I have finally got my hands on a 809 March Pump. I wanted to know for those if you who use one how much of a difference in your brew day does it make? I got tired of throwing my back out lifting up Boil and HLT Kettles. Give me some opinions on using pumps when brewing!! Cheers
I love mine.......makes the brew day a lot easier. We used to transfer 15 gallons of mash water a gallon at a time with a sauce pot.
before I built a dedicated brew stand i had my pump in a toolbox and that worked great for maybe two years: http://www.byo.com/stories/projects...d-it-yourself/1968-pumped-up-toolbox-projects If I remember correctly, you're building or in the process of getting a stand built so you may just skip building something like a pump in a toolbox. I use my pump for filling MLT, running my RIMS, draining my MLT, whirlpooling my kettle and running wort through my plate chiller.
Tips: Pump needs to be mounted below the source so gravity can draw the liquid into the pump to prime it. And it seems to work better for me if the pump head (not the motor) is mounted in the vertical position with input on the bottom and output on top. Put a ball valve to regulate flow on the output side, never starve the pump of fluid. The pump in the toolbox article shows a good picture on orientation.
I love my pump! I too did the toolbox buildout and have since added a RIMS setup to it. I use the pump to recirculate the mash, move it to the boil kettle, chill via CFC and then to pump fresh water and cleanser through the whole system when I'm done. Some people use two pumps if using a dedicated brew stand but the toolbox option works great for me and everything breaks down to fit into a small corner in the garage.
Great memory, my stand is being built now and will have 2 protected pump mounts so I will get used to using it first before mounting it.
As naugled says, orientation of pumphead is important, line it up just as he described. As DNuggs says, I also CIP my vessels with my pump as well. As boil is going, I'm CIP'ing my mash tun & RIMS setup, and as soon as wort is in the fermenter I start CIP'ing my kettle and chiller. I use oxyclean 3 out of 4 times for CIP and PBW to restore full shine 1 out of 4 brews.
Great advice, will do! I am hoping that my pump mounts allow me to mount the pump where the in and out or facing north and south. If not that should be an easy fix.
Yup, you can spin the pump head by unscrewing it from the motor chassis and orienting 4 different ways, 0, 90, 180 & 270degrees iirc.
This thead on the AHA forum is excellent. http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=11158.0
I havnt gotten my pump in the mail yet so I didnt know you could do that so thanks. I am guessing that you want the output facing up is so that you can put a valve on there to control flow. I would have figured you wanted the input facing up so it is easier to prime? I will take you advice though.
