Quick question - filling BK with March pump

[Octavius]

Hi folks,
I'm thinking of getting myself a March pump for Christmas and I'm going through the process.
Do you fill the boiling kettle with wort through the boiling kettle's ball valve?

Cheers!

 

[two_hearted]

Sure can. I've done it that way. I usually just drape the hose in though.

 

[Octavius]

OK, fair enough. Thanks for the reply.

(I was thinking that after pumping in about 9 gal, the weight would be too much for the pump)

I kinda like the draping the hose though. I suppose aeration is not a problem at the lower temp of the wort?

Cheers

 

[helibrewer]

Yes you can, in fact I fly sparge with one pump going from HLT->MLT and the other pump going from MLT->BK whirlpool port.

 

[Octavius]

Thanks for the reply. OK, I'll try both ways and see which I like.

 

[Bobby_M]

The pump will have to work harder to push the liquid up and over the top of the kettle than it would have to pushing it up into the drain valve. The pump only knows about pumping height and it doesn't know how many gallons are in the kettle.

 

[Octavius]

Bobby,
Thanks for the contribution - I'll use the drain valve - plus, it looks better and potentially, less messy.

The following is only for theoretical discussion only:

I would have thought that the pump would experience less resistance to flow pumping against air, rather than pumping against wort. If you are pumping 10 gal, there comes a time when the pump has to push against 9 gal, ie, maybe a foot of liquid. Just curious.

Cheers!

 

[Bobby_M]

I know it's not intuitive. Here's a thought experiment. You have the ability to put a pressure sensor at the bottom of two water tanks. Tank A is 30 feet in diameter and is filled to a depth of 20 inches. Tank B is 9 inches in diameter and filled to a depth of 48". Which pressure sensor reads higher?

The math says that tank A has about 8,800 gallons in it and tank B has 10 gallons in it. Despite having much more water in the tank, the pressure in tank A is only .72 psi while tank B is 1.3 psi.

When it comes to pump head (ignoring friction loses), only the liquid's column height matters.

 

[Octavius]

Bobby,
Thanks for the examples - I get it now - "...only the liquid's column height matters..."

Cheers!

 

[JayMac]

Yup! Bobby has it right.

One thing I would like to point out, is that you should watch the pumping speed going in to the BK (at least until the liquid level rises above the BK inlet). If it is pumping really fast, the hot wort from the mash tun will fly through the ball valve and splash against the other side of the BK, potentially leading to hot wort spraying everywhere. I'd start with the valve on the outlet of the pump 1/4 or 1/2 open max in order to avoid this messy scenario (although I've never done it this way, I'm just speculating - I just drape the hose in the top).

A march pump smooths the brew day and does your back some good! Enjoy

 

[Octavius]

Thanks for the tip, JayMac!

Yeah, hot wort can be nasty. I actually burnt my inside arm, touching the immersion cooling coil. Stung a bit, and left a big scar that took a couple of months to go away.

Cheers!

 

[Octavius]

If I can continue this thread with another question:

Say you have 2 Boiling Kettles full of wort (8 gal and 14 gal), one immersion cooling coil, one pump.

How would you go about cooling the wort?

 

[Bobby_M]

Well, if you can get the 8 gallon up high enough to gravity drain into the 14, you can pump the contents of the 14 up into the 8 to get a loop going. Put the chiller into one of the pots. It would work but be a pain in the butt. Personally I'd just stagger the boils.. start the 8 gallon about 15 minutes sooner so you can get that chilled and then move the chiller to the other pot.

 

[Octavius]

Bobby,
Thanks for the reply. I agree on just moving the coil to the other kettle.

One thing has me worried about this pump - it can't run dry. Fair enough. But surely you can't be monitoring it all the time - would a minute or so running dry hurt it?

Cheers, and a very Merry Christmas!

 

[LordUlrich]

Running a March pump for a little while dry is not going to destroy it, but it will not do it any good if it happens a lot. If your are within earshot you will hear if the pump starts running dry, the biggest thing is to make sure to prime the pump before you start it.
A pump will change your brewing, best brewing investment I ever made.

 

[Octavius]

Thanks for the reply and affirmation, Lord Ulrich!

 

[Octavius]

Yesterday was the first brew day with the new set up. It worked very well with only minor blunders:


One thing I need to sort out. How to securely clamp the copper hose leading into the mash tun (and later, the boiling kettle). There must be a simple solution but I have not figured it out yet.


Cheers!

 

[LordUlrich]

A big binder clip is the best way I have found to secure a hose for filling a pot.

 

[Octavius]

Hey, good thinking Lord Ulrich. Nice and simple. Thanks!