Hose length

I've just purchased a turkey frier and after reading many posts here have decided that at least for the time being I will brew outdoors using the propane setup, at least until I build a vented setup in the basement - and then maybe never if I can get something together that works well. So to the point...

I want to set up to do the boil in my driveway just outside the side door that leads to my basement, where the beer ferments. I'm somewhat apprehensive about hauling the brew pot down the stairs. As it is now, I brew in the kitchen, boiling three gallons then adding the additional two or so in pre-boiled and cooled water at the end of the boil, then into a 6.5 gal glass carboy. Even with the BrewHauler strap/handles, carrying a 6.5 gal carboy with 5 gallons of wort down stairs is very difficult and obviously asking for trouble. So, suppose I run a long hose from the output spigot of my brew kettle, through my side door and into the basement and ultimately the primary fermenter. It would be around 20 feet or so. Is there a reason (or ten) why that is not a good idea?

Thanks for your collective wisdom and freely offered advice!

Mike

 

I love it. Not because I would do it but because the number of different ideas on how to do something in this hobby just amazes me. I would be worried about cleaning and sanitizing 20+ feet of hose and then getting all of the wort out. Why not just split the post boil wort into manageable batches for the transfer. Hauling 1 1/2 gallons shouldn't be that big of a deal.

 

do it and take pics. I cant think of a reason for it not to work, but i've never tried to siphon anything that far

 

Do it! It'll be awesome.

EDIT: I'd probably find a way to clip the hose on the receiving end just to make sure it doesn't get knocked out by accident. You wouldn't want your wort all over the floor!



BTW, after reading your profile, I worked on NGST (I guess JWST now) over at Space Telescope for a very, very short time. I interned at STSCI for a summer while in college

I'm no astrophysicist, though. Just a computer programmer. And I did a pretty crappy job if you ask me. Trying to program tests for an infrared detector without even the most basic understanding of quantum physics is difficult! It sure was a humbling and informative experience, though. I'll never forget it.

 

My only concern would be the physics of it all. You would literally have to have no kinks in the hose, and no points where the wort would be flowing "up hill". As long as the wort is flowing downward from the beginning to the end of the journey, it should work fine. I do agree with jcarson though that it probably would be a little bit of a pain to clean and sanitize 20' of hose.

 

Is this true? I think from a physics perspective, as long as the end is lower than the beginning, you can have flow.

 

I would think it could just create a problem to start a siphon. Put a lot of sanitizer in the bottom of the hose and let it form a suction while draining it

 

it all depends on the head clearance whether you have the pressure to overcome the elevation increase.

I have 55 gallon rain barrels on my house, and even when full, they will not drain if the 3 foot hose at the bottom gets raised more than a couple inches above the drain valve. and that's 55 gallons of water pushing out that spigot.

(never had a physics class myself)

 

The entire path would be downhill - the fermenter would be about 5 feet below the level of the brewpot. And it would not have to be siphoned, just open the valve and let it flow. I'm going to try it out and see how it works. Basically boil it outdoors, cool it with an immersion cooler, then drain the brewpot down the line to the basement. I'll take pix! Now I just need to find 20 feet of food-grade 3/8-inch hose - I measured the distance and it's actually about 18 feet. I agree that Sanitize/sterilize is a major concern, and securing the hose to the carboy so it doesn't jump out is a good bit of advice - thanks mojotele!

The weather for tomorrow is looking good - perhaps I'll have time early in the day to try this. Can't stand having an empty primary!

Thanks everyone for all the advice.

Mike

 

It's not the length of the hose...it's how you use it!

I couldn't resist.

 

A dry run with some water might be a good idea.

 

Well, that wouldn't be a dry run then, would it? :cross:

Anyway, I brewed up my newest batch today - a cream stout - and tried the idea of brewing in my driveway with about 18 feet of hose running to my primary sitting in my basement. It worked really well. In fact, once the flow got going it ran very quickly - greater siphon pressure due to the roughly five foot difference in geocentric distance between brew kettle and fermenter.


Here's a picture of the cooled wort flowing from the brew kettle.



And here's the primary in the basement, reciving all the goodness!



Cleaning the hose wasn't really all that bad, and before use I just soaked it in starsan for a few minutes and let dry for a while.