Cheap compact wort pump

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used it for the first brew day. I had some issues with it though.

it primed fine, but once it got full power the "above" line was no longer full of wort, like it was pumping harder than the liquid would flow in.

I also used a different method in my mash tun. Instead of my usual manifold i used a grain bag. My effort to do a double crush and not worry about a stuck sparge.
 
mendozer said:
used it for the first brew day. I had some issues with it though.

it primed fine, but once it got full power the "above" line was no longer full of wort, like it was pumping harder than the liquid would flow in.

I also used a different method in my mash tun. Instead of my usual manifold i used a grain bag. My effort to do a double crush and not worry about a stuck sparge.
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Thanks for sharing your experience. Have you take it apart to have a look at the magnet?
 
I have not. I installed it into a fishing tackle box and mounted the PWM on the lid. I'm kinda lazy about it.

What would be wrong with the magnet?
 
Riot said:
I just finished building a chiller, 15 ft total copper. I want to use the pump to recirculate wort down the chiller and back into the kettle so I can chill without ice, just run the pump wide open and adjust the cooling water flow. Cooling water running up will just be my garden hose. Hoping that makes more sense.

Quick edit: My thought with chiller length is it shouldn't mean nearly as much as long as the wort is going back to the kettle until I'm happy with temp, rather then immediately to the fermenter relying on a single pass through the coil to bring the temp down all the way.
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I think you'll find your CFC (especially @ just 15') will be much more efficient/effective if you incorporate some sort of ice water bath. Otherwise, the best you'll do is reach ground water temp. eventually.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I'm OK with only hitting ground water temp. I live in Canada and have never seen water temp above about 65. During the first test of the chiller without a pump my output temp was about 85. I feel pretty good about that as a start.
 
Canadian ground water has its advantages... its cold enough to numb my hands in the middle of summer. 90* outside and the water is still so so cold. Love it!
 
So my topsflo knockoff just arrived, and I just want to be sure about a power supply. I have a 12V 1.5A, a 12V 3A and a 13V 1.3A. I am pretty sure any of them will be acceptable, will I see any difference between them before I start cutting wires?
 
I have tried a 12V 2A power supply and a 12V 20Ah battery and both work fine. The flow rate is approximately the same with each. I would think you would do fine with any of these.
 
OK. I hooked up the 3A and it worked fine. I think I need to trim my chiller however. Test run was about three inches short of making back into the kettle
 
I was just thinking about pumps (new to that game) and saw this thread about some kind of cheap pump. Since it's 80 pages long does someone want to summarize for me?

It seems to me from skimming the few and last few pages that this cheap pump works well to recirculate hot wort for chilling, but some sort of power adapter is needed since its meant to run from a (boat?) battery. Where does one find the pumps?

Thanks!
Steve
 
Steve here's a quick summary:

Tan pump available on eBay for 15-20$. Submersible. Flow rate is reasonable but not strong enough to whirlpool. Gets clogged easy but some of us have been successfully using it with mash boil etc. Can be controlled with led pwm to control flow rate. Use 12v power supply to power it.

Topsflo: metal fittings, good flow rate, pumps faster, not submersible, doesn't clog as much, costs ~70-80$. Idk about pwm control yet. Amazon, eBay.

Knock off tops flow: same as topsflow, it seems. Costs ~22$. eBay.
 
Mojzis, Many thanks for the summary!

Has anyone determined if these are 'food-safe' or are we just using them b/c they work?
 
Mojzis said:
They are all high temp food safe
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Technically that's not true. Only the ones with the coated magnets are supposedly certified "food safe" but no one has reported any issues with the regular hot water pumps yet as far as contamination.

I am using both a tan pump with a coated magnet as well as a topsflo style without a coated magnet.
 
augiedoggy said:
Technically that's not true. Only the ones with the coated magnets are supposedly certified "food safe" but no one has reported any issues with the regular hot water pumps yet as far as contamination.



I am using both a tan pump with a coated magnet as well as a topsflo style without a coated magnet.
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If you go a few pages back I posted my research into the magnet, which turned out to be food safe. So while yes it's not "certified", it is good safe.
 
I've skimmed through about 30 pages of this thread but haven't found an answer to my concern. If this has been asked I apologize. How do these pumps hold up to hop junk and hot break? Looking to whirlpool my 5 gal batches with the 24v model pump on eBay. Would a bazooka screen in the boil kettle help?
 
I always try and keep hops out of the pumps using a ss hop spider. Hot break and cold break aren't a problem at all. One time I put candi sugar in the last 15min of boil while I was sanitizing the lines. Didn't think about it until I could hear the coarse undissolved sugar clunking through the pump. It was a while back, but I think it might have jammed up once or twice, but I just shut them off and started them back on a couple times and it sent everything through and I didn't have to disassemble anything. I would probably refrain from doing that quite like that again. That was on a keggle with a diptube in the middle so all the sugar went right up the tube before it dissolved. I have a completely different setup now with different pumps and a diptube on the side of my kettle and I don't think the sugar gets sucked up quite as bad now.
 
bstacy1974 said:
Cheap Wort Pump



Why 24v? Just thinking the slightly higher flow rating would circulate the wort better for a more efficient whirlpool, maybe? I could be overthinking this.



Thanks for any insight provided.
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I don't think the tan ones will be strong enough to whirlpool. Even 24v. Also they clog easy. But ymmv
 
I just bought the tan pump. It's rated at 12 volts and .8 amp. I have an adapter that's a little higher at 1 amp. Anyone know if this increase its okay? I assume that it is, but you know what they say about assuming.
 
xVern said:
I just bought the tan pump. It's rated at 12 volts and .8 amp. I have an adapter that's a little higher at 1 amp. Anyone know if this increase its okay? I assume that it is, but you know what they say about assuming.
Click to expand...

"Should" be fine. It'll just spin a little harder.





orangehero said:
Anything wrong with these?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Magneti.../251413259393?pt=BI_Pumps&hash=item3a8965e481

Seems that it's submursible as well.
Click to expand...

Looks like it should work.
 
xVern said:
I just bought the tan pump. It's rated at 12 volts and .8 amp. I have an adapter that's a little higher at 1 amp. Anyone know if this increase its okay? I assume that it is, but you know what they say about assuming.
Click to expand...

The pump draws a certain amount of current. You want the adapter (power supply) to be rated to at least the current draw of the pump and at the correct voltage, otherwise you will burn the adapter up. You want to have a higher amp rating...it doesn't change how much current the pump draws or its operation.
 
^^^^ exactly. you could put a 50A power supply on it, it will still only draw 0.8 amps.
 
I'd appreciate if folks would post photos of the power sources they have used successfully. I'm not sure that any old cell phone charger will do.

Thanks.
 
This is what I used in my build. with 15 amps of current will power all the 12volt stuff I need.

618sZM3oPGL._SL1500_.jpg


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004OWUP5U/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
 
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BillNye said:
Haha I wish!



I got two of these, I am not so keen on the plastic fittings but I don't plan on hanging it off the kettle so I will see how this works out before spending more than triple the price on a topsflow.



http://www.ebay.com/itm/230941130611?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
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Have to ask how are these doing? I'm looking to buy a pump but I'm having a hard time deciding which one to get? Also how do you power it?





Sent from DMAC's iPhone using Home Brew
 
I finally did a brew with Topsflo pump and valve system I built and it worked beautifully (see Post 794 to this thread). I used the pump to 1) vorlauf, 2) transfer from the MLT to the BK and 3) pump wort out through the CFC. All worked beautifully but there are a couple of items I would like to improve. This time I also used it to transfer half of my wort to my HLT to do a double boil, making two 6 gallon batches with separate hop profiles but I don't imagine that will be typical.

First, the good: The maximum flow is quite robust but caused no problems in my mash tun with clogging or stressing the motor. I had no issues with the small pieces of grain that emerge during the vorlauf. I never had to restart the pump during the transfers or vorlauf.

Now, the minor problems that I would like to improve upon. First, it is difficult to control the pump rate with the LED PMW. There is a very small window from full blast to barely running and that changes depending upon the circumstance (head pressure, etc). Next, when the transfer approaches the end of the liquid bubbles appear in the line that, when substantial, stop the pump. One has to get liquid flowing through the pump to get it restarted. It's not difficult but sometimes a bit frustrating.

Next time I want to see whether there is enough power to whirlpool. I also want to put a valve downstream of the pump to restrict the flow since my three way valve does not allow me to do so efficiently. That will make it possible to turn up the pump and restrict the amount of flow.

Overall, I am very happy with my setup.
 
Brewitt said:
Now, the minor problems that I would like to improve upon. First, it is difficult to control the pump rate with the LED PMW. There is a very small window from full blast to barely running and that changes depending upon the circumstance (head pressure, etc). Next, when the transfer approaches the end of the liquid bubbles appear in the line that, when substantial, stop the pump. One has to get liquid flowing through the pump to get it restarted. It's not difficult but sometimes a bit frustrating.
Click to expand...

I had the exact same frustrations. Hard to tell what amount of air bubbles is still ok for the pump too
 
I used the eBay Topsflo to whirlpool over the weekend, I have never done this before so I am not sure if it looks right but I strained everything before it went into the fermenter and I barely had any particulate.

4oz of pellet hops, cold and hot break are all in that mess somewhere.

EDIT: I am using this to power them: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00452YFZU/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

IMG_2258.JPG
 
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I've been using one of these cheap ass pumps for about five batches. It works as advertised as long as all of your lines are gas tight, not just water tight. It has no ability to self prime and will airlock very easily.
My power supply is a surplus Dell from a junked computer. The 12V supply delivers the rated flow rates, 5V gives about half that.
 
BillNye said:
I used the eBay Topsflo to whirlpool over the weekend, I have never done this before so I am not sure if it looks right but I strained everything before it went into the fermenter and I barely had any particulate.

4oz of pellet hops, cold and hot break are all in that mess somewhere.
Click to expand...

Nice! That pretty much answers the question.
 

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