Brew Pump

[imellor]

Hi everyone,

Can anyone help with advice?

Can I use this for brewing and has anyone tried before? I have an old Kawasaki mororbike waterpump and have stripped it down and started to clean it up. I intend to polish all the surfaces with a dremil to ensure cleaning is made easier and repack the bearings with a food grade lubricant. Liquid will not be able to contact the bearings as there is a seal the shaft runs through but want to be sure. It only takes the removal of a cir clip and 4 bolts to completely strip. Initial tests will pump 10L/min at a head height of 1.5m. I believe I can improve this as my fittings were a bit rough and my outlet tube was 16mm and a lot of air was being sucked in. The drill speed I used had a max of 2800rpm, it will take higher revs as the bike ran to 14000rpm. The pump has 1 inlet and 2 outlets.


Please ignore any rust seen in pictures this was from the radiator. Pump is all cast alloy.

I intend to try running with boiling water this weekend but would like to know any downfalls or problems others may have have had before I go much further. The biggest concern I have is will it pull through blockages as this type of pump is restricted by a thermostat in the bike and will still run if not pumping

Cheers,
Ian

 

[ausdb]

I wish you luck, if you are trying to do it on the cheap just buy a mag drive washing machine pump

 

[Batz]

Holy snapping ar&* holes first time I've seen one of them.

Good luck...then buy a March Pump

Your not a real brewer
Till you own a March Pump


Batz h34r:

 

[warrenlw63]

Not sure if I'd be pumping any form of liquid through it that I'd plan to ingest. Just thinking of the amount of coolant, anti-freeze, scale and corrosion that had been through the thing.

Ditto what the others have said with one extra suggestion. Paint it a nice Kermit green. Will be in keeping with the Kwaka theme.

Warren -

 

[sah]

Hi Ian,

I think this will work just fine. 10L a minute is more than you'll need. I'd clean it up initially with a degreaser, then caustic followed with an appropriate acid.

How are you going to deal with the two deliveries?

Make sure you find a water proof housing for what ever motor you end up using.

All the best.
Scott

 

[domonsura]

Hi Ian,

I think this will work just fine. 10L a minute is more than you'll need. I'd clean it up initially with a degreaser, then caustic followed with an appropriate acid.

How are you going to deal with the two deliveries?

Make sure you find a water proof housing for what ever motor you end up using.

All the best.
Scott

My guess would be that caustic/acid would annihilate that housing so I wouldn't be doing that. I wouldn't even bother mucking around with it. Not designed for the job, god knows what could go wrong or what it might do to the beer. And you'll kick yourself if it ruins beer........

 

[newguy]

Seriously, don't do it. You can clean it a dozen times but can you be 100% certain that all poisonous chemicals have been removed from the pump, the seals, and the grease? The next issue is driving it. Sure, you can use a drill now, but believe me that you'll eventually want to permanently mount an electric motor to it, and that probably won't be very straightforward. As someone else has mentioned, the aluminum pump will be damaged by caustics too. Get a march pump instead; you'll be glad that you did.

This reminds me of something. Here in north america homebrewing is often looked upon as taboo or dangerous. There's a myth that we homebrewers are lucky we haven't gone blind from methanol poisoning. This dates back to the prohibition era in the states. A great many people decided to build their own stills so they could manufacture their own liquor. Car radiators were often chosen to double as a condenser because they were readily available. Back then, antifreeze was often comprised mainly of methanol. A lot of people were too lazy to wash them out 1) properly or 2) even be bothered to at all. They'd contaminate their still and poison themselves or their customers. It wasn't their brew that poisoned people, it was the antifreeze and their substandard cleaning regimes. It's been 70 or 80 odd years and the myth still persists.

 

[imellor]

Thanks for all the advise. Project has been put on the shelf for the time being. Will follow the majority of advice and purchase a March Pump. If I take this route I can take advice from all the posts on AHB and this will make life easier in the long run.


Cheers,
Ian

 

[Zizzle]

Good idea. It's usually easiest and cheapest just to go with what you can see works based on everyone else's experience.

March pumps work. Low hassle, reasonable cost.

Contact SpecialK on the forum for a good price on one.

No affiliation, just a satisfied customer. But maybe Batz has stock in March with that catch cry?

 

[Batz]

But maybe Batz has stock in March with that catch cry?

Would be better that the bloody banks :angry: I'll be looking for work soon.

It was me, many,many,many,posts ago who started the "your not a true brewer until you own a March pump"
Man than created some hassles back then.

Batz

 

[leiothrix]

This reminds me of something. Here in north america homebrewing is often looked upon as taboo or dangerous. There's a myth that we homebrewers are lucky we haven't gone blind from methanol poisoning. This dates back to the prohibition era in the states. A great many people decided to build their own stills so they could manufacture their own liquor. Car radiators were often chosen to double as a condenser because they were readily available. Back then, antifreeze was often comprised mainly of methanol. A lot of people were too lazy to wash them out 1) properly or 2) even be bothered to at all. They'd contaminate their still and poison themselves or their customers. It wasn't their brew that poisoned people, it was the antifreeze and their substandard cleaning regimes. It's been 70 or 80 odd years and the myth still persists.

Don't know that it was so much any accidental amounts of antifreeze that affected people. They did use car radiators as condensers, and they tend to be lead soldered, and the lead leaches out and does nasty things to people.

Methanol comes from pectin, which is found in fruit. So the quantities of methanol in the distillate depends on the skill and greed of the distiller, as well as what the feedstock is.

Also, people would add things like benzine to the product in order to mask the often terrible taste, but also to give it the illusion of being a higher proof than what they are selling.

Another problem was people were looking for alternate sources of alcohol, and drank things like Jamaican Ginger Extract (aka Jake), which was 70-80% alcohol, but was adultered and caused partial paralysis in as many as 50,000 people (wiki).

But there are is lot of FUD around anything home made (be it alcohol, preserves, smoked meat, etc) - I think it is a marketing scam to get people to buy stuff instead of make it themselves.