New V3 Kettles from Spike? Anyone Have one yet?

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as i understand it, the kettle, handles, lid, gallon markings and spike logo come from china. all the holes are punched and couplings welded here in the states. a good compromise, imho.

i've come to accept that most stuff is coming from china. hell, even the 30 gal and larger blichmann g2 come from china.
 
It is VERY nice.

Unfortunately, I had a problem with the flex-face thermometer: the face was mounted upside-down (so it only bent towards the floor). I broke it trying to fix. $50. Flushed. :(

**UPDATE** yet more proof of Spike's awesomeness, they are shipping a new thermometer ASAP. They wouldn't even accept any $$ for my part in the debacle! Great Customer Experience!

Spike 15 gal..jpg
 
My MLT & BK arrived 2 weeks ago: https://www.instagram.com/p/_fRoH5lmRY/

They're very solidly crafted, I'm really pleased with the purchase. A few bumps:

One of the boxes had some damage and the cardboard was torn away around the drain coupler:

BoxDamage.jpg

BoxDamageCloseup.jpg

The MLT arrived with a large 12" long scratch in the 'back' side. I don't think that was related to the damaged box...

KettleScratch.jpg

I have not yet been kicked out of the kitchen for brew days. These kettles are enormous.

KettlesInPlace.jpg

I ran a wet test the other night by recirculating PBW to attempt to cleanse off any oils from manufacturing. This is my first time using a pump & plate chiller, but couldn't see manhandling these things they way I would when doing extract & partial mash batches.

WetTest.jpg

One other nit that I need to speak with Spike about is that the laser etching on the sight glasses is so faint that it is near invisible and not useful at all. You might be able to make out a very faint "8". This is from approximately 2 inches away at a perfect viewing angle. In all others, it's not visible at all:

SightGlassEtching.jpg


Unfortunately, the holidays have gotten in the way of my first brew day, which will finally be this afternoon :mug:
 
i received my kettle with a pretty decent scratch on it as well. no idea if it arrived that way from the factory or if it was something that happened in their fab shop.

similar deal with the sigh glass, the markings are extremely faint. i reached out to spike, they are talking to their welder. we'll see what happens...
 
My box had a good sized hole where the pot handle was. No damage to anything other than the cardboard (luckily!).
 
That's a shame that they arrived in that condition. If you contact SpikeBrewing I'm sure they'll be able to make it right. These guys have some of the best customer service I've personally experienced.
 
WildernessBrewing said:
That's a shame that they arrived in that condition. If you contact SpikeBrewing I'm sure they'll be able to make it right. These guys have some of the best customer service I've personally experienced.
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So far that has been my experience as well! :mug:
 
ViciousFishes said:
One other nit that I need to speak with Spike about is that the laser etching on the sight glasses is so faint that it is near invisible and not useful at all. You might be able to make out a very faint "8". This is from approximately 2 inches away at a perfect viewing angle. In all others, it's not visible at all:

View attachment 327079


Unfortunately, the holidays have gotten in the way of my first brew day, which will finally be this afternoon :mug:
Click to expand...

It does look awfully light...But, it just may surprise you and be readily readable when there is wort in there, as it is a darkish liquid..
 
Wort makes no difference. I can barely make out the gallon markings. I was told the kettles were delayed due to the sight glasses. Had to wait almost an extra month from when I was originally told they would ship due to the sight glasses. Kinda bummed. I dropped a grand in this purchase...
 
I got both my HLT and BK and I will agree the sight glass etching is very light, I took a fine tip sharpie and colored them in for the time being, I might have to add a set of decals to make them more visible from a greater distance, but over all I am happy. I am planning a brew day shortly once I get all my fitting and new stand worked kinks worked out.
 
Hey guys! We are aware of some sight glasses being quite faint. We are working with our manufacturer and they will be working through the issue on their end. We are hoping to have new tubes cut by the end of January. We have made the decision to offer a free replacement for tubes with issues. If you would like a new tube please contact us at the end of the month or check our FB page for updates.
 
Capn_James said:
Another month? Anybody want to purchase 2 15 gallon kettles? I have only used them once. They are V3. I'm over them.
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Lol. You're 'over them' because the sight glass etching is faint (even though there's etching on the inside as well) and the manufacturer has already said they will replace them free of charge? Customers like this make me glad I'm not in the customer service biz. Throw them up on the For Sale forum. I'm sure plenty of people would be happy to purchase them!
 
i mean, to each their own but being 'over them' because of this seems pretty extreme. get a out a sharpie and add some temporary markings to the protective sleeve, replace when the new ones are shipped to you. not a huge deal, imho.
 
Bro put on your big girl panties and calm down, you are out of control "I am over them" I am sure that Spike Brewing is doing everyone right in this case and offering to correct the problem, you could show a shred of respect for a company whiling to correct their issue.
 
Got my 20 gallon MT yesterday. It's beautiful and I couldn't be happier.
Looking forward to getting a 20gal V3 BK. Just waiting on side pickup diptube and recirc port option.
I'd like to pick up another V3 for a HLT but the one keggle I'm gonna keep will get the job done just fine.
 
What is whiling? Just irritated that I had to wait an extra month for a product and then when it does show up it is not what is shown. I work in sales and this would not fly in my industry. No communication from the vendor on a delay (pretty simple mass email imho) and then nothing after the fact. We have to contact them for a replacement? It should just be sent with a confirmation email for a delivery address.
 
How large an outfit do you work for? Ben at spike likely wears 7-8 hats lol.

All this stuff you speak of is pretty basic, but tough to implement when one man band is playing 5 instruments.
 
Again - to each their own but I will reiterate that Ben took GREAT care of me when I ruined my flexible thermometer as it came mounted upside-down. I received the replacement yesterday and they made sure it was mounted correctly!

I have been in Sales and Customer Experience for years - mistakes WILL happen - no matter what. It's how you feel when they've made it right (or not) that matters. It's pure fantasy to think that mistakes don't happen. New products have glitches. People will disappoint me and I will, in turn, disappoint others. Make it right with me and all is well.

I wouldn't imagine ANY of the other kettle manufacturers would do any better. I have heard bad experiences will ALL of them.

Spike is aces by me.
 
Thanks guys! We really are trying our best! There are about 30 new SKUs related to the new kettle right now and the only real issue is the faint sight glass etching. We will be taking care of that ASAP!

Capn_James said:
What is whiling? Just irritated that I had to wait an extra month for a product and then when it does show up it is not what is shown. I work in sales and this would not fly in my industry. No communication from the vendor on a delay (pretty simple mass email imho) and then nothing after the fact. We have to contact them for a replacement? It should just be sent with a confirmation email for a delivery address.
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We understand your frustration. Imagine as bad as you wanted to receive the kettle is as bad as we wanted to start shipping! A couple delays popped up (sight glass was one ironically) but we're rolling pretty steady all things considered. I hope you will give us a few more weeks of patience so you can enjoy a lifetime of happy brewing on your Spike kettle!! :mug:

Capn_James said:
We have to contact them for a replacement? It should just be sent with a confirmation email for a delivery address.
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In regards to this, we do not know who received the faint sight glasses. We've had about 6 people contact us in total. Most of the people have stated on HBT which doesn't show order #'s or email addresses so it's not very easy to send anything out.

-Tim
 
Capn_James said:
It's not mistakes. We all make mistakes. They may put out a quality product but the customer service is ****.
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have you contacted them? i don't believe i have ever waited more than 24 hours before getting a response. and as ben can attest, i have sent A LOT of e-mails over the last several months. out of all the various companies i have dealt with, spike is number 2 on my list. and this isn't just brewing companies, this is everything. and trust me, i have contacted A LOT of companies over the years.

this is not some giant corporation with fancy e-mail algorithms. to expect some type of automated e-mail updating specific customers to specific problems is unrealistic.
 
I will agree the customer service is amazing. I do a TON of on line shopping and they have been one of the best to deal with. I rarely wait more than an hour or two for a response via email sometimes even at odd hours of the night or weekend I still get immediate response. A+ in my book! I can't wait to purchase more products from them in the future. Also the product quality is second to none. I have personally handled ss brew tech and mega pot kettles while also nice I think these blow them away! The welds are amazing!
 
They responded to me in LESS than 2 hours on 12/30 (in the evening). That's not **** customer service in my book.:confused:
 
I can't believe people are sticking up for this. Spike/Tim, the lack of communication from your company is horrible. I can post the email from November saying that my kettles were shipping that week. Then NOTHING. If I had known things were going to run this route, I would have had my keggles modified.

On a side note, I will sell anyone on here anything they want and not deliver. Wait, I will deliver. Who wants a ketchup packet?;)
 
itsnotrequired said:
have you contacted them? i don't believe i have ever waited more than 24 hours before getting a response. and as ben can attest, i have sent A LOT of e-mails over the last several months. out of all the various companies i have dealt with, spike is number 2 on my list. and this isn't just brewing companies, this is everything. and trust me, i have contacted A LOT of companies over the years.

this is not some giant corporation with fancy e-mail algorithms. to expect some type of automated e-mail updating specific customers to specific problems is unrealistic.
Click to expand...

It's a quick once over of a spread sheet, no algorithm. Unless you count the interaction between a vendor and a customer.:mug:
 

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