Pumps for vorlauf

[eagle23]

I am looking to upgrade my brew set up and among the changes is my method of vorlaufing. I am hoping i can set it up with a pump so i can use that time to do other things, like set up the sparge water.

My goal is to set everything up with 1/4in fittings so i can keep the flow at a constant during the vorlauf and sparge.

My biggest concern is using a full sized chugger pump at full speed and causing tunneling in the grain bed. So do the chugger and other full sized pumps get set to a very low setting so keep the flow at a low rate without hurting the pumps motor. Or is there another pump set up that would work better?

 

[microbusbrewery]

Yes, they have a magnetic coupling between the motor and the impeller, so they're designed to be able to restrict flow without damaging the motor. Put a ball valve on the output to control flow; don't restrict the input. That said, 1/4 seems awfully small. If you pull some grain bits and/or husks through, it seems like it could clog with 1/4". You might also run into priming issues with that small of diameter.