Back Flow into the HLT

Never heard of this happening:

I made little "hooks", using 2 brass elbows, on the end of two of my silicone tubes. They hang on the edge of the MLT or BK to allow water or wort to flow in.

I pumped half my sparge water into the MLT and started recirculating. My son looked into the HLT a little later and asked why it had "layers" in it. The tubing to the HLT had siphoned some wort back through the pump, into the HLT.

Not a big deal, I just pumped it back into the MLT with the rest of the sparge, and I had to clean the HLT.

I learned to close the HLT valve when I'm not pumping water.

I'm not understanding how things are set-up on your system. How many pumps do you have?

Walker said:

I'm not understanding how things are set-up on your system. How many pumps do you have?

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Two pumps. Left pump (usually) just pumps water, the right pump moves wort.



I need a newer pic. The pumps are vertical now, and the HLT is on the left.

... and your "hook" things have a long hose that extends down into the destination vessel or something?

I only use one pump, but I did a similar thing with some soldered copper pieces on the end of the hose coming out of the pump so I could hang it on the side of one of my vessels as I pumped into it. Looks like an upside down "J". But the output end has a very short length so it never extends down into the vessel far enough to allow a siphon to happen back through the pump.

The part of the "hook" that hangs in the MLT or BK is not very long, but with a big sparge is under the wort. The other hose, connected to the output of the "wort pump", hangs into the liquid, but since it would siphon back into the MLT, it's not an issue.

I just have to remember to close the HLT valve when I'm not pumping from it.

Cpt_Kirks said:

I just have to remember to close the HLT valve when I'm not pumping from it.

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I hear that. I've got a copper manifold for selecting my pump's input. All three vessels are connected to that manifold and I just open the ball valve on the one I want to pull from and put the "J" into the one I want to pump into.

I've forgotton to close some valves before and had MLT contents flowing into HLT. I even had BK contents during chilling flowing out of a drain valve. (!) I made 10 gallons of beer that night and only ended up with 5 in the fermenter because of a valve I forgot to close.:cross:

Walker said:

I hear that. I've got a copper manifold for selecting my pump's input. All three vessels are connected to that manifold and I just open the ball valve on the one I want to pull from and put the "J" into the one I want to pump into.

I've forgotton to close some valves before and had MLT contents flowing into HLT. I even had BK contents during chilling flowing out of a drain valve. (!) I made 10 gallons of beer that night and only ended up with 5 in the fermenter because of a valve I forgot to close.:cross:

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I was running 10 gallons through my plate chiller Saturday, recirculating into the BK while I prepped my Better Bottles. From inside the garage, it looked like the hose had jumped out of the BK, running wort down the driveway. I panicked, until I realized it was the waste water from the chiller.

Well, at least you didn't loose 7 gallons of freshly boiled wort ready for the chiller in to the 'just cleaned' MLT - I did this the other week with an IIPA; forgot to close the recirculation valves for the HERMS. Took me - about 7 gallons worth to figure out where the wort went.... I had to make it again the following weekend just so I can call it redemption.