Pumps and mash tuns

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I do this. I utilize a grant so as to not compress the grain bed under the negative pressure a pump creates. If I didn't use the grant I would definitely go very slow. My setup is such that I can gravity drain if I would like to from mash tun to kettle. I use the pump since I was already using it to recirculate for my vorlauf, but it would be just as easy to gravity drain directly.
 
Wort:

Mash tun to Grant
Grant to BK

so you gravity into the grant and pump into the BK, am I understanding correctly?

-=Jason=-
 
I pump my MLT and have a false bottom. When I start pumping, I choke off the output with a ball valve for the first few minutes to set up the grain bed. I've only had one stuck mash and that was 40% Rye with no rice hulls. All I did was stir and start back slow again and it was fine.

One issue with pumping though is you can collapse your hose at higher temps if there is too much resistance. To help prevent this I use the braided reinforced silicone tubing and a 90 at the MLT output.

Sent from my iPhone using HB Talk
 
I use a pump to drain my MLT also. It's a keg with a homemade false bottom. I drain slow by using a ball valve also. Instead of using a hose to my false bottom, I made it out of 1/2 stainless rigid pipe. The pipe has a union so I can remove the FB for easy cleaning. I use a RIMS, so since I recirculate with the pump, going to the kettle is as simple as moving the MLT return tubing to the kettle.
 
So u use a resivor for ur run from ur mash tun then run ur other end of ur pump in there and pump into the bk
 
metalpysko said:
So u use a resivor for ur run from ur mash tun then run ur other end of ur pump in there and pump into the bk .

Typical grant (reservoir) set-up

Mash/Lauter tun to grant

Grant1-1.jpg


Grant to pump

Grant-2.jpg


Pump to brew kettle or back to Mash/Lauter tun for Vorlauf

To brew kettle

Clear_Run_Dark4-1.jpg


Vorlauf

Vorlauf-Helles-1.jpg


Cheers,
ClaudiusB
 
I like the grant setup. I may have to add one. For now I just use the output valve to slow the system down to avoid compacting the grain bed. It works well albeit a bit slow.
 
I use a March pump from my rectangular (blue) cooler to my boil kettle. The MT cooler is equipped with a copper pipe manifold. I set the pump lower than the MT and use hoses with QD fittings. The pump and hoses fill by gravity. To vorlauf, I recirculate through the pump to the top of the grain bed, throttling the flow with a ball valve on the pump outlet.

Once the vorlauf is over and the flow rate is set at about 1 qt.min with the ball valve on the pump outlet, the pump is turned off, the hose is connected to the kettle ball valve, and the pump is re-started. Then I start fly sparging by gravity from my elevated HLT.

I have had no problems with collapsing hoses or grain beds, due to the slow flow rate, I guess.
 
Thanks alot imntrying to design a brew rig and im trying to get all the parts together before i buy and all the best ideas before i build it
 
Bigscience said:
To help prevent this I use the braided reinforced silicone tubing and a 90 at the MLT output.

Hogwash, I say!

I use 1/2" silicone for everything (except I use reinforced vinyl on hoses connected to the plumbing), and I have experienced everything from virtually no external resistance, to 100% (stuck sparge, closed valves), and have never experienced anything like this, nor have I ever heard about it from countless other people using pumps and silicone tubing.

I would normally not even bother pointing it out, but at $2/foot, even regular silicone tubing is fairly expensive. I also use a plate chiller and an in-line filter/hopback, and so I have about $60 of hose (30 feet) JUST for use on brewday (I also use 1/2" silicone for racking), which is not exactly a negligible cost, especially when you add the cost of quick disconnect fittings. Still, $2/foot is peanuts compared to the $7/foot for the braid-reinforced stuff... that's over $200 just for silicone hose, and I still have more to add. Ridiculous... I could put that extra $150 to very good use.

Besides, if you are getting enough resistance on your line that a hose collapses, from a closed valve, stuck or near-stuck sparge, or whatever (though I still have never had a problem, with both a March 809 AND 815 even on full-throttle), then it is a problem you are going to have to fix regardless of what kind of hose you are using. So really, it's just a huge waste of money - though I DO plan to eventually get a length of braided silicone to replace the braided vinyl I connect to my water supply - for the opposite reason though, as regular silicone tubing will easily burst from the pressure of the water supply.
 
I do this. Nothing fancy. I batch sparge. I pump the first runnings from the mash tun to the brew kettle, transfer the sparge water from the hlt to the mash tun with a pitcher, then pump the 2nd runnings to the brew kettle. Once the first runnings are in the brew kettle I go ahead and fire it up.
 
emjay said:
Hogwash, I say!

I use 1/2" silicone for everything (except I use reinforced vinyl on hoses connected to the plumbing), and I have experienced everything from virtually no external resistance, to 100% (stuck sparge, closed valves), and have never experienced anything like this, nor have I ever heard about it from countless other people using pumps and silicone tubing.

I would normally not even bother pointing it out, but at $2/foot, even regular silicone tubing is fairly expensive. I also use a plate chiller and an in-line filter/hopback, and so I have about $60 of hose (30 feet) JUST for use on brewday (I also use 1/2" silicone for racking), which is not exactly a negligible cost, especially when you add the cost of quick disconnect fittings. Still, $2/foot is peanuts compared to the $7/foot for the braid-reinforced stuff... that's over $200 just for silicone hose, and I still have more to add. Ridiculous... I could put that extra $150 to very good use.

Besides, if you are getting enough resistance on your line that a hose collapses, from a closed valve, stuck or near-stuck sparge, or whatever (though I still have never had a problem, with both a March 809 AND 815 even on full-throttle), then it is a problem you are going to have to fix regardless of what kind of hose you are using. So really, it's just a huge waste of money - though I DO plan to eventually get a length of braided silicone to replace the braided vinyl I connect to my water supply - for the opposite reason though, as regular silicone tubing will easily burst from the pressure of the water supply.

Maybe it's your crappy march pump. I roll a little giant. ; 0

Besides, you don't need a whole system of reinforced tubing, just between the MLT and pump.

Sent from my iPhone using HB Talk
 
Back
Top