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Pumps

dogma46an2

Grandmaster Brewer
Joined
Jan 2, 2011
Messages
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Location
Birmingham
I don't know if most of you use  a pump or not . But I was looking into getting one . I was curious to see what some of you thought on what you think is best for the best price .
 
I am happy with the March 809.  Just prime and go!

I use it to pump water to my mash tun (no more up and down the two step ladder with a 2 qt pitcher of hot water dribbling down my arm, to recirculate the hot work through my plate chiller and to pump the wort through the plate chiller into my fermenter (when I am done with my "whirlpool").
 
I use a small pump since going from 5 gallon to 10 gallon (uk gallons)

I wanted to avoid any heavy lifting, especially with hot liquids.
 
I'm in the march camp.  It's a tried and trued product for homebrewers.

I think you can get one for about 150.

cheers
 
dogma46an2 said:
I don't know if most of you use  a pump or not . But I was looking into getting one . I was curious to see what some of you thought on what you think is best for the best price .

I've used one for several years (came with my B3 system).  Honestly, I've found the base March 809 pump to be alittle frustrating to get primed.  On my system it takes a couple tricks and external valve to get it primed (e.g. you want to have a valve on the outbound side of the pump to restrict the flow and one below it to help initially get wort/water in the pump head).  Fortunately the B3 system comes with these.    My other issue was my original March pump couldn't really get a good whirlpool going in the boil kettle.  However March (and B3) have a new version of the pump which has a higher flow rating and suffers from less cavitation (also seems to run more quietly).  On my system this was very beneficial (see http://morebeer.com/view_product/11622//March_Brewing_Pump_New!_-_High_Flow)

If you get a pump hopefully you'll be able to get alot of value out of it.  You could use it to recirculate your mash to increase the temps (HERMS, RIMMS), create a whirlpool at flame out (don't forget to sanitize first!) and pump the final sweet wort into your fermenter more rapidly.  Its also nice if you use a hop back to recirc through the hop back.

Cheers,
Paul
 
iipabrewer said:
dogma46an2 said:
I don't know if most of you use  a pump or not . But I was looking into getting one . I was curious to see what some of you thought on what you think is best for the best price .

I've used one for several years (came with my B3 system).  Honestly, I've found the base March 809 pump to be alittle frustrating to get primed.  On my system it takes a couple tricks and external valve to get it primed (e.g. you want to have a valve on the outbound side of the pump to restrict the flow and one below it to help initially get wort/water in the pump head).  Fortunately the B3 system comes with these.    My other issue was my original March pump couldn't really get a good whirlpool going in the boil kettle.  However March (and B3) have a new version of the pump which has a higher flow rating and suffers from less cavitation (also seems to run more quietly).  On my system this was very beneficial (see http://morebeer.com/view_product/11622//March_Brewing_Pump_New!_-_High_Flow)

If you get a pump hopefully you'll be able to get alot of value out of it.  You could use it to recirculate your mash to increase the temps (HERMS, RIMMS), create a whirlpool at flame out (don't forget to sanitize first!) and pump the final sweet wort into your fermenter more rapidly.  Its also nice if you use a hop back to recirc through the hop back.

Cheers,
Paul


nice thanks
 
iipabrewer said:
dogma46an2 said:
I don't know if most of you use  a pump or not . But I was looking into getting one . I was curious to see what some of you thought on what you think is best for the best price .

I've used one for several years (came with my B3 system).  Honestly, I've found the base March 809 pump to be alittle frustrating to get primed.  On my system it takes a couple tricks and external valve to get it primed (e.g. you want to have a valve on the outbound side of the pump to restrict the flow and one below it to help initially get wort/water in the pump head).  Fortunately the B3 system comes with these.    My other issue was my original March pump couldn't really get a good whirlpool going in the boil kettle.  However March (and B3) have a new version of the pump which has a higher flow rating and suffers from less cavitation (also seems to run more quietly).  On my system this was very beneficial (see http://morebeer.com/view_product/11622//March_Brewing_Pump_New!_-_High_Flow)

The March 809 pump is upgradeable if it has the high speed motor but, B3 seems to imply you can't upgrade and have to buy the new pump. Check the data plate and look for the RPM. If it says 3500 RPM and or model number 809 HS, you have the upgradeable model. The new impeller is quite a bit larger and will run you about $25. Google 0809-0107-0200 to find vendors for this part as March won't sell it to you. The maximum unrestricted head goes from 12.1' to 18.6' with the impeller reportedly from the model 815 pump.
 
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