I need to transfer 50 gallons from a 55 gallon plastic drum into an
oak barrel (actually from several drums into several barrels.)
Gravity racking is a possibility but I'm thinking I could

a. start the siphon easily, and
b. speed up the transfer

by applying a small amount of vacuum to the barrels. Has anyone
already thought of a simple way to do this? My main concern, of
course, is not imploding the barrel with excessive vacuum. But surely
there's some cheap and reasonable way to regulate things? Anyone know
how much vacuum a barrel can take?

wrote:
> I need to transfer 50 gallons from a 55 gallon plastic drum into an
> oak barrel (actually from several drums into several barrels.)
> Gravity racking is a possibility but I'm thinking I could
>
> a. start the siphon easily, and
> b. speed up the transfer
>
> by applying a small amount of vacuum to the barrels. Has anyone
> already thought of a simple way to do this? My main concern, of
> course, is not imploding the barrel with excessive vacuum. But surely
> there's some cheap and reasonable way to regulate things? Anyone know
> how much vacuum a barrel can take?

http://www.liverani.com/ita/frame_gi...ssibile_uk.htm

Buy a pump. You'll be glad you did.

Steve

If you used a vacuum cleaner to pull the vacuum, I wouldn't think that
you would hurt anything. That may not be enough for you but it's fairly
significant and the plastic housings of shop vacs hold up fine.

Dick



wrote:
> I need to transfer 50 gallons from a 55 gallon plastic drum into an
> oak barrel (actually from several drums into several barrels.)
> Gravity racking is a possibility but I'm thinking I could
>
> a. start the siphon easily, and
> b. speed up the transfer
>
> by applying a small amount of vacuum to the barrels. Has anyone
> already thought of a simple way to do this? My main concern, of
> course, is not imploding the barrel with excessive vacuum. But surely
> there's some cheap and reasonable way to regulate things? Anyone know
> how much vacuum a barrel can take?

One really easy way to speed it up is to get a fatter siphon tube. Doubling
the diameter will quadruple the cross section and thus the flow rate.
Triping the diameter will increase the cross section by 9x.

Utopia in Decay
http://home.comcast.net/~kevin.cherkauer/site/

Kevin Cherkauer

> wrote:
> I need to transfer 50 gallons from a 55 gallon plastic drum into an
> oak barrel (actually from several drums into several barrels.)
> Gravity racking is a possibility but I'm thinking I could
>
> a. start the siphon easily, and
> b. speed up the transfer
>
> by applying a small amount of vacuum to the barrels. Has anyone
> already thought of a simple way to do this? My main concern, of
> course, is not imploding the barrel with excessive vacuum. But surely
> there's some cheap and reasonable way to regulate things? Anyone know
> how much vacuum a barrel can take?

On Nov 7, 9:40*pm, "Kevin Cherkauer" > wrote:
> One really easy way to speed it up is to get a fatter siphon tube. Doubling
> the diameter will quadruple the cross section and thus the flow rate.
> Triping the diameter will increase the cross section by 9x.
>
> Utopia in Decayhttp://home.comcast.net/~kevin.cherkauer/site/
>
> Kevin Cherkauer
>
>
>
> > wrote:
> > I need to transfer 50 gallons from a 55 gallon plastic drum into an
> > oak barrel (actually from several drums into several barrels.)
> > Gravity racking is a possibility but I'm thinking I could
>
> > a. start the siphon easily, and
> > b. speed up the transfer
>
> > by applying a small amount of vacuum to the barrels. *Has anyone
> > already thought of a simple way to do this? *My main concern, of
> > course, is not imploding the barrel with excessive vacuum. *But surely
> > there's some cheap and reasonable way to regulate things? *Anyone know
> > how much vacuum a barrel can take?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

I doubt it's possible to implode a barrel. A perfect vacuum is less
than 15 PSIA. It's not a lot of negative pressure. I have a vacuum
filler, all you need to do is bung it with a two hole bung, have one
hole feed a tube that is longer to fill the barrel, another with the
tube just entering the barrel to pull vacuum on. I never did anything
like this but it sounds plausible. A cheap drill mounted pump might
make more sense though.

Joe

I second the pump idea. I have a Liverani pump. I use it all the time.
Like it.

Bob



On Nov 6, 9:42*pm, Steve > wrote:
> wrote:
> > I need to transfer 50 gallons from a 55 gallon plastic drum into an
> > oak barrel (actually from several drums into several barrels.)
> > Gravity racking is a possibility but I'm thinking I could
>
> > a. start the siphon easily, and
> > b. speed up the transfer
>
> > by applying a small amount of vacuum to the barrels. *Has anyone
> > already thought of a simple way to do this? *My main concern, of
> > course, is not imploding the barrel with excessive vacuum. *But surely
> > there's some cheap and reasonable way to regulate things? *Anyone know
> > how much vacuum a barrel can take?
>
> http://www.liverani.com/ita/frame_gi...ssibile_uk.htm
>
> Buy a pump. *You'll be glad you did.
>
> Steve

On Nov 6, 9:59*am, wrote:
> I need to transfer 50 gallons from a 55 gallon plastic drum into an
> oak barrel (actually from several drums into several barrels.)
> Gravity racking is a possibility but I'm thinking I could
>
> a. start the siphon easily, and
> b. speed up the transfer
>
> by applying a small amount of vacuum to the barrels. *Has anyone
> already thought of a simple way to do this? *My main concern, of
> course, is not imploding the barrel with excessive vacuum. *But surely
> there's some cheap and reasonable way to regulate things? *Anyone know
> how much vacuum a barrel can take?

On Nov 13, 4:13*pm, wino > wrote:
> On Nov 6, 9:59*am, wrote:
>
> > I need to transfer 50 gallons from a 55 gallon plastic drum into an
> > oak barrel (actually from several drums into several barrels.)
> > Gravity racking is a possibility but I'm thinking I could
>
> > a. start the siphon easily, and
> > b. speed up the transfer
>
> > by applying a small amount of vacuum to the barrels. *Has anyone
> > already thought of a simple way to do this? *My main concern, of
> > course, is not imploding the barrel with excessive vacuum. *But surely
> > there's some cheap and reasonable way to regulate things? *Anyone know
> > how much vacuum a barrel can take?

I don't get it.
what are you thinking?
How are you going to apply the vacuum to the receiving barrel (where
it has to be) ?
If you are siphoning wine from one "barrel" to another, how can you
establish a "vacuum" via the bung hole in the barrel that the wine is
flowing into ??
Duct tape?
Why would you want to try?
Use a larger hose, this ain't brain surgery...
Wino