Pump advice/transferring juice from car to basement

[Matthew F.]

I frequently purchase juice from local orchards, purchasing six 6 gal carboys at a time. Once I arrive home, I need to get the juice downstairs to my cidery. The trouble is, I have a physical disability that makes it difficult to carry the juice downstairs. Currently, I siphon into buckets and carry it downstairs roughly 1 gallon at a time.  It works, but it's a lot of trips.

So, I've toyed with the idea of purchasing a pump and siphoning the juice directly from the carboys sitting in my vehicle to my cidery downstairs. It would need to have the strength and durability to travel approximately 90 feet of tubing, and run nearly continuously for 36 gallons at a time.

I attempted this once with a little pump but it didn't draw the juice into the tubing far enough. Further investigation seemed to indicate that it can only draw 5 feet and I had cut the tubing in half 45 feet a piece and put the pump in the middle. Perhaps this pump will work and I just need to purchase new tubing and divide it 5' and 85'? :

https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/anti-gravity-transfer-pump

Do you have any recommendations for pumps?

With 90 feet of tubing, how does one keep the inside of the tube from growing mildew--i.e. does it dry sufficiently well?

Any creative solutions for getting the juice downstairs are most welcome! 

I am located in the US.

Cheers,

Matthew

[Matthew F.]

I should add that speed of transfer is of no concern. 

[Stephen Buffington]

Mathew, that pump might work, since you are going down in elevation quite a bit. The key to any pump, and undersized ones in particular, is to minimize the length of suck and maximize the length it pushes; like put in the truck with a short tube and racking rod (3-4’). Also seems like putting the pump halfway would be a logistical challenge if you need to watch either end for filling levels. 

If you want to save some money you could easily make a water siphon, since you have such elevation drop. Put a shutoff on either end of your 90’ tubing, with a 3-4’ tail on either end, and fill it between the shutoffs with water. Put one tail in the juice and open the valve. When you’re downstairs you can open the bottom valve and drain the water to a bucket. Once you see juice you have a free pump, as long as you don’t run dry. 

Stephen Buffington

Shawnee Hill Farm

206.941.6353

On Nov 30, 2024, at 12:11 PM, Matthew F. <spruce...@gmail.com> wrote:

I should add that speed of transfer is of no concern. 

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[will g.]

Matthew,

I use the very same pump, albeit with only about 10' of tubing on both input and output. The most helpful idea I've had is to power the pump via a momentary power foot pedal switch for entirely hands free operation. For your purposes, since you could locate the pump at the top of the "hill" and use gravity for the remainder of the run (as Stephen has described), I think you'd be in business. I would recommend two people, with one person at the receiving end in charge of powering the pump with the footswitch and to install a petcock at the same end for minimal loss when switching between fermentation vessels.

Best,
Will

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[Matthew F.]

Thank you Will and Stephen!