santa was nice to me this year and i ended up with a ton of credit at my homebrew store. Thinking of a pump. Looking for recommendations, also a tad concerned with hop gunk clogging the pump during use. Not sure how much of an issue this is. Any feedback is appreciated.
March 809HS-PL is what I have and then I put in a 815 impeller for a little extra head. I like the extra head because I’m pushing through two CFCs.
No whole hops with a pump or it will plug. I use pellets only and it passes them without any issues.
I use a March 809. From what I’ve read, you can’t go wrong with a March or Chugger high temp pump. You’ll need to make a couple decisions about the pump:
- Before you buy: Do you want one that you can plug in or one that you can hard-wire into a switch. The latter may sound a bit intimidating if you’ve never done electrical wiring, but it sure is nice to just flip a switch.
- After you buy: Will you mount it to your equipment (e.g., a brewstand) or will you mount it for portability (e.g, in a toolbox).
I suggest researching both via Google/Youtube
You definitely need to use a filter in your kettle if you’re planning to use an in-line chiller (plate chiller or counterflow). I use one of these
http://www.stainlessbrewing.com/Hop-Spider-with-seam-welds_p_158.html
and love it. If you use pellet hops exclusively and no in-line chiller, you might be able to get by without filtration.
[quote=“MullerBrau”]March 809HS-PL is what I have and then I put in a 815 impeller for a little extra head. I like the extra head because I’m pushing through two CFCs.
No whole hops with a pump or it will plug. I use pellets only and it passes them without any issues.[/quote]
All of the above (except no CFCs). The 815 upgrade was well worth the money.
I have a 809 pump with the upgrade impeller that I run in a keggle with a large false bottom. I use the whirlpool hookup to chill with a drop in chiller using whole hops. Have not had a problem, a couple times some small leaves got thru but that’s it. Then I pump straight to the fermenter. The full size FB does a good job of straining the whole hops for me. just my 2 cents.
