Using a vacuum pump?

[feffer]

I was given a used variable speed diaphragm pump (0-3 gal/min). Once I cleaned the grape skins out of the screen filter, it worked very well. It looks like it would be useful for racking, degassing, filtering and possibly bottling. There seem to be a couple of ways of hooking these up, and I'm not sure what the best technique is.

For example, to rack from one carboy to another, it is possible to just put the pump between the two carboys and connect the input hose to a racking cane in the full carboy and the output hose to the empty one. The wine would go through the pump, so it would have to be sanitized, but otherwise that would be pretty straightforward.

However, some setups (online, YouTube etc) show the pump on the end, pulling suction from an empty carboy with two tubes coming out of a rubber bung. The second hole has a hose attached to a racking cane in the full carboy. In this setup, the wine does not go through the pump, so it's more sanitary, I guess, but the empty "closed" carboy needs to be glass to hold a vacuum and suction the wine.

Any significant reasons to prefer one method over the other?

Also could a vacuum pump be used to degas a plastic carboy? I've read elsewhere that they could not. However if the carboy were full to the neck or nearly so, there would not be much air space to worry about. Wouldn't it work in that case?

 

[HappyWino]

Also could a vacuum pump be used to degas a plastic carboy? I've read elsewhere that they could not. However if the carboy were full to the neck or nearly so, there would not be much air space to worry about. Wouldn't it work in that case?

I tried degassing in a Better Bottle, all that happened was that as the vacuum increased the bottle collapsed and spurted liquid out of the top

Cheers

HW

 

[feffer]

How much air-space in the BB?

 

[DoctorCAD]

Is your pump a liquid flow device or a vacuum generating device? From the description (0 - 3 gpm), it sounds like a transfer pump.

 

[feffer]

It is this variable speed diaphragm pump.

 

[GMA]

It is this variable speed diaphragm pump.

This is a liquid transfer pump... Very handy for racking but it would not work for degassing. I am setting up a degasser right now. You can get a simple in-line vac generator for a few bucks. Connect that up to a small air compressor and you are all set.

 

[feffer]

So what's the best way to set this up for racking? Put the pump in the middle and pull the wine through it to the empty carboy? Put the pump on the end and use the vacuum to draw wine from the full carboy directly to the empty one?

 

[DoctorCAD]

So what's the best way to set this up for racking? Put the pump in the middle and pull the wine through it to the empty carboy? Put the pump on the end and use the vacuum to draw wine from the full carboy directly to the empty one?

It is NOT A VACUUM PUMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It can only MOVE liquids from one place to another. It goes in-line with the liquids.

 

[GMA]

The input side of the pump would have a tube running into the full carboy. The output side would have a tube running into the carboy that you want to fill. Before begining your racking, make sure you run some sanitizer through it just as you would if you were going to do a traditional racking with a racking cane (this pump should be treated with as much cleaning care as everything else).

 

[skipper1953]

While the pump is intended to transfer liquids, it does create a vacuum. In order to self-prime it creates a vacuum to pull the liquid into the pumping mechanism. This allows the pump to be placed above the liquid to be transfered.
The operating instructions for the pump most likely say not to run the pump dry for prolonged periods to avoid damaging the diaphram. The instructions will also indicate how far above the liquid the pump can be located and still self-prime with the vacuum it creates.

 

[feffer]

I got the pump used but with no instructions. As some of you noticed, I was confused about the difference between a self-priming transfer pump -- like the one I have -- and a vacuum pump. Thx for clearing this up.