Re: March pumps/Strength

[coldrice]

Yo. I'm interested in building a ten gallon system. I'd like to regulate mash temp by pumping (recirculating) wort from the mash tun through 50' of copper tubing that will be submerged in my HLT then back in through the lid of the MT. the pump will be plugged into a single stage Ranco, so it won't actually be working constantly through the mash. I have neither the funds, nor the technical wisdom to set up a system with LOVE controllers and ASCO valves and all these other bells and whistles. Question is: do these common H315HF pumps have the backbone to pump wort 50'? Or do I have to use two of them to get it to travel that far? Or is my idea just stupid? Honesty appreciated. Thanks!

http://morebeer.com/view_product/11622/103556/March_High_Temperature_Brewing_Pump_-_High_Flow

 

[wildwest450]

I do the same thing through 25' of copper(more than enough imo). The pump is more than capable of doing what you want.

I run my system with rancos as well, it works just fine.

 

[coldrice]

Cool. Thanks.
P.S. Your profile pic does not offend me.

 

[day_trippr]

Cool. Thanks.
P.S. Your profile pic does not offend me.

I'm sure he cares

I would definitely go with 1/2" tubing for that big a coil, anything smaller might be problematic. The tough part is getting the loop purged of air and filled with wort, once that happens the pump should work just fine...

Cheers!

 

[coldrice]

wouldnt it work fine though if the pump is before the tube? then the pump would just be pumping all the air out... or no?

 

[day_trippr]

wouldnt it work fine though if the pump is before the tube? then the pump would just be pumping all the air out... or no?

Sorry, my use of the word "loop" could easily be mistaken to have meant "coil".

Once you've purged all the air from the entire intake side through the pump head, then yes, the rest should just happen. And you certainly want the pump to be driving the coil and not the other way 'round.

Cheers!

 

[coldrice]

by driving do you mean pushing the wort through the coil? Also, I had thought to have the second pump on the receving end of the coil also when pumping from the ice bath to a sanitized kettle. my thought was that it would draw the wort out faster to create a more aggresive whirlpool action. Is it ok to have two pumps on the same line? Also, not sure what you meant about 1/2" copper being better.

 

[day_trippr]

Yes, pump pushing wort to the coil is what I'm saying. I wouldn't bother adding the second pump. Folks run HERMS systems all the time with one pump pushing wort through their HEX coils. I doubt a second pump "pulling" from the coil would actually increase the flow rate, and in fact it'd probably cavitate like crazy.

A 50' coil is a lot of tubing. Using something smaller than 1/2" tubing would most likely be so restrictive that the flow would be marginal...

Cheers!

 

[coldrice]

thanks for your help. do you thinik 25' feet of tubing submerged in ice water would be sufficient to bring it down to within 65 degrees?

 

[day_trippr]

thanks for your help. do you thinik 25' feet of tubing submerged in ice water would be sufficient to bring it down to within 65 degrees?

Sorry, I have zero experience with cooling wort using that method. Hopefully someone else will chime in here...

Cheers!

 

[Yooper]

thanks for your help. do you thinik 25' feet of tubing submerged in ice water would be sufficient to bring it down to within 65 degrees?

Yes, if you use enough ice. In my system, it took 42 pounds of ice to cool through the 25 foot HEX in a cooler. That's why I stopped doing that!

 

[coldrice]

holy crap. I'm surprised. What was the diameter of the 25'? Maybe I'll recirculate back to the boil kettle then move the line over to whirlpool kettle once the temp has dropped...

 

[wildwest450]

I would go for a 50' chiller for 10 gallon batches. I only mentioned 25 feet because you said it was in the hlt, I use a cfc for cooling on my setup, the coil is strictly a hex.

 

[coldrice]

Yeah, I'm going to go with 50'. No worries on the ice, a guy just gave my brew partner a commercial ice machine last week. Gotta use 'er for something!