Here's my build!

I have all of the major components in place. Well, at least they are sitting in their spot on the shelves...

I don't have the connectivity in place, nor do I have a pump.

Which is why I'm posting this... I plan on using 3/8" copper tubing all throughout. I'm stuck on choosing a pump. This rig is based on 5 gallon batches. I have a 6.5 gallon kettle and 6.5 gallon fermenters.

The smallest pump available at my local big box hardware store is 350gph. Physically, it fits in my hand but, 350gph seems pretty quick! ..and it's $90.00

Does anybody have another suggestion in regards to pumps?

I suggest you go with 1/2" ID tubing and fittings.

What were you going to use the pump for?

Moving water / wort from one container to another.

Most Hmebrewers use teh March 809 Pump. IT's $100-$140

i'd agree with 1/2 all around. I have 3/8" but am constantly considering the switch. I do 10 gallon batches though. If you think you ever might step up to larger batches, this might be the way.

Most use the march pump b/c it's a magnet drive (is that the proper term?). This means no gear lube leaking into your wort, no bushings to worry about, etc (as far as I'm aware). This might be worth the extra bucks over one from the big box stores.

Do you chill your wort? you might want to plan a chiller of sorts into your design, even if you don't have one now, so that you can easily just 'plug' it into the setup later. Or do you no-chill? Cool!

nbspindel said:

Do you chill your wort? you might want to plan a chiller of sorts into your design, even if you don't have one now, so that you can easily just 'plug' it into the setup later. Or do you no-chill? Cool!

Click to expand...

Actually, I do, I've got one that I put together a long time ago. I just didn't include it in the diagram. I am actually thinking about trying to mount it permanently in the kettle but, I'm not sure I want to be that ambitious...

I use two of these pumps and they work great! http://cgi.ebay.com/Little-Giant-3-...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item19b8fb3326

do you use those with boiling wort? it states they're only good to 200*F. It's not a big jump to 212, but you might want to consider that.

Wait, your draining your mash back to your sparge pot? Wouldn't you need about 3-4 gallons of sparge water, how do you plan to boil 6-7 gallons unless your using a pot bigger than 4 gallons, in which case, what's the point of the second pot to begin with?

nbspindel said:

do you use those with boiling wort? it states they're only good to 200*F. It's not a big jump to 212, but you might want to consider that.

Click to expand...

No problems and I found somewhere that the material they are made of does not leech up to something like 400 degrees. Many people are using them with no problems. http://www.cpchem.com/enu/ryton_pps_p_what_is_pps.asp

HIM_Tattoos said:

Wait, your draining your mash back to your sparge pot? Wouldn't you need about 3-4 gallons of sparge water, how do you plan to boil 6-7 gallons unless your using a pot bigger than 4 gallons, in which case, what's the point of the second pot to begin with?

Click to expand...

Ah-ha! I didn't catch that... I was trying to set it up with one pump, not taking into account that I will be collecting wort to the kettle at the same time my sparge kettle is dumping water into the mash tun. That would get ugly real quick...

Looks like I need a second pump...

why not just let gravity do its thing.

just raise your mash tun a little higher and use your pump to bring sparge water up and gravity will drain in into the kettle

stephan132 said:

why not just let gravity do its thing.

just raise your mash tun a little higher and use your pump to bring sparge water up and gravity will drain in into the kettle

Click to expand...

Well, I could... but that wouldn't be as much fun... hehehe