2 Tier Brewstand With March Pump.

[elec]

Yardy, is that pickup tube 1/2 or 3/8" ? I'm doing something very similar to yours, and seeing what others are doing is very helpful. Your idea of eliminating the filth trap in the old handles is one definately worth things about, as we have serious dust issues during the latter part of the dry.
Any reason you didn't go the welded fitting over the bulkhead method?

Regards

 

[Batz]

bent up the pickup pipe and fitted it, I'm hoping that after a good whirlpool, all the crud from the boil will sit in the recessed section in the middle and not in the outside where the pickup resides.

cheers

Yep that'll work well,looks like a bloody boilermaker bent that tubing :lol:

Batz

 

[paulwolf350]

if I had known you were an electrician Paul there's no way I would have shown off my fancy ( poorly wired) brew system.
hey, come to think of it you were pretty diplomatic :lol:

Andrew

actually the bit i saw looked ok, but i didnt open up the control box............maybe i need a peek in there to see the really exciting stuff....

Paul

 

[yardy]

Hey Yard, can't really see any diff between your keg bottom and a kettle with a flat bottom as the centre drains to the outside where your pickup sits. After whirlpooling the trub should sit in the centre of the vessel as normal, can't imagine there would be any more drainage effect from the centre than would normally be the case with a flat bottom. Maybe you could cut a flap on the inside edge of your pickup as is found in lots of pickups used in flat bottomed vessels. Basically this is just an extension of one side of the pickup tube facing the centre of the vessel. Go with it, case of suck it and see, reckon it will be fine.


3/4cut, see your new, put your location in to your profile so we can see where you're from.


Screwy

I'ts diificult to see from that angle but it does look like it will hold a lot of the trub in the well in the centre, I'll definitely give the flap idea a crack as well.
(a lot of cracks and flaps in that sentence :huh: )

cheers
Yard

 

[yardy]

Yardy, is that pickup tube 1/2 or 3/8" ? I'm doing something very similar to yours, and seeing what others are doing is very helpful. Your idea of eliminating the filth trap in the old handles is one definately worth things about, as we have serious dust issues during the latter part of the dry.
Any reason you didn't go the welded fitting over the bulkhead method?

Regards

gday elec,

mate it's 3/8", no particular reason for not going welded, the rest of the brewery is bulkheads so stuck with that i suppose.

cheers
Yard

Yep that'll work well,looks like a bloody boilermaker bent that tubing :lol:

Batz

:lol: , and that's with my new $24 pipe bender from the markets

cheers
Yard

you missed a good day here yesterday, give the bloody paw paws a rest and come up for a beer :icon_cheers:

 

[Screwtop]

:lol: , and that's with my new $24 pipe bender from the markets

You were robbed Yard take it back, it's obviously faulty :lol:

Screwy

 

[QldKev]

When I saw the pickup tube on the outside of the hump I thought what a cool idea; I went out and got the same keg

The pipe bending doesn't look as bad as the pic makes it look.

QldKev

 

[3/4 cut]

3/4cut, see your new, put your location in to your profile so we can see where you're from.


Screwy

You guys would throw me out of the club if I did that

Yardie and I go back a couple of miles though

Give us a bit and I will get my data uploaded

Cut

 

[3/4 cut]

Updated my data, hope I get to play in your sand box

Cut

 

[yardy]

Updated my data, hope I get to play in your sand box

Cut

good to see you mate :icon_chickcheers:

 

[3/4 cut]

Thanks Yardie, nice to be here :icon_cheers:

Maybe I should have tried sooner :beerbang:


Cut

 

[yardy]

i managed to get the kettle finished, got it soaking in PBW atm

I also did a bit to Andrew's kettle, he said he's going to keep me supplied with his Coopers CDA clone for life

i have one more of these that i'll be converting to a kettle, pm me if you're interested.

cheers
Yard

 

[yardy]

gday,

just knocking up the pump bracket for the stand and i need to know if the adjustable pump inlet/outlet is ok to run in the vertical position ?

cheers
Yard

 

[FNQ Bunyip]

I think you will find some prefer this oriatation ..

Cheers

 

[beerbrewer76543]

You know, one area of pump performance is head... Just like women :lol:

 

[schooey]

G'day Yardy,

Hadn't seen this thread yet, but I thought I'd chuck me 2 bob in like everyone else.



This is the return I use. It works really well in spite of what a lot of people told me when I first made it. I made the slots in it with a 1mm cut off disc, and made them a little wider (probably close to 2mm). If I was doing it again, I'd probably make them a little lower. If you imagine that if you are looking in the end of the tube and the bottome of the tun is at 6 oclock and the top is at 12, my slots are cut from about 7 to 11. The problem is that when the pump changes over from circing through the HERMS coil to bypass, the flow increases and if the lid is off the tun, it's like a fountain all over the place. I would probably cut them from 5 oclock to half nine in hindsight. For single batches, the wort does return in a bit of trickle to the top of the level. I don't see this as an issue becuse any oxygen will be driven off in the boil anyway. I certainly haven't noticed any issues anyway



The other thing I reckon worth thinking about is putting a barrel union either side of your pump if you are fixing it. Just makes it easier for cleaning, checking etc... Best thing I ever added I reckon.

Lastly, I have exactly the same kettle as you. My drain is pretty much in the bottom of the channel like that also. If you are pumping from there, you will need to throttle the pump back significantly when the wort level drops, especially if you are using flowers. I find that the pump moves the wort away from there too quickly and it doesn't run through the trub quick enough to keep the prime in the pump. I gravity empty now, and it still sucks pretty much everything out through a syphon effect if you have a little bit of drop on the outside.

 

[fraser_john]

Love the plumbing there, can you post a full picture so I can see whats outside the frame of the current picture!

 

[schooey]

 

[T.D.]

View attachment 28193

Hey Schooey, do you have any issues with priming your pump with the inlet and outlet in a horizontal position? I have found that in order to get a good prime the outlet needs to be facing upwards so the liquid fully fills the pump and no air bubbles exist.

 

[schooey]

When I've cleaned it and drained it, it sometimes will take a minute or two of fiddling to get a prime, but no biggie... Once it's primed, it's always flooded, so never really a problem...

In the above pic, that bottom elbow on the left is now a tee, and there is a drain tap on the bottom. I might take a current pic later if I get time. That drain pretty much lets any air in the system be pulled through to the bottom, even the air trapped in the pump. So all I do is open the valve from the HLT to the pump, then open the drain tap, hit the pump switch, and off we go...