Brewing Pumps... Need assistance please

[Rob2010SS]

Looking for a brewing pump. I'm moving from 5 gal batches to 10 gal batches and would like a pump that can transfer heated brewing water to the mash tun and cooled wort to the fermenter.

Here's a couple that I'm looking at...
https://www.morebeer.com/products/chugger-xdry-series-pump-stainless-steel.html

https://www.morebeer.com/products/chugger-pump-polysulphone.html

I keep seeing that you need to prime some of these pumps. What does that mean and what does it involve? Is it simple to do in the middle of a brew day?

Do you need to have the pump lower than the vessel you're transferring out of/in to?

I'm a pump newbie so any advice is appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[snowtiger1987]

This series of vidoes will help:

 

[Rob2010SS]

This series of vidoes will help:

Thanks for that. Good videos. Doesn't talk about priming of the pumps though. I'l keep looking for other info on that. Any other info will be appreciated.

 

[Moose_MI]

As far as I know the significant majority of pumps (Chuggers included) are not self priming. I think self priming get a good bit more expensive and are generally not used by average home brewers.

Priming isn’t difficult...in fact it really doesn’t require any effort at all.

 

[Rob2010SS]

As far as I know the significant majority of pumps (Chuggers included) are not self priming. I think self priming get a good bit more expensive and are generally not used by average home brewers.

Priming isn’t difficult...in fact it really doesn’t require any effort at all.

Ok. So it's something that can easily be done in the middle of a brew?

 

[4of7]

just look at the pump, easy to prime.

 

[mongoose33]

I know it's pricey, but you have a PRV to help it prime, it'll run boiling wort and water, it has a switch on the body, already has a valve on the output side, and is splashproof/resistant.

https://www.morebeer.com/products/riptide-brewing-pump-blichmann-engineering.html

I have one. If I am lucky at Christmas, I'll have two.

 

[Moose_MI]

Ok. So it's something that can easily be done in the middle of a brew?

Yes...hook up your hoses and open the valve on your kettle. As long as the pump is below the kettle it’s not that big of a deal.
Sometimes when I’m cleaning and don’t have a a lot of volume in the kettle i have to cycle the pump off/on a few times and that’s it.

 

[day_trippr]

Bobby_M did a video specific to priming brew pumps. For the life of me I can't find it but it's somewhere on Youtube.
Basically - with the pump off - he disconnects the far end of the pump output hose and carefully lowers it relative to the source vessel fluid level allowing wort/water to traverse through the pump almost to the end of the far end tube before raising that end and connecting it to its destination.

I generally don't have to go to that extreme - I rarely have to disconnect anything aside from scheduled moves - but if you get a hard-core fluid lock (or whatever one wants to call it) that's a solution...

Cheers!

 

[Rob2010SS]

So i know the riptide is nice but trying not to go that expensive.

Will the 2 pumps i listed do the trick for my application? Im also thinking of using it to clean kegs and lines...

 

[day_trippr]

The side-inlet Chuggers work fine - there's a lot of folks running them. I'd go with an SS head for the durability - plastic can break or strip - and you might be able to pick up the incrementally more efficient center-inlet version while saving a few bucks if Bobby_M will drop-ship them to you...

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/chugger115ss-c.htm

Cheers!

 

[Rob2010SS]

Excellent. Thank you! Looking forward to making this improvement in my system.

Curious, why is the center inlet pump more efficient?

 

[micraftbeer]

Reading through this, I don't think anyone actually answered the question of what is priming. It just means getting the pump to pump fluid and not air. There's no real magic to it, just make sure the pump is lower than your vessel and any air bubbles that could be in the pump have a path up through the hose (no loops or kinks). Riptide is great because the air bleed valve, but for pumps without, you may have to turn it on, turn it off, wait a few seconds and then repeat. Eventually the air bubbles will get pushed out and you're "primed".

 

[day_trippr]

These impeller pumps draw into the center and sling to the outside, hence the less restrictive fluid path for the center inlet is incrementally more efficient...

Cheers!

 

[4of7]

My pumps have a in and out. Hook up hoses with cam locks. Still not primed ,there is air in the line and the pump..Pump still turned off...I will take water hose ,with cam lock to "in" side of pump.and push air out to replace with water.Pump is primed.You can turn on at this point with out damage to dry firing pump.If you loose prime during brewing I will close one of the out side cams and open the other to reprime...That is why in the pic there is two outs..I am not a " Beer Troll".

 

[Bobby_M]