Euro-30 Pump: Will it work for beer?

[NigeltheBold]

I'm looking for a small pump for a nanobrewery for transferring beer and cleaning tanks. I stumbled upon a portable pump at St. Pat's called the Euro 30 (on the pump page). It looks like it would be perfect, but it says it's for wine, not beer. I emailed customer service and they said that it would not be good for beer "for several reasons" which they didn't explain. Any idea why it wouldn't be good for beer?

It's the perfect sized pump, it has tri-clamp fittings and it's even mounted to a cart for portability. It would be used to transfer fermented, but un-carbonated beer as well as cleaning solutions for CIP purposes.

Any thoughts?

[CaptainEBC]

Thats a flexible impeller pump (positive displacement). If you pump hot liquids too fast, it will cavitate.

Get a sanitary centrifugal pump with a variable frequency drive.

[Natrat]

Nigel,

there are some aspects of brewing where you simply cannot take shortcuts.

A pump is one of them.

If you want to save on a pump, gravity is free.

Nat

[KWLSD]

Because, unlike fixed-impeller pumps, the volume in each element changes on these due to the shape of the chamber, this will lead to pressure cycles.

Even on an uncarbonated beer there is enough CO2 dissolved to mean the pressure high-low-high-low-etc. cycles will cause gas breakout, damaging your carefully-brewed beer and, quite possibly, the pump, too.

My feeling is that all you'd see from the outlet of the pump is an uncontrollable stream of fob...

[NigeltheBold]

So my best bet is to find a sanitary pump. Got it. Does it need to be self-priming? Will there be leftover beer in the outlet hose if it isn't self-priming?

[NigeltheBold]

I found some sanitary pumps on McMaster-Carr's website. They can be found here. Would one of these be good for a small brewery? They aren't self-priming, but they are sanitary and have pretty high flow rates. Also, how can I tell if these are variable speed pumps? If they aren't, is there any way to turn them into variable speed pumps?

[KWLSD]

I did a quick web search & came up with this in the US, which sounds like it might just fit your needs:

http://www.shanleypump.com/Images/pd...wing_Flyer.pdf

[NigeltheBold]

I did a quick web search & came up with this in the US, which sounds like it might just fit your needs:

http://www.shanleypump.com/Images/pd...wing_Flyer.pdf

Thanks for the link. I actually saw that one when I searched before, but I assumed it would cost thousands of dollars like most other pumps like it. I'll contact the company that sells it to see how much it costs.

[revnatscider]

I found some sanitary pumps on McMaster-Carr's website. They can be found here.

Those are Thomsen pumps. The 1/2hp is most likely the #4. It's made for dairy, but used widely in the brew-world. I have one, use it for cider. I got no proteins to make foam but it does a great job for me.

From Thomsen direct, you can buy the pump body for $900, add your own motor for a couple hundred.

Does anyone know if it's okay to put a variable speed motor on the Thomsen #4? I don't see why not.

[NigeltheBold]

Those are Thomsen pumps. The 1/2hp is most likely the #4. It's made for dairy, but used widely in the brew-world. I have one, use it for cider. I got no proteins to make foam but it does a great job for me.

From Thomsen direct, you can buy the pump body for $900, add your own motor for a couple hundred.

Does anyone know if it's okay to put a variable speed motor on the Thomsen #4? I don't see why not.

What type of motor would be best to use with this pump body? There are a million motors out there, and I'm not exactly an expert when it comes to these things.

[revnatscider]

Well unless you're sure you need a variable speed motor (and someone else can chime in that such a motor is okay on this pump), then just buy the one at McMaster-Carr since the price is the same as if you bought the pump body and motor separately. Like I mentioned, I have one with the same horses as the smallest one, 49635K41, and on full-blast, it's like a frickin fire hose. You can make a poor-man's variable speed pump by adding a partially-open recirc loop on a Y or just partially shutting down the OUTPUT (never input) side with a butterfly valve. Cider is not beer so YMMV.

BTW, it's less-than-cool to ask the same question in two threads. Sorta basic discussion forum etiquette.

[NigeltheBold]

I'm not sure if I really need a variable speed pump or not. I was told by another brewer that it should be variable speed, so I just assumed he was correct in saying that. Anyone else have an opinion on this? Would the butterfly valve trick on the output work for beer transfer, or is that ill-advised?

I'll also be mounting the pump to a cart. Any suggestions about what I should use as a cart? Or should I just use whatever I can find?

Also, I'm sorry for my poor forum etiquette. My question applied to both threads and I thought I would have a better chance of getting a response (or multiple opinions) if I asked in both. Not sure why it's a big deal, but oh well.

[CaptainEBC]

Get something with a VFD drive on it and make sure everything is washdown grade.

buy this: http://www.toplineonline.com/index.p...search&xsearch[0]=Pumps&query=category.like.Pumps&srctype=detail&ba ck=topline&refno=116&submenu=Sanitary%20Centrifuga l%20Pumps

[NigeltheBold]

Get something with a VFD drive on it and make sure everything is washdown grade.

buy this: http://www.toplineonline.com/index.p...search&xsearch[0]=Pumps&query=category.like.Pumps&srctype=detail&ba ck=topline&refno=116&submenu=Sanitary%20Centrifuga l%20Pumps

Any idea how much those cost? I sent TopLine an email but it may be awhile before I hear from them.

[KWLSD]

Also, I'm sorry for my poor forum etiquette. My question applied to both threads and I thought I would have a better chance of getting a response (or multiple opinions) if I asked in both. Not sure why it's a big deal, but oh well.

I've always worked on the same basis - if you want to know something, it's better to ask twice that not ask once...

...and whilst we're on homespun philosophy:

"The only stupid question is that one that doesn't get asked."