New CF5 Owner

[Army_Brewer]

I just dabbled a bit and bought a CF5 with all the accessories to control temps. I already own a Blichmann glycol chiller. I’m mostly looking for tips and testimonials from current owners to make my fermentation experiences with this equipment the best I can.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jag75]

Hello and welcome to HBT. I have the same set up and love it . Did you get the racking arm ? I ended up having to order that and extra gaskets and clamps . All in all it's a great set up . There's a conical thread somewhere around here. Lots of good info on this fv as well as others .

 

[Army_Brewer]

Hello and welcome to HBT. I have the same set up and love it . Did you get the racking arm ? I ended up having to order that and extra gaskets and clamps . All in all it's a great set up . There's a conical thread somewhere around here. Lots of good info on this fv as well as others .

Yes. I ordered the racking arm with it. Along with some basics for temp control (neoprene jacket, cooling coil, heating pad, etc). I already have a glycol chiller, InkBirds, and submersible pumps so I didn’t see the need in buying the TC-100 bundle.

How does it handle a half batch? One thing that swayed me to the Spike was that you can supposedly ferment a half batch and the SS Brewtech unitank couldn’t due to the length of the cooling coil.

 

[Jag75]

Yes. I ordered the racking arm with it. Along with some basics for temp control (neoprene jacket, cooling coil, heating pad, etc). I already have a glycol chiller, InkBirds, and submersible pumps so I didn’t see the need in buying the TC-100 bundle.

How does it handle a half batch? One thing that swayed me to the Spike was that you can supposedly ferment a half batch and the SS Brewtech unitank couldn’t due to the length of the cooling coil.

I've never brewed less then 5 gallons so I can't say really. I believe there are brewers here that have the bigger CF and brew smaller batches successfully .

 

[T Murph]

@Army_Brewer I too recently took the step up to a cf5. I have my first batch fermenting now. I also purchased all the accessories up front. Ive been brewing over 30 yrs but this thing is a whole new animal. So far I like it. The first thing that impressed me was the ease of removing the trub and yeast. So far I havent needed the cooling coil but it's in there if needed. One concern I have is fermenting under pressure. 6 days in and it never built pressure but apparently the US 05 yeast have virtually finished fermentation. It did have slight pressure as it would blow bubbles in the blow off jug. I'm gonna leave it go for at least another week before transferring it to a serving keg. We'll see how it turns out.

 

[Wagon_6]

How does it handle a half batch? One thing that swayed me to the Spike was that you can supposedly ferment a half batch and the SS Brewtech unitank couldn’t due to the length of the cooling coil.

I’ve half-batched in my CF10 a couple times with no issues. The coil reaches deep and I didn’t see any delays during the cold crash.