Help with pump

[MikeCrigger]

My setup has finally progressed to use a pump. In the past, I would heat sparge water and then have to lift half the volume onto a workbench then top off with a bucket. That's now a thing of the past and I am beginning to realize I don't think I'm using the pump to it full potential.

What all can I do with one pump? My last few brews I didn't have the pump mounted and used to it pump sparge water from my brew kettle to the HLT (cooler) and eliminate the lifting and then used it to whirlpool after the boil. I've read where you can ditch the pitchers and recirculate the mash to clarify but I'm having difficulty understanding how that would work.

Thanks for any help or suggestions!

 

[hottpeper13]

It makes the day longer but sometimes I get to mashout temp like this.
I put a tray that I drilled holes for pouring the vorlof back into the tun , and put the whirlpool hose in it. I drain 2-3 gal into the BK and turn on the burner and pump. It takes a little adjusting of the valves to keep the wort above the grain bed and 2-3 gal in the BK. My hlt is above the tun so I can add liquor to make it easier. I set the burner to 3500 watts until it gets to 172* then back down to 1200 , and recirc until the BK has clear wort. I've done this a couple times and it adds about 45 min because it includes a hybrid fly sparge.

 

[Deadalus]

My setup has finally progressed to use a pump. In the past, I would heat sparge water and then have to lift half the volume onto a workbench then top off with a bucket. That's now a thing of the past and I am beginning to realize I don't think I'm using the pump to it full potential.

What all can I do with one pump? My last few brews I didn't have the pump mounted and used to it pump sparge water from my brew kettle to the HLT (cooler) and eliminate the lifting and then used it to whirlpool after the boil. I've read where you can ditch the pitchers and recirculate the mash to clarify but I'm having difficulty understanding how that would work.

Thanks for any help or suggestions!

If you wanted to recirculate your mash you would want another port (return) on your mash tun. A valve on the out of your pump would be helpful to change the flow. I have a return port near the top. Inside the mash tun you would want to disperse the wort evenly to avoid channeling. There are different ways to do this. I use an Ss brewtech circular manifold which just fits through my keggle opening.

 

[Deadalus]

Also, I would recommend some quick disconnects or camlocks instead of the barbed fittings. Or at least some butterfly clamps (not great) so that the hoses don't come loose and make a mess or burn you. That's my HLT on the left with my MT on the right. HERMS coil in the HLT.

 

[MikeCrigger]

Ok, I used the valve on the in to the cooler and keggle to control the flow but that would make more sense to have it on the pump. I do use butterfly clamps, just didn't have them in the pic. Before pumps the barbed fittings worked and quick connects seemed excessive to me lol. I fly sparge with this manifold in the pic I built years ago. The copper supply line that goes from the cooler isn't sweat on to the "ring" of the manifold. So if I hook up the pump to say a T with a shutoff in the supply line and pump thru the manifold, will that work? I can't imagine it won't get pieces of grain before the wort clears stuck in the manifold and is the splashing stream of wort ok?

Took me a second to figure out the upper hose on your system lol. Very nice. I can't seem to get the desire to hear roaring kettles go away.

 

[hottpeper13]

You need to control the flow from the pump outlet and all valves leading to the pump inlet need to be wide open.

 

[MikeCrigger]

You need to control the flow from the pump outlet and all valves leading to the pump inlet need to be wide open.

Thanks! Getting a stainless ball valve for the pump today!
Mike

 

[Deadalus]

Ok, I used the valve on the in to the cooler and keggle to control the flow but that would make more sense to have it on the pump. I do use butterfly clamps, just didn't have them in the pic. Before pumps the barbed fittings worked and quick connects seemed excessive to me lol. I fly sparge with this manifold in the pic I built years ago. The copper supply line that goes from the cooler isn't sweat on to the "ring" of the manifold. So if I hook up the pump to say a T with a shutoff in the supply line and pump thru the manifold, will that work? I can't imagine it won't get pieces of grain before the wort clears stuck in the manifold and is the splashing stream of wort ok?

Took me a second to figure out the upper hose on your system lol. Very nice. I can't seem to get the desire to hear roaring kettles go away.

Yeah you just wouldn't want that blowing off it is under pressure. I live dangerously with the hose running into my carboy (so wort is cold) I keep misplacing the clip to hold the hose. I have only lost about 3 gallons due to the hose popping out and snaking around on the ground.

As far your manifold, that's just set up for water so the holes are rather small correct? The manifold I have, Manifold | Mash Re-Circulation, is 3/8" ID and the holes are 3/16". Notice the ends are open. I only clogged it once and I think that was from putting my MT screen in upside down and the fold collapsed letting lots of milled grain particles through. I think the open ends are important. I tried to build a circular manifold out of 1/2" tubing and a SS tee but getting the hole size correct is a process. In silicone tubing, the holes need to be punched out. It's hard to estimate the correct number of holes and diameters (maybe not for an engineer). I gave up and bought my manifold used. It's slightly wider than my keggle opening but can be slipped by using the slots at the end of each arm.

As far as the no weld on your copper manifold, it might push off. I didn't put the butterfly clamp on the hose once on mine and it did blow off. You could sweat a union on there if you wanted. I use a union on my MT pickup tube in order get the screen in the bottom. I have a rotating sparge arm that I switch in but honestly I could just leave the manifold on and it would be the same. Better yet though if you enlarged the holes, instead of that straight copper arm, use silicone tubing and you could sweat a 1/2" NPT adapter and you could screw on a barb. Maybe just a direct barb x slip, probably exists. That would allow you to rest the manifold on the grain bed and the water wouldn't be drilling down so much. Caveat I am not sure about the copper being in the mash.

 

[MikeCrigger]

Well I'll be darned, it looks like that arm you use has the holes on the top and it just sits on the grain! WTF! Doesn't it sink during the process? I always thought everyone has the holes on the bottom to rain down the liquor like a coffee pot does. So that's why I use the rigid tubing to hold the sparge arm above the grain bed. Bugs me that I can't adjust the height with my current configuration. I interpreted Palmers book to say it literally needed to do that. Lol

 

[MikeCrigger]

I've used the sparge arm unwelded since 2007 when I went all grain and it has never come off with a good flow coming from the cooler HLT. Crazy I guess, but it fits pretty snug. So if I'm getting this correctly, could I pump wort out of the MT back in with the sparge arm off to throw whatever grain gets thru back in and then put on the arm to vorlauf? Not supposed to splash so that's why the holes on the top instead?

 

[Deadalus]

Well I'll be darned, it looks like that arm you use has the holes on the top and it just sits on the grain! WTF! Doesn't it sink during the process? I always thought everyone has the holes on the bottom to rain down the liquor like a coffee pot does. So that's why I use the rigid tubing to hold the sparge arm above the grain bed. Bugs me that I can't adjust the height with my current configuration. I interpreted Palmers book to say it literally needed to do that. Lol

It sinks a little bit but the water always pumps out the top. It's a little finicky in that it may tilt if the bed is uneven so I actually embed it slightly to make sure it is horizontal. I'm not sure technically it's a sparge arm it's a recirculation manifold but it would spread the water over the top of the grain bed evenly just like a sparge arm. I did want to mention that I didn't look at the holes too carefully, the holes do increase in size along the arms.

I've used the sparge arm unwelded since 2007 when I went all grain and it has never come off with a good flow coming from the cooler HLT. Crazy I guess, but it fits pretty snug. So if I'm getting this correctly, could I pump wort out of the MT back in with the sparge arm off to throw whatever grain gets thru back in and then put on the arm to vorlauf? Not supposed to splash so that's why the holes on the top instead?

I have an EHERMS, so I pump out of the mash tun over to the coil in the HLT so that the liquid can pick up heat and maintain the mash temp. I'll stir the mash a few times to make sure that I am not creating channels and that the heat gets evenly distributed. I don't know exactly why SS Brewtech designed the manifold that way but I can offer two guesses. One is that they needed to flip it upwards so that they could leave the ends open. The other is that I think any particles will be less inclined to drop into a hole and clog it up. You could be correct in that the design lessens hot side aeration.

I do a simple vorlauf where I drain the mash tun into a pitcher before fly sparging and return that to the mash tun. Not enough to compact the grain bed, I do it in stages. This captures any bits that got past the false bottom. I've been pumping/recirculating for about an hour already. That's with the manifold and its larger holes. You might get the bits out if you took off your square but you might still have little bits that could clogged in the square and from the looks of it, it's not easily cleanable on the inside given that it is soldered at all joints. You could potentially modify as I mentioned but I am not sure if it would be successful. I'm just extrapolating.

 

[SFC Rudy]

I use this solar pump bayite BYT-7A015 DC 12V Solar Hot Water Heater Circulation Pump with DC Power Supply Adapter Low Noise 3M Head 8LPM 2.1GPM - - Amazon.com Works just as good as my march pump with a smaller footprint. And a lot cheaper.

I use two Mash and Boil units. One pump to recirculate the mash, then another pump in the second mash and boil to recirculate when I batch sparge. When the boil is done, I use the pump to whirlpool while chilling. I also use them to transfer wort from my MT to the BK to the fermenter. My back sure loves it. I've done about 15 batches with no problems.