Spike Solo Owner's Thread

[Oceangrace24]

How is it going with everyone regarding mash temperatures and consistency?
One of my top reasons for making the jump to electric was for mash temperatures. I want to be able to control my mash as precisely as possible. I want to be able to mash a beer at 152° and then turn around and mash the same recipe at 154° to see the difference and so forth.

I read some early posts about the temperature being off between the temp probe and the middle of the grain bed.
Just wondering if anyone has made any progress on getting these more consistent.

Should be brewing here on my new Solo 20 in the next week or so.

 

[NewJersey]

I've only brewed one batch on my solo, but checked the temperature of the grain bed a few times during the mash and it was consistently 2⁰ lower than the probe read

 

[user 295610]

Five batches in on my Solo 10, and I think I'm finally starting to hit my stride with the system. Good recirculation is pretty key in controlling the grain bed mash temp. I'm using 0.035" triple roller milled 2-row, adding rice hulls as 3-5% of grain bill, allow grains to sit for 10 minutes before starting the pump, and my recirculation flow has no issues up to 1/4 pump flow rate. My grain bed is also 2 deg below probe temp, but that's because I'm losing 2 deg through the recirculation hosing and pump. But that's easy to compensate for with a bump on the PID temp. All and all, really happy.

 

[Steve Schmitt]

Has anyone tried the BrauSupply hop blocker with the Solo?

https://brausupply.com/collections/...s/products/hopblock-filter-plate-and-dip-tube

 

[Oceangrace24]

I didn't buy a CF chiller with my Solo because I have a Jaded Hydra chiller that I plan on using. I read earlier that someone else uses one and they used a hook and some zip ties to hang it from the side to keep it off the element.
Would there be any good reason why I couldn't take the grain basket, clean it out during the boil, and then put it back in the kettle at the end of the boil and set the IC on the bottom of the basket to keep it off the element?

 

[Steve Schmitt]

I didn't buy a CF chiller with my Solo because I have a Jaded Hydra chiller that I plan on using. I read earlier that someone else uses one and they used a hook and some zip ties to hang it from the side to keep it off the element.
Would there be any good reason why I couldn't take the grain basket, clean it out during the boil, and then put it back in the kettle at the end of the boil and set the IC on the bottom of the basket to keep it off the element?

I think that would work. 2 other options I am considering.

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/biabbottom17.htm
https://jadedbrewing.com/products/the-electrichair

 

[Oceangrace24]

I may have to look into one of those options as well. Not sure my chiller will be immersed enough when doing 5 gallon batches, but should be ok for 10 gallons.

 

[NewJersey]

Y'all might wanna try a CFC.
I gave it a try and have found that I like using it.

 

[Oceangrace24]

I'm sure they are great. But I already had a Jaded IC, so I didn't want to spend the money on something else when I have something that will work well.

 

[Fidelity101]

Probably a good idea not to try the CFC! I was foolish enough to try the exchilerator and now my Hydra will never get used again. Chilling beer in one pass from ~200F to ~64F as it flows from boiler to fermenter is a game changer.

 

[Fidelity101]

Has anyone tried the BrauSupply hop blocker with the Solo?

https://brausupply.com/collections/...s/products/hopblock-filter-plate-and-dip-tube

I’d like to know as well! Maybe you can be the test pilot and let us know.

 

[Steve Schmitt]

I’d like to know as well! Maybe you can be the test pilot and let us know.

Building my new brewery now and I certainly will be the ginny pig if it comes to that. I'm targeting the solo for my brew system but I want to make a number of changes. 1) I want to use the blichmann brew commander, 2) I am looking for a hop filter, Brau Supply is my current target, 3) I want to add the blichmann sparge arm to mitigate the stuck mash / scortched element risk, 4) I am going to get the SS brew cube and side shelf for my stand. Any other ideas?

 

[RogerGrahl]

I've only done four batches with my condensing lid, but I'm able to turn the PID down to 28% and still keep a rolling boil without any foam. What are you setting your PID at after you get a boil?

KVbeer, thank you again for sharing your PID settings. I never would have thought to go that low. After some “dry run” trial and error, I tried 35% (15 gallon Solo, 240 Volt). I hit all of my numbers with zero foam and no hops sticking to the side of the kettle. Win! I see you are living in Maine. I lived in Millinocket for a few years. I was “from away”. Thanks again for the tip. Cheers.

 

[user 295610]

KVbeer, thank you again for sharing your PID settings. I never would have thought to go that low. After some “dry run” trial and error, I tried 35% (15 gallon Solo, 240 Volt). I hit all of my numbers with zero foam and no hops sticking to the side of the kettle. Win! I see you are living in Maine. I lived in Millinocket for a few years. I was “from away”. Thanks again for the tip. Cheers.

My pleasure, glad it was an easy fix. I was born and raised in Maine, moved away for 16 years, moved back almost four years ago, and some would still consider me "from away". Tough crowd.

 

[Oceangrace24]

I have brewed 13 batches in my Solo with a Spike condenser lid. The learning curve was steep, but my process is now repeatable and under control. OG and FG are matching Brewsmith’s estimates exactly (that’s probably luck, not skill). I get a very pronounced trub cone in the whirlpool. My wort is clear with little or no grain. My mash doesn’t get stuck. My efficiency is equal to my old picnic cooler setup. Brewing indoors out of the wind and weather makes brew day a lot more pleasant. Cleanup is easy...not fun...but easy. All in all, this is a fantastic piece of equipment that works great. I am down to one remaining issue...or it may not really be an issue at all. I get a lot more foaming with the condenser lid than I used to with an open brew kettle. This causes a lot of hop matter to stick to the side of the brew kettle just above the wort level. Does anybody else have this problem? Is it even a problem? Is there a solution if it is a problem? My beer tastes better than ever so that might be the answer. Thanks, everybody, who posts on this forum. Your ideas, observations, and knowledge are a big help.

Add some Fermcap as you are getting up to boil temperature before the hot break starts. Or, wait and add it as your hot break starts to rise to see the effect that it has on the foam. It will basically eliminate it completely. I'll add about 10-15 drops. It's like $5 for a small bottle and I have had the same bottle for 2 years. I add it to my starters, to my boil and then to my fermenter. I also use it when I am cooking pasta! The stuff is magic.

 

[Oceangrace24]

I had my first brew Saturday on my 20G solo. I was hosting a brew session for my homebrew club, so there was 5-8 people always around me and the system while brewing, so It probably wasn't the most focused brew day. But that is ok, it was meant to be a learning day anyway.
I brewed an easy drinking Mexican Lager. Things went well for the most part. I had a few small issues that I am sure will improve with more batches and tweaking.

My observations, tweaks and results:

• Efficiency ended up decent. According to brewfather, mash eff: 71%. Probably due to the amount of stirring I did.
• Draining was terrible. Took forever and I ended up 1 gallon short of my pre-boil target. I ended up boiling at a very, very gentle boil to try and not lose as much volume so I would have 11 gallons for the fermenter.
• I used a loc-line ring on my mash recirculation. This seemed to work well. I had to monitor the flow from the pump constantly to make sure it was draining fast enough. I hooked up a tube from the whirlpool port to use as a sight glass. This worked well and helped.
• I stirred the mash every 10 minutes at least or any time I noticed the level dropping. There was a fine line between having enough flow with the recirc to fill all of the outlets of the loc-line and the wort draining from the basket during the mash. But I finally got a happy point. I'll be adding mash enzymes next time.
• Mash temperature: One thing I noticed when setting everything up and reading this thread was the distance of the temp probe to the heating element. When I first put in my element in the kettle, I noticed that the Convex portion of the curve in the element was facing the temp probe. So I tuned the element over to make sure the probe was facing the concave portion of the element. I figured this would keep the element as far away from the probe as possible. Mash temps were pretty good. I am sure the fact that I was stirring the mash so often helped with this. I used a thermapen to measure the grain bed and it was about 2 deg off from the probe temp. This is about what I expected and was good with that.
• I measured my mash pH about 10 minutes in and almost freaked out. My recipe called for 10ml of lactic acid to get my mash to 5.2pH using brewfather. I took a sample 10 minutes coming out of the loc-line recirculation, cooled it down and it was in the 3.5 range. WHAT? So i stirred up the mash and took a sample off the top, chilled it and it was exactly 5.2. Not sure why the sample coming through the recirc was different, but I didn't worry at that point.
• I mentioned earlier in this thread that I already owned an IC and asked about putting the basket back in to rest the chiller on. This is what i did, but it came with issues. I will be hanging the chiller from the side in the future unless I get one of the devices from Jaded that lets your chiller rest above your element. The issue I had was when I put the basket back in with about 15 minutes left in the boil to sterilize it, the boil came up the sides of the kettle/basket and started coming out where the basket rests against the kettle. Pulled the basket and then just put it back down after the boil was over.
• I noticed grain in the boil while it was boiling and worried that I was going to have a bunch in the kettle at the end due to all the stirring. After the boil and doing a 10 minute whirpool, I really didn't notice much at all after draining. Element looked perfect after a quick rinse. I do about a 0.035 crush.
• I ended up with only 10Gallons in my fermenter once I racked it over. Was expecting/shooting for 11 gallons. I use a CF10, so I think the volume is measure before my added BF value, elbow and sight glass.
• I made a 4L starter and I typically make the starter, crash it, decant, and then pitch. Well, I didn't make the starter early enough and was only able to crash it for 24 hours. Most of the yeast dropped, but it wasn't as clear as I wanted. So with the idea that I was a bit short on my volume into the fermenter anyway, I went ahead and pitched the whole thing. This dropped my SG a few points, but not enough for me to worry this time.
• This was my first brew using pumps and valves and all that tubing. I love the quick disconnects. I only pulled a hose off an open valve once so that is a win, figured it would be more. Still learning that even with closed valves, there is still some liquid inside that will come out.
• Lifting the basket was no problem with 2 guys, but I will be getting a hoist for solo brewing. I'm Wondering if having the basket level while draining will help the drain rate instead of it being tilted and draining to one side.

Overall I was pleased with how the day went. I can't wait to keep brewing and learning on this system. I'll mostly be brewing 5 gallon batches, so I'll see how it works with that on the next run. I didn't take any picture due to all the people there and trying to pay attention to everything.

 

[user 295610]

Lifting the basket was no problem with 2 guys, but I will be getting a hoist for solo brewing. I'm Wondering if having the basket level while draining will help the drain rate instead of it being tilted and draining to one side.

I had the same concern, so I added a brace under the basket port to hold it level while lautering.

 

[Oceangrace24]

I had the same concern, so I added a brace under the basket port to hold it level while lautering.

Did that make any difference?

 

[user 295610]

Did that make any difference?

It certainly helps the wort drain through the grains evenly, so it looks like a better setup if nothing else. But in practice, I was also changing my grain crush and adding rice hulls in some batches so it's really hard to tell if it made any difference in my numbers. I also press the grains after lautering, and having the brace in place to keep the basket level I think helps get the last of the wort out, too.

 

[RogerGrahl]

Add some Fermcap as you are getting up to boil temperature before the hot break starts. Or, wait and add it as your hot break starts to rise to see the effect that it has on the foam. It will basically eliminate it completely. I'll add about 10-15 drops. It's like $5 for a small bottle and I have had the same bottle for 2 years. I add it to my starters, to my boil and then to my fermenter. I also use it when I am cooking pasta! The stuff is magic.

OceanGrace24, thanks for replying.

 

[Matt Orabella]

I have switched from the solo basket to using a brewhardware false bottom and BIAB. I have tried both wilser and theBrewbag. Overall I like the bag system better, no worries about recirculation, I am back to milling at .028 and the bag is easier to rinse than the 20G solo basket.

Only hiccup was I didn't tie a proper knot prior to cranking the bag up last brew and splashed some wort. Since then I have brushed up on my bowline knot

Question for those who use counterflow chillers with whirlpool hop additions:

Do you typically do a traditional 30-minute whirlpool or just chuck the hops in and start chilling/transferring?

 

[RogerGrahl]

Matt, I drop my temperature and hold at 180 F. The PID controller makes that easy. Once I’m at 180 F. I add hops directly to the kettle and whirlpool for about 20 minutes. The counter flow chiller is hooked up with the cooling water turned off. The hops are circulating through the chiller but so far this hasn’t caused any problems. The trub and hop cone forms nicely during the whirlpool.

 

[user 295610]

Matt, I drop my temperature and hold at 180 F. The PID controller makes that easy. Once I’m at 180 F. I add hops directly to the kettle and whirlpool for about 20 minutes. The counter flow chiller is hooked up with the cooling water turned off. The hops are circulating through the chiller but so far this hasn’t caused any problems. The trub and hop cone forms nicely during the whirlpool.

I bag my whirlpool hops and tie them off to the handle, but otherwise I'm doing the same setup and temp. If I'm trying to get some noticeable hop isomerization for an APA/IPA I may whirlpool for 30 minutes.

 

[Fidelity101]

25 lb (89.3%) — Canada Malting Co 2-Row Malt — Grain — 1.9 °L

1 lb (3.6%) — Briess Carapils — Grain — 1.5 °L

1 lb (3.6%) — Wheat Flaked — Grain — 1.7 °L

8 oz (1.8%) — Briess Caramel Malt 20L — Grain — 20 °L

8 oz (1.8%) — Briess Caramel Munich 60L Malt — Grain — 60 °L



I mashed 28 pounds of grain in 15 gallons of water. Gravity after mash (before I lifted the mash tun) was 1.060 and I was happy. I lifted the mash tun, raised to a boil and after a 60 minute boil, my Final Gravity was 1.052. Crazy right! 1.060 was a very good efficiency for my setup and everything was on track...so where/how did I loose gravity after a boil? I forgot to take a measurement after lifting the mash tun (pre boil gravity) but that would probably have been a helpful measurement to have.



The runnings from the mash after I moved the mash tun into the sink to let it finish draining that last little bit was 1.072 so the efficiency of the mash was very good. It would seem to me that I lost at least 8-10 points after lifting the mash which made me think the dead space in the mash could be a cultrate. I did a calculation to see how much water would need to be added into solution to drop 10 points and it was 3.5 gallons...the exact amount of dead space in the Spike CF10 system. So....I'm doing something wrong!!! But what???



The wort is flowing from the bottom right side TC port where it's picking up wort from the bottom...the pick up tube is pointed straight down. The wort is flowing into the top of the mash tun where it is circulating well. That got me thinking HOW could the water on the outside of the mash tun possibly be mixing with the rest of the water unless there was some sort of whirlpool effect going on....outside of the mash tun.



Question: Am I the first person to have this problem or am I doing something wrong?



Question: Wouldn't this system benefit from a whirlpool circulation DURING the mash in order to force the wort around the mash tun (outside) to mix with the wort going through the inside of the mash tun?


Question: Assuming I'm correct in that the dead space isn't mixing properly...what is the fix?

 

[user 295610]

Question: Am I the first person to have this problem or am I doing something wrong?



Question: Wouldn't this system benefit from a whirlpool circulation DURING the mash in order to force the wort around the mash tun (outside) to mix with the wort going through the inside of the mash tun?


Question: Assuming I'm correct in that the dead space isn't mixing properly...what is the fix?

You're operating the system exactly as Spike designed it, so I wouldn't say you're doing anything wrong. It's just a limitation of the Spike Solo design with the tapered basket, side pickup and large amount of deadspace.

Earlier in this thread (page 2 or 3) there is some discussion about splitting the recirculation return flow between the basket and whirlpool port to try and get some better mixing in the deadspace. I haven't gone to that length yet, but I am considering temporarily moving the recirculation return from the basket to the whirlpool and doing a 30 second mix 2-3 times during the mash to try to better mix the deadspace wort. Probably won't have much effect, but it can't hurt and it's easy to try.

I've read some other all-in-one system threads and I've heard of people completely removing the basket at 20 minutes, letting it drain almost completely and then replacing the basket and continuing the mash. Supposedly they're getting 8-10% increase in efficiency. Sounds like a huge PITA, when I could just add a little extra 2-row for the same gravity reading. But hey, to each their own and as long we're all having fun brewing I'm not going to knock anyone for optimizing their system/process.

 

[mp.shannon]

Probably a good idea not to try the CFC! I was foolish enough to try the exchilerator and now my Hydra will never get used again. Chilling beer in one pass from ~200F to ~64F as it flows from boiler to fermenter is a game changer.

Ive seen many people state this. I do lots of whirlpool hop additions at 175 or lower. How do you cool from 212 to 175 or lower? Do you pass it through the CFC back to the whirlpool port? If so, how is your whirlpool speed?

 

[user 295610]

Ive seen many people state this. I do lots of whirlpool hop additions at 175 or lower. How do you cool from 212 to 175 or lower? Do you pass it through the CFC back to the whirlpool port? If so, how is your whirlpool speed?

I use the CFC to drop the wort temperature from boiling to 175-180, which also sanitizes the chiller. Once at whirlpool temp I stop the chiller water, turn the element back on and set the PID to auto mode and the desired temp. Then I'll add hops and set my timer.

I keep my pump and CFC all at the same elevation as the kettle ports. The whirlpool speed definitely takes a hit going through the CFC first, but it still adequately spins the wort and creates a decent cone of material at the bottom. I should note I have a 10 gallon Solo+ system so I'm moving less fluid than those with a 15 or 20 gallon system.

 

[Fidelity101]

I whirlpool using the CFC for the last 15 minutes to clean it, which makes dropping temps very easy. I never thought about keeping the heater on at a certain temp but it’s a good idea and I’ll be adding that into my brew day going forward.

Can anyone who’s actually split the pump output between the whirlpool and lautering profess comment on efficiency improvements? Also, what angle do you guys use for the whirlpool arm? Mine is parallel with the base of the mash tun and I’m wondering if that’s why it’s not mixing as well as it could be. I’m also thinking about adding a piece of silicone tubing to the whirlpool arm inside so the wort can flow up closer to the sides of the mash tun and create a better flow from top to bottom.

 

[SonomaBrewer]

Stuck mash issues as well, even with rice hulls.Finally found a robust solution to attach my Blichmann Autosparge to my Spike+ Solo. Works like a charm. FNPT coupler with 1.5" TC pipe connector from Norcal Brewing solutions:

https://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Tri-Clover-Pipe-Connect-1.5-Inch-x-1.5-Inch.html
Thanks you Norcal Brewing Solutions!!

 

[Fidelity101]

This would be better then..
View attachment 721652

I've had a good experience using this for the sparge arm! Easy to remove during mash in and easy to reinstall.

Also, the attached photos show my update to the system. After having a HORRIBLY low efficiency on the last batch, I added a T connector to the output pump and dropped another line between the whirlpool port and the lautering port on the mash tun. This has been a good improvement so far in that the whirlpool at the bottom of the mash tun is strong and forces the water outside the mash tun to circulate and mix together, then the pump is able to transfer a percentage of that mixed water into the top of the mash tun in order to evenly distribute the water across the grains. The end result was a more accurate gravity reading when taking a sample of wort from the top during lautering. I was at 1.042 20 minutes into the mash and 1.052 towards the end. My final gravity was 1.056 and I transferred 11 gallons of wort into the fermenter. I started with 15 gallons of water and 27 pounds of grain.

On the previous batch, without the T fitting, I was 1.060 towards the end of the mash and my final gravity after boil was 1.052...clearly the water around the mash tun wasn't mixing during the mash. I had used 15.25 gallons of water and 28 pounds of grain.

The only thing I'm going to change about my system is putting the on/off valve at the pump for the lautering instead of by the mash tun. It's easier to control flow when it's high but once you remove the mash tun, you need to be able to stop the water flow somehow....leaving it at the bottom allows you to just close the valve.