Pumps for home winemakers

For racking from barrel I use inert gas pressure. You need a two-hole rubber stopper that fits the bunghole tightly. The racking cane goes into one of the holes. To drain the barrel you slide the cane to the appropriate depth in the barrel, connect a hose leading to the receiving vessel to the outside end of the cane, and apply gas (nitrogen or argon) pressure to the other hole in the bung. Voila! No pumps, no aeration of the wine - in fact this is the gentlest way there is to move wine around.

A couple of caveats:

DO NOT APPLY EXCESSIVE GAS PRESSURE TO THE BARREL! I usually use about 3 psi. That'll empty a barrel plenty fast. Under no circumstances should you use more than 5 psi or you risk bursting the barrel and possibly injuring someone in the process. I've done this for over 20 years with 60 gallon barrels and never had a problem.

NEVER use counterpressure to rack from a GLASS container! Stainless steel kegs are OK though.

If the bung isn't tight in the barrel the gas pressure may pop it out. This is no big deal, but it's a hassle to lose the gas pressure and have to restart. Holding the bung in place while racking isn't a bad idea.

Do not use CO2 for counterpressure racking unless you like fizzy wine.

I use pumps for moving around wine and juice, but your question was specifically addressing emptying barrels.

Tom S

That's a neat idea. Do you buy or rent the gas cylinder? Is your stopper just a silcone bung type with 2 holes?

Also for pump usuage what are you using?

I bought the gas cylinder and regulator. (Actually, I have both argon and nitrogen cylinders. Nitrogen is much cheaper.)

At home I have a Jabsco flexible impeller pump and an Amtek peristaltic pump. I use the peristaltic for pumping wine containing D.E. because that's too abrasive for the Jabsco.

At the commercial winery I've been using a 1½ inch air powered diaphragm pump. Those are really sweet! They're self primimg, don't care about running dry or at stall, and are quite gentle on the wine.

Tom S

What size cylinder do you recommend. Some of the regulators look similar to type I use on the my kegging system. I don't think the controll is good enough to say I am getting 3PSI. Do you recommend a particular regulator.

It looks like for a good food grade pump you need to spend around $500. Is this a reasonable assumption?

I use a short one that's the second one down from the full size (~220 liter). It's a couple feet tall, about 5 inches in diameter, and light enough that I can one-hand it by the neck.

Some of the regulators look

Those are made for CO2 I believe. That won't work. Airco makes one that has 2 gauges and a needle valve on the low pressure side. They aren't cheap, but you might be able to find a used one on e-Bay - and you'll only need to buy it _once_.

You should be able to find something reasonable for less than that, but it depends on the flow rate you need - and that depends on the volume you're moving.

Tom S

Tom,

Would you be willing to share some specifics on this pump? Is it 1

Thanks, Charlie

The fittings are 1½" Tri-Clover. It would not be suitable for must. I don't know who makes it, but they are made of injection molded plastic and cost ~$500.

Tom S

If you're going to spend $500 then spend just a bit more and buy a really nice pump. Take a look at:

Dave Stacy

I use the Liverani EP Junior

Steve