New Product Announcement From SPIKE!

[SpikeBrewing]

So @SpikeBrewing … how‘s that “testing” going?

Per the email response quoted below, I was told last week that my order “should“ ship out this week. Haven’t heard anything and this week is just about over?


"I'm sorry but there has been a slight delay in our testing process with these. We should be shipping this out next week! Thank you for your patience here."

I’m with our marketing team so I don’t have real time insight on quality testing. Have you shot our Support team a message to see what’s up?

 

[Big_D]

I’m with our marketing team so I don’t have real time insight on quality testing. Have you shot our Support team a message to see what’s up?

Yes, the reply that I quoted above is what I received from them

 

[Big_D]

Awesome!!

 

[Pacific Electric]

These are back in stock if anyone is waiting.

 

[natmartin]

So, when do we learn about the next 3 products? (This was the first of five, the pump was second....)

 

[ShaLaH]

I just got one of these last week. The build quality and idea are great. However, my concern is that starsan in the sanitizer cup can leak down into the fermenter. I've had to top off the sanitizer cup twice now & I highly doubt it's due to evaporation.

 

[Broothru]

I just got one of these last week. The build quality and idea are great. However, my concern is that starsan in the sanitizer cup can leak down into the fermenter. I've had to top off the sanitizer cup twice now & I highly doubt it's due to evaporation.

I haven't had that problem (leaking) at all. I do suspect it may be due to evaporation, however. The surface area of the Spike unit is quite a bit larger than the surface area of my SS Brewtech spunding cups, as well as not as deep, so surface evaporation may likely be greater. They also need to be topped off maybe once or twice a week, and they aren't leaking into those fermenters. I do like the Spike spunding valve, but I do have two minor gripes. First, it's pretty tight quarters trying to get a drain cup in place while removing the red/black nipple cover. And second, I wish the liquid cup was taller/deeper to hold more volume to keep the release holes submerged longer between top-offs. In winter months when my brew area humidity level is low, if I'm gone or out of town for more than 3-4 days, I have to worry about the limber holes not being covered with StarSan or water. Otherwise, I'm completely happy with the operation and safety the Spike unit provides.

 

[ShaLaH]

I agree with both of your gripes. I really hope starsan isn't leaking into the fermenter though. The only thing I can think of without having access to the innards of it is this: perhaps the pressure plate (or whatever it's called) that pushes up when CO2 accumulates distributes unevenly. I noticed that the holes on one or two sides might be bubbling while another side is not. Perhaps the side not bubbling is allowing some liquid to drain down since there is no gas pushing out that side of it.

 

[Broothru]

I agree with both of your gripes. I really hope starsan isn't leaking into the fermenter though. The only thing I can think of without having access to the innards of it is this: perhaps the pressure plate (or whatever it's called) that pushes up when CO2 accumulates distributes unevenly. I noticed that the holes on one or two sides might be bubbling while another side is not. Perhaps the side not bubbling is allowing some liquid to drain down since there is no gas pushing out that side of it.

The seating of the plunger gasket is pretty good, and the overall machining of the unit is very good. The asymmetry of the bubbling pattern could also be due to the unit not being perfectly square with the plane of the earth (gravity), especially noticeable if the bubbles are very small and releasing very slowly. Think of holding your breath underwater, tilting your head slightly and slowly releasing bubbles through your tightly pursed lips. The bubbles would only be visibly present on the higher side of your mouth. I've seen the same phenomena on my Spike and other spunding cups. When fermentation is vigorous and bubbles are being released faster, you don't notice the release asymmetry pattern of the bubbles due to the high volume of gas being released.

Obviously there could be some leaking into the fermenter, but I think you'd see some deformation of the spunding valve if that was the cause. Now if the unit has been dropped that might be a different story. Is your fermenter on a flat surface? Even a poured concrete basement or garage floor is going to have some barely perceptible slope. Even just a few degrees of out-of-bubble level could cause what you're describing.

 

[ShaLaH]

So the package arrived early afternoon (Saturday) just as I was knocking out the boil on my Maibock. Cleaned, sanitized and assembled it during the chill and whirlpool. Ended up hitting all my numbers and the WLP835x Andechs yeast is starting to do its thing.

View attachment 767572

The small jar next to the Reflexit wrapped kegmenter is a sample taken from the Maibock. Extremely clear and dead nuts on all the predicted numbers. I'm a happy sailor.

As you can see, I've got a few projects going besides the Maibock. There's a Key Lime cider, a Blonde ale with Citra and Trident (great combo if you can find the Trident), a session IPA (Simcoe, Citra, Centennial, CTZ), and a 2 gallon batch of leftovers from the Session and Blonde I'll just call Heinz.

"Work, work work," as Mel Brooks said in Blazing Saddles.

Hey Brooothru - nice setup! I've been using the Spike all in one PRV on my Spike fermenter which works great. I wanted to use the Spike PRV on my recently acquired Unitank too. I like what you did with the Tee & elbow. Couldn't you just add the 90 degree elbow to where the blowoff arm connects and put the Spike PRV up top?

 

[Broothru]

Hey Brooothru - nice setup! I've been using the Spike all in one PRV on my Spike fermenter which works great. I wanted to use the Spike PRV on my recently acquired Unitank too. I like what you did with the Tee & elbow. Couldn't you just add the 90 degree elbow to where the blowoff arm connects and put the Spike PRV up top?

Oh yeah. The combinations are almost endless. As an example, I’ve used a TC cross pipe on top of a kegmenter that had a TC top. I mounted a CoolStix chilling rod down the center for glycol temperature control. Then on either side I attached 90 degree elbow pipes to mount a permanent TC PRV on one side and the all-in-one Spike Spunding valve on the other. Virtually the same features of a unitank (except for conical dump capability) at a fraction of the cost.