March Pumps....all They're Cracked Up To Be?

[gava]

Hello All,

Recently i've had a bday (thank you thank you hold your applause)

As with all my spare money theses days its put back into homebrewing.. I've currently got a 3teir grav system which works pretty well..

I've seen people talking about marchpump systems etc.. I was thinking I would purchase one of theses nice units. Then I thought, what does this pump give me? and is it worth the money..

From what I've seen most advantage straight off the bat is you can have a system which is the same hight so you have less chance of dropping you HLT or yourself while filling (yes I've dropped my urn once) another one is that you can created a grain bed by recirculating the wort via the pump. these two things have nearly given me enough reason to purchase.

My question is what can this nifty unit help me do in the future?

 

[Adamt]

Topic from just yesterday!

 

[3G]

Pumps are awesome for moving all the liquid on brew day, even pumping wort thru the chiller at the end of boil, also good for a herms and sparging.
I like the 809 but will look for a bigger pump for anything over 50 litre batches as they dont have a massive flow rate.

 

[gava]

Whoops sorry, I did search I swear...

Topic from just yesterday!

 

[therook]

Hello All,

Recently i've had a bday (thank you thank you hold your applause)

As with all my spare money theses days its put back into homebrewing.. I've currently got a 3teir grav system which works pretty well..

I've seen people talking about marchpump systems etc.. I was thinking I would purchase one of theses nice units. Then I thought, what does this pump give me? and is it worth the money..

From what I've seen most advantage straight off the bat is you can have a system which is the same hight so you have less chance of dropping you HLT or yourself while filling (yes I've dropped my urn once) another one is that you can created a grain bed by recirculating the wort via the pump. these two things have nearly given me enough reason to purchase.

My question is what can this nifty unit help me do in the future?

Gava,

There not a necessity but do make life easier...I bought one 18 months ago and its still sitting in the box it came in

Rook

 

[brendo]

I finally used mine on my last brew day last weekend and it worked a treat - was great for recirculating and lautering.

It will be getting a workout this sunday - 2 x 50l batches.

Means the only thing I need to lift is the freshly lautered mash tun... no more bucketing.

 

[matt white]

Remember also that they dont self-prime so you need a tap in your HLT to flood the magetic drive, therefore, in my case (BIAB) making the pump pointless. I bought one, tried it once, realised that this was the case and sold it.

 

[Screwtop]

I like the 809 but will look for a bigger pump for anything over 50 litre batches as they dont have a massive flow rate.

10.3 Litres per minute, you must be in a hurry or planning a big homebrew system :lol:


Gava

You can utilise a pump in your brewery for a number of tasks.............to simplify your brewing, and for safety. Having everything on one level, no lifting. To provide consistency, maintaining mash temp by recirculating wort through a Heat Exchanger. Also to add flexibility, being able to step mash provides greater style scope in your brewing. Wort transfer and chilling is made easier.

Cleaning takes a little longer, but again the pump is the heart of clean in place (CIP) operations, recirculating cleaning solution (PBW) around through all of your equipment, and then flushing everything with clean water.

Oh and don't forget..............you're not a real brewer until you have a march pump :lol:

Screwy

 

[gava]

Cheers everyone for the info and sorry for the doubled up thread..

I think I might get one of theses puppies... now to make a rig.. oh the never ending fun of it all.

 

[gregs]

I know there are alot of people with a wealth of knowledge that will flame me but who cares. The flow rate and head pressure specs given on pumps is for water at 20 degrees c or there abouts, water at higher temps say 65degrees is less viscous and there for the pump wont come near the cold water specs for flow, high gavity wort or not the temperatue is the killer. That said March pumps are great for brewing but if you want to wirlpool at the end of your boil you will not get 10.3 litres per/minute.

 

[Screwtop]

I know there are alot of people with a wealth of knowledge that will flame me but who cares. The flow rate and head pressure specs given on pumps is for water at 20 degrees c or there abouts, water at higher temps say 65degrees is less viscous and there for the pump wont come near the cold water specs for flow, high gavity wort or not the temperatue is the killer. That said March pumps are great for brewing but if you want to wirlpool at the end of your boil you will not get 10.3 litres per/minute.

Not going to flame anyone :lol: Facts are the best offering when posting on this forum. I use a March Pump and pump 70 odd litres of hot liquor and 60L of wort around, I recirc through a PC and whirlpool for 20 min all without problems, flow rate is good and whirlpooling works well. I don't use a pickup tube, just a side opening in the kettle bottom without draining break and hops trub. Flow rate actually has to be slowed through the PC to drop temp further.

Screwy