Critique my single tier pump plan - Page 9

**Bobby_M** · 04-08-2008, 08:14 PM

Another "duh" just came to mind. I have a rig that takes my garden hose down to a male quick disconnect, the same that I have on all vessels that I connect to the hoses to rinse out the pump, lines, and CFC. This is the most obvious and simple way to get water into the the pump head, just fill with hose water until it dumps into a bucket, reconnect to your vessels and let it rip.

Another thing I want to add to my setup is a couple of "U" hooks to the stand so that I can have them hold my hoses up when I don't have them connected to anything. Since the female disconnects I use are non sealing, I can't just dangle them on the floor or I'll drain the pump head.

sleepystevenson · 04-09-2008, 05:11 PM

Looking Great, Bobby!

I like those protective pipes you put on the thermo stems - Good idea.

What do you use for a hop filter on the bottom of the boil keg pick up tube?

(BTW, got the sight glass angles....thanks!!!)

**Bobby_M** · 04-09-2008, 05:34 PM

No hop filter on the tube for now. I've been using multiple large nylon bags for my hop additions and they've worked out great. As you can see, I keep the tube off to the side and have tried to give the hot wort a bit of a whirlpool to at least accumilate some of the hot break into a center cone. It seems there isn't much trub in my fermenter at all so it must have worked some.

Soulive · 04-10-2008, 02:05 AM

That thing looks good and has come a long way since I saw the bed frame segments. That one keg is rediculously shiney. Nice work

**FSR402** · 04-10-2008, 05:43 PM

As for the pump priming. If you have the "in" port of the pump on the bottom and the "out" on the top, would it not kind of self prime?

I have never used a pump so I don't know jack really. That and my 3 teir works great for me. But reading all of this it's really making me want to build a 1 teir and turn my barn/work shop into a brew house.

**Bobby_M** · 04-10-2008, 05:51 PM

You're absolutely right about the in/out orientation but it takes the pump running for a bit before it will actually work the cavitating air bubble out. It sounds more frustrating than it really is and once it's primed, the liquid flies!

**Lil' Sparky** · 04-11-2008, 02:14 PM

Like Bobby said, it's really not that bad. I recently switched from a 3-tier to a single tier and it really is a nicer setup.

Man, I really need to brew again soon!

**Bobby_M** · 05-27-2008, 12:05 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7bj0pBhKM8

WBC · 05-27-2008, 02:52 AM

Nice Bobby! This is good info for those building 3 kettle systems right now or in the future. This also proves that you can brew without all the fancy automated stuff too. You can fly sparge by just keeping the water above the grain until you have collected the volume of runoff you targeted. Right now it is operated using the KISS principal.

I am being forced to stop all the lifting I have to do when brewing and so shortly I will construct a framework like yours (single level). I know you enjoyed your first use of this system and it is so easy to work with too.

**Bobby_M** · 05-27-2008, 01:35 PM

Actually since I only have one pump, I have to batch sparge but it worked out well. 92% efficiency.