Pump or hoist?

[dannythemanny]

Hi all, I'm after some advice.

Yesterday, I ruined my back trying to lift a brew kettle. I think it will take a long time to heal, and I'm obviously not yound enough to be lifting 27L of wort anymmore. So, I've had a quick think about my options, and I think I need to invest in either a pump or a some osrt of pulley/hoist.

I'm leaning towards a pump. I think it is the simpler option and takes up the least amount of space, which is at a premium in my place. The downsides of a pump are that I routinely whirlpool up to 200g of hop pellets in 25L of wort whichh I'm guessing will cause the pump to be prone to clogging, but with a large enough pump, they would hopefully flow straight through. The other downsides are that it is one more source of potential contamination and I'd need to buy quite a lot of expensive silicone tubing. I should point out that I only anticipate doing cold-side transfers with this pump, so maybe I could save a bit of cash in that I wouldn't need it to handle boiling wort. Then again, if there's not much in it, it would probably be worth spending out a little so that I could use it hot-side if needed.

The advantages of a hoist are that it is quite straightfoward, allows me to still use gravity, so no need for extra cleaning/sanitation/investing in more tubing/etc. However, I don't have any joists or anything to hang it from. I'm wondering if there is something that is relatively compact that includes a frame and could be stored away somewhere. I can't get one of those huge gantries or floor cranes as they are very expensive, take up lots of room and way over spec for what I reckon I need.

I would welcome any thoughts! Thanks!

 

[Galena]

You could use 2 video light stands with a strong pole across the top like this image but you probably wouldn't need as strong a boom.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

First of all I'm really sorry to hear about your back! That can be a dreadful thing to live with until it gets better. It's worth going to see a local osteopath, as they can do an immense amount to speed up your recovery.

I use both pumps and a hoist in my setup, but if I had to pick one though I'd probably go for the hoist as it's faster and there's less to go wrong.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Could you say a little bit more about the area you brew in - is it indoors in an area where you don't want to screw anything to the walls etc?

 

[dannythemanny]

You could use 2 video light stands with a strong pole across the top like this image but you probably wouldn't need as strong a boom.View attachment 47787

This is a great idea. I already have some speaker stands so wonder if I can firgure out how to attach a "Y" to the top of them.

 

[foxy]

Hi all, I'm after some advice.

Yesterday, I ruined my back trying to lift a brew kettle. I think it will take a long time to heal, and I'm obviously not yound enough to be lifting 27L of wort anymmore. So, I've had a quick think about my options, and I think I need to invest in either a pump or a some osrt of pulley/hoist.

I'm leaning towards a pump. I think it is the simpler option and takes up the least amount of space, which is at a premium in my place. The downsides of a pump are that I routinely whirlpool up to 200g of hop pellets in 25L of wort whichh I'm guessing will cause the pump to be prone to clogging, but with a large enough pump, they would hopefully flow straight through. The other downsides are that it is one more source of potential contamination and I'd need to buy quite a lot of expensive silicone tubing. I should point out that I only anticipate doing cold-side transfers with this pump, so maybe I could save a bit of cash in that I wouldn't need it to handle boiling wort. Then again, if there's not much in it, it would probably be worth spending out a little so that I could use it hot-side if needed.

The advantages of a hoist are that it is quite straightfoward, allows me to still use gravity, so no need for extra cleaning/sanitation/investing in more tubing/etc. However, I don't have any joists or anything to hang it from. I'm wondering if there is something that is relatively compact that includes a frame and could be stored away somewhere. I can't get one of those huge gantries or floor cranes as they are very expensive, take up lots of room and way over spec for what I reckon I need.

I would welcome any thoughts! Thanks!

You aren't lifting the brew kettle which you have are you? Those handles are spot welded. Should be a warning in the instructions about lifting it. Or are you talking about the grain basket?

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

I think if I were going to do something freestanding then I'd adapt a heavy-duty garage shelving unit (e.g. below) as they are cheap and take up little space when knocked down.
I'd probably put wing nuts on the bolts for quick assembly/disassembly, obviously omit the lower shelves and use the bits to make some cross-bracing.

 

[dannythemanny]

Could you say a little bit more about the area you brew in - is it indoors in an area where you don't want to screw anything to the walls etc?

Actually, that's something I should have given mroe detail about! Generally, I try to brew outside on a big bench, but when it's raining, I bew indoors on the floor. I have an outbuilding where all my fermenters, etc are, and brew inside there when it's raining. However, we've had it boarded out in insulated plasterboard, but no studs, just dot and dab. The roof is pitched, so nothing level/flat to anchor to. It's very old, and I'd be very reluctant to anchor to anything in there!

 

[Buffers brewery]

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

You aren't lifting the brew kettle which you have are you? Those handles are spot welded. Should be a warning in the instructions about lifting it. Or are you talking about the grain basket?

I do lift a full 30L Burco with my setup (for the sparge) but I'd agree it's not a good idea to rely on the handles - I put a sling under it.
(although for the record, the handles on my Burco are bolted through)

 

[dannythemanny]

You aren't lifting the brew kettle which you have are you? Those handles are spot welded. Should be a warning in the instructions about lifting it. Or are you talking about the grain basket?

I am (or was) lifting the kettle, but not by the handles.

 

[colm89]

Pump and hop spider

 

[dannythemanny]

Brilliant!

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

As for the winch itself, I use ropes and a 2:1 pulley - but I'd love an excuse to buy one of these jobbies:

 

[dannythemanny]

Pump and hop spider

You reckon a 1/2" pump would clog? I was kind of hoping it would just blast through it. Acutally, I do whirlpool, so I reckon I could open the valve into a jug first to get shot of the first bit of trub, then attach the pump.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

OMG that's ace... a funicular railway - but where's your signalling and points system?!

 

[DocAnna]

How about pump and hoist? I've just installed a hoist, nothing to do with my back, since I really struggle to lift the grain basket out. A pump is on the wish list for transfers cold side too, but you can recirculate while the wort is on the boil to sterilise it first.

Something to think about is if the hoist can have a slide or wheels since that would allow you to move the fermenter or grain basket when required. Always important to look after your back, I hope you're feeling better soon.

Anna

 

[colm89]

You reckon a 1/2" pump would clog? I was kind of hoping it would just blast through it. Acutally, I do whirlpool, so I reckon I could open the valve into a jug first to get shot of the first bit of trub, then attach the pump.

Probably, but I personally wouldn’t like to wait til the end of a brew day to find out :)

 

[Buffers brewery]

Re-reading the OP my first question is why are you having to lift the kettle full of wort? Are you running the wort from your mush tun (positioned above the kettle) into the kettle (on the floor)? If so I’d recommend pumping your wort from your mash tun to the kettle which is positioned for the boil on a suitably elevated surface. At this stage the wort should be relatively free from debris and less likely to block the pump (which doesn’t need to be sterile, just clean).
If you are lifting the kettle to transfer the boiled wort to a fermentation vessel using gravity I’d again recommend having the kettle at the right height before you fill it for the boil. Again, pumped transfer from mash tun to kettle would help with this.
As a fellow “aged” brewer who has suffered with back issues most of my adult life, my sympathies are with you but it will get better. As a consequence I always look at ways to reduce the amount of lifting I do on a brewday. Good luck!

 

[dannythemanny]

I'm lifting the kettle. Well, it's an all-in-one, so it is pretty heavy when full. The reason I had to lift it yesterday was because it was raining, so I was brewing in my shed. There is a surface I should have put the kettle on in there, but it is a bit too high to be able to safely lift the grain basket out of it to drain and sparge when mashing is complete. Hence me doing that bit on the floor. Additionally, the water pressure where I am is atrocious, so if the water has to travel up first in order to reach the wort chiller, it comes through as a trickle and takes an age to cool the wort. Having it on the floor seems to speed it along every so slightly. I do recirulate with ice water on occasion, and often use my rain water butt, but that doesn't have any pressure behind it either, obviously.

Anyway, what I normally do is brew outside on a bench. The bench is ever so slightly too low to get my FV under the kettle to drain it, but I made a little stand for it to raise it a few inches, and that works a treat. However, when the FV (on the floor) is filled with 22L, I still have to lift it to get it to where it sits for fermentation, and then I can drain it into a keg on the floor at packaging time. I think the mistake I made yesterday was underestimating the extra 3L weight in the kettle (I screwed up my water calculations and ended up with surplus after the boil). I'm sure my back would have given out sooner or later, though, so I'm taking the opportunity to say no more lifting of wort (unless it's in a glass and some yeast have had a go at it)!

I have very limited space, so in that respect I think a pump would work better. I could pump from the kettle to the FV with them both on the same surface. Not sure if most homebrew pumps are powerful enough to pump up from the floor into the FV sitting 4 feet or so above it. Having said that, I do like the idea of a kind of platform on casters with a winch above it. My main reservation ith the pump would be clogging. I use pellets and quite often, lots of them. But as far as I can tell, they don't seem to clump. The just make a sort of slurry, which I would have thought would just go through the pump easy enough. I've heard people say that when they have had an issue with clogging, backwashing is easy enough, but this seems like it could be difficult to do in that window of time where the wort is quite vulnerable to contamination, after it's cooled but before the yeast is pitched.