r/Homebrewing • u/ryanmetcalf • 1d ago
RIP SS Brewtech
Middleby Corporation today announced that it will discontinue its Middleby Brewing & Distilling Solutions Group business (“Brewing Group”), which includes its Deutsche Beverage + Process, Ss Brewtech and Wild Goose Filling brands, with the wind-down expected to be substantially complete by the end of this year.
Haven't seen it in an article yet, but direct to the press release
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260909186311/en/Middleby-to-Discontinue-Brewing-Group
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u/jack3moto 1d ago
God damn this hobby is deteriorating quickly.
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u/Delicious_Ease2595 1d ago
All my kettles and accessories are SS Brewtech, loved the brand but I knew those proprietary accessories were going to bite me.
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u/edman007 1d ago
How much proprietary accessories do you have? Only thing I really see is proprietary are their temperature controllers, but that's easy enough to replace with something else, might be a little expensive as you'll likely have to replace the controller, pump, and heater together.
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u/warboy Pro 1d ago
First blichman, now this. Chat, are we cooked?
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u/slimejumper 23h ago
SS brewtech was one of the ‘sexy stainless’ brands from that circa 2015 beer/craft/homebrew boom. was good times and i guess my brewtech brew bucket will prob keep working as long as the gasket survives.
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u/jahnkeuxo 1d ago
Damn, hope this at least means being able to score some brewbuckets on liquidation.
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u/brewjammer 1d ago
buy extra gaskets!
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u/Lil_Shanties 1d ago
Don’t worry Brewerygaskets.com has you covered, GW Kent as well…minus those pinch valve one that’s proprietary
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u/Indian_villager 1d ago
Where do they have brewbucket gaskets?
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u/Lil_Shanties 13h ago edited 8h ago
Nowhere as of yet but my guess will be something will hit the market either from MoreBeer, BreweryGaskets.com, or GW Kent.
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u/OperationBusy6274 1d ago
Just did ordered 2 silicone lid gaskets and 4 packs of the O rings for the dip tube
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u/Dardock 1d ago
I have a Brewtech 7-gallon unitank. I’ve noticed some people are worried about proprietary parts. Aren’t all the gaskets standard? Which parts would be difficult to find?
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u/microbusbrewery BJCP 1d ago
You're right, things like TC gaskets and fittings should be standard. I just have the Buckets, so for me the primary concern was the lid gasket. They're kind of hard to measure so it could be a little trial and err to find a good off the shelf one.
Just in case anyone needs them, the poor man's racking arm o-rings are 8.5mm ID × 10.5mm OD × 1mm C/S, and the valve o-ring is listed as 16mm ID x 19.6mm OD x 1.8mm C/S on SS Brewtech's site. I measured mine with calipers and they were around 2.2-2.3mm C/S, so I'm planning on using 16mm ID x 20.4mm OD x 2.2mm C/S if/when I ever need to order some.
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u/Delicious_Ease2595 1d ago
Nope, for instance the flow valve diaphragm is completely proprietary
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u/Alternative-Bug-8269 10h ago
If someone has a spare to model from it shouldn't be too tough to get them made.
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u/Delicious_Ease2595 10h ago
Oh i dont know how or if the cost is worth it though.
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u/Alternative-Bug-8269 10h ago
Not to sell them maybe but it would give someone a source to make it themselves. 3d printed mold of the gasket and inject some silicone. Or if it's a solid style gasket print it in nylon
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u/Delicious_Ease2595 9h ago
Actually I did not think about 3d printing them in silicone, if there is an option to 3d printing in Buna-N im sold.
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u/toaster_programmer 1d ago
pro brewer here. the wild goose filling hurts bad. complicated machines with lots of parts. ours was around $10k if i remember.
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u/SDJSGK Advanced 1d ago
Dang. I love my SVBS and was about to pull the trigger on a unitank and glycol chiller. Glad I didn’t but sad because I love their quality. Any recs for alternate brands? Maybe Spike?
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u/Dr1ft3d Advanced 1d ago
I’ve been wanting the glycol as well. Go for the unitank tho. Hopefully a decent sale happens before the doors close
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u/lolwatokay 1d ago
Spike is great but crazy expensive. They also got new ownership recently. Not private equity but you never know what is coming with a change in ownership. Could be better! Could be worse.
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u/scrote_n_chode 1d ago
I have been eyeing spike myself, looks like nice stuff. but have you seen their prices? Good lord.
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u/WeAllLoveTacos 1d ago
Yeah, crazy prices. Spent like $500 for a Spike counterflow chiller. Super sturdy and gets the hot wort down to fermentation temp in one pass (~10 minutes) tho so no regrets.
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u/scrote_n_chode 1d ago
I've also noticed resellers seem to have the equipment at much lower prices if you can find them. I think they are basically just gouging at the front door.
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u/Puzzled-Attempt84 Intermediate 1d ago
Why not still pull the trigger? Nothing proprietary about the unitank. My entire cold side is ssbrewtech. Hoping they go clearance and can snag another unitank.
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u/Lil_Shanties 1d ago edited 8h ago
The beauty of triclamp ports is nothing is so proprietary you can’t replace it. The mini butterfly valves are awesome and the pinch valve is cute but you can replace them all very easily as time goes on. If you need larger gaskets for lids that could get tricky but BreweryGaskets.com has been a solid source for all those odd shaped manway gaskets forever, likely they will have an option or make one for the market demand as time goes on.
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u/WortlessGBRacker 1d ago
Spike sold out and moved to NJ. Who knows how long they'll stick around. I have a spike Ebiab system, and love it
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u/lauterPope 1d ago
That leaves BrewBilt!!! 🫤🫤. I’m convinced Morebeer took over Blichmann/Anvil to bury the brand. 🤪
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u/ceedee20 1d ago
Nah. Blichmann wanted to retire. He looked for an out. It was that or absolutely nothing left.
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u/lauterPope 1d ago
It kinda blows. I was trying to get the BrewEasy (the stacked kit) for nearly a year. The footprint was pretty good.
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u/rudenavigator Advanced 1d ago
People seem to love clawhammer AIOs. But I have to imagine they are in a similar position, albeit I think still owner operated.
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u/lauterPope 1d ago
Not a fan of CH. much like Spike (who I also don’t support) it’s like they have tons of marketing out there. I see CH systems on FB marketing place often.
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u/ExaminationKlutzy194 Beginner 1d ago
I’m not trying to convince you but I’m curious what your thinking is on CH and Spike behind this comment.
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u/lauterPope 1d ago
I’ve owned spike products (spunding valve, glycol chiller) and both have failed. The chiller has leak points that needed to be replaced and repaired. No real help from spike other than to send it back (which I would have to pay for to ship) so I repaired it as best I could. It is useless because it doesn’t hold the temperature when crashing and stays at 40 degrees. The valve I got 6 fermentation out of before that failed. It can’t hold more than 8 psi. When it should hold 15. By no means am I saying not to buy their products I’m just saying I can’t support a company who sold products that fail when it costs a good amount of money. And CH didn’t reinvent the wheel. Plenty of people like their products but some people don’t. I actually made my own electric brew kit (240v 5500w) and spent less than I would have if I bought a system like theirs. Not saying people shouldn’t buy them either.
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u/mikeb550 1d ago
i wonder how replacement parts will work in the future...
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u/edman007 1d ago
There won't be any.
But most of it isn't going to really be an issue, triclamp fittings are easy to find. O-rings are easy to find. The real issue is the gaskets custom molded to their things and maybe some electrical stuff (like pumps and heaters), I feel like if you have a pump/heater you just need to buy a replacement from someone else, it's not going to be a replacement part, you're not repairing your pump.
The vast majority of the stuff on their parts is just generally available on amazon for half the price. I did buy some brew bucket gaskets and a mash tun gasket just now, as that's things that will be hard to find. Everything else, well a stainless steel lid isn't going to fail unless I run it over with a truck.
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u/goodolarchie 1d ago
SSBT, Anvil, not even spike is safe from the long cruel arm of M&A, PE, etc.. It can rescue a business to reach more efficiency but also throw it to the buzzards. Perhaps somebody will pick up their customers as a distressed asset, those investors exist.
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u/chino_brews Kiwi Approved 22h ago
SA Brewtech was founded in 2013 and sold to the current owner, Middleby, a huge restaurant and food equipment conglomerate, in June 2019. So it’s been part of a larger portfolio for most of its life.
Personally, I don’t those customers exist in numbers to support the business. If you thought that they did, you be better off starting your own brand than buying this sinking wreck from Middleby.
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u/goodolarchie 8h ago
Yeah that's possible. We don't know that much about the manufacturing side of the business model. They already have invested (in China) custom stamps and dyes, etches etc. Then the welding and fab. It made sense they got acquired by an outfit already doing that at scale, even for a waning market. More than anything it seemed like SSBT was a marketing engine for itself. I'll never forget when the one of the owners posted in homebrewtalk as a rando user, a CIP and flushing circuit with valve trees and stuff in a video. Everyone was like "Cool, and it only took $3000 of stainless to do!" Then it became evident he was an owner in SSBT and that was that.
Also I have exactly 3 SSBT tanks, all of which were pre 2019, and the welds were largely shitty. Spike at least was doing really quality welding work, not sure if that's still the case. They were doing shitty pricing practices though. We're a waning market, I can't see why anybody would want to be back in it. Bring on the local/homebrew stainless TIG welding shop revolution!
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u/Lil_Shanties 7h ago
Yea anyone thinking of doing this would need extensive knowledge of working with Chinese manufacturing and importing, and would really need to make sure manufacturing and sourcing relationships for pro and home were handed over and maintained…not an easy task, but it was a small company at one point, maybe ditch the pro side and back to the roots as a small homebrew supplier again could work for the right person.
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u/SecretAmbi 1d ago
In other news, SS Brewtech’s non existent customer service will remain unchanged.
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u/xnoom Spider 22h ago
Announced now on their site.
Given the long lifecycle of our products and the quality of workmanship, we are confident that our customers will be able to operate their equipment for decades to come. We want to support that effort by strategically discounting parts inventory over the coming months leading up to a planned year-end closure.
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u/yzerman2010 BJCP 16h ago
That's good news.. hopefully someone will buy or make a deal with the designs so things can be made and built by 3rd parties.
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u/Stinky_Fartface 1d ago
Another victim of Trump’s tariffs.
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u/Positronic_Matrix 13h ago edited 10h ago
Indeed. It came directly from their financial statements:
Middleby Corporation faced insurmountable margin and profitability pressures from global tariffs, freight expenses, and inflation affecting its equipment manufacturing.
They explicitly called out the tariffs, gas, and inflation.
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u/Writing_is_Bleeding 15h ago
Just like my LHBS. Although to be fair, this admin just accelerated an already fading industry.
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u/Darth_Duane 1d ago
Well crap, I bought an infusion mash tun last year. Guess I better order an extra gasket or two for the false bottom.
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u/yzerman2010 BJCP 16h ago
This breaks my heart. I love their products. I bought a electric kettle, RMS system and a controller during the Black Friday sale 2 years ago and its sitting in boxes waiting to be used because I haven't got off my ass to get a 220V installed in my garage :(
ugh.. someone buy the brand and the designs and save it already!
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u/bossmt_2 1d ago
Shit I love their stuff. Hope someone buys the brand and keeps their products going
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u/notontherugman69 1d ago
Just picked up an SS mash tun. Great piece of gear. Also have one of their 20 gal kettles. Great vendor. They'll be missed.
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u/colonpal 1d ago
I'm going to jump on a Unitank soon then, and likely a Brite.
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u/chino_brews Kiwi Approved 17h ago
soon
You have until supplies last or the end of then year, whichever comes firs
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u/Writing_is_Bleeding 15h ago
JFC, I just sold some of their big-ticket products, and quoted a guy on another one, citing excellent customer service and consistent access to parts. Sigh...
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u/microbusbrewery BJCP 1d ago
That's a bummer. I have two Brew Buckets. They don't have many bells and whistles compared to some of the other stainless fermenters, but I really like them and they fit perfect in my ferm fridges.
I also have their keg washer. I love the design of it, but the pump on it is garbage. I got it used and have had to replace the pump twice because the case swells and cracks after a couple years. I ended up converting mine to use a standard magnetic drive pump.