Pump for finished beer/wine? A hand truck?

It's finally happening to us in our house. We're getting older. I've always been a bit of a 135 pound weakling, but last weekend when Bob helped me move carboys around for racking he said something like "I don't know how much longer I can do this." He LOVES the wine and that's his favorite product I make around here, but hauling full carboys up to the kitchen island for racking and then hauling the filled carboys back to the fermentation area is becoming difficult. We racked 11 gallons of beer to kegs, and 15 gallons of wine to new carboys.

So I was thinking of the two issues here. One is lugging full carboys from place to place. Maybe a hand truck/dolly could help with that. The other is lifting to use gravity for siphoning. Maybe a pump could help with that?

I have a March pump in the brewery, but I was wondering if maybe a filter set up (without using the pads) would be what I would need. I don't really want to filter, and certainly not at every racking anyway. But a pump that would allow me to not need to lift up a full 6 gallon carboy for racking would be great!

Anybody have any thoughts or ideas?

Sympathy on getting older?

I ferment in half barrels....so lifting those with 10 gallons in them is not the easiest of things to do.... So I have been using co2 to push the beer to the kegs. It is nice in two ways....no lifting....and beer is transferred under a blanket of co2 to deter oxidation.... It does empty your tank faster but co2 is pretty cheap......my $.02 probably not the best for wine....unless you want sparkling wine *S*

Couldn't you do all of that stuff in the basement? I know that's not helping design a pump, but...

You may consider using a peristaltic pump. One that uses a rotating set of rollers to squeeze a silicone hose, pushing the liquid forward. They are kind of pricey, but they have a nice advantage in that they pretty much don't wear out, and the only thing that contacts the beer or wine is the hose!

I know some people have built their own, and I'm thinking about it myself (someday).

Eventually the hose will fail under all of that stress, but it's LONG time for the right type of hose, and it's super cheap to replace when it happens.

Plus they have a HUGE lift, compared to an mag drive impeller pump.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peristaltic_pump

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/SELF-PRIMING-PUMP-WITH-VARIABLE-SPEED-P1940C182.aspx

What about this Yooper? I dont know if the link will work but check out Williams Brewing. More beer also sells one.

If you have the room I recommend installing a dumbwaiter. It's pricey but may pay for itself by not having chiropractor bills from throwing your back out.

http://www.ameriglide.com/item/ameriglide-express-dumbwaiter.html?ref=navside

Maybe it's time to think about getting a unitank.

Adopt a teenager.

Coldies said:

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/SELF-PRIMING-PUMP-WITH-VARIABLE-SPEED-P1940C182.aspx

What about this Yooper? I dont know if the link will work but check out Williams Brewing. More beer also sells one.

Click to expand...

These pumps are the way to go. They are very nice and easy to use. I would love to have one and will when I have the spare cash. I have used them several times and loved having it around. Much faster transfers and no lift siphoning etc.

What about organizing the area you ferment in so you don't need to carry everything to the kitchen?

Going off the dumbwaiter idea, how about a simple block and tackle? or a lift incorporating a boat winch to lift a platform? before filling your fermenters, put them on a moving dolly of sorts, like the ones that you can put potted plants on, then just roll it over to the lift, strap it in and crank it up to the right height.

Move bottling operations to where you ferment?
Move fermenting operations closer to where you brew? ( put my conical in a fridge 5 feet from the brewstand)...screw the basement steps anymore.
Install a pair of stainless lines from brew area to ferment area for transfers. The pair is so that you can put a hose jumper on one end to recirculate sanitizer prior to use.
Instead of lifting the carboys for gravity transfer, use a spare CO2 tank to apply a little pressure to push the product to the bottling wand/keg. I have to do this for my conical that doesn't leave the fridge full. Ferment in cornies, pressurize and push the product anywhere.

backdeckbrewery said:

I ferment in half barrels....so lifting those with 10 gallons in them is not the easiest of things to do.... So I have been using co2 to push the beer to the kegs. It is nice in two ways....no lifting....and beer is transferred under a blanket of co2 to deter oxidation.... It does empty your tank faster but co2 is pretty cheap......my $.02 probably not the best for wine....unless you want sparkling wine *S*

Click to expand...

This is how I move my beer, too. When I have carboys at home (usually they're with me at work) I'll put an orange cap atop the carboy. With one orifice, I'll slightly pressurize the donor vessal. The other has a SS racking cane with the typical pvc tubing. The tubing goes into the receiver carboy. A few # of pressure is all you need to move the liquid. When moving to keg, I'll put a liquid out QD on the tubing and rack into a sanitized corny w/the bleeder valve open.

IIRC, Kaiser mentioned he moves his beer this way, too.

If CO2 is a concern, I've used Argon to move wine from one container to another and also to power my beer gun when bottling wine.

BTW, hope the family is well.

I don't haul carboys up and down the stairs! The basement is only where I store/crush grain and supplies.

I brew in the laundry room, a pretty small space so I don't really have room for more than about 5 carboys in there at a time. That's one of the coolest spots in my house, so it's great for bulk conditioning wine. The living room is warmest, and it's great for fermentation of wine. The beer (usually only 10 gallons at a time) goes "wherever" there is room and the temperature is right- sometimes the basement in the summer, but usually in the office where the computers and kegerators are.

The issue is more taking the wine carboys out of their areas, and putting them up on a racking place. I guess I could just take a chair out to them, and do it like that but the kitchen is so convenient! I also bottle in the kitchen as I like to do it on the dishwasher door.

That pump might be the way to go!

Given that you're all electric, what keeps you brewing in the kitchen? Can you add some ventilation and start brewing near the fermentation area (which I'm assuming is the basement)?

Ideally, then you'd have some conicals (maybe the plastic ones, save some $$). Pump directly into the conicals from the boil kettle, through a plate chiller. Then, no more racking, just dump your yeast to "secondary" and go right into the kegs when it's done.

EDIT: Ok, laundry room. I'm with Bobby; minimize the distance between brewing and fermenting as best you can.

In my mind I am seeing one of those luggage racks from a hotel that bell hops use... with a boom to raise a carboy in a sling.

We just have to get smarter to age well I guess!

Bobby_M said:

Move bottling operations to where you ferment?
Move fermenting operations closer to where you brew? ( put my conical in a fridge 5 feet from the brewstand)...screw the basement steps anymore.
Install a pair of stainless lines from brew area to ferment area for transfers. The pair is so that you can put a hose jumper on one end to recirculate sanitizer prior to use.
Instead of lifting the carboys for gravity transfer, use a spare CO2 tank to apply a little pressure to push the product to the bottling wand/keg. I have to do this for my conical that doesn't leave the fridge full. Ferment in cornies, pressurize and push the product anywhere.

Click to expand...

All good tips! It's more the wine that is a pain. I've been fermenting beer without problem, just in an ale pail until it's time to rack and then lifting it up to the island. I can still lift 5.5 gallons of beer in an ale pail. It's the 6 gallon glass carboys full of wine (most of which are racked several times) that are getting hard. The fermentation area changes for them- warmer during primary, then moved to the laundry room for secondary and aging. It's not really that bad, but maybe a hand truck would be handy. It's more the lifting them to a higher area for siphoning, so I think the pump would be the way to go.

Perhaps something along these lines.
http://www.nextag.com/serv/main/buyer/OutPDir.jsp?search=hydraulic+lift+platform&psort=1

If you're racking in to carboys with carboy caps you might consider using a shop vac if you've got one. Same principle as pushing with CO2 but you suck with a piece of tubing and the shop vac, just pick up a rubber PVC Cap that will fit over your Shop Vac hose and the appropriate size hose barb.

You can also use that shop vac to suck the spent grain out of your mash tun on brewday to make cleanup a bit easier on the back as well.

Are these carboys all on the same level? It sounds like the basement is probably on a different level than the brewing room/office. Anyway, one solution would be to have small stools on castors. Say a round piece of 3/4" plywood with three swivel castors under. Then put the empty carboy on top, pump in, wheel to desired location. Then for transfers, you just pump into another carboy on another mini-dolly. The whole idea is shot though if you need to make it up and down steps.

Perhaps a padded hand truck is the easiest solution.

Another option is to hire a well-muscled young man to maybe flex a bit, move things around shirtless, perhaps in slow motion.

I'm thinking cabana boy, but less gay.

azscoob said:

Another option is to hire a well-muscled young man to maybe flex a bit, move things around shirtless, perhaps in slow motion.

I'm thinking cabana boy, but less gay.

Click to expand...

Why do you think she does couchsurfing.com?

azscoob said:

Another option is to hire a well-muscled young man to maybe flex a bit, move things around shirtless, perhaps in slow motion.

I'm thinking cabana boy, but less gay.

Click to expand...

That was my suggestion with adopting the teenager. A foreign teenage boy who only understands enough English to obey a few simple commands. It may not seem like such a handy thing to have, but I bet in a short time you could learn to like him.

Seriously, if you had a pump, that would eliminate moving heavy carboys and whatnot, right? That pump that was linked to looked like a pretty good investment IMO. Cheaper than a peristaltic.

If you are using carboys all the time I use a filter/pump that can be used just for transfering. Don't have to move the carboys at all with it.

Or use taps.

the_bird said:

Why do you think she does couchsurfing.com?

Click to expand...

couchsurfing.ORG, goofball!


Bob nixed the cabana boy. He says I can't afford one.

I LOVE the castors/plywood idea, and a pump. Just roll the carboys wherever I want them, and then pump to the new carboy on another set of plywood/castors.

My friend lschiavo (the one who rebuilt my control panel and HLT and elements) is coming over today and I'll see if he'll help me cut down/lower my brewstand. Standing on a stepstool to dough in a pain also!

theimp said:

If you are using carboys all the time I use a filter/pump that can be used just for transfering. Don't have to move the carboys at all with it.

Or use taps.

Click to expand...

Do you have a link to what you've got?

Yooper said:

Do you have a link to what you've got?

Click to expand...

I got it from a local winte kitz store. Let me grab the name and a pic of it for you.

Be right back!

the_bird said:

Given that you're all electric, what keeps you brewing in the kitchen? Can you add some ventilation and start brewing near the fermentation area (which I'm assuming is the basement)?

Ideally, then you'd have some conicals (maybe the plastic ones, save some $$). Pump directly into the conicals from the boil kettle, through a plate chiller. Then, no more racking, just dump your yeast to "secondary" and go right into the kegs when it's done.

EDIT: Ok, laundry room. I'm with Bobby; minimize the distance between brewing and fermenting as best you can.

Click to expand...

Yeah, the issue isn't so much with the brewing. It's more the wine, in carboys in different temperature areas. I considered conicals, but I don't really have a walk-in cooler for temperature control. Right now, it's just a matter of moving stuff around in my big house to get the right temperature pretty easily. The laundry room stays around 57-62 for all but July and August. Perfect for bulk aging for wine, but a bit too cool for primary for wines. So the wines only go from the kitchen, to the living room, to the laundry room, to the kitchen, etc as they progress. NO stairs!

The beer in the ale pails and only one transfer to kegs works ok. I have an upright fridge for the big kegerator so it's not much lifting/bending. I can cold crash in there, too, even my wines that need cold stabilizing.

Here is a pic, just a quick snap on the webcam.



The website listed on the instructions is http://www.winemakeri.com

If you search for eurofilter or wine filter system you might be able to find one.

It uses a pump to force the liquid out and you can use it to transfer or add the filter into the middle and it will filter.



EDIT: Forgot to mention it can also be used for bottling.

Here is a link to filter/pump http://www.winemakeri.com/3in1_Eurofilter_s/98.htm

Should be able to find them on other shops aswell I would think. Certainly make transfer and racking a hell of a lot easier.

It sounds like what you need is a simple pulley system to raise the carboys up to allow gravity to feed the liquid into a fresh carboy. You could build a frame out of lumber and use the plywood and castors idea for a platform. You roll the cart into the frame. You attached the pulley system to the cart. The frame keeps the cart stable during the lift. You build in a way to slide a couple of small support beams under the cart the while its in the air just for safety and added stability. You roll in the fresh carboy underneath on another cart and start siphoning. When you're done, you reverse the process. You could put the whole frame on castors to make it mobile, or you could just build it in you laundry room and attach it to the wall and ceiling.

I've also seen carboy dolleys on a few sites for about $25-30 each. Basic platform with 4 wheels on it.

theimp said:

I've also seen carboy dolleys on a few sites for about $25-30 each. Basic platform with 4 wheels on it.

Click to expand...

harbor freight usually has moving dollys for about $10 for a carboy sized one. Might need to add a plywood platform on top for a couple more $.