Moving Wort

[mbg]

Been brewing many years. I like brewing out on the patio. We have a hot tub on the cement patio so I put the cooler/tun on top of it and use a pump to transfer the hot water to it then gravity to drain it. My kettle was high enough to gravity feed into the fermenter.

My issue is I ferment in the basement and have a tri-level house so it's quite a walk including 13 stairs with 5.5 gallons of wort in a carboy or my FastFerment conical. I mostly use the FF. I have the straps to lift the conical and have used a 5-gallon bucket to carry it but it's always a choir. I pulled a muscle in my back last brew. This is not super heavy load but it is a very awkward.

Was thinking of trying to use a folding hand cart I have but wondering if others have come up with other solutions.

Thanks
Mike

 

[Nagorg]

Sounds to me like you either need to figure out how to brew in the basement or consider a hand truck. I'd think an appliance hand truck might be smoother to use on the stairs since they are designed for that specifically.

The one I show below is ~$125.00 on Amazon. Probably cheaper than a Dr. visit...

 

[mbg]

That had truck would work well on stairs.

Since posting I have seen: 1) some have suggested a long hose but my run is about 50' so don't know how to clean/sanitize something that long. 2) fill a sanitized spare keg.

Second idea may work well. Keg handles are pretty robust and if needed I could even slide it over the stairs.

 

[Nagorg]

some have suggested a long hose but my run is about 50' so don't know how to clean/sanitize something that long

You could circulate hot PBW through it with your pump and the same with StarSan. But emptying if afterwards could be a challenge. You could also use your pump to transfer from the kettle to the fermenter although I wouldn't personally feel good about not being able to monitor the fill or control it at the fermenter to keep things from overfilling. You could solve that with some valves though.

But by the time you bought the tubing, connectors and valves for all of that, you probably could have bought that appliance hand truck!

 

[bracconiere]

put the kegerator in the basement, and run glycol chilled lines to a tap up stairs.....just an idea.....

 

[NickTheGreat]

I wouldn't want to use a hand truck like that to get a sloshing carboy down the stairs.

So your hot tub area is 3 levels above ground? I'm a basement fermenter, but mine is a walkout, so I have no troubles.

 

[NTexBrewer]

I would do the sanitized keg method.

but make two trips and only have half the wort in the keg.

Getting the wort out of the keg would not be easy so maybe look into something that holds 2 to 3 gallons that is easy to close, carry, sanitize and transfer into your fermenter.

Maybe this 3 Gallon Stackable Water Bottle - Walmart.com

 

[Qhrumphf]

You could run a long line from your outside brewing system to your downstairs, pastuerize it all with near boiling water (and if you use a CFC or plate chiller hit that at the same time) pack the water in there, then chase out the water to the ground/drain/bucket/whatever waste method with wort, transfer to fermenter, and then push the the remaining wort into the fermenter with more near boiling water, and then once the line is back to water flush it out back to the drain.

 

[SanPancho]

look at one of those cube containers folks use for no chill brewing. Hdpe so fill with hot water to sanitize.

 

[Beermeister32]

Run off the wort into two plastic carboys rather than one. You could ferment them separately or you could transfer one of them back into the other once you get downstairs. The difference between lugging 25 lbs vs 50 lbs of wort is night and day.

 

[mbg]

Thanks for the ideas.

I'll throw another one by you. I was thinking of buying a 50' drinking water hose to fill my equipment. I thought it would be too much volume of water to sanitize but I calculated only about 1/2 gallon. Anyone see any issues using this for wort xfer (ha-besides fighting with a hose that wants to coil?

 

[Beermeister32]

Make sure it is not translucent to avoid UV light-striking the wort, to avoid any skunk smell. 50' is a long distance for potential UV light exposure.

 

[mbg]

Make sure it is not translucent to avoid UV light-striking the wort, to avoid any skunk smell. 50' is a long distance for potential UV light exposure.

Was thinking of this:

 

[CodeSection]

This will give you more options....possibly more in later years..... Legacy Classic Stairlift® Indoor DC Battery Powered Chair Lift

 

[NTexBrewer]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th.../08/bruges-pipe-dream-a-reality-beer-pipeline
50’ is nothing

 

[Yorkshire lad]

Two trips, (not literally), is the way to go.
You figure it out.

I would do the sanitized keg method.

but make two trips and only have half the wort in the keg.

Getting the wort out of the keg would not be easy so maybe look into something that holds 2 to 3 gallons that is easy to close, carry, sanitize and transfer into your fermenter.

Maybe this 3 Gallon Stackable Water Bottle - Walmart.com

 

[mbg]

Two trips, (not literally), is the way to go.
You figure it out.

Yeah - probably overthinking this. I only brew 4-6 times a year and usually someone is in the house. Maybe next time I will use a helper. It's probably much easier to carry my conical with the lifting strap between two people than by yourself between your legs!

 

[mongoose33]

I'm going to think out loud....

The problem is the FF or carboy is too heavy. It's also dangerous to haul that thing down the stairs, a trip and it's a BIG mess, to say nothing of hurting something.

How to reduce the load? Answers: hand truck or similar to negotiate the steps. Hose to transfer the wort to the basement. Or.....transfer the wort into smaller containers and carry that downstairs and fill the FF there.

Something to consider is how much time you want to spend cleaning up. That implies the hand truck, no cleaning involved. The hose sounds more elegant in some way, but cleaning and sanitizing it will be a bit of a pain--and if you don't get it just right, you might accomplish little more than infecting your beer. Multiple smaller containers creates greater chance for something to infect your beer.

So the answer is perfectly clear: you need to sell your home and move.

J/K. Since you only do it a few times a year, a hand truck strikes me as the best solution, plus you'll be able to use that for other things, rent it out to friends when they move, things like that.

 

[rwinzing]

J/K. Since you only do it a few times a year, a hand truck strikes me as the best solution, plus you'll be able to use that for other things, rent it out to friends when they move, things like that.
[/QUOTE]

Man, you are a tough business man. Renting a hand cart to frineds.....LOL. Gotta make money when you can!