Mead Pump

xpc

Doubled and twisted
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
1,113
Reaction score
0
Points
114
Location
KFC
I read about mead a while back then forgot about it until I watched Beowulf and saw King Hrothgar's (Anthony Hopkins) legendary mead hall in action. Wifezilla gave me some simple recipes and got started, now after 2 weeks in the primary fermenter I have to transfer it into the secondary for a few months of aging.

I have plenty of racking equipment and transfer pumps for my larger appurtenances but nothing for these small 1 gallon jugs. I tried the standard suck and siphon but it was awkward, messy, and wasteful. It was hard to get the hose in the little hole on the jug fast enough so as not to spill it everywhere or to lose suction - I gave up and went to thinking with some inspirational whiskey.

Remembering from my science days a siphon works by gravity, you can start it with a bit of suction then quickly move the outlet hose lower then the inlet and the gravity of the falling liquid column keeps the liquid flowing. This is similar to how a drinking straw works except it depends on a continuous differential of atmospheric pressures. The sucking reduces the the pressure in your mouth and the weight of our atmosphere (14.7psi) pushes the liquid up and out.

Having these simple facts and also an aquarium air pump which I use for aerating grain mashes I made a few modification which only took 10 minutes.

First I took the $7 air pump apart to see how it worked - a simple rubber diaphragm drew air in from a hole in the case and pushed it out the tube hole. I did not want to pressurize the jug or entrain air into the ferment which can cause it to oxidize and off flavors. So I converted it into a vacuum pump by sealing all holes and cracks with caulk, then drilling a small hole in the top for the suction hose and sealed that too.
pump1.jpg

Don't pay any attention to the generic cereal box, I only use it as a source for wheat and yeast vitamins for my mashes.

I then took a standard 1 gallon airlock bung and drilled a small hole for the tiny suction tubing, this is now both a air and vacuum pump.
pump2.jpg


I took a piece of 3/8" copper refrigeration tubing which fit the airlock bung perfectly and bent it into a u-shape and placed in both bottles, the full one open to atmosphere the empty one tightly sealed with the vacuum hose connected. I was surprised at how quickly the transfer started, a few seconds at most, the whole process took 4 minutes to complete transfer without any sediment or air.
pump3.jpg


I also crushed the end of the pick-up tube closed and drilled four smaller holes about a 1/2" above the bottom so as to leave the fines and sediment behind.
pump4.jpg


Theory of operation - the full jug has 14.7 psi of atmospheric pressure pushing down on it from the small neck opening, the copper pipe is sealed in the empty jar along with the vacuum tube, turning on the pump reduces the pressure in the empty jar and the 14.7 psi of the full jar pushes the liquid over. Remember the old idiom "Nature abhors a vacuum"

This whole project took 1 hour from taking the pump apart to transferring the grape mead pyment, including letting the caulk cure for 45 minutes. The aquarium pump and 8' of tiny tubing was less than $10. I have plenty of copper on hand but no tubing, next week when I go to Lowe's I will try this with plastic tubing which is usually about 50 cents a foot.

Note: 14.7 psi is the pressure at sea level for those in Colorado it is closer to 12 psi.
 

SKR8PN

Late For Supper
Joined
Jan 6, 2009
Messages
2,686
Reaction score
0
Points
138
Location
O-HI-UH
I have never re-racked any of my Mead. I just let it ferment in a 5 gallon carboy until it is done working, then siphon it off into wine bottles(leaving the dead yeast behind) seal them, refrigerate it, and begin enjoying it.



Mead is supposedly the oldest fermented beverage known to man.

:thumbsup
 

xpc

Doubled and twisted
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
1,113
Reaction score
0
Points
114
Location
KFC
I rack all my washes or mash, leaving on the trub or lees for an extended time can impart an off tasting yeast flavor. If making ones that don't have much fines then it probably wouldn't need re-racking on the in-betweens.

I also double re-rack so I don't burn any backset in the boiler. The non contact vacuum transfer method when used with a simple pushbutton will make it a breeze to fill bottles too.
 

ohiofarmgirl

Sipping Bacon Martinis
Joined
Aug 18, 2009
Messages
5,488
Reaction score
0
Points
189
dude.. i totally read this as "meat pump" and had no idea what i was gettin' myself into when i clicked on it.

i think we can all laugh quietly at home and forgo all the public declarations of how ridiculous that was... golly.
 

freemotion

Food Guru
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
10,817
Reaction score
90
Points
317
Location
Southwick, MA
I must respond individually to each post thus far:

1. Cool, dude! :thumbsup

2. Again, cool! :frow

3. Huh? (scratches head with vacuous look on face) :hu

4. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! :lol:
 

xpc

Doubled and twisted
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
1,113
Reaction score
0
Points
114
Location
KFC
ohiofarmgirl said:
dude.. i totally read this as "meat pump" and had no idea what i was gettin' myself into when i clicked on it.
Thanks a lot for bringing back some bad memories, it took 25 years to finally forget and in an instance your post brought back vivid images of a Mister Rogers episode where he took a tour of the Oscar Meyer wiener factory, it was a 10 minute video of the horrid meat pumps that pushed a slurry of mock meat into an endless tube that e-coli wouldn't even seek refuge in.
 

Mackay

Almost Self-Reliant
Joined
Oct 7, 2008
Messages
1,332
Reaction score
0
Points
128
Geesh, it sounds like you are talking a foreign language to me!
 

Blackbird

Goat Whisperer
Joined
Mar 28, 2009
Messages
3,461
Reaction score
2
Points
154
Location
Many-snow-ta
Was the tube sheep intestine or that fake type of casing?

Xpc, you have too much time on your hands, sucking on the tube is the best part!
 

xpc

Doubled and twisted
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
1,113
Reaction score
0
Points
114
Location
KFC
big brown horse said:
Very cool!!

I had mead for the first time this weekend. Tasty!
I have never tasted it either, the meads I started are months away from tasting like it will once aged. The pyment was sour and dry, the spiced and sack mead was just put down and too new to even taste.
 

Latest posts

Top