Here's a new use for your shop vac

[Suicided1954]

I brewed my first all-grain today. I learned so much from lurking and reading on this site. To say thanks I'm posting this. I'm surprised it hasn't been covered before but I never found it in all of my research over the last several weeks.

I have been using my shop vac as a vacuum pump for my screen printing equipment for several years now. Works great to pull a rubber blanket tight to my exposure unit. I didnt want to buy a march pump yet and didnt want to use a venturi or gravity to feed the chiller so I gave my shopvac vacuum pump a try. It worked great on the glass carboy and the bucket. I have stuck a guage on it and it pulls 2.5" mercury.

I brewed 2 batches today and used it to fill the carboy and the plastic bucket. I transferred 6 gallons from the carboy to the bucket to test the bucket. It barely sucked the top of the bucket in. I pulled 6 gallons through the chiller in 13 minutes. from 212 to 68.


I drilled about 6 holes in a 2" cap. I attached the cap to an inverted adapter stuck into the shopvac. I attached vinyl tubing via a double barbed brass fitting. I drilled extra holes so I didnt dead head the shopvac. I'll be using this to transfer to secondaries and bottling buckets too...

hopefully the pictures work...

Thanks
Darryl

 

[mordantly]

how long does the trasfer take?

 

[Suicided1954]

13 minutes for 6 gallons through the chiller. I didn't time from the carboy to the bucket.

 

[jonp9576]

thats pretty awesome. do you know if there is any extra strain put on the shop vac since its sucking through such a small hose now?

 

[Suicided1954]

That's why I drilled the extra holes. There are 6 open holes about 5/16" in the cap to keep from burning up the vac. I have been using this shopvac in this capacity for over 5 years.

 

[jonp9576]

wow, i guess i need to read instead of just look at pictures. thanks for clarifying. this is a great idea

 

[samc]

Nice idea. Do you do gravity feeds before this idea and if so how much faster is this method?

 

[Wade E]

That what I intended to do with my wine set up as soon as Im all set up to do all grain, almost there by the way.

 

[mordantly]

just don;t put your junk in there. it doesn;t feel that great, and leaves a chaffing thats hard to explain later.

 

[krops13]

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Theres prob. a cream for that.
Brilliant idea thinking like this is what sets this forum apart.

 

[Suicided1954]

I did use my neighbor's 6.2 cfm vacuum pump during testing. it pulled the 6 gallons in 7 minutes. I did have to fiddle with it because it would crush the vinyl tubing. I finally got it to work without crushing the tube.

My whole deal with that is if I'm spending 150.00 for an actual vacuum pump... i might as well buy a march pump which will have more uses.

 

[Suicided1954]

Mordantly,

I think I'm safe... my junk won't fit in the 1/4 tubing...might leave a little hickey on it though.

 

[Suicided1954]

Samc,

This was my first brew with this setup. I had done all PM or extract with an immersion chiller and just dumped it into everything. I did gravity feed with this setup during testing but I would have to raise the HLT too high and didnt want to mess with that.

 

[CPTHOOK]

that is sweet. i will try it on my next transfer
thansk for the idea

 

[Electrician_LU_357]

Great idea thanks for sharing.

 

[germanicus81]

That's a great idea. Have you thought about using that to transfer from the secondary to a keg? I could see it working by removing the gas in post and attaching the vinyl tube directly to the gas threads.

Also, I currently use a march pump and I'd say it takes about 25 minutes to pump a 10 gallon batch through my counterflow and into the carboys, it sounds like you've got a good method at a great price(free).

 

[mordantly]

Mordantly,

I think I'm safe... my junk won't fit in the 1/4 tubing...might leave a little hickey on it though.

phew! thats a relief.

 

[Handle]

I got a ShopVac last Christmas that I haven't even used.

I have got to try this. Thanks very much for posting.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Yeah. I use mine to clear the draff from the tun.

 

[sdhucks7]

Since i just got a shop vac for Christmas i think I may have to give this a try. Thanks for the great idea!




SD

 

[kinison_fan]

Great idea!
I wish I had seen this last week-my March pump was delivered yesterday.
I built a cfc last year, but gravity fed was too slow.
I then I built a venturi, flow rate was OK, but it leaked - alot.
I went back to using the immersion chiller, and finally ordered a March pump.
I would have tried this first...

 

[BeerCanuck]

That is a simple an innovative idea.
I was planning on buying a march pump but will try to apply your vacuum idea first.

Cheers;
BeerCanuck