Pump for wort chiller. Recommendations?

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jivex5k
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Pump for wort chiller. Recommendations?

Post by jivex5k »

Hey guys, I did a search but couldn't find much.
Well, I need a pump for my wort chiller...because my new apartment's kitchen sink water pressure is incredibly low...
They are "working on it"....

Anyways, getting a pump to pump ice water would work better anyways since I live in FL and the water doesn't get that cold. It was never an issue before because I'd brew extract and top off with cold water so I only had to get it to 100F and the cold water would take it down.

So do you guys have recommendations on a pump? I have a standard 3/8" OD copper tube wort chiller, with a garden hose thread on the end.
I'm not sure what size the vinyl tubing is that connects the GHT though...

Trying to go to home depot or a pet store (aquarium pump) today to get this. Want to boil tomorrow. If I can't get one I'll just try it with my low flow, and if worst comes to worst i can ice bath, but I gotta boil tomorrow.
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Re: Pump for wort chiller. Recommendations?

Post by Dawg LB Steve »

I got mine at Lowes in the garden center, it is a fountain pump 60-80 GPH, least expensive one they stocked here, pretty sure it was $16.95. Works great for me. :clink:
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Re: Pump for wort chiller. Recommendations?

Post by jivex5k »

Awesome, I checked out Home Depot and found this:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Beckett-150- ... r_nbr=0208

I can get some 1/2 ID tubing while I'm there, though my chiller is 3/8 OD so it's a bit too large, but I think a tight hose clamp will be sufficient to stop any leakage.

I don't see any mention of clamping onto the pump itself, I don't see a barb or anything. I'm probably going to have to get a clamp for that as well.

EDIT fixed link!
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Re: Pump for wort chiller. Recommendations?

Post by ScrewyBrewer »

I bought mine at Lowe's it came with an adapter for 3/8 tubing and it was the cheapest one. I don't use any clamps so it's easy to setup. I still run tap water through a prechiller coil in a small cooler filled with ice water until the temperature gets down to 100F first. Then I take the prechiller out of the loop and hook the pump up and push ice water through the cooler.

On a separate note I remove all my kettle hop additions before putting the immersion chiller in and then add a fresh knockout hop addition for aroma hopping. It seems the wort will continue to absorb hop oils until the it gets below 170F and this aroma is said to last longer and taste different than dry hopping.
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Re: Pump for wort chiller. Recommendations?

Post by jivex5k »

Here's the setup I got, it's working with no leaks and only clamps are on wort chiller which should come with them.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Beckett-250- ... /204670887
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Watts-1-2-in ... r_nbr=0208

The hose is a bit big but you can get the little clamps around it if you open them as far as possible and squeeze the tube in there.
There's no 3/8 adapter with this pump unfortunately.

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Re: Pump for wort chiller. Recommendations?

Post by Texas Dan »

I got this one. Has been working good for me.
I circulate the hot water o/p from the chiller into a bucket a couple of times and discard until no longer hot. Then I put the o/p hose into the sink and recirculate cold water using ice cubes or frozen water bottles. Saves a lot of water and chills down in 10-15 minutes.

http://www.harborfreight.com/264-gph-su ... 68395.html
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