Pumps for Home Brew

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

In my advancing years I am becoming lazy

I want to buy a pump to pump the wort from a vessel on the floor to one on a work top

Been on Amazon and am totally confused

Any recommendations please?

 

[Backyard_Brewer]

I've got a 12v dc pump its magnetic drive and a stainless steel ball valve to regulate flow. I've also got a blichman riptide pump which has integrated flow control. It depends on budget really.

Daz

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

Thanks Daz

Will investigate both

 

[Banbeer]

I wear trainers usually.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Electric pumps are good; but if you use a ball valve to control the flow rate best not to connect it in series with the pump, it's a bit like driving with the handbrake half on...
A better idea is probably to connect the valve like this:

When the valve is shut you get full flow through the circuit; but the more you open it, the more flow just bypasses the circuit and flows straight back round to the pump.

 

[AdeDunn]

You can use a ball valve on the output of magnetic drive pumps just fine without any problems, same way as aquarists have been doing for many many years... Just don't put it on the intake.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

You can use a ball valve on the output of magnetic drive pumps just fine without any problems, same way as aquarists have been doing for many many years... Just don't put it on the intake.

Indeed you can, and as you say lots of people do it that way without any ill effects. It‘s no big deal, just that doing it as a bypass is kinder on the motor (especially with a larger pump). The problem is that anything you do which reduces the speed of the rotor also reduces the back-EMF in the field windings and puts the current consumption up, which ends up as heat in the windings :-)

Anyway, just my advice - take it or leave it :hat:

 

[Hanglow]

I was also looking into pumps recently and the two main options are either the smaller DC powered magnetic drive pumps or the larger AC driven ones. I went with one of the latter, the thinking being that I could use it for all stages of transfer reasonably easily and more power was better than under powered giving me more options for using it. Whether or not this is true I will find out in time I guess!

As for costs, the more expensive ones are the likes of the Chugger brand ones, I though went for one off AliExpress for about £55 or so to try out. I also got camlocks and decent silicone tubing that all adds another £60 or so

 

[Wynne]

I‘ve just bought a second stainless steel homebrew pump with a magnetic drive from China via AliExpress for $55, they are also available on eBay (search homebrew pump). Generally, they come with EU or US plugs and need mounting on a base plate to be stable. I use a water-resistant Shuko (EU) socket on a trailing leads fitted with a foot switch for ease of operation.

 

[MickDundee]

I wear trainers usually.

I thought the thread was going to be about accidentally ingesting too much yeast.

 

[Buffers brewery]

If you’re just pumping clean wort with no “bits” in, I use a cheapy 12 volt d.c. motor.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-New-1...r-Pump-/282041968000?var=&hash=item41ab02e580I don’t use a ball valve to control flow. Instead I use a model railway speed controller, but if you’re just pumping from one tank to another, do you really need flow control?

 

[AdeDunn]

Indeed you can, and as you say lots of people do it that way without any ill effects. It‘s no big deal, just that doing it as a bypass is kinder on the motor (especially with a larger pump). The problem is that anything you do which reduces the speed of the rotor also reduces the back-EMF in the field windings and puts the current consumption up, which ends up as heat in the windings :-)

Anyway, just my advice - take it or leave it :hat:

I get where you are coming from, totally, a concern if you are pumping hot or warm fluids. Cool fluids though a lot of heat should be getting carried away from the pump by the liquid itself. In brewing, I doubt you will find anybody using a bypass system, certainly not on the home scale anyway.

Solar pumps you need to run with a voltage controller, so you have that right, they don't like having a valve on the outlet. I used to run a TS5-mini mag pump (still have it, but use a Klarstein now) from Brewbuilder though, and these will happily run with a ball valve on the out.

If you are using it to transfer liquids only though, not sure why you would actually need flow control. If it's from boiler to FV in fact more splashing is good... Flow reduction mainly comes in when recirculating during the mash to my knowledge.

 

[thegrantickle]

If you’re just pumping clean wort with no “bits” in, I use a cheapy 12 volt d.c. motor.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-New-1...r-Pump-/282041968000?var=&hash=item41ab02e580I don’t use a ball valve to control flow. Instead I use a model railway speed controller, but if you’re just pumping from one tank to another, do you really need flow control?

I have bought one of these. What's the cheapest 12V power supply to power it? Can i modify something i will have lying about the house such as a USB phone charger?

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

I have bought one of these. What's the cheapest 12V power supply to power it? Can i modify something i will have lying about the house such as a USB phone charger?

USB is too low voltage (5v) and won’t have enough current capacity either I’m afraid

 

[thegrantickle]

USB is too low voltage (5v) and won’t have enough current capacity either I’m afraid

Yuck, that's what I was afraid of. I have a spare 24V supply, would that work, or be too high?

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

24V is way too high. Needs 12v.

I suggest one of these: 12V 2A Power Supply for LED Strip Lights, AC 100-240V to DC 12V 2A Power Supply Adapter UK plug,Wall Charger,5.5mm x 2.1mm Jack for Audio/Video, Router, Security Camera : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

You'll probably need to chop the barrel connector off and connect it to the pump wires with a bit of terminal strip ('choc block'). Make sure you get the polarity right: check with a meter if you've got one, otherwise you can be 99.99% certain the 'inner' part of the barrel connector is +ve.

 

[Buffers brewery]

What's the cheapest 12V power supply to power it?

Ask Mr Google. Amazon have hundreds but not too sure about electrical safety on some of them. I found this but I haven’t used them so can’t recommend but any 12 vdc 1amp supply should work…


https://uk.farnell.com/pro-elec/pel...C-Whoops-Newvisitors-Test775&gross_price=true

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

FWIW I personally use commodity 12V lighting transformers like these.
They're a bit cheaper but they really need to be mounted in a box because of the exposed mains terminals.
Make sure you get a 12V 2A (or 12V 1A) type...