Ss Brewtech Unitank Version 2.0

[czmkid]

Super pimp jacketed unitanks. This means the internal coil is gone, and more surface area to chill and crash. Connections on the rear of the tanks. Best part of all is they got rid of that pos double o ring racking arm (I hope they sell this a la cart for the three v 1 tanks I have)

Best part….the V 1.0 unitanks are on ‘sale’ ie the same price they were when they first came out.

Unitank 2.0

www.ssbrewtech.com

 

[Brooothru]

Super pimp jacketed unitanks. This means the internal coil is gone, and more surface area to chill and crash. Connections on the rear of the tanks. Best part of all is they got rid of that pos double o ring racking arm (I hope they sell this a la cart for the three v 1 tanks I have)

Best part….the V 1.0 unitanks are on ‘sale’ ie the same price they were when they first came out.

Unitank 2.0

www.ssbrewtech.com

Yeah, I saw that in my email this morning. Sweet looking toy. Wish I had the need as well as $1k mad money. I’ll just have to make do with my ‘old school’ uni. Not as much bling, and probably worth the $$$, but I can’t justify the expenditure even though I could.

 

[JCDrumKing]

If these were fully jacketed, cone included, it would be a slam dunk for me and I'd be selling equipment to make room for them. Sure looks from the pics that only the sleeve is jacketed -- and only about 60% of the sleeve at that. If that's the case, I'll keep looking (and waiting and waiting).

If the cone is jacketed -- they are about to get a lot of my money.

 

[Brooothru]

If these were fully jacketed, cone included, it would be a slam dunk for me and I'd be selling equipment to make room for them. Sure looks from the pics that only the sleeve is jacketed -- and only about 60% of the sleeve at that. If that's the case, I'll keep looking (and waiting and waiting).

If the cone is jacketed -- they are about to get a lot of my money.

Good point. It’ll be interesting to hear what SSBT has to say, other than the flashy stainless steel porn and colorful advertising.

That said, it’s hard to say from the pictures just how much (if any) of the cone is jacketed or how high up the cylinder of the fermenter that the jacketing extends. Nevertheless, the cooling surface greatly exceeds the surface area of coils, and cooling convection within the vessel and transmitted directly within the stainless steel itself should maintain stable temperatures, probably much better than a central coil. According to Spike’s FAQ pages, there will always be some vertical stratification of temperatures within the column.

One argument for not jacketing the cone area (if it indeed is not) would be that it could interfere with external heating pads that are frequently used in home brew fermenters. On balance I think I’d prefer the ability to both heat the cone electrically than to be limited to only improved (?) glycol cooling in the cone as well as the cylindrical portion of the fermenter.

Either way it looks like a killer appliance that I would truly love to add to the brewing arsenal, but SWMBO’d would make me sell my other gear before pulling the trigger. Afraid it’s a ‘pass’ for me, but it’s really a soft pass. It would sure look sweet in my brew space.

 

[JCDrumKing]

I emailed SS BrewTech support and the response is that only the sleeve is jacketed.

Swing and a miss!

Completely agree that even if only the sleeve is jacketed, it is FAR better than a cooling coil. If I was starting from scratch I wouldn't hesitate. Right now I have a Spike 7 gal, 14 gal and half BBL and one SS BrewTech half BBL -- all with cooling coils. I could replace every one of them with a 17 gal and a 1BBL and be able to do batches large and small if I could control cone temps too. Even better would be if the cone jacket was in a separate zone than the sleeve jacket. For large batches, I would put a jumper hose between zones. For small batches, I'd only send glycol to the cone. In the case of heating, personally I find the electric blanket heater thingies rather problematic with too much lead time and overshoot etc. I actually don't heat often, but when I do I just send warm water through the cooling coil. One day I'll pursue an automated solenoid valve that switches between cool glycol and warm water. In my extra spare time and all that.

I've boiled my thoughts down to: when only the sleeve is jacketed, we always have to brew batches large enough to make enough cooling contact to be effectively temp controlled. There is also the inherent circulatory effect of cooled beer falling and cone-warmed beer rising -- which is great during fermentation, but becomes problematic when cold crashing and trying to clarify the beer all the way down to the yeast cake. Bottom line, I want to chill the cone too.

Having said all that, the new tanks do look awesome! But I'm holding out for more versatility. It continues to be a long wait.

(@SpikeBrewing are you listening? I swapped out equipment to buy your new bottom-drain kettles... how about some 2-zone jacketed fermenters!)

 

[sumobob88]

I ordered a 7gal unitank last week and received it on Thursday, 2 hours before the announcement. When I reached out to see if they would do anything, the only option I got was returning for shipping and a $100 restocking fee. I asked for a price match, and they wouldn't do that either.
Do you all think it's worth it to swap for the 2.0?

 

[Brooothru]

I emailed SS BrewTech support and the response is that only the sleeve is jacketed.

Swing and a miss!

Completely agree that even if only the sleeve is jacketed, it is FAR better than a cooling coil. If I was starting from scratch I wouldn't hesitate. Right now I have a Spike 7 gal, 14 gal and half BBL and one SS BrewTech half BBL -- all with cooling coils. I could replace every one of them with a 17 gal and a 1BBL and be able to do batches large and small if I could control cone temps too. Even better would be if the cone jacket was in a separate zone than the sleeve jacket. For large batches, I would put a jumper hose between zones. For small batches, I'd only send glycol to the cone. In the case of heating, personally I find the electric blanket heater thingies rather problematic with too much lead time and overshoot etc. I actually don't heat often, but when I do I just send warm water through the cooling coil. One day I'll pursue an automated solenoid valve that switches between cool glycol and warm water. In my extra spare time and all that.

I've boiled my thoughts down to: when only the sleeve is jacketed, we always have to brew batches large enough to make enough cooling contact to be effectively temp controlled. So I'm holding out for more versatility. It's been a long wait! haha (Spike, are you listening?)

I hear what you're saying, but I'm still of the mind that (at least in volumes of 1 bbl or less) that the lack of coolant flow to the cone of the fermenter will have minimal impact on overall cooling efficiency. Assuming what we'd think to be normal convection (warm on top, cool underneath) that stratification of thermal layers might cause problems. Spike states in one of their FAQs that somewhere in the mid- to upper-30sF there is an inversion that takes place where the 'warm' zone actually sinks. Don't know why, maybe incipient phase change causing loss of heat energy? Even if the jacketed area is restricted to the vertical cylinder the total of cooling surface area is much greater than that of a coil, and the disproportionate ratio of a 7 gal batch to >1 bbl volumes in terms of relative cooling surface areas would make a smaller vessel more likely to maintain a constant temperature and to affect a more rapid change in total volume temperature when changing (i.e., cold crashing).

On the other issue of increasing temperature, injecting warmer fluid into a total-jacket fermenter might result in heating the 'wrong' stratified zone. About the only time I want to heat my fermenter is (obviously) when a temperature is too low, or at the approach of terminal gravity when I want to increase temperature for increased yeast activity for spunding and diacetyl rest. In a small volume fermenter I would think that an electric heating pad around a portion of the cone might be more efficient as well as more effective. Unlike a larger volume fermentation tank, I almost have to believe that a jacketed 7~14 gallon tank with cylinder-only glycol sleeving and a cone mounted electrical heating pad might be a better alternative.

Plus, the Bling!! I'd love to trade my Unitank, Chronical and Brew Bucket for a couple of these jacketed ver. 2.0 models. It would certainly fulfill my "wants" but not necessarily my "needs." I'll guess I'll just have to sit on the sidelines and drool.

 

[Brooothru]

How unfortunate, I literally ordered a unitank 7gal and received in on thursday, when I reached out about price matching or returning and exchanging I didnt get anywhere.

Dude. I'd be totally bummed. On the one hand I understand their unwillingness to trade you even for last year's model, plus pay shipping. But to not offer any sort of compensatory compromise is disappointing. Not a strong statement for customer satisfaction, and isn't indicative of the treatment I've gotten from SSBT in the past. I've been a very satisfied customer of both the equipment and the service.

With that all said, you're gonna' love fermenting in a unitank. Don't know what you've been brewing in up to now, but this will definitely be a major upgrade.

 

[Wagon_6]

I’m a serious stainless steel bling connoisseur, but I find it hilarious each new level of bling still requires a couple 99 cent worm gear clamps!

 

[NewJersey]

Brewers hardware has had these sizes of jacketed Conicals for a long time now.
These look cool, but I own a lone spike flex and that fits how often I brew fine nowadays.
Cool seeing new stuff coming out left and right.
It's almost like they know we like buying the latest shiny stuff and not just for the beer itself

 

[JCDrumKing]

Brewers hardware has had these sizes of jacketed Conicals for a long time now.
These look cool, but I own a line spike flex and that fits how often I brew fine nowadays.
Cool seeing new stuff coming out left and right.
It's almost like they know we like buying the latest shiny stuff and not just for the beer itself

Yeah I've had my eye on Brewers Hardware but unfortunately their jacketed fermenters 1BBL and under have been out of stock for a very long time.