Do I need a pump to all-grain?

[IslandLizard]

Pump or not? hmm...

The only use I have for my pump at the moment and has been for the past 6 years is to recirculate wort through my plate chiller back into the kettle and create a whirlpool (for hops) if I want to. I drain into my fermentors through the pump and plate chiller, and usually just fed by gravity. It chills those last 20-30 degrees on the way to the fermentor fast enough. The pump also causes too much suction which tends to plug up the filter in the kettle, ending up in a drizzle on the outlet hose. Gravity works better!

I like to mash in a cooler that's on a knee high, low bench and easy to stir. I drain the wort 2-3 gallons at a time into 3.5 gallon buckets which I lift and dump into my kettle. The kettle on a 3500W induction plate is my source for hot brewing water. I temporarily store hot sparge water in a few large pots, while filling the kettle with wort. The temp is not critical for batch sparging, which I do twice with equal volumes. I usually do 5.5 gallon batches, but 11 gallon occasionally. Same system, just larger (15 gal) kettle.

Now we could find ways to make brewing way more complicated...

 

[govner1]

My birthday, and incidentally my first year home brewing anniversary, is coming up in September. Being the good homebrewer I am, I have a huge list of things I want and my be asking for. Obviously not all of them, but a guy can dream. I am thinking about moving to all grain brewing. As I said, I will have been brewing about a year by September and recently moved from 2 gallon batches to 5. (all extract). I have done two 5 gallon batches, and I am still getting used to my new system, but its going well.



My thinking now is I want a B3 cooler system to complement my 10 gallon brewbuilt kettle. These seem to be relatively cheap options and I have heard great things about them. As I was thinking about how it would all work, I was wondering how in the world do I get the heated water into the HLT? I understand I can use gravity to get water out of it for sparging, but if it needs to be up high, so does the water that goes into it.



This brought me to the conclusion that I think I need a pump so I cant pump the hot water up into the HLT. Is there another way to do it?



Thanks!

I started w/ 3 gal AG batches almost 4 years ago. I used all gravity feed. Even for my CFC.
I one 8 gal kettle. I heated my strike water & mashed in (5 g Rubbermaid) using a one gal pitcher, then heated my sparge water to a little higher temp than needed. I transferred to my HLT ( another 5 g Rubbermaid).
I used gravity to drain my 1st running to my BK then used the pitcher to sparge. I did apply low heat to my first rubbings while waiting on the sparge (10 min) then added the sparge to the BK & turned up the heat for boil.
After flame out I drained the BK via gravity through my CFC into my fermenter.

After a couple of years of success I had an epiphany, it's not more work to make six gallons vs. three. But I did decide to add a pump & a 10 g tun plus I increased my BK to 15 & my MLT to 10.
I still use my CFC but can chill & whirlpool.
Bottom line start simple & do what works for you then expand as needed or desired!

 

[Natdavis777]

I use a 10 gal Rubbermaid for a HLT, but its for fly sparging only. I heat all of my water in my BK. I typically put 170-190F water in it (over 10 batches) and it has held up perfectly. I do this meerly bc I am all electric and dont want to invest in another element and kettle. For this process, though, I have to use a pump.

I did 10 gal batches with the same kettles minus the HLT with gravity feeding and still faired well. This is just my personal preference.

 

[brewshki]

it seems like if i do not want to get a pump, I basically just need to move the water with a smaller vessel and then sparge using gravity. alternatively, i could pick up the whole big pot and go for that, but that seems like a disaster waiting to happen

 

[Natdavis777]

it seems like if i do not want to get a pump, I basically just need to move the water with a smaller vessel and then sparge using gravity. alternatively, i could pick up the whole big pot and go for that, but that seems like a disaster waiting to happen

One my 5 gal setup, I would run off my first runnings into my first bucket (with markings), then pour my sparge water (out of my BK) into the MLT, stir, vorlouf, and continue my runoff into the buckets, pour into the BK and resume. Worked flawlessly.

Pouring the sparge water works best with a brew buddy I will say

 

[jrcrilly]

it seems like if i do not want to get a pump, I basically just need to move the water with a smaller vessel and then sparge using gravity. alternatively, i could pick up the whole big pot and go for that, but that seems like a disaster waiting to happen

You can avoid both manually transferring water and lifting water-filled pots without a pump. That's what a three tier system does. HLT with burner on the top level, cooler MLT (no burner) on the middle level, and boil kettle with burner on the bottom level (and fermenter on the floor). It is old school, but I wanted to ensure that I wouldn't be handling hot liquids or lifting heavy things. When I'm done, I replace the fermenter with a bucket or drain hose, open all of the valves, and drain all of the kettles in a daisy chain so they are empty or nearly so when I remove them from the brewstand. My next brewstand will be a two tier with a pump, but that is because I want to add new functions, like mash recirculation ( and maybe HERMS) and a counterflow chiller. Once I have the pump, I can eliminate one tier.

 

[Gameface]

One my 5 gal setup, I would run off my first runnings into my first bucket (with markings), then pour my sparge water (out of my BK) into the MLT, stir, vorlouf, and continue my runoff into the buckets, pour into the BK and resume. Worked flawlessly.

Pouring the sparge water works best with a brew buddy I will say

I used to have my HLT on a burner on my deck, my MT on a table below the deck and the BK on a burner below the table. All gravity fed and it worked beautifully.

You don't have to have pumps and you don't need to scoop water, you just need to have the HLT above the MT and the MT above the BK.

 

[Natdavis777]

I used to have my HLT on a burner on my deck, my MT on a table below the deck and the BK on a burner below the table. All gravity fed and it worked beautifully.



You don't have to have pumps and you don't need to scoop water, you just need to have the HLT above the MT and the MT above the BK.

I had some boxes made from plywood that I used to use to make a tiered system on my deck.

 

[user 19629]

This is the method I use , no pump required.
http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

 

[wilserbrewer]

This is the method I use , no pump required.
http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

This is a great tutorial for simple brewing. I feel it is best for people starting out to start basic, then add as they see fit. If you learn to brew using very basic tools it is easy to progress to any type brew system.