Pumping from basement to 1st floor

[NigeltheBold]

I'm starting a brew-on-premise, and we have the opportunity to ferment 10 gallon batches of beer in the basement below our brewery. This will save us some space upstairs so we don't have to have a fermenting room. After a customer brews, the beer will be chilled and pumped downstairs through some sort of food-grade tubing. The beer will ferment in large buckets, and then it will have to be brought back up for cold crashing, filtration and carbonation.

The problem is, I'm having trouble figuring out the best way to get the fermented beer back up to the first floor. I was thinking we could use some kind of pump, but many of the pumps I'm looking at would have very low flow rates with this much of a head (probably 15-20 ft. total lift). I don't need the pump to be super-fast (we don't want to oxidize the beer), but I don't want to have to wait 30 minutes to get the beer pumped to the first floor.

Does anybody know of a decent, self-priming pump that would be able to push beer up to the first floor? Preferably one that won't cost thousands of dollars?

[kugeman]

How about beer line pumps? Like a Shurflo? They work pretty well for long-draw beer line systems.

[NigeltheBold]

How about beer line pumps? Like a Shurflo? They work pretty well for long-draw beer line systems.

Don't you have to have air pressure to run those? We won't have any CO2 in the basement. Just buckets of fermented beer.

What about this pump? It's meant for wine, but maybe it could work for beer as well?

[NigeltheBold]

Bump...

Does anyone think this is a bad idea in general? I'm starting to wonder if it will be a huge risk for oxidation. But I know lots of brewers have done something like this before (FV's and brites on different levels).

I'm also wondering what kind of pipes/tubing/hose to use. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. We'll only be transferring about 10g at a time, and it'll only be about 30ft at most.

[YSBrewer]

You could rack to a cornie keg or something that would seal and then push it upstairs with CO2. Running CO2 to the basement would be rather easy with flexible tubing and a regulator.

[ChesterBrew]

Agree -- pushing with CO2 is the simplest way to go.

[NigeltheBold]

I would need to find something that will hold 10+ gallons of beer that also seals well. The 10 gallon cornies are pretty pricey.

[SRB]

Third on the CO-2.

[ChesterBrew]

I would need to find something that will hold 10+ gallons of beer that also seals well. The 10 gallon cornies are pretty pricey.

They're cheaper than a good pump, and won't oxidize your beer. (2) 5 gallon Cornies also do the same job as a 10 if it's that big of a deal.

http://www.chicompany.net

[NigeltheBold]

Good point. Sorry, wasn't thinking straight earlier.

[NigeltheBold]

Why not get a peristaltic pump? These work with a cam that simply goes around pinching a hose, so they can lift the beer easily and do not have any seals to worry about getting air in.

How expensive are they, and can you recommend a specific brand/model?

[NigeltheBold]

Would a diaphragm pump work? Something like this maybe?

I don't understand the On/Off pressure thing though. Mainly the On pressure. I would just be pulling the beer from a non-pressurized fermenter and pushing it to the next floor. There wouldn't be much pressure on the inlet at all.

[YSBrewer]

Some look somewhat affordable, if they'll work for the application.

http://www.masterflex.com/Category/M...Fa59OgoddkIAsw

[NigeltheBold]

Some look somewhat affordable, if they'll work for the application.

http://www.masterflex.com/Category/M...Fa59OgoddkIAsw

I like the price of the diaphragm pumps a bit better, but I don't know if they'll work.

[beejay]

We have used one of these to pump beer from barrels in the basement up to the first floor with no problems.

http://morebeer.com/view_product/17305//Self-Priming_Diaphragm_Pump_for_Beer_Transfers