Electric pump for racking and bottling?

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Ochimus

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Apologies if this has been covered already.

Having swamped the kitchen floor - and most of She Who Must Be Obeyed's attire - as I tried to suck a five gallon batch from plastic bucket into bottles, but failed to get the timing right to prevent overflowing the one she was holding, it has been represented - somewhat forcefully - that in future I should invest in a small electric pump that will suck the bulk liquid up, and enable me to either rack it to a second container or decant it into bottles without hazarding our Flood Rating.

Seen various small pumps on eBay,. Amazon, etc. but not clued up on this, so appreciate any "first hand" suggestions from contributors who are doing this already?
 
Syphoning is just a matter of practice and I use this to move the beer from the FV to the Bottling Bucket ...

Copper Syphon Tube.jpg

The Bottling Bucket is an old FV like this one ...

http://www.wilko.com/homebrew-gifts/wilko-wide-neck-fermentation-vessel-25l/invt/0075885

... and then all you need is one of these ...

http://www.wilko.com/homebrew-accessories+equipment/wilko-bottling-wand-with-tap/invt/0441127

... and SWMBO will become redundant for all brewing activities apart from lifting heavy stuff up on to the worktop and mopping your brow!

Enjoy!:gulp:

PS

IMO pumps cost money, need to be powered, are something else to clean and maintain and are a potential source of infection. That's why I don't use one!
 
Sounds like you need a bottling stick/wand as dutto says. Never bottled without one. I'm one of those that doesn't much mind bottling day as well.
 
Dutto,

Many thanks for prompt input.

I've actually got one FV with "tap and wand", which is excellent, provided it's been hoisted up, and the vessel or bottle I'm trying to decant into is lower down.

Sadly, this problem arose because I'd racked the wine from that FV into a 5 gallon glass demijohn, which (obviously) doesn't have a tap. Lifting trhe demijohn onto the work surface was already a recipe for a double hernia, before losing the challenge of juggling pipes and bottles and having to "clip" the second tube at the right moment,

I am hoping someone has used a small pump that will allow me to insert plastic tube into full container at ground level, switch on the pump, watch as it it sucks the wine up and pushes it through the second tube into an adjacent glass demijohn or plastic container (or if it's the final decanting, I can hopefully attach the wand so it cuts off the flow automatically as I switch bottles).

Ochimus
 
Hi!
Most pumps available for home brewers need to be primed - they do not provide suction. They are usually placed below the vessel that contains the beer; that vessel needs a tap as an outlet for the beer to flow to the pump.
5 gallon glass demijohns look fine but weigh a ton when full of beer. Get another plastic FV with a tap and face up to the fact that you are going to have to lift a bucket o' beer from the floor at some time in the brewing process.
Get a plastic tap fitted to your syphon tube - if SWMBO is holding the bottle, you have enough hands to control the flow without losing the syphon or flooding the kitchen.
In the long run, getting rid of the SWMBO may be a better option :smile6:
 
Ochimus said:
...I am hoping someone has used a small pump that will allow me to insert plastic tube into full container at ground level, switch on the pump, watch as it it sucks the wine up and pushes it through the second tube into an adjacent glass demijohn or plastic container (or if it's the final decanting, I can hopefully attach the wand so it cuts off the flow automatically as I switch bottles).

Ochimus
Click to expand...
This might just be a figure of speech, or else there is a serious error in your expectation. The cheap pumps you may have in mind do not "suck". They push. Which means they must be lower than the liquid being pumped; they will not "self prime". You can get cheap self-priming pumps (that "suck"), they are "diaphragm pumps" and are often used for bilge pumps. They are not really suitable for foodstuff (or "drink-stuff"). Suitable ones might be expensive.

(EDIT: I wasn't quick enough, Bigcol49 beat me to that!)
 

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