Cheap compact wort pump

[ameliabrewery]

I ordered one of these a few weeks ago. It came with part of the bottom broken off. I emailed the seller and they asked for pictures. I sent them pictures and they said to go get it fixed for under 10$ and send them the bill. Screw that. I told them that if it was packaged correctly we wouldn't be having this conversation. Pretty disappointed....I don't want to be a jerk to the seller but if I pay money for something I want to at least break it myself.

Sorry to hear that. I received a pump with a broken mounting plate and the seller (hittime_hk) refunded most of the cost. Pump is still working. You just really never know how eBay sellers will be, especially if they are overseas.

 

[MX1]

Reading this thread has sold me on one of these.
Already have a chugger, this will mount to my HLT and recirq the water only.

Tim

 

[Mojzis]

Sorry to hear that. I received a pump with a broken mounting plate and the seller (hittime_hk) refunded most of the cost. Pump is still working. You just really never know how eBay sellers will be, especially if they are overseas.

They offered me 8$ now. Looks like that's all i'm going to get. Usually overseas sellers are smart enough to put their products in a cheap box at least.

 

[fixitoscar]

They offered me 8$ now. Looks like that's all i'm going to get. Usually overseas sellers are smart enough to put their products in a cheap box at least.

post the sellers name so we know who he is. This little pump is going to be my next system upgrade. I'll use it for transferring wort and water and for recirc around my immersion chiller. I look forward to less lifting.

 

[Mojzis]

shcfstore. Pump works well, just the broken mounting plate from inadequate packing.

 

[revansCAAD8]

Been happy with our little tan pump (purchased from US Solar Pumps) but did have issues whirlpooling with it on our last brew day that had 6+ oz of hops :-( Previous batches (lower hops) were fine.

 

[sennister]

I just picked up a March 815 but I think one of these would be great to recirculate water in the HLT.

 

[Wolfbayne]

Stirring up an old thread...

I have used these pumps in the past making small recirculating mash tuns from 5/10 gallon igloos for firends who want a small system built but not sink alot of money into the addiction (hobby) and even on eBIAB builds. They work really well, but wouldn't use it for more than recirc.

I would run them on the selector switch plug on the 9 volt setting and it pumped away with no issues. I have dropped them and they seem to be pretty tough.

 

[liquid134]

how much height are we getting out of these pumps? or should i say head?

 

[revansCAAD8]

how much height are we getting out of these pumps? or should i say head?

This is the one i bought

 

[te3b0r]

So honest truth here folks. I need to get pumps in a bad way. Threw my back at about 4 months ago to the point where I was bed ridden for a week. FINALLY brewed for the first time last weekend and jacked my back up so bad I had to take a muscle relaxer which I HATE to take and was in bed by 7pm on a Saturday. Am I wasting my money on these pumps to do all my "heavy lifting" that I can no longer do or could it do everything I need for 10 gallon batches? I hate not being able to brew so want to get something that I can setup and be happy with and not have to fiddle.

 

[snaps10]

They're great for what they are, but you need a real pump to do all of the heavy lifting.

Buy a chugger and don't look back.

 

[MX1]

So honest truth here folks. I need to get pumps in a bad way. Threw my back at about 4 months ago to the point where I was bed ridden for a week. FINALLY brewed for the first time last weekend and jacked my back up so bad I had to take a muscle relaxer which I HATE to take and was in bed by 7pm on a Saturday. Am I wasting my money on these pumps to do all my "heavy lifting" that I can no longer do or could it do everything I need for 10 gallon batches? I hate not being able to brew so want to get something that I can setup and be happy with and not have to fiddle.

Honestly, I thnk there is a place in a brewery for these, and I think that place is HLT recirq.

For wort recirq (because of the longer distance) and for wort transfer, I think you really need a Chugger/March/Little Giant pump.

Tim

 

[ianw58]

I have one of the "little tan wonders". I've used for four complete brew days on my new rig as well as a couple of "wet" test runs. It works wonderfully for moving hot water and hot wort around my system.

I've moved liquids from pump level up to to top of my vessels without any problems at all. It recirculates wort and whirlpools nicely.

I have back problems and cannot lift the weight associated with 10 gallon batches. Without this little pump, I would not be brewing.

Do not disparage this little giant. At $20/pump, I can run through 5 or 6 before I hit the same cost as the more expensive version.

I the photo, for scale, those are 15 gallon vessels. Yes, the rig is that tall. I'm 6'2".

 

[kaips1]

I have one of the "little tan wonders". I've used for four complete brew days on my new rig as well as a couple of "wet" test runs. It works wonderfully for moving hot water and hot wort around my system.

I've moved liquids from pump level up to to top of my vessels without any problems at all. It recirculates wort and whirlpools nicely.

I have back problems and cannot lift the weight associated with 10 gallon batches. Without this little pump, I would not be brewing.

Do not disparage this little giant. At $20/pump, I can run through 5 or 6 before I hit the same cost as the more expensive version.

I the photo, for scale, those are 15 gallon vessels. Yes, the rig is that tall. I'm 6'2".

This makes me want to get a couple and build a rig.

 

[mattd2]

Anyone have priming issues with these pumps (although I personally think priming issues are more operator error than a fault of the pump).
I want to look at building a small batch BIAB setup using this and a rims tube for boiling.

 

[ianw58]

Anyone have priming issues with these...

Nope. As long as there is liquid in the inlet and liquid above, it seems to prime and pull nicely.

I was skeptical that a little tiny pump that only cost $20 would be up to the job. I have been pleasantly surprised and very pleased.

Would I take a Chugger or a March pump if given to me? Sure! However, I've learned that this little beast is up to the task.

 

[dyqik]

How are these pumps on handling hop pellets for recirculation during whirlpool? I think I saw someone post saying they had a beer with like 2 oz and it did ok. but what about 8+ oz in and ipa or something? I really prefer not to use a hop bag

I did a 5 gallon IPA batch with 5oz of pellet hops in the boil with my little tan pump on Saturday. It was quite happy circulating wort through my CFC and back into the kettle. I have a domed false bottom (I usually use leaf hops), so I wasn't whirlpooling, but the flow rate was probably just about OK for that. It happily kept running down to 80F in the kettle, with a decent about of cold break in the mix mostly blocking the false bottom.

 

[Da_Jakthund]

ianw58,

First, great rig!

Now, some quick questions:
1) What burners are those and what did you use for a heat shield? Looks like chimney pipe or duct pipe.
2) What is your stand painted with?
3) How do you not melt your cooler?

Thanks.
-Jason

 

[MX1]

ianw58,

can i trouble you for a close up of the pump, so I can see the QDs and of where and how you have it mounted.

Thanks

 

[revansCAAD8]

ianw58,

can i trouble you for a close up of the pump, so I can see the QDs and of where and how you have it mounted.

Thanks

Looks similar to how ours is setup:

 

[revansCAAD8]

ianw58,
Looks like you setup a pump power switch in a project box? Could you share any details?

Thanks,
Robert

 

[Mojzis]

Finally got to use mine the other day. This little thing is a pretty handy switch from lifting everything myself.

Used it first to vorlauf and it worked perfectly. Closed the ball valve to a slow pull and had no issues.

Then I used it to pump from the mash tun to my kettle. Here I had issues. I needed to add a clamp to hold the hose on, but also needed a weight on the other end to stop it from shooting out of the kettle and spraying hot wort on my feet and cabinets... I didn't get to recirculate through my chiller because the old bulking power supply broke when I dropped it after getting 170 degree wort on my feet.

To sum things up, this thing is perfect for my needs. Quick disconnects seem like the way to go, along with a slim power supply and a dimmer switch.

 

[ianw58]

ianw58,

First, great rig!

Now, some quick questions:
1) What burners are those and what did you use for a heat shield? Looks like chimney pipe or duct pipe.
2) What is your stand painted with?
3) How do you not melt your cooler?

Thanks.
-Jason

Thanks, Jason!

Burners are 6" low pressure burners.

The wind shield is an 8" duct connector. Works great!

Painted with Rustoleum High Temp paint. OK. Not best. May have it powder coated.

There is enough space between burners and cooler. I worried about this when buildi the rig. Had plans for concrete board as heat nsheild. Not needed, though.

 

[ianw58]

ianw58,

can i trouble you for a close up of the pump, so I can see the QDs and of where and how you have it mounted.

Thanks

Revann's set up is identical to mine, except that I used a two piece tap instead of the three piece version.

QDs came from Stainless Brewing.

I welded a plate to the rig. I drilled and tapped holes on the plate to accomodate the pump. It's very solid.

 

[ianw58]

ianw58,
Looks like you setup a pump power switch in a project box? Could you share any details?

Thanks,
Robert

The project box is a 6"x6" box from Lowe's.

I have a 25' power cord running into the box to a double gang standard power outlet. The pump is powered by a wall wort transformer plugged into the outlet inside the box.

I put a battery powered burner igniter in the box, as well.

 

[inamays]

This is awesome. So I've seen two pumps mentioned in this thread.

The beige one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/360652805148?redirect=mobile

And the black one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-High-Qu...ifugal-Water-Pump-Hotsell-EP98-/130970925295?

Has anyone come down on which one is better than the other. It appears that most have gone with the beige one, but I wanted to confirm before I sprung for one of these.

Thanks!

 

[millstone]

I have the black one and use it to transfer water from the HLT, about 3 gallons per minute. The pump is very quite. I did hook up a PWM just to see how it would run. On the low speed it was about 1 pint per minute and just 2+ gallons on the top speed, and it ran very quite, no change in noise unlike when I tried to adjust the water volume with the ball valve. BTW, I don't adjust the water volume, I run it wide open, I batch sparge.

tom

 

[srice]

I was finally able to test my new system today - an electric keggle with a StillDragonish controller. I added a 240VAC input 12 VDC output supply to the control panel in order to run one of the tan pumps. Test boiled today and connected the counterflow chiller. The little tan pump was able to pump through the chiller back into the keggle with no problem. I may go ahead and grab another $20 pump so if and when it dies mid-batch, I can hot swap it and carry on. The flow may not be up to par with a Chugger or March, but I'm happy with the performance through the counterflow.

 

[two_hearted]

I had two of these crap out on me last saturday while brewing. One of the tan chinese ones and a tan one with metal body. The first one was DOA when I tried to test it in the morning. The other one got me all the way until I was running my wort through the chiller.

It was an extremely frustrating brew day. Anyone else have these issues? I need to disassemble them and see if its anything I can fix.