20 Gallon brewery pumps

I'm building a new brewery that will produce about 20 gallons of wort. My vessels will be 30 gallon for the HLT and BK and 42 gallon for the MLT.

I'm wondering what pump would be best used for my system? I'd like to achieve a good whirlpool in my BK and the mash will be recirculated in a HERMS system. Thanks!

I have been moving 15gallons with march Ac-3b-md it works great.

A buddy of mine at a local microbrew does 50 gallon batches and just uses march 809 pumps.

My LG 3-MD-HC pushes a lot of wort around at high speeds (12gal batches) and I believe Bobby_M has the 5-MD-HC so he may be able to comment on that. The 3-MD-HC runs at 1/12 HP and the 5-MD-HC runs at 1/8 HP. The typical March 809 runs at 1/25 HP for comparison.

I do 35 gallon batches and use an 809. I would like something faster. That said, if you are using a herms or rims, I think you will get grain bed compaction if you jack up the flow very high.

any of the March pumps will work for 20 gallons. It depends on your kettle geometry for the whirlpool almost as much as the gpm of the pump.

stevehaun said:

I do 35 gallon batches and use an 809. I would like something faster. That said, if you are using a herms or rims, I think you will get grain bed compaction if you jack up the flow very high.

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Compaction is definitely in consideration. I've also been thinking of a 8-10 gallon grant to help with runoffs.

onthekeg said:

any of the March pumps will work for 20 gallons. It depends on your kettle geometry for the whirlpool almost as much as the gpm of the pump.

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Taller is better than wide right?

stevehaun said:

I do 35 gallon batches and use an 809. I would like something faster. That said, if you are using a herms or rims, I think you will get grain bed compaction if you jack up the flow very high.

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On any of these pumps you will need to use a grant or restrict flow to avoid compaction, IMO.



To the OP:

I have a March with the high flow options (also known as 815) as well as an LG TE-5.5-MD-HC and it moves a lot of wort. That said, I would be fine with the 815 for my 20 gal batches. I can get a whirlpool going with either despite the restriction in the line of recirculating the wort through my CFC as I whirlpool.

If all your lines and ports are 1/2", you're going to be hard pressed to do much better than a hi flow 809/815 and every incremental gain in flow rate is going to cost you significantly more $$$.