March Pump Tips and Tricks

[TheeMattSmith]

Hey Dinks,
I just got my first pump and was looking for any tips, tricks, words of wisdom before I plumb the whole thing up. Ill still be gravity feeding my HLT to my Mash but Mash to Boil and Boil Whirlpool Immersion Chiller will all be off the pump. I'm running half inch tubing for everything and I use keggles. I'm also a little worried about clogging issues with the hops. I never use hop bags, am I going to have to start, or should the whirlpool give me enough of a cone to not have to worry?
Thanks

[captain carrot]

Yeah, your going to need some kind of screen, false bottom or hop bags. Hops in your pump will wreck your day.
I use fine or coarse mesh hops bags depending if I'm using pellet or whole hops.
I like to pull out my bags at the end of the boil to drain and minimize wort loss.
Good luck!

[baltobrewer]

Pellets, I'm assuming? If so, can't help you there, as I use whole hops, but for the plumbing, just make sure that the inlet is facing *down*, the outlet is facing *up*, that the pump is *below* your lowest liquid point, and that you throttle flow with a ball valve only on the *output* side of the pump. Do that and you'll be fine.

[Ozwald]

That's very close to my setup. Since you can't get a 'good' cone using converted kegs (compared to a flat bottom tuna-can kettle), you'll have a bit of stuff flowing through it. Even brewing a Tasty recipe, I've never used hop bags, mesh, etc. I've never had a problem with my March. I even pump out the trub/hop matter just before cleaning. Pump doesn't strain/clog at all & the cleanup recirc takes care of anything that may have gotten left behind - 50C rinse for a few minutes, 70C PBW recirc for 30 minutes, 96C rinse until I'm done dealing with everything else. 45-60 min. (Water is at a full boil @ 96C here)

[Buttwidget]

The first time I used leaf hops instead of pellets caused me to rethink my whole approach to hop additions. I wound up with a plugged up pump and 7 gallons of wort instead of 11 at the end of the brew day. I found bits of hop leaf matter for three brews after that, and I'm a cleanliness nut. I can look back and laugh now...

Whether using whole hops or pellets, I use hop bags. Don't fear the sack I've come to prefer pellets for my system, but when they aren't available I go to leaf hops. I've also added a bazooka screen to my keggle. Knowing that whirlpooling isn't as effective in a keggle, adding the screen has given me further piece of mind. I have also begun using a Blichmann Hop Rocket (with either rice hulls or hops depending on style) in the recirculation loop of my JZ-style whirlpool chiller to help clean things up.

All that being said, things work very well for me. My wort is clear enough that when making a lager, I whirlpool chill with the Hop Rocket and a Therminator in the recirculation loop to help chill the wort quicker (and get some benefit from whirlpooling) and then switch from ground water to a recirc'd ice bath through the therminator to get my wort down to lager pitching temps. I do all this without clogging the therminator, so something is working

~widget

[Ozwald]

Forgot to add, pellet hops & immersion chiller.

[TheeMattSmith]

Thanks guys for the responses. I guess I will have to embrace my sack on this.