Brewing without lifting

[kmlavoy]

So, long story short, I have a ruptured disk that needs to be operated on. What that means, is that for 6-8 weeks, I can't lift anything over 15 pounds. Big problem when you brew all grain.

I've thought about using a pump on brewing day to transfer my hot liquor straight from the pot on the burner, so I don't need to set up my ghetto gravity system on a ladder, and then using it again to pump the wort out of the boil pot into a carboy. But I'm curious if anyone else has had to deal with this issue, and how they've gotten around it.

My other question is once I have it in the carboy, is it possible to using a CO2 tank to apply gently pressure to the carboy to transfer the wort instead of syphoning? My idea would be to transfer to a secondary, then later to a keg, and then bottling out of a keg. I feel like that would be all possible using only CO2, which would have the added benefit of having my beer be super fresh. It wouldn't come into contact with air until you popped a bottle open to drink it. Is this crazy? What kind of pressure would you use for the carboys? Is it even possible or safe to reasonably do so without having the glass burst?

Does anyone have any other ideas on this? SWMBO is willing to help sometimes, but I want to be able to do as much as I can on my own.

 

[Loweface]

Sorry to hear, I have no personal experience to share, and I realise you want to be able to do it by yourself, but I say it's not worth the risk. Get some help for the 6-8 weeks up to the operation and however many months after the doctor tells you to.

You could take this as an opportunity to teach someone, a brother or a brother in-law, a neighbour, nephew or uncle, the list is endless...

Perhaps you may get them hooked (then they owe you beer)

Hope all works out well

 

[abracadabra]

I try to minimize the amount of lifting I do. Here lately I've been lugging around a bunch of 80 lbs. concrete sacks and I really feel it when I do. For my next project I think I'll stick to 60 lbs. sacks. But since I brew 10 gal batches it's really important to me to keep the lifting to a minimum. As my back hurt for years after lifting to much weight once.

I use a brew tree made from 2 small folding scaffolds (home depot $99 each) with a bridge of 1x8's between the 2 scaffolds.

The HLT is on the top of the first scaffold, the MLT is on the bridge and the boil pot is on the lower level of the 2nd scaffold. This lower level of the 2nd scaffold is high enough to allow a gravity transfer from the boil pot to a carboy or corny keg.

I use a drinking water hose to add the water to the HLT and from then on it's gravity flow.

You could easily ferment in a couple of cornie kegs by removing the gas "in" post and putting a blow off tube or airlock over the "in" post's threads, and by bending the dip tube upwards to keep from transfering the trub.

I use a handtruck to take the cornie to my fermenter, if I needed to I could use compressed air (the air will help aerate the wort) to transfer the wort from the transportation cornie into the fermenter but I usually just fill it approx half full and dump it into the fermenter.

Using corny kegs you can tranfer beer with CO2 no pump required.

One of the main selling points of the Blichmann beer gun is the fact that it allow you to fill the bottle with CO2 before you fill it with beer so that your beer comes into contact with little or no O2 during the bottling process.

Hope this gives you some more ideas.

Loweface's advice is good, take it easy on yourself get plenty of exercise by swimming and strenghten those stomach muscles too.

Best wishes on your surgery

 

[Lil' Sparky]

The only heavy lifting I do on brew day is emptying the MLT and carrying the carboy. The carboy is easy to get around. I don't know about emptying the MLT. I've got a single tier stand and use a single pump to xfer liquids as you mentioned. Quick disconnects make all the difference here.

You can use CO2 on a carboy with a carboy cap and a racking cane down through the middle. I've heard of people using this method before.

In the end, I agree with Loweface, though. Get someone to help you. It's definately not worth the risk, and it's way more fun to brew with someone else anyway!

 

[david_42]

I've seen a couple setups where people used a vacuum device that attaches to a hose to pull the beer from one carboy to another. To use CO2, you'd need 2-3 psi.

 

[kmlavoy]

No worries, fellas, I'm definitely not taking any risks. If it comes to it, I literally will not brew until I get the dr's okay. I do have one friend who brews with me sometimes, but many of the tasks (carrying grain, water, etc) can be done in multiple trips. Not the most efficient, but then homebrewing isn't the most efficient way to get beer either.

Thanks for the posts. I'm going to work on my set up a little and see what I can come up with. I've definitely been considering using cornies as a secondary, and bottling with the beer gun. Maybe I'll get a pump this weekend and another corny, and rack my dubbel to it, and see how it works. Kind of a test run. Is there any tricks or special tool you need for bending a dip tube?

 

[ohiobrewtus]

I had bad surgery in October of last year and had the same restrictions. I'd recommend putting brewing on the shelf for a while and concentrate on getting better.

After my surgery in October I helped a friend brew a batch in January, but I didn't brew on my own until the end of April. 6 months of not brewing is worth not screwing your back up again and having to go back in for a repeat surgery.

 

[Choguy03]

I'm sure one of us Chicagoland brewers would be more then happy to come over and have a brew session.

 

[abracadabra]

Is there any tricks or special tool you need for bending a dip tube?

I take a phillips head or torx screw driver that's a close fit to the inside of the tube and about 4-5 inches long insert it into the end of the tube that's on the bottom of the corny, put the curved part across my knee and slowly apply pressure to bend it further. I've done 4 tubes that way not one crimped. You could also get a pipe bending tool they look like a very tightly wound spring I have several different sizes but never bothered using it on anything but copper. Some folks just cut an inch or 2 off the bottom of the dip tube but I like the fact that bending the pipe is not permanent.