Riptide thrust washer wore out

[mongoose33]

Don't know why I didn't think to check this before...

Brewed today; I have a recirculating RIMS system, and it appeared that I was getting a stuck mash. Couldn't get good flow.

When it was time to pump to the BK, again, very slow. It was odd, I had a grain bill with only 8 ounces of Choc Wheat, and I'd added a handful of rice hulls anyway. But I got it all to get into the BK, and the boil went fine.

Then all hell breaks loose. Hop addition at 20 minutes, another at FO, and I'm ready to run the wort through the counterflow chiller, and I can't get the pump to work worth a hoot. It just won't go.

Eventually I clamped up everything and took the pump head off, and lo and behold, no thrust washer. That's the tiny silver washer that occasionally we lose when cleaning the pump.

Fortunately I had spares, installed one, and voila! It works again. The downside is it took me 20 minutes to figure this out, which means I will have a more bitter beer than I had wanted. I'm sure it'll still be good (Hallertau hops, 3.8 percent AA), but I was already testing a new mash/step schedule, and the results are going to be confounded with the chilling issue.

******

So, here's the upshot: I'd read here on HBT that the thrust washer is sacrificial over time. It just never occurred to me to check it recently, and it was, well, completely sacrificed.

I've had probably 25+ brews with this pump, plus i use it to pump water through a CIP ball and I recirculate cleaner once brewing is done. Can't really quantify how many hours I've run this pump, only the approximate number of brews and associated cleaning cycles.

So take a look at yours if you have one, and even if it's good, make sure you have a spare or two. And if it looks pretty thin, replace it.

 

[augiedoggy]

Ive also have the hole at the valve in the head plug with rice hulls/grain numerous times. it is a rather small opening for such a large pump... I know in your case it was the washer which I always lose before it wears to that point but just an observation Ive had with the riptide which causes the same poor or non flow condition... my inline flow meter is priceless for indicating if there is an issue.

 

[mongoose33]

Ive also have the hole at the valve in the head plug with rice hulls/grain numerous times. it is a rather small opening for such a large pump... I know in your case it was the washer which I always lose before it wears to that point but just an observation Ive had with the riptide which causes the same poor or non flow condition... my inline flow meter is priceless for indicating if there is an issue.

Do you mean the release valve? Appreciate the heads-up on it, but mine wasn't plugged. I must have pulled that 7 or 8 times trying to clear an airlock (if there was one). All I got for my trouble was a lot of wort squirting out. Not plugged.

****

I've been trying to learn a lesson from all this, and it's bugging me that I didn't anticipate this. Over the last, oh, maybe 10 brews I haven't pulled apart the Riptide; I CIP and rinse well, and before when I did this, no sign of anything amiss. So I haven't been pulling it apart.

I'd never had an issue with a stuck mash before; no reason why this one would have either. I even always throw a handful of rice hulls into the grain as a sort of offering to the beer gods, so how this batch could have been stuck wasn't clear to me.

It's the same old lesson, told over and over again: when something isn't right, something's not right. Figure it out.

 

[augiedoggy]

the actual opening where the oversized needle valve blocks or unrestricts flow which is next to the air release valve. I have had mine plug 2 or three times in the last 20 brew sessions or so.. I now use a piece of BIAB material draped over my FB and tucker under all around the sides to hold it in place as too much was getting through the holes.

when it did plug I had to use a piece of wire to unplug it.