Building a Pump Housing

Jeff Sanders

communications@wootown.org

Communications Director

Do I Really Need This?

     One of the things that always impressed me about our group brews was our President's homebrew pump. It would always make me think, "Yeah, I'd like one of those, but do I really need it?"

     For any of you who have gotten to any of our brews at 9 a.m. as Tom, the aforementioned president, is arriving and the hot liquor tanks are being fired up, you've seen box after box of supplies being unloaded from his truck, as well as kettles, hoses, and loads of other odds and ends items. I'd always assumed that over time, I would acquire a number of these items, but none of them seemed to be that important to me. After all, I was doing just fine with my already brimming closet full of homebrew gear. Did I really need all of that stuff?

Pictures - (HOLD YOUR MOUSE OVER THE IMAGES FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)

Enter All Grain brewing

     When I decided to take the plunge over to all-grain, I also decided to move my wort volume from a 5 gallon yield to a 10 gallon yield. My first mash took me some 8 hours to figure out, screw up, fix, and then get straight. Not really knowing the science of what I was doing, I was mortified by the amount of effort that went into all-grain, so I figured if I'm going to do all this work, and it's gonna take all this time, I might as well double my results. It seems a lot to do for only 5 gallons of beer.

     I moved to a 10 gallon mash cooler (see our July article), and built myself a keggle (see our upcoming October article), and decided that with all this work and investment in my small scale brewery, I was ready to stop spending time and money on equipment, and start spending more time and money on perfecting my process. My first brew was a Robust Porter (recipe found on the Recipes page of this site), and for those of you who have never done it, trying to move 10-12 gallons of hot water or hot wort (or even lift it 6 inches) onto a tabletop is not only a pain, but also a major safety hazard. When you have 212 degree water, the chance of getting scalded is quite high (I learned this of course only after getting burned).

     So I decided to get a pump. And not just any pump -- it had to be a pump made for transferring liquid, but also capable of transporting hot liquid and not failing. I also wanted something wherein the liquid didn't contact any moving parts within the pump as I already spend enough time cleaning my homebrew equipment.

     I called my local homebrew shop owner and asked his advice. He recommended a March pump, specifically a March 809. The write-up I found online was as follows:

"The high temperature polysulfil (sometimes referred to as polysulfone) pump housing withstands temperatures to 250º F. All parts in contact with your wort are food grade and will not impart off flavors into your beer. Use these pumps for your all-grain system, or use it to pump wort through a counterflow or brazed plate heat exchanger. This is a magnetic drive pump so there is no chance of oil from the pump contaminating your beer. Do not allow magnetic drive pumps to run dry, they are not self priming which means you will have to mount the pump below the level of the liquid to be pumped. If the flow needs to be reduced, a valve on the output side may be used to restrict the flow. 1/2"MPT connections, 6’ power cord with plug, Mounting bracket included, 115V, 1.4 amp., 1/25 horsepower."

     While I found that interesting and I was already sold on the pump, it just begged more questions:

•      - Do I attach the pump directly to the brew pot? What if I want to use it on my hot liquor tank?
•      - Is the power cord protected? (Remember, water and electricity don't mix well)
•      - Since there's no switch on it, how am I gonna turn it off and on? Will I have to plug in and unplug it when I only want to remove only enough wort to fit in my funnel?
•      - What happens if there's a power surge? Is it gonna fry my $100+ pump? What if the pump overheats? Will it blow a fuse?
•      - What if I need to disconnect from my hot liquor tank and hook up to my kettle? Won't the inputs and outputs be super hot?
•      - What about rust? Isn't water and sweet, delicious wort corrosive?
•      - Am I gonna blow myself up?

     Figuring there had to be someone with answers to these questions, and having seen Tom's pump contraption (confident that he would have some suggestions), I decided to take the plunge and order the pump.

The Pump Arrives

     After a couple of weeks, my pump arrived through my local homebrew shop. I highly recommend purchasing through your local retailer. Other than supporting them and helping to keep them in business, the support information they provide is invaluable. I could have ordered from across the country, but my local retailer was able to help answer my many, many questions, and saved a buck or two in shipping costs.

     The whole idea of a pump is that it is but one part in a "brewing system." As such, it needs to be a component, capable of interfacing with the other components without any need to change things in your brewing system at a moment's notice. Imagine at the conclusion of your boil, looking to hook up a wort chiller to do a recirculating chill, and realizing "Oh God! My pump has 1/2" connectors, and my wort chiller has 3/4" hose connectors!" That's 10 gallons of wort you have staying hot and thus introducing some really off flavors.

     As part of being a component in a brewing system, your pump interfaces with other components via two hoses: one in, one out. How you decide to hook'em up is your business. I do suggest you determine a scheme, though, before you mount your pump.

     The pump is not indestructible, and not waterproof. It's also over $100, so one small mistake of leaving a hot liquor tank tap open made in the rush of trying to find sparge water could cost you big time. A diamond is forever. Your pump is not warrantied for life.

     Bearing all this in mind, Tom and I were able to come up with a plan for building a pump housing. Some of the others I've seen have used MRE boxes and ammunition cans to house the pump. I was considering using an old computer form factor I had laying around the house just to make it more representative of me. But I settled on a $6 "Orange Store" plastic toolbox so that the pump housing was easily transportable, water resistant, and could hold any odds and ends pieces I needed to have on hand.

     Tom also suggested using a GFI breaker to regulate the flow of electricity, to solve the nagging questions of pump overheating preventing and fuse blowing. As for how to connect and disconnect my pump rapidly, brass hose disconnects were recommended as they easily allow for a secure, leakproof connection that involves little, if any, chance of grabbing a scalding hose.

The Part List

     Aside from my pump, I picked up all my parts from "The Orange Store." It's important to remember not to pick up any galvanized pieces -- brass is always preferred, and copper or stainless steel is best.

What I Had to Buy

What I Had to Bring to the Party

How I Built It

     First, I started by pulling all the pieces out of their respective containers. I remembered to keep the bags for the individual smaller pieces as many places won't return unused items without a barcode.

     I attached to the input and output of the pump the two 1/2" FPT brass connectors and tightened. I placed the pump at one corner of the toolbox with the connectors touching the inside walls of the toolbox. Tom told me "If they don't touch exactly, no worries. If you can't get them in, you may need to rethink your part list or buy a different toolbox."

     Once I was happy with the location of the pump relative to the toolbox, I used something sharp to punch four holes in the bottom of the toolbox through which I mounted the pump to the toolbox itself. These holes were just wide enough to accomodate the machine screws. Once I punched the holes, I slid onto the screws a washer and put the screw into the holes I punched. I slid on another washer, and capped off with the hexagonal nut. I had to do this for all four holes and tighten them. This assured me that the pump is securely mounted to the toolbox and won't slide around as I proceeded.

     I marked on the exterior of the toolbox where the inner diameter of the connectors touches the sides of the toolbox. This is where I drilled.

     I fired up the drill and started with a 1/4" bit. My goal was to keep the space between the plumbing inside the box and the toolbox as tight as possible to prevent the chance of a leak, so I figured it's best to drill with a 1/4" bit and slowly work my way outward until I could just slide the 1/2" long 1/2" MPT to 1/2" MPT brass segments in the hole and get them to screw into the connectors.

     Once I did this for the front and back of the toolbox, and made sure they were tight, I attached the 1/2" FPT to 3/4" FPT brass hose connectors to both front and back and tightened. This made a mounting point for my hose disconnects.

     I took the male end of the two part hose disconnect apart from the female piece. The male piece had a 3/4" MPT on one end, and the male disconnect on the other. I screwed this into the mounting points and made sure it was secure. I didn't overtighten, but I wasn't afraid of trying to prevent leaks. I figured it's easier to turn it now when it's cool than when it has 200 degree water going through it.

     Once this was all done, I was pretty much set with the plumbing portion of the pump.

What a Hoser

     As for the hoses, I had to first decide whether or not I wanted hoses to be 10' or 5' in length. Most of everyone I have known has said to go with the 10', but at $12 apiece for a 10' segment, and in seeing my average brewing area, I decided 5' would be fine. A 7' segment would be ideal, but they don't exactly make it in 14' lengths unless I wanted to buy an entire roll, which definitely wasn't the case.

     So I split the 10' vinyl braid hose into two 5' segements and onto the hose, slid the two hose clamps. Into the ends, I inserted the 5/8" hose barbs to 3/4" male pipe thread brass connectors. As these are 5/8" inner diameter hoses, and 5/8" barbs, they fit snugly. There were other hoses at my local retailers, some with 1/4", 1/2", and 1" inner diameters, but I went with 5/8" because it was the only diameter for which there was a male barb that connected to a 3/4" male pipe thread in a single piece, as opposed to buying several.

     Once inserted, I slid the hose clamps down and tightened them on the barbs as tightly as possible to prevent leaks. I'm told these will loosen often, so I figured it might not hurt to make sure they're on their securely. Tom told me that the female disconnect had a "check valve" in it, and that I needed to punch that out, so I did so with a screwdriver in all four disconnects. I then screwed the female pipe thread and female disconnect part of the brass hose disconnects onto the ends of the hoses and tightened.

     It was time for a beer. I had finished all the plumbing work.

The Shocking Nature of Electricity

     In case you've never worked with it before, electricity is a dangerous thing. The reason I didn't just run the plug out of the side of the toolbox was for the aforementioned reasons. I wanted to make sure that I had a cutoff mechanism, that it was grounded, and that in the event water got near my pump, little or no damage would occur to my pump.

     I started by cutting the power cord coming from the pump about 1' from the pump. The whole point of this was to provide for an interrupt to disrupt the flow of electricity to the pump. I wired the end going from the pump to the contractor's light switch, and wired that to the GFCI/GFI breaker. From the breaker, I hooked up the other end of the plug and wiring that I had severed, and ran that all through the bushing which I had installed on the side of the toolbox.

     By providing this short, I was able to prevent electricity from going to the pump, and to provide a means of preventing a blown fuse at my electrical source.

     I apologize that the instructions for the electrical workings are not more detailed, as I knew what I was doing. If I didn't know what I was doing, I would have contacted a trained professional to either assist me or do the work for me in order to prevent any injuries or fires. :-)

Fire It Up for "Prime Time"

     Once completed, I lit up a burner, filled my hot liquor tank, and hooked my new pump and pump housing to the disconnect on the hot liquor tank. I opened the valve on the HLT, and made sure that my pump was at a lower level than the HLT, and that both valves on my pump were open. This allowed the hot water to flow through the pump and to therefore prime it. I then turned on the pump via the light switch on the pump, and it worked!

     I used my new pump/pump housing the next brew weekend to make a Orange Blossom Honey Cream Ale and I must say, it made my overall brew process a hell of a lot easier.

Next month: Learn how to build a "keggle" -- a brew kettle made from a keg.

Jeff Sanders is an intermediate homebrewer, beer nerd, and Communications Director of the Wootown Brewers. Jeff enjoys reading books and watching movies on the craft beer industry (currently reading The Brewmasters Table and Travels With Barley). Jeff lives with his wife, Lisa, and two chihuahuas in Lutherville, MD. Jeff may be reached at communications@wootown.org.