Elevating 100lbs of wort 4'

[digdan]

I recently screwed up my wrist in a non-brewing accident. Its going to be awhile until its fully healed. Now I can not brew because in one step of my brewing process I need to lift a fully stainless steel converted keg full of wort(8.33lbs * 12gallons + 10lb keg = 109lbs) 3' to 4' from the ground back up to my burner. I need a suggesion on how to fix this.

I know i could buy a pump for $130(ish) and that could solve the problem, but I don't want to take that approach if there is a lesser expensive way to go about it.

I've scratched making another brew structure off my list aswell.

I'm wondering if anyone could give me a suggestion on how to get this keggle elevated 4' without me straining my wrist, or if you could find me a good pump for under $100.

If you can think of coming up with something better in my processes here it is :

I heat my water in a big pot(hlt/mash tun) and add grains and step up. After full conversion I tilt the pot to pour into my lauter tun (converted icecube cooler). let grain bed set. I then rinse the mashtun and use it as a HLT to fly sparge. The water comes out of the HLT/Mashtun into the Lauter and out into the converted keg sitting on the ground.

Once I'm done sparging I need to lift that converted keg back up to the burner. I could just bring the burner down to the ground, but I need to do a gravity feed to push the wort from the converted keg through my shirron chiller plate and into a 6 gallon carboy.

If you are a visual person, here is my crude drawing of my setup :

​

Thanks!
Digdan

 

[chillHayze]

Looks good. Except the sun. He has had too many happy pills to be productive.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Try a pulley setup - I modified your drawing to show an example. You could use a tall, sturdy stepladder to mount the top pulley. Tie the rope off to something solid (bottom rung of the ladder?) when the keg is at the desired height.

 

[digdan]

Wow, thats exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks for your artistic insight aswell

Try a pulley setup - I modified your drawing to show an example. You could use a tall, sturdy stepladder to mount the top pulley. Tie the rope off to something solid (bottom rung of the ladder?) when the keg is at the desired height.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Oh...and PLEASE do a couple of dry runs with an empty keg followed by one full of cold water. Would hate to see your wrist injury compounded by burns and bruises from a falling keg of wort!

 

[runhard]

You could re-inforce the ladder with a few 2x4 or 2x6 and that way be assured the structural integrity of the ladder would not fail. Couple of 2x4s...$8, homebrew........priceless. That's awesome that you're still brewing with an injured wrist.

 

[Desert_Sky]

Try a pulley setup - I modified your drawing to show an example. You could use a tall, sturdy stepladder to mount the top pulley. Tie the rope off to something solid (bottom rung of the ladder?) when the keg is at the desired height.

a buddy of mine uses a pulley system like this since he brews by himeself and brews 10 gallon batches. He says it works pretty well. Ill see if I can get him to either post a pic or send it to me.

 

[magno]

Have you figured out how you will move the carboys? Do you have anyone that could help you brew?

- magno

 

[2nd Street Brewery]

My suggestion would be to bribe a friend ot two with homebrew and have them come over and do the lifting for you.

 

[Hippie]

I was going to suggest the pulley idea also. remember, the more loops in the pulley system, the more mechanical advantage you get, reducing your load... Most hardware stores will carry everything you need.

Good Luck

 

[the_bird]

Hippie, if this every happens to me, I'll just beg you to come down and help me out. Hell, you're my sherpa, aren't you?

 

[dantodd]

I think it would be a lot easier to simply raise the whole structure a foot or two and then add a second burner for $25 to heat your kettle. You can always use the same propane tank if you don't want to invest in another one!

 

[homebrewer_99]

I was going to suggest a brew buddy also.

It's the simplest and cheapest answer to your dilemma.

 

[brewman !]

I'm wondering if anyone could give me a suggestion on how to get this keggle elevated 4' without me straining my wrist, or if you could find me a good pump for under $100.

I've used this pump for a bunch of brewing, even to pump wort out of the boil kettle through the CFC. No problems even though the manufacturer says it is only rated for 160F. Its not magnetic. It uses a rubber impeller. You can get a high temp version of it for a few extra dollars if it ever wears out.

Its also a brush type motor, so you can easily control its speed with a dimmer switch. Much better than choking the pump with valves.

http://www2.northerntool.com/product/16818_16818.htm