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Oxford, UK

I'm building my own brewer and want to buy the right size pump. I have a 9.5 gallon bucket and I can obtain a pump that can do 55 gallons of air an hour. Is this enough or should I spend double on a pump rated at 110 gallons per hour? Either that or is a half bucket enough for two plants?
(This is all US gallons not Imperial)

6/27/2008 10:11:08 AM

Seattle, WA

Our 5 gal. unit is 51 liters/minute at 1.5 psi. That's for our extended life motor, which is pushing less air than our original system. I would always err on the side of too much air and probably drop down to the 5 gal. bucket size. It's much better to make it in a small container and add water afterwards, than to brew in a larger container. 5 gal. should be more than enough for your 2 plants. Good luck!

6/27/2008 2:48:21 PM

Oxford, UK

No way! 51 litres a minute. I was thinking much much less. I thought people just used basic aquarium pumps as I've seen a design by Bruce Deuley. That sounds like a major pond or even industrial pump?

I can easily drop to 5 gal - I just won't fill it as much! Thanks for the advice.

6/30/2008 10:40:41 AM

Seattle, WA

Windy,

I consider that amount a minimum, and a 24 hour brew cycle. Our other 5 gal. unit is pushing a lot more air than that, so we use a 12 hour cycle on that one.

I know you can use aquarium pumps, but I haven't seen any really great results with them, though they can work, but you'll need to brew longer (around 36 hours) and use less foods.

6/30/2008 1:10:29 PM