Spike vs. SS Brewtech vs. Blichman systems...

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cvav8or

cvav8or

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Hey all, I'm back after a long hiatus and I'm looking at stepping up my brew game... I finally have some cash and a good location to brew as well as more time to put into it... So here's what I think I want after cobbling bits and pieces together and just not enjoying the mess and prep and the sanitation concerns that go along with buckets, carboys, bottling, etc....

A 3 vessel system
All grain
All in one purchase
Electric
Going to keg instead of bottle

So I've been poking around and I'm looking at three systems. They are the SS Brewtech, Spike, and Blichman systems linked here:


https://www.ssbrewtech.com/collectio...-kit-all-grain (I don't believe it's electric so it will require some modification and a power panel)

https://spikebrewing.com/collections...stem-15-gallon Looks like, everything I'd need minus the conical fermenter

http://shop.greatfermentations.com/p...CABEgIeovD_BwE (Will also require a fermenter)

I'm leaning towards the spike system but the SS Brewtech looks solid too.

Sorry for the shotgun approach, just thought I'd get the opinions of you guys... oh and if you know of another manufacturer of a complete setup I should be looking into please mention it.

Cvav8or
 
Links aren't working, but I'll throw in my 2c about the companies after seeing them in person over the last two NHCs

Between Spike and SS...Spike. No question. Spike just feels and looks more solid. There are lots of folks out there that are gung-ho on the SS equipment but to me it feels a bit more flimsy than Spike equipment does.

If you're willing to spend the coin, Blichmann is phenomenal gear, and made in the US if that's important to you. SS/Spike may be welded and assembled in the US, but the manufacturing takes place in China. Again, it depends on whether or not this matters to you. Blichmann recently outsourced their "Anvil" line to compete with these new China-based brands hitting the market, but I was able to talk to John Blichmann briefly at NHC2016 and he talked about spending time touring various Chinese fabrication facilities to ensure the Anvil line was being made under acceptable standards and conditions instead of just sourcing to whoever was cheapest.

Bottom line? Spike if you're on the fence about price vs quality...Blichmann if US manufacturing matters to you.
 
snowveil said:
Links aren't working, but I'll throw in my 2c about the companies after seeing them in person over the last two NHCs

Between Spike and SS...Spike. No question. Spike just feels and looks more solid. There are lots of folks out there that are gung-ho on the SS equipment but to me it feels a bit more flimsy than Spike equipment does.

If you're willing to spend the coin, Blichmann is phenomenal gear, and made in the US if that's important to you. SS/Spike may be welded and assembled in the US, but the manufacturing takes place in China. Again, it depends on whether or not this matters to you. Blichmann recently outsourced their "Anvil" line to compete with these new China-based brands hitting the market, but I was able to talk to John Blichmann briefly at NHC2016 and he talked about spending time touring various Chinese fabrication facilities to ensure the Anvil line was being made under acceptable standards and conditions instead of just sourcing to whoever was cheapest.

Bottom line? Spike if you're on the fence about price vs quality...Blichmann if US manufacturing matters to you.
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I can ad that ss has an extensive quality control system in place with thier manufacturers as well... I got that info first hand here from them after making some assumptions on another thread...
In short all 3 are excellent quality and are being considered because of this.

If you have the extra coin any of the 3 will work very well and im sure youll get great support from any of them..

I believe the most heavy duty system would be stouts actually since I own some of their equipment and their polished stainless is a much thicker gauge stainless than the SS conicals I bought... They dont do a lot of advertising and I know they got some bad press here a while back but consider like 70% or all 3 and 5 barrel brewing systems out there are made by stout (or sungood machinery whom makes those lines for them) Ive been looking for months for my nano system and every brewery I visit just about uses them.
 
Id go spike. The kettles are solid. Just like there moto says " your liver will fail before the equipment will"
 
I can solidly say I back spike. I have their 1 BBL Nano brewhouse and its built solid as anything. Works very well. Very easy to use. Highly recommend. That being said I actually use SS Brewtech Conicals so. I also like their gear. You really can't go wrong. I went with Spike because I found it best value
 
I have Blichmann kettles and Ss fermenters, both are great. Both Blichmann and Ss have done a lot for innovation when it comes to homebrewing gear, Spike has mostly just been a knock-off of Blichmann, when it comes to kettles.

If I had to do it again I'd probably skip the 3 vessel path and go with an electric 2 vessel system like the Breweasy, for simplicity's sake.
 
I've looked at upgrading my kettles as I currently have a hodgepodge of a Bayou Aluminum 60qt HLT, Keggle MLT and a no name SS 10g BK.

I do have a Kal Clone electric control panel.

The SS brewtech 20g BME BK will work if you only plan to do 10g finished batches.

The "logical" place to put a Hot Water Heater 5500W element is too high up to be useful for 5g finished batches.

Trying to mount a 5500 W element in the InfuSSIOn ton would be hard. The MTSS system is good to maintain temp but will take FOREVER to heat. Just doesn't have the watts.

MLT will be fine. Maybe a touch more deadspace under the false bottom, but no issues with a HERMS electric system if you are fly sparging.

Now, 2 "Standard" SS Kettles and a InfuSsion MLT would be a good match, that's what I've been looking at.


The Spike System is likely the most cost effective. Buy once, cry once as they say. It appears to basically be a Kal Clone but I'm not sure 100% on if the inner workings are the same, but based off the 3 PIDs, switches, and big ass heatsink, I'm betting it's RTDs telling PIDs the temp, which are driving SSRs to control the elements.

Blichmann is nice, but if going that route, I like Kal's system www.theelectricbrewery.com better the Blichmann's on the control side.

Kal's system is standard parts. Blichmann, is basically Beechcraft parts pricing where a Chevy part will do the job fine.

Based off your username, I'm gonna guess you are a Growler guy. Hummer Clown here.
 
I'd suggest looking into 2-vessel no sparge configurations. It's a change i've made recently that makes brewing so much easier. Unless you're making beer in ridiculous quantities this is an economical and easy way to go. Less parts too.
 
I personally have both spike and ssbrew. My main brew kettles are spike. I have an ssbrew lauder grant that I built and have purchased many, many, fittings and special parts from them.. in the end, I will never hesitate to buy from spike brewing. In fact I look to them first for everything I buy now. Ss on the other hand, I will avoid. I have been disappointed with most everything I have bought from them. While yes, they make some neat parts, they are always slightly disappointing.. currently I have an ss kettle, several weldless couplers, the mini sight glasses, the fly sparge arm, the vorlauf attachment, and I bought and returned some tri clamp ball valves. Their kettles are far inferior to spikes. All the fittings and gadgets I have bought, just haven't worked like I hoped.. maybe if you have all ssbrew, they might mesh better.. I work in a commercial production plant and I feel like spike is the same quality I use at work. Ssbrew is like the chinese knockoff.. just my personal experience.. I will say ssbrew has excellent customer service and has addressed any issue I have to my satisfaction. But the fact that I have had issues and had to contact them is concerning. The only thing I have contacted spike about is to find out when I can throw more money their way.
 
So the SS Brewtech isn't electric.... Spike won't sell me the setup without the panel (I want to build my own for fun and upgradeability later on) and the Blichman doesn't come with a real panel.....

So I'm at an impasse.... I want a full one stop shop type of purchase but I also want quality... Spike has my eye but again I'm limited to their panel unless I buy every component separately.....

Cvav8or
 
Spike will sell you pretty much everything without the panel.. just get the custom kettles and if you email them they will sell you the elements and accessories..
 
The spike panel is from ebrewsupply. I just got the 50a back to back w volt and amp meter added as well as a third pump. Haven't run it yet but looks solid and waaaay less than theelectricbrewery panel. And the box is SS. Also got a 15g spike mash last month. Worked great on a few double mashes. Solid kettle. Great false bottom. Quick removal dip tube is great.

If you're good w the details of the systems, it would be great. But for me the below would turn me towards buying parts.

Panel is 30a. I'd want 50 amp back to back. Added volt and amp meter are a nice but not nessisary touch.
Rather have camlocks
Wouldn't want sight glass on kettles. Just another thing to clean
Rather have center suction pumps or riptide.
Wouldn't want all the same size kettles. For me 10 hlt, 15 mash and two 10 boil works for huge og beers and double mash w separate boils...thus the 50a back to back panel...or boil two at once.

Kind of dumb they won't customize it. They do w the kettles. Why not w the system. It's their company so I quess they can do what they want.
 
Bassmang4,

I'm scratching my head too.... I want the entire system, complete, one simple order minus the panel because I want to build a 50a panel... I want to build it for fun and for future expansion ability.... I'm lazy, I don't want to piece a complete system together hence the desire to just buy a system and the Spike system fits the bill for me.....

I guess I'll be building out a custom system. Kind of strange to me that Spike wouldn't want to just take my $4k or so and sell me the complete system minus the panel.... and as a stubborn sob I'll be sourcing it all from other suppliers out of principle....

So it begins.....

Cvav8or
 
cvav8or said:
Bassmang4,

I'm scratching my head too.... I want the entire system, complete, one simple order minus the panel because I want to build a 50a panel... I want to build it for fun and for future expansion ability.... I'm lazy, I don't want to piece a complete system together hence the desire to just buy a system and the Spike system fits the bill for me.....

I guess I'll be building out a custom system. Kind of strange to me that Spike wouldn't want to just take my $4k or so and sell me the complete system minus the panel.... and as a stubborn sob I'll be sourcing it all from other suppliers out of principle....

So it begins.....

Cvav8or
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Sorry about the trouble! Not sure who relayed this message but we have done this many times in the past for people. Please shoot us an email and ask for Tim. I'll help you out! [email protected]
 
Damn you guys are making me feel bad for buying an SS brewtech kettle. I have had no problems with it and get allot of compliments. But most people around here just use kegels or some other brands. Spikes look good to me though. I think I would like welded fittings more, but weld-less does have the advantage of being cleaned a bit easier. Then again, how many professional rigs use weld-less fittings? I always wonder if I made the right choice going with SS brew tech, but I don't really have any complaints and I have already cut additional hole in it to do the whirlpool arm a bit differently. That is one other nice thing about weldess, you can punch your own holes. Then again you can do that with a welded kettle too, but it might not look quite right with some of each if you care about that.

It's a nice kettle, but my beer hasn't turned out any better than it did on a modified (punched) Bayou classic which was way cheaper (I do like the thicker bottom in the SS brewtech to help prevent scorching, but that can easily be avoided with either setup)

OP check out this article and then you can decide, their conclusion is basically similar to mine, which is SS brew tech or spikes are great kettles, but if some here have both and say spikes is better then it sounds like it might be. It's also a bit more expensive though? The spikes is thicker, different bottom design (for better or worse). It is slightly less customizable (although not really if you have a punch or know how to weld stainless I guess). Welded fittings probably stick out a little more (but whether that matters or not I don't know, maybe that's a trade off, or it just does not matter at all).
http://blog.craftbeertraders.com/choosing-the-right-kettle-comparison/

Good pics and review though!
 
Justintoxicated said:
Damn you guys are making me feel bad for buying an SS brewtech kettle. I have had no problems with it and get allot of compliments. But most people around here just use kegels or some other brands. Spikes look good to me though. I think I would like welded fittings more, but weld-less does have the advantage of being cleaned a bit easier. Then again, how many professional rigs use weld-less fittings? I always wonder if I made the right choice going with SS brew tech, but I don't really have any complaints and I have already cut additional hole in it to do the whirlpool arm a bit differently. That is one other nice thing about weldess, you can punch your own holes. Then again you can do that with a welded kettle too, but it might not look quite right with some of each if you care about that.
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Honestly welded is amazing.. not hard to clean at all. I will say that I have wanted to add fittings and spike was awesome, I shipped them my kettle, they welded the fittings I wanted (sight glass) only charged me the price of the sight glass and shipped back in about 2 weeks.. yes shipping was pricey but the piece of mind that the welds are perfect was worth it over gambling with a local welder. They even cleaned and re polished my kettle so it looked brand new! Im now wishing I had gone with all tri clamp fittings instead of threaded but it would cost way too much to have them all changed.. hey spike, do you take trade ins? Lol
 
Justintoxicated said:
Damn you guys are making me feel bad for buying an SS brewtech kettle. I have had no problems with it and get allot of compliments. But most people around here just use kegels or some other brands. Spikes look good to me though. I think I would like welded fittings more, but weld-less does have the advantage of being cleaned a bit easier. Then again, how many professional rigs use weld-less fittings? I always wonder if I made the right choice going with SS brew tech, but I don't really have any complaints and I have already cut additional hole in it to do the whirlpool arm a bit differently. That is one other nice thing about weldess, you can punch your own holes. Then again you can do that with a welded kettle too, but it might not look quite right with some of each if you care about that.

It's a nice kettle, but my beer hasn't turned out any better than it did on a modified (punched) Bayou classic which was way cheaper (I do like the thicker bottom in the SS brewtech to help prevent scorching, but that can easily be avoided with either setup)

OP check out this article and then you can decide, their conclusion is basically similar to mine, which is SS brew tech or spikes are great kettles, but if some here have both and say spikes is better then it sounds like it might be. It's also a bit more expensive though? The spikes is thicker, different bottom design (for better or worse). It is slightly less customizable (although not really if you have a punch or know how to weld stainless I guess). Welded fittings probably stick out a little more (but whether that matters or not I don't know, maybe that's a trade off, or it just does not matter at all).
http://blog.craftbeertraders.com/choosing-the-right-kettle-comparison/

Good pics and review though!
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Thanks for the link! I have a 10 gallon SS Brewtech right now and have noticed since I've switched to TC fittings, the kettle material seems a bit too flexible when using the valve. I have a 1/2" FNPT to 1.5" TC adapter to connect the two together and am surprised at how flimsy it now seems. Has anyone switched and if so, I'd love to know what you thought.
 
Just jumping in here: I own 2-20 Gallon kettles from Spike and they have been rock solid. I'm not a big fan of weldless fitting on any of my equipment which was my deciding factor to go with Spike. Welds are solid, clean and the kettles perform great. I had them weld 2" TC Ports on the sides of the kettles so that I can easily remove the elements for cleaning.
 
For me, the biggest consideration is chilling. I am a bit frustrated that I have not yet found a solution for what I want to do. I want a 14 gal fermenter, but I am currently brewing 5-6 gallons. When I scale up to 10 gallons, I don't want to have to buy a new fermenter, so I am not going to purchase a 7 gal fermenter.

SS Brewtech told me that I need to have at least 7-7.5 gallons to use their BME 14 gallon chronical. I don't want to brew 2 extra gallons in order to use the system as is for controlling the temp. They recommended I get the standard version, get the FTSs2 temp control system and get the extensions so that the coil sits far enough down, then buy all of the part upgrades to make it like the BME version. Uggghhhh

Now onto Spike. The spike fermenter looks awesome and the coil goes pretty far down. Seems like a great option. However, they do not yet sell a temperature control package. So, I would still need a heating element, pump, jack (optional), etc. I will be pumping cold water from a reservoir (kept in fridge so I don't have to keep adding ice to a cooler of water). The glycol route is too expensive for me.
Has anyone done this with the spike?
 
I purchased all used Blichmann kettles from the forum here and have been pretty happy. I built my setup around Kal's system from wwww.theelectricbrewery.com. He has provided very detailed write-ups on how to assembly every aspect of the setup. I've saved a couple grand by buying used and doing all the work myself.
 
hlmbrwng said:
For me, the biggest consideration is chilling. The glycol route is too expensive for me.
Has anyone done this with the spike?
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..well I can tell you that you have many options as far as glycol that are not expensive... for one DIY options are out there for as little as $75 for the cost of a used window ac unit and a cooler to make it...

funny because it was the other way around for me,
All these conicals and accesories in question were too expensive for my taste personally... but I do have a chiller controlling the temps on my 3 less expensive stainless conicals...
For me Things like functionality/ temp control take precedence over everything else so maybe my priorities are wrong but if your considering dropping the extra coin on nicer fermenters I would take another look at reliable temp control first and maybe your solution would be to get a cheaper conical and a cooling jacket so you can make better beer..

There are cheaper used chillers on ebay... like this one which is plenty for a couple conicals..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-M...729279?hash=item2f0a260eff:g:jiwAAOSwxzBZnudw
 
sillbeer said:
I purchased all used Blichmann kettles from the forum here and have been pretty happy. I built my setup around Kal's system from wwww.theelectricbrewery.com. He has provided very detailed write-ups on how to assembly every aspect of the setup. I've saved a couple grand by buying used and doing all the work myself.
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I saved about 7 grand going the diy route vs buying equivalents of everything. But there is also a difference that cant be ignored for many between things like bayou kettles and conicals wrapped in insulation and discharge hose for cooling vs the ones considered here....

Most of what can be appreciated is cosmetic but its still comparing things of different value and if cost wasnt a factor, I might prefer the new spike conicals or kettles over what I have. I also would have been afraid to alter them and improve to my needs and would have missed out on learning a lot. But everyone's different and for the non DIY types these are the three brands to consider as far as quality for sure.
 
hlmbrwng said:
For me, the biggest consideration is chilling. I am a bit frustrated that I have not yet found a solution for what I want to do. I want a 14 gal fermenter, but I am currently brewing 5-6 gallons. When I scale up to 10 gallons, I don't want to have to buy a new fermenter, so I am not going to purchase a 7 gal fermenter.

SS Brewtech told me that I need to have at least 7-7.5 gallons to use their BME 14 gallon chronical. I don't want to brew 2 extra gallons in order to use the system as is for controlling the temp. They recommended I get the standard version, get the FTSs2 temp control system and get the extensions so that the coil sits far enough down, then buy all of the part upgrades to make it like the BME version. Uggghhhh

Now onto Spike. The spike fermenter looks awesome and the coil goes pretty far down. Seems like a great option. However, they do not yet sell a temperature control package. So, I would still need a heating element, pump, jack (optional), etc. I will be pumping cold water from a reservoir (kept in fridge so I don't have to keep adding ice to a cooler of water). The glycol route is too expensive for me.
Has anyone done this with the spike?
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I modified my 14 Gallon BME to work with 5 gallon batches.

I have no problem cold crashing or holding lagering temps in a 90 degree garage.

I have a word document explaining it, but it's too big to attach here.

PM me if you want it.
 
augiedoggy said:
I saved about 7 grand going the diy route vs buying equivalents of everything. But there is also a difference that cant be ignored for many between things like bayou kettles and conicals wrapped in insulation and discharge hose for cooling vs the ones considered here....

Most of what can be appreciated is cosmetic but its still comparing things of different value and if cost wasnt a factor, I might prefer the new spike conicals or kettles over what I have. I also would have been afraid to alter them and improve to my needs and would have missed out on learning a lot. But everyone's different and for the non DIY types these are the three brands to consider as far as quality for sure.
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That's why I like the SS brewtech and weldless fittings, easy to punch more holes in it as you see fit. I have already modified mine.
 
cvav8or said:
So the SS Brewtech isn't electric.... Spike won't sell me the setup without the panel (I want to build my own for fun and upgradeability later on) and the Blichman doesn't come with a real panel.....

So I'm at an impasse.... I want a full one stop shop type of purchase but I also want quality... Spike has my eye but again I'm limited to their panel unless I buy every component separately.....

Cvav8or
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I spoke with Michael at Ss brew tech about a month ago regarding electric set ups. He said they are coming out with an electric set up soon.

I have two of their 1/2 bbl conicals and they are very functional for the price.
I have blichmann kettles for the hot side. I have to say I do love the false bottom. I'm in the middle of a house move and I'm going electric at the new house. So I've been looking at upgrading my hot side to electric. I'm probably going to retro fit the kettles with the boil coils and use the blichmann tower of power controllers. I considered welding on triclamps fittings but it's about the same cost when you include a nice panel.

Honestly all three are really good companies, you won't be disappointed with any of them.
 
hlmbrwng said:
Now onto Spike. The spike fermenter looks awesome and the coil goes pretty far down. Seems like a great option. However, they do not yet sell a temperature control package. So, I would still need a heating element, pump, jack (optional), etc. I will be pumping cold water from a reservoir (kept in fridge so I don't have to keep adding ice to a cooler of water). The glycol route is too expensive for me.
Has anyone done this with the spike?
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I am DOING this. Quick facts: 5G in CF10. 5G cool water in fridge. DIY reflective insulation. 75-85F garage.


The heat exchange between water and air is very low, so the temperature of cool water drops slowly. You'd better have the wort at desired temperature before connecting.

glycol.jpg
 
Pocketmon, could you please explain some of the graph variables? For example, 'Fridge Temp'. My first thought is that this fridge contains the 5 gal cool water, but it appears that the fridge temp is set to the desired temp of the beer. So, perhaps I am wrong, because I would have thought that the fridge would need to be cold to keep the reservoir cold. Also, 'Room Temp' is the lowest temp, so this can't be the garage temperature, as you are chilling the fermenter within the garage. What is Aux Temp? Thank you.
 
As someone who has been brewing since 1981, and have brewed on many (all homegrown) different systems, I'll offer a couple of thoughts:
1. If you are doing electric vs gas brewing, the heft of the kettles, especially the bottom, is not important. I know Spike make great stuff, but don't discount others.
2. I have a nice 3 vessel e-HERMS system currently. I can do amazing, repeatable efficiency with it. But it takes me all day, with fly sparging and all the prep and cleanup. I mention this because batch sparging in a cooler was faster. Beers were just as good. And now I try and do BIAB whenever possible due to the cleanup. Beers are still just as good. There is nothing wrong with easy, and as you spend more time with this hobby, you may ask yourself why you are spending more time than needed.

Edit - Oh, and like others have said, temperature control during fermentation is a MUST for good beer, IMHO. Buy or build a fermentation chamber. Could be a freezer or fridge with a temperature control remote probe that you put the fermenters inside of.
 
I have a Spike kettle. It's very solid. I had them weld some custom tri-clover ports on, and the welding is flawless.

My one complaint is that the volume etchings are useless. They are off by as much as 0.3 gallons, but it isn't a consistent offset, so it's not as simple as adding 0.3 gallons to each measurement. I don't know if this degree of inaccuracy is unique to Spike - I suspect it isn't. Personally I would have preferred no volume etchings to inconsistent ones.

I wasn't impressed by their customer service when I inquired about the tolerances of the volume etchings. They were a bit snarky and condescending, and couldn't keep their story straight. First their tolerances were +/- 1/8" (about 0.1 gallons) then it turned into +/- 0.25 gallons "or so". Not very up-front, at all.

Anyway, good kettle. Bad volume etchings. Questionable technical support.
 
I've owned/used 15 & 20 G Blichmann Boilermakers, and replaced them with Spike Brewing 20G & 30G Custom Kettles. Could not be happier with the Spike kettles! The TC fittings are things of beauty and don't leak like the Blichmann Boilermakers.
 
hlmbrwng said:
Pocketmon, could you please explain some of the graph variables? For example, 'Fridge Temp'. My first thought is that this fridge contains the 5 gal cool water, but it appears that the fridge temp is set to the desired temp of the beer. So, perhaps I am wrong, because I would have thought that the fridge would need to be cold to keep the reservoir cold. Also, 'Room Temp' is the lowest temp, so this can't be the garage temperature, as you are chilling the fermenter within the garage. What is Aux Temp? Thank you.
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This is kinda hacked version of BrewPi.
Fridge Temp is from Beer Sensor. The different values are caused by different filtering parameters.
Room Temp is the temperature of cool water.
Aux Temp is temperature reading from iSpindel, a DIY wireless hydrometer.

I made a lot of mistakes because of first time using this setup. Some information for you.
1. The cool water should at least 2~3 degree lower than the desired beer temperature. YMMV. I think at least 5 degree should be better.
2. At the first 2-3 days of fermentation, the water didn't get cooler because the heater transfer from air to water is so slow. If you can't get the temperature down, add some ice to the water.

When the water is like 5 degree lower than desired beer temperature, the cooling runs for less than 5 minutes every half hour. It became less than 5 minutes every hour after the 3rd day.
 
I’m wondering what kind of power consumption you can expect from a standard brew day on one of these electric systems?

Anyone familiar with the Spike+ system know about what kind of kilowatt usage you can expect for a brew day?
 
alphakry said:
I’m wondering what kind of power consumption you can expect from a standard brew day on one of these electric systems?

Anyone familiar with the Spike+ system know about what kind of kilowatt usage you can expect for a brew day?
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A typical brew day will use between 10-20 kW of electricity. Our electric costs $.13/kWh so a typical brew day costs $1.30-$2.60. Hope that helps!
 
really appreciate the quick reply Spike. That's exactly what i'm looking for and have a better idea of what to expect now. I'm thinking of going with the 50A panel so i'm guessing those numbers would increase a bit with that.
 
This is an interesting thread, but I'm not sure there's a clear answer to who is better. I'm in the market for a 1/2BBL system right now, and if I'm going to drop $3000+ on equipment, it's going to be sanitary (triclamp) fittings, so Blichmann is out.

For the HLT, a simple 20 gallon Spike+ is the obvious choice. SS Brewtech doesn't offer a basic triclamp kettle. Their electric brewing kettle is close, but to my knowledge they don't sell it as a stand-alone item right now.

For the MLT, SS Brewtech has the really nice Infussion mash tun, but without sanitary fittings, and I wonder if it's worth $600. I'll probably go with another Spike+ kettle, and ask Ben to weld on a recirc port up top.

For the boil kettle, I really like the SS Brewtech BME kettle with the integrated whirlpool port. If Spike had something similar I'd get it, but they don't, so SS Brewtech it is. If Spike starts offering a TC recirculation port, I'd go that direction.

My whole system is Spike right now, and I think it's the best in the business, but again... there's no perfect solution. Get what suits your mission.
 
snowveil said:
Links aren't working, but I'll throw in my 2c about the companies after seeing them in person over the last two NHCs

Between Spike and SS...Spike. No question. Spike just feels and looks more solid. There are lots of folks out there that are gung-ho on the SS equipment but to me it feels a bit more flimsy than Spike equipment does.

If you're willing to spend the coin, Blichmann is phenomenal gear, and made in the US if that's important to you. SS/Spike may be welded and assembled in the US, but the manufacturing takes place in China. Again, it depends on whether or not this matters to you. Blichmann recently outsourced their "Anvil" line to compete with these new China-based brands hitting the market, but I was able to talk to John Blichmann briefly at NHC2016 and he talked about spending time touring various Chinese fabrication facilities to ensure the Anvil line was being made under acceptable standards and conditions instead of just sourcing to whoever was cheapest.

Bottom line? Spike if you're on the fence about price vs quality...Blichmann if US manufacturing matters to you.
Click to expand...
Ultimately you can have anything manufactured in China to any quality standard you specify. Just like anywhere, it'll cost a little more to get better quality, but they can do it there just as easy as we can do it here. Their major advantage is labor costs, not making things poorly.
 
Floridagator said:
This is an interesting thread, but I'm not sure there's a clear answer to who is better. I'm in the market for a 1/2BBL system right now, and if I'm going to drop $3000+ on equipment, it's going to be sanitary (triclamp) fittings, so Blichmann is out.

For the HLT, a simple 20 gallon Spike+ is the obvious choice. SS Brewtech doesn't offer a basic triclamp kettle. Their electric brewing kettle is close, but to my knowledge they don't sell it as a stand-alone item right now.

For the MLT, SS Brewtech has the really nice Infussion mash tun, but without sanitary fittings, and I wonder if it's worth $600. I'll probably go with another Spike+ kettle, and ask Ben to weld on a recirc port up top.

For the boil kettle, I really like the SS Brewtech BME kettle with the integrated whirlpool port. If Spike had something similar I'd get it, but they don't, so SS Brewtech it is. If Spike starts offering a TC recirculation port, I'd go that direction.

My whole system is Spike right now, and I think it's the best in the business, but again... there's no perfect solution. Get what suits your mission.
Click to expand...

Have you seen their Spike+ turnkey system? I think this addresses a lot of what you mentioned above in terms of recirc ports...
https://spikebrewing.com/collections/spike-plus-systems
 
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