March pump & kettle valve

Woohoo my new pump and weldless valve will arrive in a few minutes…!

Ordered the March 809 off of Austin Homebrew Supply and their weldless kettle valve.

Wondering how far the valve should be from the bottom. I’ll have to put together a pick-up tube as well. Advice folks?

This . . .

BK1.jpg

Oh! Me likey.

That’s an elegant solution.

The new pump is impressive. The craftsmanship appears top-notch. Says “Assembled in Mexico” so that’s refreshing, at least.

I’m thinking of mounting it to a board to protect the thing- especially the housing. If that pump were to land on the housing it looks like it’d crack for sure.

The weldless kettle valve is from Brewer’s edge. Will it work? Will see…

The Brewer’s Edge valve should work famously. A lot of companies are finally starting to supply the grooved locknut so that the O-ring stays put without squishing out . . that’s good. Also, with the female threads on the inside of the thru-wall nipple, you can easily attach a male copper fitting to construct a pickup manifold like mine . .or whatever other fitting you prefer.

I’ve got mine mounted to a board now, but I’m gonna do something like this…

http://www.byo.com/stories/projects-and-equipment/article/indices/20-build-it-yourself/1968-pumped-up-toolbox-projects

That is nice Denny. Have you seen the Ammo-box pump?

My only worry is the housing projecting from the tool-box. Drop it and CRASH… broken. I can modify this to my preferences however.

A new head is only $30 but still…

AHBS sent me two of the 1/2 poly couplings. Somehow one was the wrong size (more like 1") and they are sending me out a replacement.