't sound terrible. I didn't put that into the equation. Im used to my burner where i can get from room temp too strike in about 15 min but that's for maybe 4 or 5 gallons

 

[Rob2010SS]

@phendog got another question for you.

Did this system come with heat resistant pads for underneath the kettles? To prevent the table from acting like a big heat sink? Or should I be ordering those separate?

Thanks.

 

[sicktght311]

I would agree with an hour. That said, we're talking ~17gals of water for a 5 gal batch at a minimum. That's 12gal in the HLT (which covers the coil) and ~5 in the tun, which gets heated to strike temp by circulating back through the HERMS. After sparge I still have 3 - 4 gals in the HLT for CIP. Placed into context I don't think it's that bad

Have you experimented with partially covering the coil? In my 10gallon electric system i've been attempting to use less and less HLT water in each subsequent batch to see if it makes a difference in keeping stable mash temps. So far i've been able to keep the first couple of turns of my 25ft SS coil out of the water, and it makes no difference. 2 Gallons less during heat up makes a big difference. Especially if i can keep as much liquid as possible in the HLT and then transfer to the Mash Tun and get away with whats left, instead of heating through direct element in the HLT, and recirc to the mash tun. Theres much more heat loss when recirculating than heating all at once in the HLT

 

[BuLion]

After years of brewing outside, fretting if I have enough propane, lugging wort downstairs to my basement to ferment, pulled the trigger yesterday on this 15g system. Cry once is a pretty good description, but couldn't be more excited and wife was actually starting to look up recipes and is lining up requests already. Now the wait - and the construction of the brew room breaks ground this weekend.

 

[Rob2010SS]

I just ran through my first brew on my 20 gal spike system this past sunday. Worked beautifully! Love how easy brew days are now. The trade off is that cleaning is a bit more labor intensive but I'll take it over manually moving around a 10 gallon pot with 6-7 gallons of liquid 2-3 times.

My only problem that I'm not sure how to handle is mash temps. My target mash temp on Sunday was 150*F. The temp probe is located in a "T" fitting coming out of the MT drain port. The temp in there was reading 143-145*F but yet, when I took my trusty thermometer and stuck it in the mash in multiple places, I was getting anywhere from 148 - 152*F.

So, not really sure how to handle mash temps. The temps seem to be all over the place and not very stable, even with a few stirs in there to try and even it out. Do you go by the temp from your thermometer stuck in the mash itself or what the temp probe is reading during recirculation?

Would it be worth it to put the temp probe into the recirculation port? This way it reads the temp of the fluid coming back into the MT from the HLT?

 

[augiedoggy]

I see you commented about running the mash pump unrestricted in most cases this will cause channeling and uneven temps in the grained as well as poor efficiency. I run my rims recirculation just under 2gpm on my 15 gallon kettle setup and average 91% efficiency this way. Running a chugger or march pump full bore pulling liquid through a 15" diameter GB is going to cause a pretty compacted grained and some serious channeling. Unfortunately it seems to be a commonly made mistake. Theres zero reason to try to push the flow rate. More is not better in this case.

 

[Rob2010SS]

I see you commented about running the mash pump unrestricted in most cases this will cause channeling and uneven temps in the grained as well as poor efficiency. I run my rims recirculation just under 2gpm on my 15 gallon kettle setup and average 91% efficiency this way. Running a chugger or march pump full bore pulling liquid through a 15" diameter GB is going to cause a pretty compacted grained and some serious channeling. Unfortunately it seems to be a commonly made mistake. Theres zero reason to try to push the flow rate. More is not better in this case.

I said this or are you referring to someone else?? No, I was not running the mash pump unrestricted. The flow INTO the pump is unrestricted but the flow OUT of the pump is slowed to a trickle. I used the spike suggested trick as well in regards to putting a 2' piece of silicone tubing on the recirc port so that it just floated on top of the grain bed. I still got pretty uneven mash temps from what I was measuring with the thermometer.

EDIT: Disregard, I see you were talking about the OP.

 

[augiedoggy]

I said this or are you referring to someone else?? No, I was not running the mash pump unrestricted. The flow INTO the pump is unrestricted but the flow OUT of the pump is slowed to a trickle. I used the spike suggested trick as well in regards to putting a 2' piece of silicone tubing on the recirc port so that it just floated on top of the grain bed. I still got pretty uneven mash temps from what I was measuring with the thermometer.

EDIT: Disregard, I see you were talking about the OP.

OP said it in his first post if your temps are uneven though it would imply your still getting channeling .. maybe try rice hulls?

 

[Rob2010SS]

OP said it in his first post if your temps are uneven though it would imply your still getting channeling .. maybe try rice hulls?

Could the uneven temps have anything to do with the fact that the recirculated fluid is going to one spot instead of being dispersed over the entire surface of the grains? (I'll use rice hulls this weekend and see if it helps...)

 

[jready]

I haven’t had issues with temp. I’m sure you already thought of the but did you do the auto tune?

I have had my system for a year I have the 15 gallon finished batch one with upgraded 50a panel. I love it. My only issue seems to be crazy high boil off rates especially with smaller batches. Anybody else experiencing that?

 

[Rob2010SS]

Yeah, I did the auto tune. I did it per the instructions and actually did it twice with just water. I had heard that it may be a good idea to do it during an actual mash though, which may help with accuracy...

@jready what is your sparging setup like? Do you have any sparge arms or attachments or do you just do the silicone tube on the top of the grain bed?

In answer to your question, yes, my boil off rate on my pilot batch was pretty high. Pretty much 2 gallons when I'm used to about 1.5 gallon boil off.

 

[jready]

Yeah, I did the auto tune. I did it per the instructions and actually did it twice with just water. I had heard that it may be a good idea to do it during an actual mash though, which may help with accuracy...

@jready what is your sparging setup like? Do you have any sparge arms or attachments or do you just do the silicone tube on the top of the grain bed?

In answer to your question, yes, my boil off rate on my pilot batch was pretty high. Pretty much 2 gallons when I'm used to about 1.5 gallon boil off.

I just took the recommendation from spike and use a hose that I coil around the top of the grain bed. I hear the water add grain, stir, let it rest for 10-15 min then bring it back up to my mash temp. Once it gets there I usually stir once more. I have been using the 1.35 quarts of water per pound of grain ratio that I think spike suggests.

I think the area I have improved over the 20+ batches is the speed of the sparge. My first several batches were way too fast. Now it usually lasts 45 min at a minimum.

I am not sure what my efficiency is but I seem to always overshoot my OG. I am now working on learning BeerSmith and trying to get a good equipment profile set up. Not sure why but BeerSmith is just not intuitive for me. I would like to master it so that I can get more accurate water adjustments too. I have an RO system and have just been using “basic” water adjustments rather than recipe specific. I am more of an art guy than the science of the hobby but would like to amp up my inner nerd some. If anyone has suggestions on BeerSmith profiles I would love to hear them!