I thought it would make things easier, but it actually made everything more complicated.
I do not like it.
I love it, no more heavy dangerous lifting for me and
my creaky old back. It idiot take a bit to tweak my process but has made my brew day much easier
It gets easier with time. What don’t you like?
THIS^^^^ What are trying to do that makes it more difficult? I use mine only for recirculated chilling and pumping to the fermenter.
I used it for power vorlaufing, pumping from the mash tun to the boil kettle, and recirculating during chilling.
I didn’t like having all the hoses on the ground. Unhooking the hoses without spilling wort on the floor I found to be difficult. I also didn’t like the deadweight loss of wort due to what remained in the hoses when the mash tun was fully drained.
It also seemed like it was kind of rough on the wort. The whole process seems so much gentler when I do everything by hand.
I don’t know - using the pump just felt kind of wrong.
It also didn’t reduce my chilling time at all. I guess my manual stirring was performing the same function. Now I’ve got my eye on one of those hydra chillers.
The Hydra is great, but I still use my pump with it. But that’s because I don’t like to stand there and stir…I can start the pump up and go back later. Using my 56F well water, I got from boiling to 58F in 8 min. with both a pump and Hydra.
Are you using some kind of whirlpool arm with it? If not, how are you securing the hose to the kettle?
I’m envious. Ground water here yesterday was 76 degrees. It’s difficult to chill much below the upper 80’s using just an immersion chiller. I let my fermentation fridge bring it the rest of way down to pitching temp.
Shorten your hoses? I place a bowl beneath the can lock to catch wort when I disconnect. I use that bit for my gravity samples at end of boil. At end of mash you could just pour it into your kettle.
I love my pump and would hate to go back to brewing without it.
THIS^^^^
And THIS^^^
WOW! You are most lucky with well water that cold.
Whirlpool arm? That’s kinda fancy for me, don’tcha think? :) I just use a quick clamp to clamp the hose to the top of my kettle and put the end of the hose by the chiller.
That’s summer. In the winter it’s more like 45F.
My ground water was 80° today. Knocked 12 gallons down to 90° in fifteen minutes using 9 gallons of tap, 9 gallons cooled in the ferm fridge to 40, and 10 lbs of ice. That’s recirc on both the chiller and the kettle. Without my pumps, brewing would be near impossible on my balcony.
Another 15 and I am at 75°
No kidding. My ground water is low to mid 70s now. Loving that submersible pump for the ice water loop!
There certainly are a number of concerns with pumps and hoses. However, once you have grasped all the new tasks and responsibilities that you need to attend to, you shouldn’t be that disappointed. I couldn’t brew without a pump now. I depend on it for RIMS, transferring to the kettle, transferring from the kettle, and chilling and transfer to the fermenter.
Yeah Denny, mine’s like yours…mid 40s winter–mid 50s summer. Hey, there has to be some payback for living this far North.
If you lift the pump and hoses up, you can drain them into the receiving vessel.
I like pumps when brewing, I have 2. I also have a dodgy old back.
One tip is to have some fittings so that you can hook up the tap water hose to the hose you use for chilling, and flush the hoses and running pump when you are cleaning up. Drain the hoses and pumps when finished.
I do the same thing, except I drain into the bowl through a bleeder valve before I disconnect.
I’m glad you posted this because I think with some additional fittings I can use the Chugger pump for this purpose (recirculating ice water through the chiller).
I had a submersible pump at one point, but it died on me pretty fast and I never ended up replacing it.
Yeah, you’re probably right. After the pump though, I don’t think I can handle any more new brewing related tasks or responsibilities. Sometimes, it really does start to feel like a chore.