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.

https://www.ssbrewtech.com/pages/un...RCFWcotZnbuGpZoW4vDQWp9Wh-RScrzEUXNPUTYUEF1Lg

 

[Broothru]

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.

https://www.ssbrewtech.com/pages/un...RCFWcotZnbuGpZoW4vDQWp9Wh-RScrzEUXNPUTYUEF1Lg

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.

 

[Broothru]

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?

 

[Broothru]

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.

 

[Broothru]

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.

 

[Bad Bubba]

Jacketing the cone would be a significant fabrication cost increase. Plus any penetrations through jacketed area would be costly.

Has anyone bought these yet.

 

[boralyl]

Jacketing the cone would be a significant fabrication cost increase. Plus any penetrations through jacketed area would be costly.

Has anyone bought these yet.

I just recently picked up one of these. I'm upgrading from the Brew Bucket, but haven't yet fermented anything in it. First batch should go in the unitank this weekend.

 

[Deadalus]

... 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).
...

I am reading posts about SS BT Uni 2 and ran across your post. It reminded me of an old lecture in a water chemistry class. Around the temperature you are referring to, water is densest as a liquid. As it approaches freezing it becomes less dense and so when it freezes it floats. And not usual for solids, ice is less dense than water (liquid) and floats when the solid state is placed into the liquid state. More hazy but I kind of recall those density changes create some seasonal cycling in ponds and lakes of nutrients from the bottom.

Anyway not much information here as of yet on the jacketed SSBT but that's why ice floats!

 

[cfrazier77]

There is another reason why a jacketed cone is desired, different size batches. 75% of mount are 5 gallons, 25% are 10 gallons. If I got a big enough fermenter for 10 gallons and put 5 in it the wort would not be on contract with the jacketed side. I have an old brewhemoth, 22 gallon fermenter with a coil. I would love to get another but I have to have flexibility.

 

[Broothru]

75% of 10 gallons would mean that most likely 90~100% of the upper area of a 5 gallon batch would be in contact with the chilled portion of the cooling jacket in a 10 gallon fermenter. Arguably a greater amount of a smaller batch would be getting chilled with a half batch, than if the 10 gallon vessel were filled to capacity. Additionally the thermal cooling capacity of the larger unit would be concentrated on a smaller volume.

In any event, thermal convection would would bring the total volume to stasis more quickly with less fluid in a larger capacity tank, assuming the cooling jacket is centered roughly in the vertical middle of the fermenter. Colder fluid will sink, displacing warmer fluid that will rise and contact the cooling jacketed channels.

 

[cfrazier77]

75% of 10 gallons would mean that most likely 90~100% of the upper area of a 5 gallon batch would be in contact with the chilled portion of the cooling jacket in a 10 gallon fermenter. Arguably a greater amount of a smaller batch would be getting chilled with a half batch, than if the 10 gallon vessel were filled to capacity. Additionally the thermal cooling capacity of the larger unit would be concentrated on a smaller volume.

In any event, thermal convection would would bring the total volume to stasis more quickly with less fluid in a larger capacity tank, assuming the cooling jacket is centered roughly in the vertical middle of the fermenter. Colder fluid will sink, displacing warmer fluid that will rise and contact the cooling jacketed channels.

Sorry, I should have been more clear. To do a 10 gallon batch I would need a 14 gallon fermentor. 5 gallons in a 14 will not reach the jacket. I looked at the more beer ones as well.

 

[Broothru]

Sorry, I should have been more clear. To do a 10 gallon batch I would need a 14 gallon fermentor. 5 gallons in a 14 will not reach the jacket. I looked at the more beer ones as well.

Shameless Thread Drift. Absolutely LOVE the Boxer in your avatar. We've had five in the family, and our next-door neighbor just got his third. Our first one lived to be almost 15, and even though it's been ten years since he Passed over the Rainbow Bridge, we miss him dearly. All of our grandkids have known nothing but Boxers. Simply the best breed ever!

 

[cfrazier77]

Shameless Thread Drift. Absolutely LOVE the Boxer in your avatar. We've had five in the family, and our next-door neighbor just got his third. Our first one lived to be almost 15, and even though it's been ten years since he Passed over the Rainbow Bridge, we miss him dearly. All of our grandkids have known nothing but Boxers. Simply the best breed ever!

Agreed, they have great personalities. The guy in the picture is how gone, but we have two now.

 

[Deadalus]

Sorry, I should have been more clear. To do a 10 gallon batch I would need a 14 gallon fermentor. 5 gallons in a 14 will not reach the jacket. I looked at the more beer ones as well.

The Brewbuilt X2 lists 3-12 gallon batch sizes for the 14 gallon with the 3 gallons being the volume to the thermowell, which is near the transition from the cone to a cylinder. The SSBT Uni 1 (coil) has a minimum batch size of 8-8.5 gallons for the 14 but the jacketed uni says full batch. That doesn't exactly make sense to me because the jacket doesn't appear to run the whole height of the cylinder portion. Total volume Uni 2 for the 14 might actually be 15. The Brewbuilts is 14 to the lid but 15.5 with the lid. I doubt that the SSBT 14 gallon has 5 gallons in the cone. The cone is about a 1/3 of the height of the tip to top and the jacket appears to be about 1/3 roughly too. A cone is only 1/3 the volume of a cylinder with the same radius and height. (Caveat, the picture I am basing the jacket proportion on is the 7 gallon for the SSBT.) Also, not possible for the Brewbuilt either. The cylinder portion is at least as tall as the cone. But if the cone holds 5 gallons, then the cylinder portion being at least as tall, would need to hold 15 gallons, making the total 20 gallons. So the cone has to be less than 5 gallons. Now how much beyond the cone for either, I don't know. You could also scale up your 5 gallon batch to 5-8 gallons. It's a unitank, you can carbonate in it so if you needed to keg, you could pour off a growler or two perhaps or use a five and a three gallon keg. I've been considering this question too.

 

[shoengine]

I have the Brewer's Hardware 8G jacketed conical and from anecdotal experience just having the vertical section jacketed doesn't seem to affect the efficiency. Or if it does I haven't noticed.

 

[smalloy88]

Did anyone buy a 14 gal version of the unitank 2.0?

I'm trying to figure out volumes and my math shows it should be able to handle 5 gallon batches. I'm just using the stock photo, but when blown up, I measure with a ruler (ratio of heights are all that matter for my calculation):

height of cone 4 cm
height of jacketed cylinder: 3.25 cm
height of top cylinder: 3 cm

volume of cone = 4/3 * pi * r2
volume of jacketed cylinder = 3.25*pi * r2
volume of top cylinder = 3*pi*r2

actual radius isn't needed since I know the total volume is 14 gallons. Can just use the ratio of these volumes (p*r2 cancels for all ratios)
actual volume of cone = (4/3) / (4/3 + 3.25 + 3) * 14 gallons = ~2.5 gallons
actual volume of jacketed cylinder = 3.25 / (4/3 + 3.25 + 3) * 14 gallons = ~6 gallons
actual volume of top cylinder = 3 / (4/3 + 3.25 + 3) * 14 gallons = ~5.5 gallons

Granted I'm using a stock photo and ruler to get these measurements, but it still seems like a fermentation volume of 6 would get more than halfway up the jacketed cylinder. I shoot for more than 5 gal into my FV, but even if you send the bare minimum of 5 gallons, half of the wort is still jacketed.

Let me know if I'm missing something. I'm really considering pulling the trigger on one of these, but I want to be sure I can chill smaller batches. I think it's crazy they don't have volume etchings on the inside of these at this price point. Or drawings/diagrams of more detailed dimensions.

 

[Deadalus]

Sorry not me. I ended up going with 2 of the seven gallon Brewbuilt X2's non-jacketed. Their black friday sale was great. Ultimately I wanted the independence of the two. I also mixed and matched on some of the additional parts I wanted. That's been a bit time consuming plus with the holidays and some other time committments I haven't gotten a batch in just yet to offer any review. Hoping to brew this weekend though!

I did pull up the 14 gallon SS Brewtech photo though to check your calculations. The pic I found had a neoprene jacket. I just measured with a ruler onscreen. I can't see the jacketed section well enough to measure that part separately. I measured from the TC clamp off the cone to the top of the dome and the cone to cylinder transition. I did get that the cone height was about 36.5-37.5% of the overall height. Your numbers put it at 39%. It's just a minor difference either way and I think you have your measurements correct near enough as long as you have the jacket in view. However at a bare minimum of 5 gallons, with 2.5 in the cone, there is only 2.5 in the jacketed portion and 2.5/6~42%. Consider as well you would be dumping trub, off hand I don't have a good estimate for you there.

There are some dimensions at the bottom of the unitank page, Approx 42.5"Hx19"Wx19"D for the 14.. In their Chronicle FAQ, they have some measurements and say "Height is measured from bottom of the legs to the top of the 1.5" TC on the top of the lid. " If their way of measuring held for the unitank they may measure from the legs the same way and then up to the pressure dial. I didn't try a double check with this information as I think you are probably close enough with what you did. And maybe somebody who has one will get you the information you want.

 

[smalloy88]

Update: Just saw on Spike's site that they are working on a jacketed fermentor with a jacketed cone. I'm going to just wait for that

 

[bike2brew]

So e-mail the tech support @ Ss Brewtech. They are extremely helpful and willing to answer any questions you have for them generally w/in 24 hours. My intution tells me that a 14 gal Uni out to be able to accomodate a 5 gallon batch but they will tell you for sure.

 

[kitr]

Now that the brewbuilt x3 is out I wonder how it will compare!

 

[wepeeler]

Anyone else planning on pulling the trigger this Black Friday on either the SS 2.0 or the BrewBuiltx3? I'm strongly thinking about getting the 2.0, as I already have 2 1.0s and love them...

 

[jmstone617]

I've been considering the x3 pretty strongly but I hadn't looked at the SS 2.0, which looks to be very similar in terms of features and price. I like the racking arm on the 2.0. The x3 seems like the only conical with the collection jar immediately underneath as opposed to the 90 degree dump port.