Cheap compact wort pump

[Spellman]

buyincoins is the ebay company I got mine through and took about 3 weeks to get (seemed like ages!). Originally I was only planning to have one pump and do the same, but eventually I was like screw it, get several and be done with it. I have really liked using camlocks since I got them a few brews ago. They make it stupidly easy to switch hoses for what you are doing. Even though they are a bit more expensive than simple barbs, its one of those expenses I would not want to be without after having it. I would much rather have a $20 pump and a stainless quick changing system than a $150 pump and hose barbs any day. As for the GPM this pump is adequate for my fly sparging needs. They say that you should take around an hour to sparge, and to do this I have the output ball valve nearly closed up to get that trickle effect. I have several friends that have chugger pumps and don't throttle back when batch sparging, and it seems like stuck sparge from compacting the grain bed is a common occurrence from their higher GPM.

With all that said, depending on your setup, I would recommend pumping through the top of your vessels. I pumped hot sparge water to my hlt cooler through its bottom valve. The cooler was above the level of the boil kettle, and seemed to slow down as the level rose in the hlt. The weight of the water was trying to force it back down. I knew this wasn't the best way to do it, but it was more of a test to see if it could...and it did! About 6 or 7 gallons worth if my memory serves me, not sure if it would do much more than that or not, but a hose slung over the top would be more ideal and faster.

 

[SilverZero]

I have several friends that have chugger pumps and don't throttle back when batch sparging, and it seems like stuck sparge from compacting the grain bed is a common occurrence from their higher GPM.

I don't see that being an issue. I batch sparge by adding the sparge water all at once (or in 2 batches) and letting it sit for a few minutes, then I vorlauf and drain. The pump would just make it easier than scooping from my HLT with a Pyrex measuring cup.

 

[johns]

Spellman nice posts. I was hoping someone like you would post a comment about pumping though a CFC. Your comments about the placement and preformance of a coooler was also very usefull.

I have orderd the black pump and waiting for the camlocks before I install it. For me it only took about 8 or 9 days to reach me. Pretty quick, I think. These pumbs are super small and with the help of spellman and after a rough dry run to check for leaks and connections etc, I will be purchacing another pumb, maybe this time a tan one because many people here have one and it seems to work for them.

Cheers!

 

[Spellman]

I don't see that being an issue. I batch sparge by adding the sparge water all at once (or in 2 batches) and letting it sit for a few minutes, then I vorlauf and drain. The pump would just make it easier than scooping from my HLT with a Pyrex measuring cup.

The batch sparge wasn't the problem. I think running the pump wide open sucks the grain down too hard, compacts it, and prevents anything from flowing through. If you limit the flow rate it keeps everything just right. And yes pumping is way easier then bailing. You are going to giggle with an ear to ear grin the first time you pump your wort!

Spellman nice posts. I was hoping someone like you would post a comment about pumping though a CFC. Your comments about the placement and preformance of a coooler was also very usefull.

I'm glad I could help a bit. I have been looking at doing pumps for a while and these were some of the questions I was thinking over in my head. When I ordered these tan ones I knew what I wanted to do with a pump, but wasn't entirely sure if these would do it. I wouldn't hesitate ordering them again as they have so far fulfilled my needs and for a very pleasant price. If I find any things that I have concerns with I will be sure to let everyone know as I imagine others may have the same questions.

 

[SilverZero]

PWM is the preferred choice, even for the March/Chugger pumps, though I am not sure if you are talking about a brushless DC March pump. I haven't looked into those, but I would be surprised if PWM wasn't the preferred choice for those as well.

RE: power supplies for DC. DC motors generally do not like to have amps limited. A supply with more current than needed will not cause any issues. Rule of thumb is to give DC motors all the current they want, and to control speed with voltage (or duration as in PWM). For AC the rule of thumb is to keep the voltage at the preferred level, and control speed with current (various limiting techniques).

I was inspired by a previous post to convert an ATX power supply into a bench supply. If i added a variable voltage line to it, would that work to control a p38-i (tan) pump, or would a PWM still be preferred? With a good circuit I would still be limited to 11.6v or so.

 

[ianw58]

Mine came yesterday. I cleaned up the threads with a half inch NPT die and can get fittings almost all the way on.

Now, silly question: which is the input and which is the output? I didn't see it in the diagram on line.

 

[ianw58]

Mine came yesterday. I cleaned up the threads with a half inch NPT die and can get fittings almost all the way on.

Now, silly question: which is the input and which is the output? I didn't see it in the diagram on line.

BTW mine is the "tan" version.

 

[ianw58]

BTW mine is the "tan" version...

 

[diodeart]

Gonna follow this thread. You guys just recirculate with these? Can you pump through a CFC with them?

 

[johns]

follow this thread a few pages back (1 or 2) Spellman wrote some very informational stuff about it.
Start with post 269

 

[diodeart]

Thanks johns, and thanks spellman for testing these out.

 

[Indian_villager]

Anybody have issues with the impeller getting stuck? I use mine to push hot wort through a cfc and flush with fresh water after. I recently had an issue with the impeller getting stuck I opened it and managed to get it free but any ideas what is causing it? Any advice?

 

[Spellman]

Is it hops getting in there? I have gotten a hop spider so that I can keep them out. I figured there was no way it would be able to churn through all the sludge from pellet hops. Even if I had one of the bigger pumps I don't think I would want it going through them either. I'm going to be doing 3 batches tomorrow, so we'll see how well it works, I've only done boiling water through the cfc in a test so far. Wish me luck!

 

[StumpysBrew]

I bought one of the tan pumps. I used it today and it worked pretty good but there were a couple times when the pump wouldn't prime. However I think that was more user error than the pumps fault. It was also the first time I used a typical cooler type mash tun. In the past I would mash in a bag and double batch sparge. Since moving to ten gallon batches pouring or using gravity became quite the task. So I set everything up with cam-locks. It was a successful brew day. I'm glad I got the pump. I used it for transfer from the HLT to the mash tun. Then to recirculate the mash until clear to set the grain bed. Then transfer to the keggle for boil. Same process for the batch sparge. I then used it to recirculate the wort while using my immersion cooler. Lastly I used it to transfer to the fermentor. This was my second time brewing a ten gallon batch and with this equipment it was a pretty easy brew day.

 

[SilverZero]

I'm sorry, I know there was some discussion about this earlier in the thread, but did we ever figure out if these pumps will respond to a PWM controller? I'm already building one to control my SSR, so if I can just switch the signal over to this and control the pump flow it would really make the project easier.

 

[wheineman]

I got a chance to recirculate with mine this weekend. Here is a video. I am pumping boiling wort to sterilize everything here.



When combined with my immersion chiller, I cooled a 3-gal batch from a full boil to 70 in 12 minutes. Not too bad. I then used the pump to transfer to my primary. All in all, very happy with this tiny investment!

 

[user 144271]

To add to the above does anyone have a link to a cheap power supply/pwm controller?

 

[rhoop]

I ordered a black one, just got here. I will hook it up sometime this week and see what it can do. Hopefully can transfer from hlt to mlt with about a 4' rise.

 

[SilverZero]

To add to the above does anyone have a link to a cheap power supply/pwm controller?

Got an old PC?
http://www.instructables.com/id/ATX-->-Lab-Bench-Power-Supply-Conversion/?ALLSTEPS

PWM:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/pwm-show-us-how-221301/index18.html#post3555776

Now I just need to know if a PWM will, in fact, work with these, or if I need to build a variable voltage into my power supply.

 

[alien]

For me, it did work but I didn't like the noise the pump was making.

 

[SilverZero]

For me, it did work but I didn't like the noise the pump was making.

Care to elaborate? I assume you're talking about a PWM.

 

[alien]

I tried PWM at 680 Hz which worked but the motor whined unpleasantly. I also tried PWM at 20 KHz which didn't work.

 

[wbyrd01]

This is what I ordered for a power supply. Hope it works!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/151013314886?ssPageName=STRK:MEBOFFX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1432.l2649

 

[Spellman]

This is what I ordered for a power supply. Hope it works!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/151013314886?ssPageName=STRK:MEBOFFX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1432.l2649

Good find, I just ordered one of these too!

Here is a shot of my mlt, and yes the multiple valves look overkill and is a bit over weighted. As you can see for fly sparging the valve is nearly closed to get it to trickle.

I reused a barbed fitting screwed onto a male camlock to make myself a little spray nozzle. The female camlocks tend to be a bit messy with low pressure wort coming out of them.

Overall I am still impressed with these pumps for the money. I did 3 batches over the weekend, 2 10g batches and 1 5g. Big day for 2 people and these were a big help. With the way I have them setup I did however have a heck of a time getting them primed. I'm sure if I had them screwed directly into the ball valve of the vessels they might be a bit easier. I don't really want to do that because I would like to take them off to keep from damaging them when transporting and storing. I think my new plan is to drop them down below with another hose line. I'm hoping that should allow air to exit and liquid to pour down in and get it primed. Most pumps on brew sculptures have the pump down low, so I'll give that a whack. My plan is to make a little power control box so that I can switch them on and off easily.

Nothing is ever finished...

 

[alien]

I would attach the pump below the vessel using the backplate. You want to avoid stress on the screw threads because poeple have reported that they can snap off.

 

[wbyrd01]

Good find, I just ordered one of these too!

...

My pump came in yesterday and that power supply showed up today. For eleven bucks it works pretty well, the voltage adjustment doesn't come down very much though. I'm going to brew on Saturday, I'll take some pictures of my setup and report back on how it goes.

 

[johns]

another question about these pumps. What kind of tubing is everyone using here and where can it be found. A few places sell the 1/2 variety, but its only rated to about 175f. I was thinking to make it effective and not flow restrictive 3/4 inch hi temp silicone, but I am not sure where to look for this. Any ideas?

 

[SilverZero]

another question about these pumps. What kind of tubing is everyone using here and where can it be found. A few places sell the 1/2 variety, but its only rated to about 175f. I was thinking to make it effective and not flow restrictive 3/4 inch hi temp silicone, but I am not sure where to look for this. Any ideas?

Get some high-temp silicone tubing from BargainFittings.com (or another vendor that is active here). It's nice, and pretty cheap.

 

[SilverZero]

So I just got my tan P38i pump this week and hooked it up for a practice run today. I powered it at 12v using a homemade power supply I built from an old computer PSU. Here are some quantitative data for those that care:

At basically zero head (just a few inches from the height of the kettle volume to the lip of the bucket into which I was pumping) I averaged 42.67 seconds per gallon over 3 gallons, or 1.4 gallons per minute.

At 4' head, starting only with the pump at ground level and the output at full height (primed to just a few inches above the pump) it had trouble even getting any flow. It would move the water, but it was just at a trickle. BUT. . . .

When I started the pump from ground level with the output at a low height, then raised it once the flow was going, I got a kind of siphon effect that kept drawing as the hose was raised up to 48" where I then positioned it and started timing. I was able to maintain a good flow after this. Through this method, I got 68.36 seconds per gallon, or 0.88 gallons per minute. Still a decent flow, though I don't know how one would practically get this sort of "pumped siphon" action going.

As a cheap pump for a single-tier system, this thing still seems to be a fine choice.

 

[johns]

I thought of that also, but the the inside diamater that they sell on barginfittings might not fit on my black pump with a 3/4 inch (or near to there) OD. I am using the proflow dynamics cam locks. How do you squeeze 1/2 inch tubing onto a 3/4 inch OD? Or maybe just get larger tubing?