Re: Pumping wort

I agree - definitely before the chiller. As has been pointed out, you will probably have issues with that much restriction on the inlet. A major benefit for me is not having to rely on gravity and the restriction that puts on how high up you kettle must be. Sanitation is a little iffy within the pump housing without taking it apart and giving it a thorough scrubbing once in a while. So far, I have gotten away with running b-brite, hot water and star san through the whole system. I think the temparature of the wort coming out of the kettle does a lot to prevent infection there though. I was a bit caught up with the whole compaction concept and using a grant. I decided to throw caution to the wind and give it a try pumping directly from the mash/lauter tun. I've had zero compaction issues. I just open the throttle on the pump outlet a crack so it's barely trickling at first and gradually open it to the desired flow. I use a slotted copper manifold in the tun and get amazingly clear runoff after about five min. of vorlauf. One suggestion I would make is to put a tee fitting on your pump outlet to help purge the air and prime the pump more quickly. One end goes to the chiller and the other serves as your purge side, which can go either back to the top of the mash, to a heat exchange loop or a catch basin of some kind. Haven't done this yet, but I've had some issues getting a good flow out of the kettle initially when the chiller is hooked up. Steve Piatz <piatz@cray.com>@thebarn.com on 12/03/2003 08:57:42 AM Sent by: mba-bounce(a)thebarn.com To: jdcotton(a)mmm.com cc: mba(a)thebarn.com Subject: Re: Pumping wort The pump pushes, it doesn't pull so you would put it before the chiller. You want the restriction on the output side of the pump (at least the types we use for brewing). As Dave Berg and others have said "the pump has one working end and the other end just sucks". BTW - I avoid the pump on the finished wort path as that eliminates another sanitation area. I can gravity feed the kettle through the chiller to the carboy. It takes a little longer than pumping the wort but it is one less thing to worry about. I installed a grant (really just a small stainless pot from Target) between the mash-tun and the pump to the kettle because the pump could compact the grain bed too much when recirculating. Or maybe it was just because it was neat to add the grant :-) jdcotton(a)mmm.com writes: -- Steve Piatz piatz(a)cray.com Cray Inc. 651-605-9049 1340 Mendota Heights Road Mendota Heights, MN 55120 This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately.