Spike conical

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Stand

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I just got a spike conical last week, and it looks like one of the welds for the legs came through to the interior.

I contacted them, and they said these are only cosmetic and will cause no sanitation issues.

Thoughts?
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Kinda hard to tell with the pictures. I can say on mine you can definitely see where the welds are on the inside. Nothing that's caused any issues. Cheers
 
I'm not sure how well you can see it with these pictures. It's very hard to take a good picture of a shiny surface inside that fermenter, but it's pitting, and it's deep enough to get my fingernail caught on it.

In my mind smooth = sanitary. I don't care about the cosmetics I just want to make sure I don't ruin my beer with my shiny new toy.
 
I just received mine today but haven't had a chance to open it up yet kinda curious now.
 
Looking at the weld I don't see anything that sticks out as unsanitary. The welds are back purged with argon so the weld doesn't 'sugar' (see image for example of sugared weld). The backside of a weld can certainly show through to the inside. For example, all of our tri-clamps are full penetration welds meaning the weld bead goes all the way from the outside and shows through to the inside. The bead you're showing is smooth and doesn't have cracks, crevices or pits. On the legs we try and get as little penetration as possible but sometimes the weld does show through. It won't affect your conical in a functional way.

Tim
Spike Engineer
 

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  • Sugared Weld.jpg
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I will take your word for it. The other legs can be seen on the inside, but none of them have created a groove. They are slightly raised in fact.

This is not smooth, but if you say that groove can't harbor bacteria, I will let it go.
 
I have been welding professionally for 35 years. The photo shows close to 100 percent penetration. The Spike welder is good and knows what he is doing. I can't speak to the sanitary angle, but I do know the legs will never break off. I agree with Tim. The conical body at the most is 18 gauge stainless. I would worry if there were no penetration.
 
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The legs are quite solid. On the outside the welds look beautiful; I'm sure the guy knows what he's doing. My only concern was that rough surfaces are almost impossible to sanitize. It's why people who ferment in plastic buckets replace them every once in awhile. Scratches can't be cleaned effectively.

At the risk of making myself sound like an idiot, how does welding create a depression like that? Where did the metal go?
 
The OP posted up those photos and asked for opinions, and I’ll expand on mine. Ultimately, this issue is between him and spike.

I’m not a welder, I won’t begin to speak towards the quality or structural integrity of that weld. What I do see is a deep crevasse in the side wall of that fermenter. Going forward using it that way, I would equate it to fermenting in a plastic bucket after someone has taken a hot knife and made a deep gouge in the side of it. No home brewer I know would continue using that bucket.

I understand the explanation of the full pen weld. Some distortion or waviness on the inside, fine. A raised bump or otherwise visible weld bead, fine. What I’m seeing in those pictures, not fine. Personally, I would return that unit. Regardless of whatever reassurances I receive from spike, I wouldn’t settle for that after dropping that $$ on it.
 
Looking at the weld I don't see anything that sticks out as unsanitary. The welds are back purged with argon so the weld doesn't 'sugar' (see image for example of sugared weld). The backside of a weld can certainly show through to the inside. For example, all of our tri-clamps are full penetration welds meaning the weld bead goes all the way from the outside and shows through to the inside. The bead you're showing is smooth and doesn't have cracks, crevices or pits. On the legs we try and get as little penetration as possible but sometimes the weld does show through. It won't affect your conical in a functional way.

Tim
Spike Engineer

Maybe I should clarify this. When you look at those pictures do you think it's smooth? It is not smooth. It feels like sandpaper when I drag my fingernail along that groove.

I'm really not sure what you're seeing there, but I feel like there has been some miscommunications as I read back over the responses. I just want to be clear; those are pits, grooves, crevices, depressions, holes, divots or trenches. Are all of those acceptable? That's sanitary? You had me second guessing myself, which is more annoying than the original issue.

Ugh, I just wanna make beer, and instead I'm reading articles about alloy vaporization temperatures.

On the plus side, welding seems awesome.
 
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Only issue i have found so far is with the PRV kit the housing is full of shavings and burs I mean full would of figured that would of been cleaned out after the process kinda disappointed that it wasnt taken care of after machining. Gonna be fun trying to clean all that out I spent alot of money for something like that to be sent out to me.
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They are sending me a replacement I believe im not going to try and clean them out.
 
Those look fantastic. The other leg welds are smooth on mine, but nothing like that.

Can you get the shavings out?

The bigger problem is if they are still somewhat attached. How can you clean a surface with a burr on it?
Mine looks the same this fwiw. Cheers
 
I got my Spike cf15 a couple of months ago. On my first batch with 15 gals, I tripped on a hose connected to the temp control coil and it fell 2' to the concrete floor. Not a dent or scratch in it, very solidly made. I pump my boiling wort right into the fermenter and cool it down with temp coil. Seems like it should make 100% sure its sterile? The only problem I had was a bad pressure gauge, they had a new one to me very promptly. Great company, great products!
 
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