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1 pump with 4 way valve

cgamble1521

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Just started moving my batches around with a new pump. The result was more than exciting - enough that I want to amp my pump design and move the water/wort around without disconnecting the valves. Most of the systems I see doing this are using 2 pumps. Is there a reason for 2 pumps instead of a 3 output valve ?

Thanks,
 
Here are a couple of reasons why you would want to use two pumps:

Separation of liquor (hot water) from wort. This allows you to transfer wort to your boil kettle and sparge at the same time.

Also if you are using HERMS, you can have one pump circulating the wort through the coil, while the second pump recirculates that water in the HLT (more efficient transfer of heat when the water is moving)


-Dan
 
Thanks Dan. If it's a simple batch sparge system, does it then make sense for 1 pump and a 4 way splitter ? I'm resisting 2 pumps for mobility and compactness.
 
cgamble1521 said:
Is there a reason for 2 pumps instead of a 3 output valve ?

Yup. When moving different liquids at the same time, you need different pumps.

Every liquid you can move by gravity eliminates a pump. Though it moves slower.
 
I have several March pumps laying around but I only use one at a time. I have often thought it would be cool to hard pipe everything so I could just open and close valves to send whatever liquid wherever I want. After 23 years of brewing it has become clear to me that with anything less than a 20 gallon batch it would not be that efficient to have everything hard piped. Too much waste. Not to mention cleaning. I make about 17 gallons per batch (into the fermenter, to get 15). You lose a 1/4 gallon here and, a 1/4 gallon there, it ain't worth it. I just use one pump with rubber hoses that I can hook up here and there. Figure out a quick connect setup rather than a bunch of pumps hooked up at once. There are all sorts of quick connect devices out there. Find something that you can universally implement into your system and use that.
 
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