Cheap compact wort pump

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ColonelPanic

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Hey guys,

I was trying to find a cheap (<$150) wort pump and was not having much luck. Then I came accross this video:
[ame]http://youtu.be/BmayIQCfyRc[/ame]

I liked how his wort pump was compact, low voltage, and was able to connect it right to the end of the ball valve. Pretty slick.

I think I found the same pump (or one just like it) and it is dirt cheap at $22:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-High-Qu...871?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f15f130df

It can handle high temps, is food grade, and I think the flow rate will be good enough for recirculating and pumping through a counter flow chiller into my fermenter.

Does anyone have any experience with one of these?
 
Cool. Looks like it could be useful as a secondary pump, or even a primary one on a small system. Not so sure about the second video where he submerges the pump wiring....:eek:
 
I think you would be happier with this one granted its not $22 but it is sub $150 and moves alot more liquid then the one you linked.
 
I bought one of these a while back and have been pleased with it....don't count on much customer service from the seller he can't seem to provide updates on shipping or respond to emails....but once you have the pump it does everything that is needed.

Peter_R, if you have one of these (and especially if you have any experience with a March pump) I would be interested in any other contrasts to a March pump you could provide (aside from the fact that this low-cost pump rated to pump less):

1/ can it be cleaned as easily as the March pump (impeller removed, cleaned, etc...)?

2/ it's pretty obviously not as solidly built as a March pump, but at this price, you could afford to have one (or even five :) ) as backups - how much have you used your pump and what is your feeling as to how many brew cycles it will last?

3/ it claims to be food-grade - from what you have seen are you confident that this is the case?

4/ have you used the pump to recirculate hot wort? Any concerns about it's ability to withstand 212 degrees F?

I'm probably getting a March pump as my 'main' pump for mash recirculation but I am thinking about picking up one these as a second pump for whirlpooling my wort near the end of the boil - unless this pump is a disaster, just being able to avoid having to move a single pump halfway through the brew cycle would make it worth the very modest cost...

-fafrd
 
Peter_R, if you have one of these (and especially if you have any experience with a March pump) I would be interested in any other contrasts to a March pump you could provide (aside from the fact that this low-cost pump rated to pump less):

1/ can it be cleaned as easily as the March pump (impeller removed, cleaned, etc...)?

2/ it's pretty obviously not as solidly built as a March pump, but at this price, you could afford to have one (or even five :) ) as backups - how much have you used your pump and what is your feeling as to how many brew cycles it will last?

3/ it claims to be food-grade - from what you have seen are you confident that this is the case?

4/ have you used the pump to recirculate hot wort? Any concerns about it's ability to withstand 212 degrees F?

I'm probably getting a March pump as my 'main' pump for mash recirculation but I am thinking about picking up one these as a second pump for whirlpooling my wort near the end of the boil - unless this pump is a disaster, just being able to avoid having to move a single pump halfway through the brew cycle would make it worth the very modest cost...

-fafrd
For the price your looking at buying a march and that dc pump you could buy 2 chugger pumps with plastic heads. That dc pump is cheap but it only does 12 lpm's where the chuggers do 22.7 lpm's thats close to double the volume.
 
Hello Fafrd,

I don't own a March Pump so I really can't provide any reasonable comparison between the GreatBrewEh pump and a March pump...other than the obvious price delta.

1. I have not had any issues cleaning the pump....I don't take the pump apart to clean....I run hot PBW throughout the system (kettle, Mashtun, Hop Rocket, and plate chiller) with the pump for 30-45 minutes at the end of brewing.

2. It was the price difference between this and the March Pump that helped determine which pump to use. I also looked closely at the Chuggar SS pump...it was much closer in price to the March and had similar specs...but at the time I had a bad case of the "I wants" Chuggar was out of stock and their estimated arrival date kept slipping.

3. Not having a way to measure the food grade claim....I have taken them at their word on this....same as I would do for March or Chuggar. I have not noticed any off flavors on the 8 batches of beer I have made since getting the pump.

4. I use the pump on my single tier system...to move hot water from the HLT to the Mash Tun....to recirculate the the wort during the Mash....to move the wort from the Mash Tun to the Boil Kettle and of course during clean up. I did use the pump on 2 brews to push the wort from the boil kettle through my Hop Rocket (Hop Back) through Plate Chiller (Schirron) to my Carboys (10 Gallon Batch). I found that even with throttling the output side of the pump to slow the flow...my Plate Chiller wasn't efficient enough to cool the wort below 80 degrees. A good friend of mine has a Therminator that I will hook up in place of the Schirron during an upcoming brew session to see if that solves my concern.

One item that had me lean to the GreatBrewEh Pump was my desire not to have AC anywhere near the combination of water, beer, and me....the smaller pumps are DC which enable me to keep the AC connection a good distance away. No matter what the distance, I still use a GFCI protected outlet.

Overall, my experience with the pump has been very good I would not hesitate buying another if I thought it would improve any of the processes I have.

Regards,

Peter_R
 
I went ahead and bought the $22 pump off ebay as I think it will be adequate for my needs for now. And really, at this point, i just want to see how viable it truly is as a wort pump. I'll do a review once it comes in.
 
I see that pump as very much under-powered for the task. At 6.5L/minute and 2M max head it's going to struggle (at best) and fail (at worst). Compare it with a March 815 pump spec's. Inline head has 7 gallons per minute (22.7L/min, or 420 gallons per hour) and a max. head of 18.6 feet (4.1m). The center inlet head version (the one I'm using) goes at 8 gallons per minute (30L/min, or 480 gallons per hour) with the same max head rating. Even there, there are people that have systems that push the limits of these pumps. Recirculating the wort through a chiller or even back into the kettle, will stress it even more (doubt it will do all that good of a job). IF it doesn't fail at this, it will seriously struggle and burn out far sooner than a March (or chugger) pump will.

While I'm all for not spending where you don't need to, trying to go with a pump that's really not up for the job is not wise. What will you do when it fails and has 140F (or above) wort in all the lines? You say you'll change it, but that involves either also having protective gear (for liquids that hot) or getting burns.

Also, if you're not brewing with electric heat sources, having the pump directly on a kettle (or mash tun) will make it fail fast. Even on my keggles the temperatures right there are in excess of 250F while the flame is on. Even with a heat shield in place, it can get toasty right there.

Since you've already ordered it, give it a try. I'd just be prepared for it to fail on you without warning and in a spectacular fashion. Also, with the thread sizes listed in the drawing (for the inlet/outlet) you could have trouble finding fittings to connect to them. At best, you'll also need two different sized silicone hose sets there. IMO, more trouble than it's worth.
 
24 days later and the pump finally showed up from Hong Kong. It should normally take about 10 days, but the Christmas season added 1 to 2 weeks delay on the transit time (this was expected as it was mentioned in the ebay listing).

My first impressions are that it is more compact than I imagined, a bit heavier than expected, and the materials feel sturdy and of decent quality. I hooked up a 12 volt SLA battery I had from an old UPS and pumped some water through it. It was pretty quiet and moved quite a bit of water.

Hopefully this weekend I'll get a brew day in with it and see if it moves an adequate amount of wort.

Here's some pics for now:

image-2184535695.jpg


image-376663656.jpg


image-3675516325.jpg


image-2844023362.jpg
 
Not to hijack your thread, but this looks a lit like a pump that you would use on a boat. Any ideas how those would work? Food save? They are cheap enough, and can fill a 30 gallon live well fast enough.. just a thought
 
Indian_villager said:
Are those fittings on the end NPT, bspp, or BSPT?

According to the manufacturer, they are 1/2" BSP connections. They don't look tapered, so they are probably BSPP.

They seem to fit nicely into my 1/2" NPT fittings, but I'll have to do more testing to make sure they don't leak with high temperatures.
 
Your post has sparked my attention. I would be interested in hearing more about these. I have been wanting to stop lifting & pouring wort from my Mash Tun running's to the BK & BK to fermenter. So I don't need something super speed for that.

Robert
 
24 days later and the pump finally showed up from Hong Kong. It should normally take about 10 days, but the Christmas season added 1 to 2 weeks delay on the transit time (this was expected as it was mentioned in the ebay listing).

My first impressions are that it is more compact than I imagined, a bit heavier than expected, and the materials feel sturdy and of decent quality. I hooked up a 12 volt SLA battery I had from an old UPS and pumped some water through it. It was pretty quiet and moved quite a bit of water.

Hopefully this weekend I'll get a brew day in with it and see if it moves an adequate amount of wort.

Here's some pics for now:

You bought from this ebay seller/site? http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-High-Qu...H_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f15f130df&afsrc=1
Their pictures looks slightly different (white?) than your unit?
Still happy with it?

Thanks,
Robert
 
revansCAAD8 said:
You bought from this ebay seller/site? http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-High-Quality-DC-12V-Electric-Centrifugal-Water-Pump-P-38I-03-/270951067871?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f15f130df&afsrc=1
Their pictures looks slightly different (white?) than your unit?
Still happy with it?

Thanks,
Robert

Yes, that's the one. The plastic is a little more beige than in the seller's picture. I'm happy so far, but I came down with the flu this past weekend and didn't have a chance to give it a full evaluation. Hopefully, I'll have time some evening this week.
 
I want some intel about this pump too. Would throttling the output/input negatively affect the pump? And are those fittings hard to find? Would you have to gravity feed the lines for it to work?
 
Ok I see that you would have to prime the lines first. I wonder how hard are the fittings to get. I went ahead and picked one up. I'll try it out and report back.
 
I finally got a chance to do a dry run (er, is it a wet run?).

I was thoroughly impressed and I think it's going to do everything I need it to do. Check out my video below.

Note that I just shoved my 1/2 silicone hose over my 1/2 MPT/BSP connections for the purpose of this test. They leaked a little bit and I will be putting quick disconnects on all of these connections before I actually brew with this setup.

[ame]http://youtu.be/pb52LeblmEs[/ame]
 
I want some intel about this pump too. Would throttling the output/input negatively affect the pump? And are those fittings hard to find? Would you have to gravity feed the lines for it to work?

The pump seems to do fine when throttled back. You can hear it running faster the more you restrict the flow, so we should probably do a long term throttled test to make sure it doesn't eventually burn up.

As far as the fittings, just put 5 or 6 rounds of teflon tape around the fittings and they will fit securely into standard 1/2" NPT connections. I didn't have any leaks even at near boiling temperatures on the 1/2" BSP male (pump) to 1/2" NPT female (ball valve) connection.
 
This certainly has my interest. I want to do a Recirculating E-BIAB setup, but one of the primary things holding me back was shelling out $100+ for a useable pump. This, I think, will do nicely.
 
I finally got a chance to do a dry run (er, is it a wet run?).

I was thoroughly impressed and I think it's going to do everything I need it to do. Check out my video below.

Note that I just shoved my 1/2 silicone hose over my 1/2 MPT/BSP connections for the purpose of this test. They leaked a little bit and I will be putting quick disconnects on all of these connections before I actually brew with this setup.

http://youtu.be/pb52LeblmEs

Thank you for the update and video!
 
Yes thanks for the update. It seemed to do fine pushing through that plate chiller and back up into the kettle. I wonder how it would do through 50' of HEX coil in a HERMS setup for recirculation? If it can handle that it is indeed an impressive little pump.

How are you planning on powering it for normal usage or are you just going to use the battery?
 
MidTNJasonF said:
How are you planning on powering it for normal usage or are you just going to use the battery?

I have an SLA battery charger, so I will probably keep using the battery. If it doesn't last long enough to go through a brew day, then I will dig through my stash of old power adapters and find one that outputs 12v DC at 0.8A (or more).
 
Just thinking about this, random thoughts rolling around in my head. I could see this
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001326UWG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

with switches wired in for multiple pumps in a system or if you were going automated SSRs wired in and triggered from your controller.

5 channels at 5amp total for ~$35 any one channel at 1.65amp.

Makes it interesting with a 3 pump 3 vessel eHERMS system with the pumps right on the outputs of the kettles.
 
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MidTNJasonF said:
Just thinking about this, random thoughts rolling around in my head. I could see this
http://www.amazon.com/Distributed-Power-Supply-individually-Reset-able/dp/B001326UWG/ref=sr_1_11?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1359401063&sr=1-11&keywords=regulated+power+supply+12v

with switches wired in for multiple pumps in a system or if you were going automated SSRs wired in and triggered from your controller.

5 channels at 5amp total for ~$35 any one channel at 1.65amp.

Makes it interesting with a 3 pump 3 vessel eHERMS system with the pumps right on the outputs of the kettles.

That definitely has potential. I've been considering building a temperature controlled gas burner with a 12V valve and pilot light to go along with my 12V pump. That box would be a good fit for that as well.
 
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These pumps, or ones that look very similar, are available from http://solarproject.co.uk/ and are in fairly general use by UK homebrewers where they are known as "solar pumps". I have the SP20/20 version myself which may be slightly more powerful than the ebay model (it is rated at 14 W). I have yet to put it into use. The output threads are male 1/2" BSP but 1/2" NPT fittings work perfectly well.

Here's another video:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
These pumps, or ones that look very similar, are available from http://solarproject.co.uk/ and are in fairly general use by UK homebrewers where they are known as "solar pumps". I have the SP20/20 version myself which may be slightly more powerful than the ebay model (it is rated at 14 W). I have yet to put it into use. The output threads are male 1/2" BSP but 1/2" NPT fittings work perfectly well.



It also says that the 14W model is rated for 5 meters of head. That's not insignificant!
 
I finally had a chance to use this little pump for a brewing session and I couldn't be more pleased.

I've posted some pictures below with my 1/2" camlocks installed and a short video clip of this pump recirculating wort.

Thanks to Newbeerguy for the Eliot Ness clone recipe.

[ame]http://youtu.be/ZPWFlLJtEp0[/ame]

IMG_2725.jpg


IMG_2732.jpg


IMG_2737.jpg


IMG_2738.jpg


IMG_2741.jpg
 
Thanks all for posting the pump links and video/ comments. After following the link and looking around ebay, I found the following pump that appears very similar, but has a better output and is cheaper: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121060137711

I purchased once, hopefully I didn't miss something that will make this pump not ok for brewing with. I will post results once I get it and try it out.
 
Jmarsh544 said:
Thanks all for posting the pump links and video/ comments. After following the link and looking around ebay, I found the following pump that appears very similar, but has a better output and is cheaper: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121060137711

I purchased once, hopefully I didn't miss something that will make this pump not ok for brewing with. I will post results once I get it and try it out.

Nice find!

Comparing the specs, it looks like the P-38i has the edge on service life, current draw, and operating temperature, and this one has the edge on noise level, output, pump head, and price. I can't wait to see your results!
 
ColonelPanic said:
Nice find!

Comparing the specs, it looks like the P-38i has the edge on service life, current draw, and operating temperature, and this one has the edge on noise level, output, pump head, and price. I can't wait to see your results!

I ordered one too. Couldn't find specs in the threading, so I hope it's 1/2npt or close. For that price I'll jbweld a camlock coupler on.
 
Thanks all for posting the pump links and video/ comments. After following the link and looking around ebay, I found the following pump that appears very similar, but has a better output and is cheaper: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121060137711

I purchased once, hopefully I didn't miss something that will make this pump not ok for brewing with. I will post results once I get it and try it out.

I'm guessing that's a typo with 600l an hour 158 gal a min? And it's 10 amps? Maybe I'm wrong. Plus that doesn't look food grade
 
Rys06Tbss said:
I'm guessing that's a typo with 600l an hour 158 gal a min? And it's 10 amps? Maybe I'm wrong. Plus that doesn't look food grade

If my math is correct 600l per hour works out to about 2.6 gallons a min. Once I get it ill take it apart and share some photos of what the head/ shaft area looks like.
 

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