Pump for moving beer

[mkbillabo]

Good morning,

I am wondering if this pump would be sanitary for transferring wort (mostly from the fermenter to the keg, to take the place of a pressure transfer): https://us.vwr.com/store/product/4787998/vwr-chemical-transfer-pump-variable-flow

I did some basic digging, and it seems all the materials used to make it would be food-safe. Does anybody notice anything that would be a big no-no?

The only reason I am even looking at this pump is because I would get a HUGE discount through my work. Please let me know what you think!

Thank you.

 

[LarMoeCur]

Two things I see.

1. Even with a 50% work discount. That pump is still $250 bucks. I can think of 100 better things I'd buy for my brewery at that price.

2. I'd be worried about oxidation. It's still a pump and if you get it 98% primed your still beating air into you beer. If the intake pulls air, it's getting beat into your beer. Commercial breweries move beer from tanks with CO2. I'm sure a pump would be cheaper but there is a reason why they use CO2.

I move all my beer at home with CO2. A racking cane, one orange carboy cap, mini-regulator off Ebay, paintball CO2 tank off Craigslist, and 1# of CO2. I can pump a carboy empty in just a few minutes. Cost me less than 100 bucks easily.

 

[lump42]

You can also place the fermentor above the keg and use the pressure to start the siphon. Very little CO2 would be needed to start the liquid moving.

Or if you have a plastic or stainless fermentor, you can add a port for less than $250.

 

[dunnry]

Two things I see.

1. Even with a 50% work discount. That pump is still $250 bucks. I can think of 100 better things I'd buy for my brewery at that price.

2. I'd be worried about oxidation. It's still a pump and if you get it 98% primed your still beating air into you beer. If the intake pulls air, it's getting beat into your beer. Commercial breweries move beer from tanks with CO2. I'm sure a pump would be cheaper but there is a reason why they use CO2.

I move all my beer at home with CO2. A racking cane, one orange carboy cap, mini-regulator off Ebay, paintball CO2 tank off Craigslist, and 1# of CO2. I can pump a carboy empty in just a few minutes. Cost me less than 100 bucks easily.

First, let me agree with you that CO2 is the best way to move the beer without risk of oxidation - especially at homebrew scale. However, I do want to point out that commercial breweries definitely use pumps to transfer from conicals to bright tanks. I know because I have helped do those transfers. In these cases, the pumps, lines, manifolds, and brights are first cleaned and sanitized with nitric acid, and then peracetic acid. Beer is brought into the lines without vacating them first. At the bright tank, you are watching to see the water vacate and then beer start to flow. Once you see it change over, you open the valve to the bright and close the dump valve. There is very little to any air in the system in this way. It's also the same pump used during normal CIP operations (and it's a big one).

I don't know if all breweries operate this way, but my guess is probably so. Filling 120 barrel fermenters using CO2 would be expensive and likely require insane pressures as it fills. At a homebrew scale however, CO2 is cost effective and works well.

 

[dyqik]

Typically for moving fermented beer/wine, you want a self-priming diaphragm pump, which puts low amounts of shear on the beer, and doesn't beat oxygen into it or have a risk of cavitation.

Something like this is what's generally sold for this job, and is significantly cheaper than your option above.

 

[bucketnative]

Delrin (polyacetal) is fairly susceptible to attack by acids, especially phosphoric acid, so acid sanitizers would not be advisable (Starsan). Bleach and hydrogen peroxide also attack Delrin. The breakdown product of Delrin is formaldehyde (or paraformaldehydes). Don't want to sound like an alarmist, but I would go for another material, like PTFE for the wetted parts.

Even with our VWR discount, that pump is quoted out at $360.