I love the jacketed portion of it. So much better for cleaning. Although it has worked for me recently, I'm still skeptical about the lids on these and the spikes. I don't trust that I'm not going to lose a tank of CO2 whenever I carbonate up to 15psi. All that being said, it looks like a great system and I'm probably just worrying too much! Love the in depth review. Cheers!
Thanks for the incredibly honest review! I think another big benefit worth mentioning, in my opinion, is the more accurate scalability when it comes to commercial brewing. I’m an assistant brewer at a commercial brewery and, since MOST commercial breweries have proper, jacketed unitanks, I think the X2 is an excellent tool for developing your recipes in the most accurate way possible. If that makes any sense. Thanks again!
Great, in-depth review Steve! Thanks for the honesty here. All too often BrewTubers only discuss the pros of something they have been asked to review. This fermenter looks like an incredibly versatile unitank. Once I’m in the market for something on this scale, I will revisit this review and the CF5 to make sure I am getting the most bang for my homebrew buck. Thanks 🍻
Very cool, Steve. Most of your experiences with the jacketed X2 resemble my own with one exception; my 14 gal version struggles to hold pressure. I just posted a video on that yesterday.
@@patrickglaser1560 the gasket? No. Could try it but for now just trying to use it as intended. I just think the choice of using v clamps instead of something else like TC clamps is the root problem. V clamps aren’t designed for use in these kind of fermenters.
@BEER-N-BBQ by Larry oh ya, the v clamp also has a right-side-up as well. It was maddening for me, one uni was 15psi capable the other only got up to 7. After fiddling I got both unitanks up to 15psi
I love that you engaged the viewer to ask themselves if they actually need a $1000 fermenter. Jacketed means one thing. Achieving the efficiency of a jacketed fermenter can come in many variables. When I mashed in coolers I used a 10 gallon igloo. The 10 gallon igloo would hold a 6 gallon carboy with room to spare, and that was how I temp controlled my carboy. It worked very well using tap water as ours is around 50 degrees year round. If you have an extra thousand, and I am not sure where to find extra grands laying around, and this gem will make your life easier, the price is good. Great Vidya Apartment.
Great review! I have the 7 gal. jacketed X2 and your review is spot on! There's definitely some quality concerns and mine does not hold pressure very well. I do love the cooling and temp control when combined with the Brewbuilt chiller though. The Flex Chamber is difficult to reach on the 7 gal. model and it's messy to drop the trub. There's hardly enough room to use the butterfly valve due to the handles hitting the legs. All-in-all, I wish I had waited for the second version of this fermenter but it defintely has it's benefits.
Thanks for the honest review. I don’t do nearly the number of brews you brewtubers do. For me, I use the basics which serves me well. However maybe some day. It is impressive to see the technology that a brewery would use now available to home brewers. Cheers!🍻
X2 jacketed conical user here. My Flex Chamber leaked on my first few batches, no matter how many times I re-screwed the lid, it would start leaking once it was under water pressure or pressure fermenting. It just could not hold over 5psi pressure before it would start leaking. Finally, I swapped out the Flex Chamber for a 2" Tri-Clamp Hop Bong I had on hand and it solved all my issues. Now I use the hop bong for my trub collector and I got another for a Hop Bong. (2 flex chambers for sale, hmu) I do not use the floating dip tube but I do use the pressure lid to add CO^2 while draining out the included sample valve or setting up pressure testing when pressure fermenting. Another "must have", IMO, is the carb cap air stone! Works awesome for adding oxygen when starting a ferment and for carbing once fermentation is compete. I use mine on the side opening of the hop bong. The air stone can also be bought as a 1.5" tri-clamp if you don't want to use it on the Flex chamber or Hop Bong. I also really like the Spunding Valve and Pressure Gauge from BrewBuilt as they are heavy duty and seemly will last forever if cared for during use (can be bought on amazon for a bit cheaper). Jacket works great, I haven't timed my temp change for CC but I set it at night and by the time I wake up it's at temp (usually 1-2C) regardless of what I started at for temp. I have done 20C D-Rest to 1C CC in an 8 hour sleep with ambient temp of 20-22C with no problems. Side note, I do this over night because ambient temp is typically lower and electricity costs are cheaper after 9pm local time and since this requires a lot of cooling power, I feel like it saves me some change on my power bill. Overall, IMO, great fermenter. Cools faster than my Fermzilla or All Rounder with the chilling coil. Much easier to clean SS walls vs the tight spaced SS coil with the CIP ball attachment. And could technically do no chill fermenting, which the PET fermenters cannot do.
I have the CF10 and Flex+, but if I had to do it over, I really love the simplicity of a simple corny keg with a floating dip tube. Best bang for the buck for pressure fermentations imo.
I'm currently planning on "upgrading" from corny keg and floating dip tube fermenting to a conical. Seeing your post is making me reconsider. I'm curious why you would take the keg fermenting route if you had to do it over? Is it just that there is less too clean and deal with? Cheers!
@@beernie1946 Pretty much, plus no leaking issues with the top on those type of conicals. If it were me, I'd look at the Megamouth Torpedo kegs from More Beer. For the price of the CF-5, you could get two maybe three of the 6 gallon Mega mouths. Add the floating dip tubes and your in business. With the larger lids compared to regular cornys, adding a 1.5 inch triclamp bulkhead for other accessory attachments make it a clear cut winner imo. The only disadvantage to the Megamouths that I see are they have a larger footprint vs a standard 5 gallon ball lock. That might be something to consider if kegerator space is a premium.
@@GentleGiantFan Thanks for the detailed response! Those torpedo kegs look awesome! The 10 gallon has a good form factor for its size I feel (taller vs wider). I'm currently using two 6 gallons standard torpedo kegs which have been pretty awesome so far. I'm still tempted by the shiny conicals, but you've made me think twice about it. I think I'll at least hold off for a while longer
@@beernie1946 You're welcome. I have a 15 gallon corny that I use for 10 gallon batches. I added a floating diptube to it. Also, the way the handles are oriented, I was able to reverse the lid's handle (bale?) to where I had room to drill a hole big enough for a 1.5" triclamp bulkhead. I plan on adding Spike's spunding valve to it in the future. I have maybe $130 in it all together. I wished my CF-10 was that cheap.
Great video. I love all the information and comparison with the Spike. If I didn't already have a Spike conical, I would be very tempted to get one of these for the jacket cooling.
fabulous and honest review ... thanks for that (and years of top tips that have improved my beer). One question however, why "non foaming sanitiser" with this setup? Did I miss something important? Cheers,
I've been watching this thing for awhile now. Thanks for a great review. I would like to upgrade my CF10. Having that big port at the top for dry hopping lodo and not messing with a coil would be amazing.
Looking to see which is best uni for creating lagers. Seems like the jacketed would be better but I am a bit nervous about some of the issues people have had. Concerned about the placement of all the ports in the 7gal as well as some of the pressure holding issues with the lid.
Jacketed helps in terms of cooling speed but if you use a coil you'll get close enough once you get down there. Agreed in the ports, annoying but it works eventually
im looking at this vs the brewtools miniUni+, the jacket on the miniuni seems to cover better for smaller batches, kind of leaning towards the brewtools...
Thanks for this comparison its very relevant as I'm making my decision to go from bucket to conical. My local homebrew shop primarily sells Spike equipment. From talking to them its seems Spike treats the shops they work with pretty well for ordering/supporting through the shop which is always nice. That probably gives it the edge for me.
I'll also throw out there that Spike's customer service is fantastic. I've had two minor issues, one was likely my fault, but they replaced the part in question at no cost to me very quick and easy. I don't know what support is like for the X2. Does anyone else have experience there?
There's a saying among people who fish; some gear is made to catch fish, and some is made to catch fishermen. My brewery plans are evolving to a lower-cost, but effective, method. I would have once drooled at the thought of this fermenter, but now I see fermenting under pressure in a corny keg as a less-sexy, but just as viable option. It won't wow your friends as much, but the beer will be just as good.
I saw this at homebrew con last year. There is a lot I like about it, but as a Spike CF5/10 user, there is not enough to make me switch. The jacket is super cool, but I don't like all the ports smushed together in the cone like you mention and some other things. I'm sort of thinking about a coolbot walkin in the basement, in part, to get around the cold crash shortcomings of the coil in the Spike CF... That and a little bit of a hassle cleaning are my only problems with the cooling coil.
I think of you've already got one it's not enough to switch fully as well. I think though if you're a first time unitank buyer it would be a very useful product.
question not necessarily related to this comparison. I watched the video on brewing the treehouse hazy and noticed that the past few brews you've switched from using distilled water to using spring water. Did you get a water prfile done for that brand and know the minerals already present are consistent? I ask because i still am using distilled water and adding minerals, but spring water is easier to find sometimes.
No water profile, but for when you are building up a water profile with 100+ ppm of key minerals, the 5-10 ppm of Base minerals in spring water doesn't matter in the long run
Seems to me there'd be a decent market for a standalone cooling jacket--some sort of a mat or pad with channels/tubing in it to run chilled glycol or water through. Presto, you have a jacketed fermenter. Or does it already exist, and I just don't know about it?
@@TheApartmentBrewer Turns out it does, the "Cool Zone Cooling Jacket." Starts at about $80, but that does include a set of quick disconnects FWIW. Since I don't see me buying an X2 any time soon (unfortunately I didn't win the giveaway from morebeer), I might have to give this a try.
One comment at the end of the presentation caught my ear....Why do you have to use NON-Foaming sanitizer in one of the conicals? I'm looking to set up a Spike CF10 system a long with a 15gal Solo. I've never heard of having to only use non-foaming sanitizer in either the brew or fermenting equipment... Why are you recommending this? And...what is a non-foaming sanitizer product to look into? I'm only familiar with one sanitizer, the Star-San. Thank you in advance!! CC
If you sanitize in place through use of a spray ball you'll want nonfoaming Sanitizer or you'll be up to your nose in bubbles. 5 star makes saniclean which I use.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Ah..thank you. I guess I'd only thought about doing cleaning with the ball....not the sanitize. I'm new to this...I had only thought about cleaning after a brew, but doing sanitization just before putting wort in....and with that I'd honestly not thought about the CIP Ball, I'd assumed pumping some Star San solution in and using a sponge/brush to run it around the inside. But you're giving good ideas. As an aside, there's no need to sanitize just after a brew, right...since it will often set where contaminates could land....you generally need to sanitize just before use for fermentation...is that correct? Thank you in advance, CC
So there's two schools of thought on this, you can either clean and sanitize after a brew and apply pressure, keeping the unitank pressurized until the next batch or you can just sanitize right before receiving new wort, which is what I do
Are you planning on doing them traditionally at cold temps or under pressure? A fermentation chamber chest freezer paired with a bucket is still cheaper than this fermenter and will get just as much consistency. But the unitank is very useful if you commit to it long term.
Great video and well articulated. Loving my X2 so far. That cooling jacket is a game changer! Some input related to what you brought up. My lid clamp doesn't bottom out on the threads but it does bottom out where the v portion makes contact with each other. Also, have a half batch in mine at the moment and can confirm, it cools pretty well still even though the cooling jacket only makes contact with an inch or so of the beer. Question, what size conical heater did you get? Unfortunate that they don't have the compatibility chart updated for the X2 and support wasn't sure which ones would fit the 7gal quite yet.
For the price, I can buy a new Fermzilla every time I brew and throw away the old one😂. I would like to see how the cooling jacket connects. Thanks, Steve!
The temp probe location shouldn't be an issue if you're shaving the cone every day or every other day like you should be doing. A lot of Spike CF power users configure the cone with the following: coming off the cone > butterfly valve > sight glass > 90° elbow > butterfly valve > then typically a reducer or barb with X inches of silicone. This gives significantly greater control over shaving the cone, but it's only possible with the leg extensions. Question - is there enough room on the X2 for that configuration?
7 gallons is too small to justify all those expensive things fitted to what is essentially a cheap stainless bucket. The cost benefit ratio is wrong. I would highly recommend that anyone going down this route buys a higher volume unitank as the extra dollar will be worth investing. Weld quality - made in China?
![🔴 ฟุตบอลแชมป์กีฬา 7HD แชมเปียน คัพ 2024 [รอบรองชนะเลิศ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zPm8ClLVhoE/mqdefault.jpg)
I love the jacketed portion of it. So much better for cleaning. Although it has worked for me recently, I'm still skeptical about the lids on these and the spikes. I don't trust that I'm not going to lose a tank of CO2 whenever I carbonate up to 15psi. All that being said, it looks like a great system and I'm probably just worrying too much! Love the in depth review. Cheers!
The jacket is awesome, but its concerning some folks are seeing pressure losses!
Thanks for the incredibly honest review! I think another big benefit worth mentioning, in my opinion, is the more accurate scalability when it comes to commercial brewing. I’m an assistant brewer at a commercial brewery and, since MOST commercial breweries have proper, jacketed unitanks, I think the X2 is an excellent tool for developing your recipes in the most accurate way possible. If that makes any sense.
Thanks again!
Thank you! It's certainly the closest one I've used to the pro tanks!
Great, in-depth review Steve!
Thanks for the honesty here. All too often BrewTubers only discuss the pros of something they have been asked to review. This fermenter looks like an incredibly versatile unitank. Once I’m in the market for something on this scale, I will revisit this review and the CF5 to make sure I am getting the most bang for my homebrew buck.
Thanks 🍻
I'm always trying to stay honest with these things, no need to sway people any particular way. Cheers!
Very cool, Steve. Most of your experiences with the jacketed X2 resemble my own with one exception; my 14 gal version struggles to hold pressure. I just posted a video on that yesterday.
Hey Larry, have you tried flipping the gasket upside down? My Blichmann Fermenator, I thought, had a leak, but the gasket fit better after flipping.
@@patrickglaser1560 the gasket? No. Could try it but for now just trying to use it as intended. I just think the choice of using v clamps instead of something else like TC clamps is the root problem. V clamps aren’t designed for use in these kind of fermenters.
I used to have issues with the pressure loss in my spike CF5 until I flipped the lid gasket as well, but I dont know if that's the root cause. Cheers!
@BEER-N-BBQ by Larry oh ya, the v clamp also has a right-side-up as well. It was maddening for me, one uni was 15psi capable the other only got up to 7. After fiddling I got both unitanks up to 15psi
@@TheApartmentBrewer v clamp is definitely fiddly
I love that you engaged the viewer to ask themselves if they actually need a $1000 fermenter. Jacketed means one thing. Achieving the efficiency of a jacketed fermenter can come in many variables. When I mashed in coolers I used a 10 gallon igloo. The 10 gallon igloo would hold a 6 gallon carboy with room to spare, and that was how I temp controlled my carboy. It worked very well using tap water as ours is around 50 degrees year round. If you have an extra thousand, and I am not sure where to find extra grands laying around, and this gem will make your life easier, the price is good. Great Vidya Apartment.
Great review! I have the 7 gal. jacketed X2 and your review is spot on! There's definitely some quality concerns and mine does not hold pressure very well. I do love the cooling and temp control when combined with the Brewbuilt chiller though. The Flex Chamber is difficult to reach on the 7 gal. model and it's messy to drop the trub. There's hardly enough room to use the butterfly valve due to the handles hitting the legs. All-in-all, I wish I had waited for the second version of this fermenter but it defintely has it's benefits.
It seems there's more people having issues with pressure holding than those without, which is a serious problem, among others
Thanks for the honest review. I don’t do nearly the number of brews you brewtubers do. For me, I use the basics which serves me well. However maybe some day. It is impressive to see the technology that a brewery would use now available to home brewers. Cheers!🍻
The basics get you 99% of what you'd get out of this!
X2 jacketed conical user here. My Flex Chamber leaked on my first few batches, no matter how many times I re-screwed the lid, it would start leaking once it was under water pressure or pressure fermenting. It just could not hold over 5psi pressure before it would start leaking. Finally, I swapped out the Flex Chamber for a 2" Tri-Clamp Hop Bong I had on hand and it solved all my issues. Now I use the hop bong for my trub collector and I got another for a Hop Bong. (2 flex chambers for sale, hmu)
I do not use the floating dip tube but I do use the pressure lid to add CO^2 while draining out the included sample valve or setting up pressure testing when pressure fermenting. Another "must have", IMO, is the carb cap air stone! Works awesome for adding oxygen when starting a ferment and for carbing once fermentation is compete. I use mine on the side opening of the hop bong. The air stone can also be bought as a 1.5" tri-clamp if you don't want to use it on the Flex chamber or Hop Bong. I also really like the Spunding Valve and Pressure Gauge from BrewBuilt as they are heavy duty and seemly will last forever if cared for during use (can be bought on amazon for a bit cheaper).
Jacket works great, I haven't timed my temp change for CC but I set it at night and by the time I wake up it's at temp (usually 1-2C) regardless of what I started at for temp. I have done 20C D-Rest to 1C CC in an 8 hour sleep with ambient temp of 20-22C with no problems. Side note, I do this over night because ambient temp is typically lower and electricity costs are cheaper after 9pm local time and since this requires a lot of cooling power, I feel like it saves me some change on my power bill.
Overall, IMO, great fermenter. Cools faster than my Fermzilla or All Rounder with the chilling coil. Much easier to clean SS walls vs the tight spaced SS coil with the CIP ball attachment. And could technically do no chill fermenting, which the PET fermenters cannot do.
I have the CF10 and Flex+, but if I had to do it over, I really love the simplicity of a simple corny keg with a floating dip tube. Best bang for the buck for pressure fermentations imo.
I'm currently planning on "upgrading" from corny keg and floating dip tube fermenting to a conical. Seeing your post is making me reconsider.
I'm curious why you would take the keg fermenting route if you had to do it over? Is it just that there is less too clean and deal with? Cheers!
@@beernie1946 Pretty much, plus no leaking issues with the top on those type of conicals.
If it were me, I'd look at the Megamouth Torpedo kegs from More Beer. For the price of the CF-5, you could get two maybe three of the 6 gallon Mega mouths. Add the floating dip tubes and your in business. With the larger lids compared to regular cornys, adding a 1.5 inch triclamp bulkhead for other accessory attachments make it a clear cut winner imo.
The only disadvantage to the Megamouths that I see are they have a larger footprint vs a standard 5 gallon ball lock. That might be something to consider if kegerator space is a premium.
@@GentleGiantFan Thanks for the detailed response! Those torpedo kegs look awesome! The 10 gallon has a good form factor for its size I feel (taller vs wider). I'm currently using two 6 gallons standard torpedo kegs which have been pretty awesome so far.
I'm still tempted by the shiny conicals, but you've made me think twice about it. I think I'll at least hold off for a while longer
Keg style fermenters and converted kega are certainly becoming more popular for good reason, they are very practical!
@@beernie1946 You're welcome.
I have a 15 gallon corny that I use for 10 gallon batches. I added a floating diptube to it. Also, the way the handles are oriented, I was able to reverse the lid's handle (bale?) to where I had room to drill a hole big enough for a 1.5" triclamp bulkhead. I plan on adding Spike's spunding valve to it in the future. I have maybe $130 in it all together. I wished my CF-10 was that cheap.
Love the honest review here! Great video Steve
Thanks Trent!
Great video. I love all the information and comparison with the Spike. If I didn't already have a Spike conical, I would be very tempted to get one of these for the jacket cooling.
Definitely very innovative, but I dont know whether I would switch from my CF5 if I wanted to either
fabulous and honest review ... thanks for that (and years of top tips that have improved my beer). One question however, why "non foaming sanitiser" with this setup? Did I miss something important? Cheers,
I’ll have these expensive toys someday but for now, as you say, It isn’t needed to make great beer! Thanks for the review!
So is the SS Brewtech Unitank 2.0 the best option since it doesn’t have that band clamp?
I've been watching this thing for awhile now. Thanks for a great review. I would like to upgrade my CF10. Having that big port at the top for dry hopping lodo and not messing with a coil would be amazing.
It is certainly an interesting alternative!
Looking to see which is best uni for creating lagers. Seems like the jacketed would be better but I am a bit nervous about some of the issues people have had. Concerned about the placement of all the ports in the 7gal as well as some of the pressure holding issues with the lid.
Jacketed helps in terms of cooling speed but if you use a coil you'll get close enough once you get down there. Agreed in the ports, annoying but it works eventually
im looking at this vs the brewtools miniUni+, the jacket on the miniuni seems to cover better for smaller batches, kind of leaning towards the brewtools...
21:18 well said. Good process is more important than good gear. I like having good gear though to allow for a better process 😊
It does help, but you gotta know how to leverage it!
Great review. Ended up going with the Spike but it was for sure a tough decision.
Looks like a sweet fermenter!! I’m hoping to go the glycol route someday so this would be an awesome addition. Cheers 🍻
Do it!
Wonder if BrewHardware could make a long tri clamp thermowell for the lid?
Not sure if those exist but I agree!
Thanks for this comparison its very relevant as I'm making my decision to go from bucket to conical.
My local homebrew shop primarily sells Spike equipment. From talking to them its seems Spike treats the shops they work with pretty well for ordering/supporting through the shop which is always nice. That probably gives it the edge for me.
They're very high quality and no matter which one you go for you'll be happy!
I'll also throw out there that Spike's customer service is fantastic. I've had two minor issues, one was likely my fault, but they replaced the part in question at no cost to me very quick and easy. I don't know what support is like for the X2. Does anyone else have experience there?
I can definitely vouch for spikes customer service as well!
Just pulled the trigger on the X2! I wanted to thank you for your videos/advice.
One question:
How do you dump the yeast while under pressure?
Glad to help! To answer your question- very carefully. A hose from the dump valve isn't a bad idea to keep messes under control.
There's a saying among people who fish; some gear is made to catch fish, and some is made to catch fishermen. My brewery plans are evolving to a lower-cost, but effective, method. I would have once drooled at the thought of this fermenter, but now I see fermenting under pressure in a corny keg as a less-sexy, but just as viable option. It won't wow your friends as much, but the beer will be just as good.
Can't agree more! There's a big difference in shininess but not too much in effectiveness!
I saw this at homebrew con last year. There is a lot I like about it, but as a Spike CF5/10 user, there is not enough to make me switch. The jacket is super cool, but I don't like all the ports smushed together in the cone like you mention and some other things. I'm sort of thinking about a coolbot walkin in the basement, in part, to get around the cold crash shortcomings of the coil in the Spike CF... That and a little bit of a hassle cleaning are my only problems with the cooling coil.
I think of you've already got one it's not enough to switch fully as well. I think though if you're a first time unitank buyer it would be a very useful product.
Obrigado Portugal Aveiro
question not necessarily related to this comparison. I watched the video on brewing the treehouse hazy and noticed that the past few brews you've switched from using distilled water to using spring water. Did you get a water prfile done for that brand and know the minerals already present are consistent? I ask because i still am using distilled water and adding minerals, but spring water is easier to find sometimes.
No water profile, but for when you are building up a water profile with 100+ ppm of key minerals, the 5-10 ppm of Base minerals in spring water doesn't matter in the long run
I got a spike CF5 as well, I think it would be the better one. What would you think is the better one?
That very much depends on what you want to use your unitanks for and for your personal situation.
Seems to me there'd be a decent market for a standalone cooling jacket--some sort of a mat or pad with channels/tubing in it to run chilled glycol or water through. Presto, you have a jacketed fermenter. Or does it already exist, and I just don't know about it?
That's a really good point! I wonder if that sort of thing exists?
@@TheApartmentBrewer Turns out it does, the "Cool Zone Cooling Jacket." Starts at about $80, but that does include a set of quick disconnects FWIW. Since I don't see me buying an X2 any time soon (unfortunately I didn't win the giveaway from morebeer), I might have to give this a try.
Thx! I wonder how it does against the brewtools and the unitank 2 from ss.
Would certainly be an interesting comparison, unfortunately I've never used either of those
One comment at the end of the presentation caught my ear....Why do you have to use NON-Foaming sanitizer in one of the conicals?
I'm looking to set up a Spike CF10 system a long with a 15gal Solo. I've never heard of having to only use non-foaming sanitizer in either the brew or fermenting equipment...
Why are you recommending this? And...what is a non-foaming sanitizer product to look into? I'm only familiar with one sanitizer, the Star-San.
Thank you in advance!!
CC
If you sanitize in place through use of a spray ball you'll want nonfoaming Sanitizer or you'll be up to your nose in bubbles. 5 star makes saniclean which I use.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Ah..thank you. I guess I'd only thought about doing cleaning with the ball....not the sanitize.
I'm new to this...I had only thought about cleaning after a brew, but doing sanitization just before putting wort in....and with that I'd honestly not thought about the CIP Ball, I'd assumed pumping some Star San solution in and using a sponge/brush to run it around the inside.
But you're giving good ideas.
As an aside, there's no need to sanitize just after a brew, right...since it will often set where contaminates could land....you generally need to sanitize just before use for fermentation...is that correct?
Thank you in advance,
CC
So there's two schools of thought on this, you can either clean and sanitize after a brew and apply pressure, keeping the unitank pressurized until the next batch or you can just sanitize right before receiving new wort, which is what I do
That sounds like my drum set.... But it's fun!
Hi I'm planing on brewing lagers.Would this be best for an intelligent beginner?
You absolutely need temp control for lagers, so if you can afford a unitank I couldn't reccomend more. I'm partial to blichmann however
Are you planning on doing them traditionally at cold temps or under pressure? A fermentation chamber chest freezer paired with a bucket is still cheaper than this fermenter and will get just as much consistency. But the unitank is very useful if you commit to it long term.
Great video and well articulated.
Loving my X2 so far. That cooling jacket is a game changer!
Some input related to what you brought up.
My lid clamp doesn't bottom out on the threads but it does bottom out where the v portion makes contact with each other.
Also, have a half batch in mine at the moment and can confirm, it cools pretty well still even though the cooling jacket only makes contact with an inch or so of the beer.
Question, what size conical heater did you get? Unfortunate that they don't have the compatibility chart updated for the X2 and support wasn't sure which ones would fit the 7gal quite yet.
Interesting data points, thanks for sharing! I got the 120W size but I wish I hadn't. It's a huge PITA to get on this one.
I got the 80 watt and it fits great!
What did you use to chill the jacket?
20% Glycol water solution
For the price, I can buy a new Fermzilla every time I brew and throw away the old one😂. I would like to see how the cooling jacket connects. Thanks, Steve!
Not for everyone, as I said at the beginning, most people don't need this sort of thing!
The temp probe location shouldn't be an issue if you're shaving the cone every day or every other day like you should be doing.
A lot of Spike CF power users configure the cone with the following: coming off the cone > butterfly valve > sight glass > 90° elbow > butterfly valve > then typically a reducer or barb with X inches of silicone. This gives significantly greater control over shaving the cone, but it's only possible with the leg extensions. Question - is there enough room on the X2 for that configuration?
That's a fair point! I think that setup you described is possible but only with leg extensions, which you'd need anyway on the Spike fermenters.
Maybe when they get these problems resolved I'll give it a try. The price point is going to be a hard pill to swallow for most
It's going to be hard to find a perfect balance of price vs perfection, but most people don't need these things!
You'd think if the brewbuilt is made in China it would be cheaper. Love the 4 legs tho.
Agreed!
7 gallons is too small to justify all those expensive things fitted to what is essentially a cheap stainless bucket. The cost benefit ratio is wrong. I would highly recommend that anyone going down this route buys a higher volume unitank as the extra dollar will be worth investing. Weld quality - made in China?
Good points!
Try the brewtools conical. I've been eyeing it. It's sexy af
Lol I wish I knew those guys but that's mega expensive
@@TheApartmentBrewer I know!!! It's beautiful though you have to admit.
This is the kind of gear for people with more money than sense. If you're watching this- you don't need this.
I’ll have these expensive toys someday but for now, as you say, It isn’t needed to make great beer! Thanks for the review!
Can't agree more!