Hi all... I am in the market to upgrade my equipment and I think I have settled on Spike. I am looking at the Flex+ vs. the CF10.
In an effort to save money, I think that my purchase will be the flex+. I have a refrigerator which (I according to how I measured....), will fit the flex+. This will allow me to lager and cold crash without having to get a glycol chiller. I love the idea of fermentation under pressure as well doing pressure transfers. And you can minimize oxygen uptake by dry hopping towards the end of fermentation. Hell, I have even seen people create a dry hop dump port with a sight-glass and butterfly valve attached to the top of the unit which seemingly eliminates oxygen uptake altogether.
The only real differences I see in the flex+ vs. the CF 10 is the footprint (smaller for flex+ which allows me to put in the fridge) and no bottom dump port. With the rotating racking cane in the flex+ cant you just rotate the arm before racking to get the clearer beer? I usually harvest yeast by overbuilding a starter anyway so dumping the yeast to reuse isn't an issue. Dry hop particles will be an issue with either unit, so how do you minimize hop burn, which seems to be a constant issue with my hoppy beers. Again, I think the solution would be to turn the racking arm down then rotate it prior to kegging. Though the flex+ has about .22 gallons of cone space, is this big enough to avoid sucking in old yeast/trub/hop particles? How many gallons can the flex+ hold without having to worry about a blow off?
I am concerned about the "Do Not Lift When Full" on both units, though I have also seen many post that this seems more like a legal disclaimer.
Pros and cons would be great. I know people love Spike, and would love to hear from people who have both units.
Currently Spike is out of both options so I have time to poll the forum users and really.... I suppose I am open for suggestions from other manufacturers which can accommodate my needs.
In an effort to save money, I think that my purchase will be the flex+. I have a refrigerator which (I according to how I measured....), will fit the flex+. This will allow me to lager and cold crash without having to get a glycol chiller. I love the idea of fermentation under pressure as well doing pressure transfers. And you can minimize oxygen uptake by dry hopping towards the end of fermentation. Hell, I have even seen people create a dry hop dump port with a sight-glass and butterfly valve attached to the top of the unit which seemingly eliminates oxygen uptake altogether.
The only real differences I see in the flex+ vs. the CF 10 is the footprint (smaller for flex+ which allows me to put in the fridge) and no bottom dump port. With the rotating racking cane in the flex+ cant you just rotate the arm before racking to get the clearer beer? I usually harvest yeast by overbuilding a starter anyway so dumping the yeast to reuse isn't an issue. Dry hop particles will be an issue with either unit, so how do you minimize hop burn, which seems to be a constant issue with my hoppy beers. Again, I think the solution would be to turn the racking arm down then rotate it prior to kegging. Though the flex+ has about .22 gallons of cone space, is this big enough to avoid sucking in old yeast/trub/hop particles? How many gallons can the flex+ hold without having to worry about a blow off?
I am concerned about the "Do Not Lift When Full" on both units, though I have also seen many post that this seems more like a legal disclaimer.
Pros and cons would be great. I know people love Spike, and would love to hear from people who have both units.
Currently Spike is out of both options so I have time to poll the forum users and really.... I suppose I am open for suggestions from other manufacturers which can accommodate my needs.