Pump/whirpool upgrade

Northern Brewer General
1

Thinking about my next upgrade to my system being a pump/whirlpool setup for my brew kettle to aid in cooling with my immersion chiller and hopstands without having to stir constantly and being able to keep the lid on. Anyone have any suggestions on DIY setups for this? All I have right now is a blichmann boilermaker. I’d rather not drill my kettle if I didn’t have to but am willing to do it if necessary.

2

I use a March 809HS pump with an 815 impeller upgrade. I don’t have a fancy setup. I just take the output hose from the pump and direct it back over my immersion chiller in the kettle. That’s all there is to it. I have a ball valle on the kettle, but if you don’t want to drill you could probably rig up some sort of siphon system.

3

I already have a ball valve for output so that’s not a problem. I was more concerned about the “whirlpool arm” or whatever going back into the kettle. How do you keep your output hose from moving or pulling itself back out of the kettle? Clip it to the side of the kettle somehow?

4

Matt I just got a high heat march pump. I was looking at the SS head chugger but saved about 30 bucks on the march.

I installed a ball valve recently and I have to admit I was nervous as hell while doing it. Worked out fine. Only change I would make if I did it again would be to use a step bit rather than the hole saw. I think it would make for a cleaner cut and less worry of burr removal.

I would think you could make the whirlpool work without a valve by just dropping the intake hose into your kettle then returning it over the chiller like Denny said.

edit: Or you could do something like Jamil’s whirlpool setup. http://www.mrmalty.com/chiller.php

5

I already have a ball valve for output so that’s not a problem. I was more concerned about the “whirlpool arm” or whatever going back into the kettle. How do you keep your output hose from moving or pulling itself back out of the kettle? Clip it to the side of the kettle somehow?[/quote]

Yeah, I use a quick clamp just to be safe. But there’s enough hanging back into the kettle that I could probably do without it.

6

Do you have to fiddle with the angle of the hose to get a good whirlpool going?

7

Nope. Doesn’t seem to be too finicky. Try it. If it doesn’t work for ya, you can always do something more complicated!

8

Nope. Doesn’t seem to be too finicky. Try it. If it doesn’t work for ya, you can always do something more complicated![/quote]

I’m all about the KISS principal. Now I just need to convince my wife a $170 pump upgrade and some tubing is necessary for making better beer :twisted:

9

Nope. Doesn’t seem to be too finicky. Try it. If it doesn’t work for ya, you can always do something more complicated![/quote]

I’m all about the KISS principal. Now I just need to convince my wife a $170 pump upgrade and some tubing is necessary for making better beer :twisted: [/quote]

Amazon has the chugger on sale for 143 bucks! I got my March from morebeer for 139. If I’d seen this deal I probably would have gone with it but hey…if the march is good enough for Denny and Mullerbrau it’s good enough for me!

10

Nope. Doesn’t seem to be too finicky. Try it. If it doesn’t work for ya, you can always do something more complicated![/quote]

I’m all about the KISS principal. Now I just need to convince my wife a $170 pump upgrade and some tubing is necessary for making better beer :twisted: [/quote]

If you can get her hooked on IPA’s then you should have no problem. :lol:

11

I haven’t done a whole lot of research. Is the only thing that makes the chugger better the stainless head?

12

The chugger is a foreign model. I have one and it has served me well. The SS head is nice because you don’t have to worry about cross threading/stripping the poly head.

13

I just upgraded like you. I bought a whirlpool arm here:

http://morebeer.com/products/wort-chill ... allon.html

And attached it to my immersion chiller (with copper wire instead of zip ties). I then got a chugger pump with the added hardware with quick camlocks here:

http://www.brewhardware.com/pumps/160-addapump

I put the chiller in the boil at 10 min and run the pump to sanitize it. Then when boil is over you can whirlpool hop and then cool quickly. I have also been using the pump (with different camlocks/hoses) to move strike and sparge water to save my back and be more safe. My first brew that I whirlpool hopped will be done in two weeks, but as for the other uses for the pump, I love it.