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Marching twards a March pump
I made the decision to get a March Pump next instead of another burner. One of the contributing factors was that you can hook it up to your mash tun, and pull and recirculate the wort right into your brew pot. (or can you?)
I started thinking that I didn't know if I had seen that before on any of the brewdays? So can one use the march pump to pump wort from the mash tun? If so can I still batch sparge? Or do I have to go to fly sparging?
damn right... there good for 250 degrees "the 809" I use them to recirc my mash... and sell lotz...pricey but no better.... and you can get replacement heads....If you happen to destroy one 
)
The flojets are great for coolder transfers, but dont use them for higher than 100....
+1 on the March 809. I used mine to recirc in the mashtun for vorlaughing, and for transfer to kettle. Works great! I wrapped the threads with Teflon tape, and lightly screwed on a SS coupler at each end. Then a CPC QD adapter. The hoses have the other half, and the connection is made sealed and good right away, easy as drinkin.....and only 4 screws to clean it....buy one, you will thank yourself in the same manner as when you picked up the plate chiller.....it makes that much of a difference in my eyes....
Just be sure to keep the pump in lower than the pump out. I made a wooden stand for mine that holds in the right place a few inches off the ground.
Bru - I use a pump for this exact usage, although I only use it for recirculating and let gravity pull the wort into the kettle. This is because I then use the pump to move water into the sparge arm while sparging. One thing to think of is how you will control the flow rate coming out of the pump. You do have a ball valve on your mash tun, I'm assuming, but if you restrict this too much then there won't be enough volume of liquid for the pump to stay primed; if too much air gets into the impeller housing the pump will fail to push liquid. What I've done is add a 1/4" ball valve directly to the output port on the pump. This way I can restrict the flow coming out of the pump while maintaining enough liquid entering the pump to keep it primed. You want to restrict the flow rate while recirculating because if your flow rate is too fast coming out of the mash tun, then you can set that grain bed too hard resulting in a stuck mash, which is bad. Pumps area great! Good luck brewing with one!
I use a March to recirculate wort but not to transfer to the boil during sparge. I have a valve with one position that permits recirculation and a second position that diverts the wort to gravity-feed into the boil pot.
I think using gravity during sparge works well because the flow through the grain bed and the false bottom is slower than the flow from the bottom of the mash tun to the boil pot (or pump) - and I want the sparge water to be in contact with the grains for a longer period to wash the sugars out more thoroughly. I would be concerned (wrongly?) that using the march to transfer to the boil pot would transfer the secondary runoff too quickly?
I really like my March.
I did add a mixer/agitator to my setup a couple of months ago and now the fancy manifolds I used for flowing recirculated wort back into the mash tun and for sparging are no longer needed - the agitator ensures full mixing. This agitator was $51 from ebay and is the absolute best brewing investment I ever made.
MeadowStream wrote:
I use a March to recirculate wort but not to transfer to the boil during sparge. I have a valve with one position that permits recirculation and a second position that diverts the wort to gravity-feed into the boil pot.
I think using gravity during sparge works well because the flow through the grain bed and the false bottom is slower than the flow from the bottom of the mash tun to the boil pot (or pump) - and I want the sparge water to be in contact with the grains for a longer period to wash the sugars out more thoroughly. I would be concerned (wrongly?) that using the march to transfer to the boil pot would transfer the secondary runoff too quickly?
I really like my March.
I did add a mixer/agitator to my setup a couple of months ago and now the fancy manifolds I used for flowing recirculated wort back into the mash tun and for sparging are no longer needed - the agitator ensures full mixing. This agitator was $51 from ebay and is the absolute best brewing investment I ever made.
I use my March pump to pump the wort directly into the kettle with no problems. I kinda don't have a choice about it due to the fact that I do all my brewing in my kitchen with the kettle on the stove top. My kettle doesn't have any handles, and even so 7-8 gal of wort is a little too heavy to lift anyway, so pumping is the only way. I do have a ball valve on the discharge side of the pump so that I can restrict the flow comming out of the pump.
1n1m3g wrote:
Bru - I use a pump for this exact usage, although I only use it for recirculating and let gravity pull the wort into the kettle
Yea, that's what I thought, I wasn't sure if I actually saw you pull the wort from the mash, as I was busy getting drunk, but I thought that you might have used the pump to pull the wort from the mash.
That's a good point with putting a valve on the mash pump, I'll do that and take it real slow at first.
bruguru wrote:
.....as I was busy getting drunk, but I thought that you might have used the pump to pull the wort from the mash.
You mean, responsibly evaluating a fellow homebrewers craft offering.... 
Just won a brand new 809 march pump for brewing on ebay for 127.00$. With shipping it came to $134.50.
Brand new in the case with a plug an bracket for mounting. So I saved like 10 bucks. I was looking all over the place for the best deal, but they are all pretty much the same, unless you want to get one without a plug and bracket, then they are like $112. I guess quality is quality no matter where you get it.
When I bought mine, I saw them between $120 and $165. Some were strictly bare pump, no mount, no cord..others were full setups with hoses and everything in a package. I went through B3, just because I already had a cart full of stuff, and it had free shipping.....I think it was $137 total for the pump with cord and bracket.....
Now you need to start thinking about a switch. Plugging it in each time is a pain in the balls. If you remember my setup, I mounted a zipstrip xtension cord with a power switch to my brewstand, so I leave that plugged into another xtension cord the whole time, when I need the pump, just hit the switch. Not sure of your setup, but it is a lot easier than plugging it in every time. just a couple pennies here.
I'm putting a switch into my setup for sure...probably the same setup as you, with a power strip and extension....quick and easy. I just have to find a good stand or build something..........
Thirsty said?
Now you need to start thinking about a switch. Plugging it in each time is a pain in the balls. If you remember my setup, I mounted a zipstrip xtension cord with a power switch to my brewstand, so I leave that plugged into another xtension cord the whole time, when I need the pump, just hit the switch. Not sure of your setup, but it is a lot easier than plugging it in every time. just a couple pennies here.
.
I remember your set up thirsty, and I've planned for the switch. What i'm looking for now, is some kind of table to mount all of this stuff too, so I don't have to keep putting it on the ground here and there, and tripping over hoses and wires.
I almost tripped over my wort hose when It was draining through my plate chiller the last time I made a batch.
Before I stumbled across the parts for my current rig, I built this:
which is now obviously my glass rack, but served me well. It held a 120# mashtun no problem, and I mounted all the hardware to the legs and back panel. I was into all the wood from home cheapo for about $18, and a buddy gave me 4 casters (which are now on the current rig) Screwed it all together and it worked great, now it serves a more honorable purpose.
Here is an action photo I found, oh the good ole days! 
Can you tell I am bored? I need to get out of the house, but I have a 20 minute drive to go buy bait for an ice fishing tourny tomorow morn. Gotta be up for 5 and the UFC fights are on tonight, may pull an all nighter so I am not too motivated right now.
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