The Brewery
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Here is the evolving version of our brewery as of February 2008. I finally bought a March pump and have plumbed it into the system. The hoses, connectors, and hardware cost more than the pump, so this better be worth the trouble! This setup will eliminate the lifting of the brew kettle we had to do previously to drain the kettle into the fermenter. This will also allow us to circulate the wort while heating the mash tun to eliminate the chance of scorching. I've also made a copper "fill wand" or whatever you want to call it, that hooks over the edge of the kettle and has a length of hose on the inside to prevent the circulating wort from disturbing the grain bed, or prevent splashing of the wort when pumping into the brew kettle.

After jumping into this I've learned a few things, as is typical when I learn a new area of brewing.

Connections - I originally bought the Blichmann quick connectors that are supposed to work for any 1/2" NPT (National Pipe Thread) fitting. These work well for high-quality threaded outlets such as the ones on the Blichmann Therminator, and on a few of the stainless nipples I had on the kettles, but for the other various connections such as the pump and the fill wand, these parts were troublesome and were leaky unless carefully tweaked, and in most cases the o-ring was forced into the tubing before I got a good seal. I tried the o-rings dry and lubricated, but the problem was the variations in the connectors on the various vessels, not the Blichmann product itself. I kept a few of them for using to connect to the Therminator, and for some accessory tubing in the system as they work well in some cases.

Polysulfone connectors were the next choice as they are able to withstand the high temps, and they can be grabbed even when hot liquid just flowed through them without burning your hands. Luckily my good friend and brewer, Greg Macht had some extra fittings to save the day. Now the brewery has the polysulfone connectors installed and is ready to go.

Hose Clamps - I wanted to use some high quality non-perforated worm-gear hose clamps for ease of disassembly, but found them to be $4 a piece at the local marine supply, and not even the Goodyear/Parker fittings store nad anything better. They only had two, so I had to make the first assembly of the system with common stainless hose clamps from Home Depot that I hate. Of course as I tell everyone, these are piles of crap, and should be avoided for many reasons. The major problem I had this time wasn't damage to the hoses, or uneven pressure, but rather they had so many sharp edges that my hands are still healing a week later from all the cuts I received while just setting up the mockup of the brewery!

I ended up using my all-time favorite Oetiker Stepless Stainless Steel Ear clamps for the final assembly of the hoses. They are always my first choice, and they are not going to slice open my hands! These give a nice even pinch to the hoses and are the best choice.

Hose - I'm currently using Norprene neoprene high-temp hoses from Northern Brewer. These handle the heat really well. Many folks are also using the silicone hose from MoreBeer and other suppliers. The neoprene handles higher pressures, but the silicone has some transparency and is very flexible. Either one works well.
Oetiker stepless ear clamps! Enough said!
Blichmann quick connectors. Good for connecting to the Therminator and other 1/2" pipe connection that has some flat surface on the face for the o-ring to seat well
Polysulfone connectors. Heat resistant and easy to use. Available at many places such as Northern Brewer, McMaster-Carr, and MoreBeer.
Thermoplastic or Neoprene hose. Stands up to boiling temperatures.
March 809 pump
Blichmann Therminator Plate Chiller
This filling device has 1/2" MPT connections to accept the Blichmann quick connectors.
Here is a pic of the latest configuration during the mockup and first boil test.
Email me at Dean_Palmer@jabil.com if you find errors, bullshit, or have questions.