Racking cane for pumping

[distancerunner]

When we rack we use a cane. Doesn't matter if vacuum or gravity does the work. There is a cane attached to the tube at the supply end.

What about when we use a pump? Do we simply allow the tubing to go into the carboy/tank/barrel on the supply side? Or do we attach a cane?

If so, what do we use for large (1/2" dia.) tubing?

This is the variable speed pump we purchased.

 

[VinesnBines]

I have a small single speed pump and I have a cane on each end. One is stainless so I can identify supply and output canes. I found that a hose just pops out when I start to pump.

 

[winemaker81]

I have the same pump -- I clamped a input to a standard sized stainless steel racking cane, but it was introducing air. I plan to get a converter to go from the input size down to a standard 3/8" hose.

Which reminds me -- I need to do that before I need to use the pump again!

 

[distancerunner]

Does reducing diameter correspond to a decrease in throughput? Or will the variable speed allow to adjust for it?

 

[winemaker81]

Does reducing diameter correspond to a decrease in throughput? Or will the variable speed allow to adjust for it?

It should reduce throughput, but for me that's not a real concern. At this point I use an Autosiphon for carboys, and use the pump for large batches (10+ gallons) and barrels. The reduced throughput doesn't matter a whole lot, not like I'm making 30 or 60 gallon batches.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

I have the same pump and I use it with a 1/2" diameter racking cane, connected to my 1/2" hose with a hose clamp. I don't have that much experience with it but I don't think it was introducing air - I will look carefully next time.

 

[Rice_Guy]

*yes the throughput will be related to the pump speed.
*my set up uses a lot of 1/4 inch polyethylene tubing with short (2 inch) pieces of 3/8 (7mm) tubing hooking canes or tubes or filters together. The silicone stretches enough that I get tight unions as long as the poly is round.
*my feeling is that slow gives a better cut off on lees, a recent set up took 3/8 polyethylene tubing and heated it to straighten and put a dropper shape on the source racking cane. I have 3/8 PEX in some older set ups which I again shape with heat.
*I would step down 1/2 inch at least to 3/8, wine will drain backwards when the power is shut off at the end and this is worse with larger tubing
*my local wine supply store has 1/2 inch silicone in stock, I find short pieces of several sizes help patch tooling together

Does reducing diameter correspond to a decrease in throughput? Or will the variable speed allow to adjust for it?

 

[distancerunner]

All of this makes sense.

The wines that will be moved by pump are 40 liters and up. So time is a consideration. Not huge, but still there.

Silicone tubing? Where does one obtain this exotic material? Are these connections vinyl tubing to silicone? Why the change from poly?

How do you make the poly tubing round, or straight, for that matter?

 

[Rice_Guy]

* shaping PEX (sink connectors) and polyethylene (roll tubing from the hardware store) is relatively easy when heated as in a propane torch/ gas stove, ,,, kinda like bending glass tubing in chem lab. PEX is available/ starts as straight sticks.
* The clear racking canes are acrylic. This doesn’t really melt but forms bubbles in the plastic.
* I have used vinyl tubing for joining rigid tubing and as round spacers to jump from one OD to another. Vinyl is harder to get on and off so once it is on/ tight it tends to stay there. Vinyl isn’t too good for pressure or temperature situations. The plant uses a reinforced vinyl to get away from this.
* silicone tubing is available on amazon (metric sizes) and in the science catalogs and the larger sizes are at the stores that sell to beer makers. (Silicone withstands boiling beer wort/ is food grade) Silicone gives good seals in joining rigid tubes and is fairly easy to get off/ reconfigure a set up. ,,, in the last year I have found silicone straws which are 1/4 ID and work joining 1/4 ID poly tubing.

* stainless is nice as a forever, but I wind up tossing the plastic after elderberry goo, and shaping it is harder
* pumps, the one in the link above is a centrifugal pump, this translates to it works like a fan so if there is back pressure the blades just spin and nothing gets hurt. Some factory operations use a positive displacement pump, this translates to like a piston or hydraulic jack ,,, in which pushing more can do some damage.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

I thought you all might be interested in this recent article from my LHBS:

A Comparison of Wine Transfer Methods - Oxygen Uptake and SO2 Loss | The Beverage People

Basically they compare 3 methods of racking: splash rack, siphon and the variable speed transfer pump. Reassuringly, the transfer pump compares quite favorably with respect to O2 uptake and loss of free SO2.

 

[barryjo]

It should reduce throughput, but for me that's not a real concern. At this point I use an Autosiphon for carboys, and use the pump for large batches (10+ gallons) and barrels. The reduced throughput doesn't matter a whole lot, not like I'm making 30 or 60 gallon batches.

I stopped using a 1/2" siphon because it resulted in increased turbulence at the inlet. Thus sucking up more lees. A restrictor of some sort would do the same thing.