beer pump, what is the common device ?

[planohog]

after the ferment is over, time to get the beer into buckets to rack.
what pump do people commonly use. I have been using the auto syphons,
but they are very slow and time consuming as you have to stand there and hold it in place.
Then, there is the get the beer out of the buckets for stripping.

[Tammuz]

Look up mk magdrive pumps

[Bolverk]

Ive got a spkie flow pump and im pretty happy with it

[NZChris]

I use cheap 12V DC diaphragm pumps for a variety of tasks, mostly to save my back.

I quite often syphon from a fermenter into a bucket on the floor, then pump from the bucket into the still or other containers.

[Copperhead road]

I quite often syphon from a fermenter into a bucket on the floor, then pump from the bucket into the still or other containers.

I do the same thing, so much easier to just siphon the cleared wash from the top. Things like uncle Jessie’s sour mash a submersible pump only stirs up the grain bed in the fermenter.

[Stonecutter]

Easy breakdown for cleaning. Good head pressure. Built to handle hot liquids.

https://www.blichmannengineering.com/pr ... wing-pump/

[Salt Must Flow]

In the past I've used a submersible pond/fountain pump to transfer the bulk after fermentation into the boiler from 55 gal poly dums. I then carefully siphoned the rest into a bucket on the floor and again used the submersible pump to transfer it into the boiler.

Now I use a conical tank to clear my wash, drain off the trub and a mag drive pump to transfer all of the wash into the boiler. It's overkill, but it makes what was once my worst chore now fun.

[GrumbleStill]

I use a magnetic drive pump like this https://kegland.com.au/products/1-2-thr ... 49f5&_ss=r for hot liquids and when I’ve got +ve head on the inlet.

For siphoning beer or wash out of a fermenter I’ll go for a self priming diaphragm pump like https://kegland.com.au/products/super-s ... 49f5&_ss=r

Submersible pond pumps can come in handy, but I generally only use them for recirculating water.

Too many pumps in the distillery is barely enough

[Homebrewer11777]

I don't think a typical brewers pump would be very useful for pumping wash out of a fermentor. They are awesome at handling hot liquids and can provide sanitary liquid handling due to the magnetic drive but are not self priming.

[Swedish Pride]

Brewers pump works great.
Keep the pump lower than the offtake and it's primed by gravity.
My setup, works great.
I'm fermenting on the grain so needs to have a false bottom of some type, bazooka filter alone isn't going to cut it

IMG20250907133253.jpg

[higgins]

I use a March 809 magnetic drive pump that I've had for over 25 years, originally bought for brewing beer. It is rated at 250F/121C

march-pump-809-br-hs-c-600x642.jpg

I added a ball valve on the outlet (top) and mounted it on a wheeled cart about 5" off the floor and use it for almost all transfers of liquid in my brewstillery.

I've got 3 lengths of 1/2" silicone tubing with female quick disconnects on each end.
I've got a stainless steel racking cane with SS screen filter on the bottom end and a silicone hose connected that has a male QD on the end.
I've got male quick disconnects on:

• my pump inlet/outlet
• my boiler outlet
• my preheating kettle outlet
• my coil wort chiller inlet/outlet
• my PC hot water outlet hose
• my 12 gal/45L and 25 gal/95L mash tun outlets

I've also got a garden hose fitting with a QD on it (use to CIP kettles, flush out hoses, chiller, etc), and a coupler with male QDs on each end (to connect 2 hoses together)

I can connect them in many different configurations to suit my needs:

1. I pump fermented beer out of my 30 gal/114L barrels using a siphon - prime by sucking on the racking cane hose till it's full, pinch the hose, connect to pump inlet, then pump into carboys for settling (an additional benefit is that it de-gasses the beer somewhat to lessen foaming)
2. I pump hot backset out of my boiler - gravity will prime the pump - thru my chiller (preheating the next boiler charge) down the drain.
NOTE: near boiling backset will cause the pump to cavitate ... partially closing the ball valve on the outlet creates some back pressure to lessen the cavitation.
3. I pump the next heated boiler charge into the boiler
4. I can also run the hot water output of the PC thru my chiller to preheat

NOTE: Nothing distilled ever goes thru these silicone hoses - only beer/wash, star-san, water, or backset goes thru them.

As an example of how I use it:
2 weeks ago I used the pump to siphon 31gal/117L fermented beer (wheat/rye vodka) from my fermenters into carboys for settling.
2 days ago I stripped it ... three ~10 gal/39L strips in my 15.5 gal/59L keg boiler, using a 15 gal/57L kettle as a preheater.
pump first 2 carboys into boiler
while heating pump next 2 carboys into preheater with coil
while stripping run PC hot water out thru coil, getting the next charge up to around 120F/49C
after shutdown pump hot backset thru coil, getting it up to around 150F/65C
pump next charge from preheater into boiler
10 minutes later product started coming out
Repeat for 3rd boiler charge.

31 gallons stripped at 100% of 5500W producing 8 gal/30L low wines, 5 hours from start to finish.

Without my pump it would be much more effort to move all that liquid around, and that stripping session would have taken 7-9 hours.

[planohog]

Thank you for the great reply and details.
This will help myself and many others enjoy the hobby

[Homebrewer11777]

Hmm that is cool Higgins. Sounds like it works and I am already starting a siphon most of the time by sucking on the racking cane hose. But my back is sick of lifting 5-6 gallon carboys and full mop buckets so seems worth a try.

The mess factor got me looking around a bit more and found lots of little electric transfer pumps including this one on the big A for $38...
JIAWANSHUN 110V Electric Wine Transfer Pump, 5L/Min Food Grade Self-Priming Pump w/Stepless Speed Control, Stainless Steel Filters & 13.12ft Hose

Claims it will suck up to the pump from 1 meter, then pump up to another container up to 10 meters higher than the pump. Not as fast as those 7 GPM brewing pumps...rated for 5 liters per minute...but that would be fine with me. Other main difference between this and brewing pumps is not rated for hot liquids...140F is the max. I can live with that. Going to give this guy a try.

Anyone else try one of these?

[PalCabral]

For racking from the primary fermenter to a secondary, or into the boiler, I will use a syphon. I normally use 30L fermenters and my boiler is 50L/13g so using a pump is overkill. But the weight can be a problem. Somewhere in this mess I have a beer pump. I used it to cool beer through a counter-flow chiller. I would love to have it when I transfer the fined mash from the fridge to the boiler but I haven't found it yet. So I transport my fermenters on a small wheel cart.

[zach]

I found one of these 12 V pumps for $10 and have used it dozen times for transfers and recirculating wort in my mash tun.

When this one quits, I will likely get the pump Swedish Pride has .

51tGgvtyOKL._AC_SX679_.jpg

[jonnys_spirit]

https://allinonewinepump.com/

I use this AIO winepump system for sanitary transfer of wine, bottling, storing under vacuum, filtering, and a few other things including racking of finished ferment into carboys for clearing. No lifting of heavy glass liquid carboys needed and a carboy transfers in a few minutes. I also have a 12V brew pump - I may hook the brew pump up to the still drain now since I no longer have a floor drain. I replaced the AIO vacuum pump with a lab grade vacuum pump at some point but still use the other bits of kit.

Cheers,
jonny

[Pure Old Possum Piss]

Spike Flow pump is great but a little expensive. Most quiet, fastest pumping and easy to disassemble for cleaning. Has a chopper impeller to grains don't clog it. Great for hot fluid transfers such as pumping hot backset or mash to a fermenter or to the boiler. I use it to circulate mash instead of stirring and I use it to circulate cooling water for RC & PC.
With what it's saved in monthly water bills it paid for its self in about 4 months.

[Homebrewer11777]

That Spike pump is another cool pump I'd not heard about. It will really pump mash? Grains and all? I've been wondering about getting a mash pump like my wine making sister's must pump but was not really sure what would be required.

But back to the OPs question..."what pump is good for pumping distillers beer out of a fermentor into a bucket for settling, and then out of the buckets into the boiler for stripping". Based on Planohog's other posts I am assuming this is all grain, fermented on the grain. It also looks like he is going to ferment in an HDPE barrel. I am guessing the fermentor does not have a drain on bottom and as Swedish Pride mentioned even if it did it would also need a false bottom. I've had zero luck getting a false bottom to separate liquid wash from my spent corn solids but not saying it is impossible as clearly SP has a been able to do it.

I also don't have a drain or a false bottom oin my fermentor (30 gallon brute trash can) and make mostly bourbon mashes. I've been using a hop spider and a racking cane (manual sucktion siphon) to get most of the liquid out of the fermentor. It works ok but then my settling vessel (glass carboy) is on the floor. I then put the carboy onto a table, let it settle, rack to another carboy on the floor, and then lift that carboy again to charge the boiler.

My $40 Chinese diaphragm pump arrived yesterday. I can't wait to try it out. My plan is set the pump on a counter next to the fermentor which sits on a furniture dolly on the floor. Carboy on the table. Will still use the hop spider and let the pump suck the liquid out of the spider into the carboy. I can stop the pump when the hop spider gets close to empty and let it refill and also stop the pump when time to switch to next carboy. I will go back to my racking cane to get the clear beer off the settled custard, into a carboy on the floor. And then use the pump get the racked clear beer to the boiler.

[planohog]

I think if you can do all that work , without having to babysit alot , that might be ok. I have a submerible that I was going to use to reciruclate my cooling water, but never did , im going to try it and see what its like. I do not mind using the syphon for the last bit above the trub.
for me , pouring a 5Gallon bucket that is full, is always a mess and it could be a disaster at any moment.

[Pure Old Possum Piss]

That Spike pump is another cool pump I'd not heard about. It will really pump mash? Grains and all? I've been wondering about getting a mash pump like my wine making sister's must pump but was not really sure what would be required.

But back to the OPs question..."what pump is good for pumping distillers beer out of a fermentor into a bucket for settling, and then out of the buckets into the boiler for stripping". Based on Planohog's other posts I am assuming this is all grain, fermented on the grain. It also looks like he is going to ferment in an HDPE barrel. I am guessing the fermentor does not have a drain on bottom and as Swedish Pride mentioned even if it did it would also need a false bottom. I've had zero luck getting a false bottom to separate liquid wash from my spent corn solids but not saying it is impossible as clearly SP has a been able to do it.

I also don't have a drain or a false bottom oin my fermentor (30 gallon brute trash can) and make mostly bourbon mashes. I've been using a hop spider and a racking cane (manual sucktion siphon) to get most of the liquid out of the fermentor. It works ok but then my settling vessel (glass carboy) is on the floor. I then put the carboy onto a table, let it settle, rack to another carboy on the floor, and then lift that carboy again to charge the boiler.

My $40 Chinese diaphragm pump arrived yesterday. I can't wait to try it out. My plan is set the pump on a counter next to the fermentor which sits on a furniture dolly on the floor. Carboy on the table. Will still use the hop spider and let the pump suck the liquid out of the spider into the carboy. I can stop the pump when the hop spider gets close to empty and let it refill and also stop the pump when time to switch to next carboy. I will go back to my racking cane to get the clear beer off the settled custard, into a carboy on the floor. And then use the pump get the racked clear beer to the boiler.

Not sure about rough cracked corn, but it will transfer cormeal/milled barley as long as you stir it first and keep it in suspension. I doubt it would move spent grain, I haven't tried that.
If you put a bulkhead drain valve about a foot from the bottom of your barrel, it will self prime with gravity.
If you're using long hoses like I am and you need to pump up and over the barrel lip, an easy way to prime it is to hook a water hose to the pump outlet hose with the pump valve open. Turn on water until it flows out of the pick up hose into your fermenter. Close pump valve, turn off water. Then I have 50ft of primed hose to move mash from the fermenter to the boiler. Just run the pump a few seconds until the water is cleared and mash starts coming out and charge your still. You can also get "airless sprayer" filter/strainer to go on end of the hoses so it doesn't get large grain going through.