| Author |
Message |
    
Richard Nye
Advanced Member
Username: Yeasty_boy
Post Number: 707
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - 12:14 am: | 
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I'm considering buying a peristaltic pump for fly sparging, HERMS wort circulating, and maybe some beer racking. What range of flow rates would be most useful for these purposes? I do 5 and 10 gallon batches, but ferment in 5 gal containers. |
Skotrat
Advanced Member
Username: Skotrat
Post Number: 630
Registered: 04-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - 12:20 am: |
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Hi,
couple questions for you...
Why do you need a pump like this?
Have you priced the hose?
Have you priced the pump?
That being said... Why not just use a "little giant" type pump for this stuff. It is probably cheaper and you have a better range of reasonably priced hose.
I bought a peristaltic a few years back and I found that my "little giant" was and is still more usefull on a homebrew level.
Your findings and of course the opinions and experience of others here may vary.
C'ya!
-Scott
(Message edited by skotrat on May 24, 2005) |
Sean Richens
Member
Username: Sean
Post Number: 144
Registered: 04-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - 02:37 am: |
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I tried to buy a peristaltic once back when the back pain was getting a bit much to keep lifting carboys. The problem is that the main market for peristaltics is the biotech and lab biz, and it's not exactly the purchaser's own money. Consequently, the market price is ridiculous.
What I did get, and it did work OK, was an ITT beer/syrup/water diaphragm pump. It runs on compressed air or CO2, which is a PITA. I finally figured that if I get a cheap tire inflator I can probably transfer a carboy before the blower overheats. Since then my back is in better shape, so I'm back to lifting carboys and sucking on hoses.
Flojet beer pump
They should be available through bar supply and syrup-in-bag pop distributors. They're an alternative to Aligal when the carbonation pressure is lower than the required serving pressure. You will need a stainless racking cane so you can clamp it to the hose, otherwise air gets sucked in at the joints.
There's a few tricks: throttle the gas outlet or the liquid outlet or it's just too fast when there's not much head, and don't vent loads of CO2 into your basement! |
Richard Nye
Advanced Member
Username: Yeasty_boy
Post Number: 708
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - 03:10 am: |
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Skot,
1. Why? see below
2. Yes, if you buy Masterflex tubing you get screwed, if you buy from McMaster-Carr...not too bad.
3. Actually, I bought a pump for about $130 through ebay.
I'm planning my HERMS which is going to use a CFWC as the heat exchanger. I'm using my March pump to pump hot water through the outside of the coil and the peristaltic pump to circulate the wort through the inside. I'll also use 2 pump heads on the peristaltic pump to do a fly sparge. I can also use the peristaltic pump to help out in racking fermenters.
I figured I'd spend nearly that for another March type pump, and this gives me more flexibility.
But my pump maxes out at 200 rpm and 770ml/min. Probably a little slow for some of the things I'm planning on using it for. |
Ken Anderson
Advanced Member
Username: Ken75
Post Number: 838
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - 03:16 am: |
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Ah, the things we recall having tucked away. Here's something for the frugal brewer:
http://users.adelphia.net/~markvalk/pump.htm |
Skotrat
Advanced Member
Username: Skotrat
Post Number: 631
Registered: 04-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - 02:58 pm: |
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Hi Richard,
Cool... Looks like you are looking at it all logically and to fit your needs.
I have found the biggest use of mine is moving from primary to brite tank or to secondary.
-Scott |
stephen weiss
Junior Member
Username: Emeroid
Post Number: 31
Registered: 09-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - 05:21 pm: |
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The best thing is to get 1 pump with 2 pump heads, then you can drain the mash tun at the exact rate you add sparge water for an unattended sparge. These pumps are great, you can figure out the exact output per rpm over time and the rpm is fully adjustable. No parts to clean, only the tubing. The pump can draw up (suction) fluid, so you do not need to worry about pump location. |
Richard Nye
Advanced Member
Username: Yeasty_boy
Post Number: 711
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - 08:09 pm: |
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Stephen, as I remember, you use a peristaltic pump. The pump I purchased has 2 pump heads, but each is limited to 770ml/min at max rpm (200) and max tubing size. I'd probably want to fly sparge at about 500ml/min. It would take about 50 min to fly sparge 6.3 gal of wort (for a 5.5 gal batch). Sounds about right. But 770ml may be a little too slow for constant recirculation during mashing, particularly for a 10 gal batch. It would also take about 25 minutes to rack a batch of beer - a little too long.
What does the collective think? |
Michael
Advanced Member
Username: Hoppop
Post Number: 639
Registered: 03-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - 08:31 pm: |
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>>>What does the collective think?>>
Batch sparge; dump it, drain it, boil it.
Is that 50 minute sparge for anything that includes rye? 
Seriously, I can sparge 15 gallons in 30 minutes, or so when batch sparging. 20 minutes in a pinch. Always hit my efficiency (75%). |
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