Wort Wizard Motorless Pump

I'm curious whether any of you have used this device that MoreBeer has in its catalog. I'm trying to find a way to use a counterflow chiller without the hassle of buying/mounting/maintaining a motor. The price is right and if it works well I'd like to try it instead of the 40 minute immersible chiller.

I've never used a CFC, but I've seen others do it...and it's my understanding you can just use gravity, rather than a pump, to get the wort to flow through it. Anyone have any input on that?

It will be SLOOWWW if you just use gravity. Despite the hassle, you want it to go fast so that you don't have 200+ degree wort in the kettle for very long.

There are lots of threads on here about successfully using the wort wizard with CFC's. Shouldn't be hard to find.

Here is a good thread about a DIY solution:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=277389

I've run my CFC using gravity a couple times now. It works but it definitely slows down once the levels get closer to equalizing. If you have some means of getting your kettle up high, you can increase the power of the siphon.

One of the downfalls of the wort wizard and similar DIY versions is that you have to run your cooling water relatively fast. That's fine in the summer when you would do it anyway. In the winter, my cooling water can trickle through to get the wort down to 65.

With everything considered, I'm buying a march pump. There are just so many additional things you can do with it in addition to pumping through the CFC.

I use a wort wizard. I actually picked one up from Petsmart for ~ $7. I think it's called a python or something like that. My kettle valve is lower than the top of my carboy but there's more than enough vacuum to bring the wort through the CFC and a post-chiller and up to the carboy cap. I use hose clamps on all of my hoses so there's no vacuum break. I can actually run the water hose fairly slow and still get the vacuum I need, but I let it water the grass anyway so I don't bother. It usually takes 15-20 mins to get 5.5 gals down to 70' and into the carboy. If your ground water is hot, then you'll still need a pre-chiller or post-chiller.

I'm going to buy a March pump, too, but not just for transferring the wort through the chiller. There are other things I want to use it for as well. An added benefit is that I'll be able to go to Better Bottles. The vacuum of the wort wizard will crush a Better Bottle - you have to use glass.

Right on. Just to expand on the other things you can do...

Recirculate your mash whether you dirct heat or herms it.
Transfer wort between HLT and MLT and then MLT to Kettle for batch spargers on a single tier setup (You'd need a two-tier or two pumps if you fly sparge). Then you can also decide later to do kettle recirculated immersion chilling like Jamil (the most winning brewer in the nationals this year so he must be doing something right).

I figure a single pump with a whole mess of quick disconnects just takes a lot of obstacles out of brewing. Looking at the sunk costs of my brewing addiction thus far, the $100 pump is like an additional 5%.