What kind of pump do I need?

[Jason879]

Hello all, so I brew in my garage and it's too hot to leave my fermenter in there. What I am trying to figure out is how to pump from my boil kettle to my fermenter approximately 60 ft away. I would be going through my house, around a few corners, and total upward distance would probably be about 5'-6'.

Can anyone tell me what kind of pump would work for this type of application? I'm sure someone out there has had this thought/idea before. Thanks all!! Cheers!


Best Regards,
Jason

 

[b-boy]

I'm not understanding what you are trying to do. Why do you need to pump wort 60ft?

 

[Jason879]

I have my burner in my garage. My fermenter is in my "brew closet" in my house as it's too hot in my garage to ferment out there.


Best Regards,
Jason

 

[NickN72]

I'm not understanding what you are trying to do. Why do you need to pump wort 60ft?

He is trying to avoid carrying the wort from the garage to where he ferments. That said I don't know if a march or chugger that most of us use for brewing would have enough power to pump through that or if you'd have to go up to more of a micro-brewery type pump.

 

[Jason879]

He is trying to avoid carrying the wort from the garage to where he ferments. That said I don't know if a march or chugger that most of us use for brewing would have enough power to pump through that or if you'd have to go up to more of a micro-brewery type pump.

You are correct Sir! Thanks for clarifying.


Best Regards,
Jason

 

[b-boy]

The pump will only pump as long as there is liquid in it. You'd probably be leaving a lot of wort in the lines. I think sanitation would be difficult as well.

 

[jekeane]

What are you fermenting in? Are you unable to bring that to your garage seal it and then either put it on a dolly or a furniture mover cart.

 

[NickN72]

The pump will only pump as long as there is liquid in it. You'd probably be leaving a lot of wort in the lines. I think sanitation would be difficult as well.

I think an air compressor could solve both of these problems. run sanitizer through the pump and line, then use the compressor to blow it out. Then repeat with wort.

 

[BillNye]

The pump has to be lower than the output of the kettle so you will probably be putting the pump very close to the kettle which means that when the kettle is empty you will lose pumping ability leaving all of the wort in the 60' tube left as losses. The only way to get around this is to use a self-priming pump or maybe find a way to make an airtight seal on your kettle and push a gas through to force everything out.

That's all assuming the pump is strong enough to pump over that distance and height in the first place.

How about a dolly and some temporary ramps?

 

[TimLa]

I see two choices here:
1) Ferment in plastic carboys. You'll just have to fill them in the garage and hump them to your fermentation location.
2) Build yourself a temp controlled fermentation cabinet or whatever in the garage. There are threads (I forget the name of these) describing this.

A 60 foot run of pumping wort is a nightmare, unless you're talking about a commercial brewery.

 

[Jason879]

I ferment in a mini brew conical fermenter. Yes, I could carry that out to my garage, but it's a little clumsy, as am I . I obviously don't want to spend an arm and a leg on this so that's what I'll probably end up doing, I just wanted to bring my query to the brewing brain trust. 😁thanks all for your input!!


Best Regards,
Jason

 

[WalterAtMarchPump]

60' of 1/2" ID tubing has a head loss of about 7' @ 2-3gpm.....assuming you dont have much extra head height to where you are pumping, you should be able to get the 2-3 gpm out of an 809 HS pump. If you have no more then 3' of extra head height on your setup you should still be in the 1-2 gpm range. But once the pump hits air then you are done and what ever is left in the line will be lost unless you can either lift the hose by hand or air pressurize it to push the rest through

 

[b-boy]

I ferment in a mini brew conical fermenter. Yes, I could carry that out to my garage, but it's a little clumsy, as am I . I obviously don't want to spend an arm and a leg on this so that's what I'll probably end up doing, I just wanted to bring my query to the brewing brain trust. ��thanks all for your input!!


Best Regards,
Jason

Why not drain into a couple of smaller sanitized buckets and carry those to your fermenter?

 

[Jason879]

Why not drain into a couple of smaller sanitized buckets and carry those to your fermenter?

Easy answer, I want more toys! Lol!! No, for real though, I think that's what I'm gonna have to do. No worries. I'm just a sucker for convenience.


Best Regards,
Jason