Pump questions

Nola_Brew

Nola_Brew

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I recently acquired an electric system with a pump. I've brewed one time and it was a great start.

How do you clean the pump? I did clean it before I used it by circulating boiling water through the system. I recirculated during the mash and during the last 10 min of the boil.
After brew day was complete I cleaned the kettle and added Oxy, got the temps to 160 and circulated that through the system for 20 min or so. After that, rinsed and heated clean water to 160 and recirculated again for another 15 min.
Is this sufficient or do i need to clean better? Should i also take the head off of the pump and clean the inside?
 
Thats what id do as yiuve written sometimes even less. Every now and again it would be worth checking the impellers (it think their called) for hop particles.
 
Nola_Brew said:
I recently acquired an electric system with a pump. I've brewed one time and it was a great start.

How do you clean the pump? I did clean it before I used it by circulating boiling water through the system. I recirculated during the mash and during the last 10 min of the boil.
After brew day was complete I cleaned the kettle and added Oxy, got the temps to 160 and circulated that through the system for 20 min or so. After that, rinsed and heated clean water to 160 and recirculated again for another 15 min.
Is this sufficient or do i need to clean better? Should i also take the head off of the pump and clean the inside?
Click to expand...
I take mine apart to clean. Six screws.
 
As soon as I pump the wort from my mash tun up to the boiler my pump is done for the day. As the wort is heating to a boil I just run hot tap water through the pump and allow it to air dry. I've removed the head several times and it's always squeaky clean inside. I will continue to check it periodically, just in case.
 
Fortunately I have 2 pumps, I use one for water only. Use one for mash recirculation, and whirlpool. I have only used P2 for pumping wort once so far. In spite of first pumping hot water followed by a hot water PBW mixture, and then rinsing again with hot water, I guess I should disassemble and clean it every 2-3 brews...
 
Thanks for the info. Just wanted to make sure I was doing it the right way.
 
So just wanted to put this out there regarding Imersion Chiller most I do to that.post brew is rinse off with a good blast of water when cleaning up and hang it to dry. As for pump it's a cleaner soak follow by run with cleaner then fresh water rinse. It seems we really like to give that pump a good going over but Imersion Chiller not so much?
I'm thinking running the pump with 10 to go should go as.far to sanitizing things as the chiller.
 
I usually spray off my IC then clean it with a sponge when I clean my kettle. I haven't had any issues so far doing it that way.
It's probably a good idea to take the head off the pump every few brews just to make sure it's clean. I'll probably do that after my next brew.
 
I have the blichmann riptide, easy cleaning, i think you can buy just the head for any pump.
 
I keep putting off using mine cause I feel like I'm going to make a huge mess and waste a lot of wort. I should probably make some shorter lines and tinker with it to get comfortable with it.
 
I've only just recently started using pumps, first couple times were a little dodgy. My last session went real smooth, and I am really happy with it. No more lifting dangerously hot water or wort, and chilling with immersion chiller is great (no more stirring, or rocking the chiller around).
 
Craigerrr said:
I've only just recently started using pumps, first couple times were a little dodgy. My last session went real smooth, and I am really happy with it. No more lifting dangerously hot water or wort, and chilling with immersion chiller is great (no more stirring, or rocking the chiller around).
Click to expand...
Too true I havnt lifted any wort or.beer for the last two brews oh if only from the beer tap into my belly:D.
 
Hawkbox said:
I keep putting off using mine cause I feel like I'm going to make a huge mess and waste a lot of wort. I should probably make some shorter lines and tinker with it to get comfortable with it.
Click to expand...
Put a drain at the lowest point in the system (for me, the pump head, inlet side) and you'll lose next to nothing. The entire volume of my lines is maybe a pint so it doesn't worry me if I don't drain or if I'm concerned with sanitation.
 
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