wort chillers as waste of water??

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markiemark

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Anyone know of any environmentally friendly ways of using a wort chiller (the copper ones that you run tap water through)? Just finished brewing and that is A LOT of water going down the drain. I kept refilling a spare 5 gallon bucket and dumping it into the yard so it at least waters the lawn! But beyond that, anyone have any clever ideas???
 
Whirlpool
Run it slower. If the wastewater is cool coming out you're wasting a lot of water.
Reuse water for cleaning equipment.
Use it for a load of laundry.
 
You can try to recycle it through the chiller with an ice bath (to recool) and a pump to recycle it back through. I don't but just a thought.

Other than watering lawn the really only other uses would be cleaning or general water use (bathing...kinda sponge bath) since you don't want to consume that water or brew with it as people have mentioned off flavours that come out wig hose water
 
markiemark said:
Anyone know of any environmentally friendly ways of using a wort chiller (the copper ones that you run tap water through)? Just finished brewing and that is A LOT of water going down the drain. I kept refilling a spare 5 gallon bucket and dumping it into the yard so it at least waters the lawn! But beyond that, anyone have any clever ideas???
Click to expand...
Yes. You can use a bunch of it for wash up of your equipment. You can also install rain catchment vessels to help salve your green *ss conscience.....:D
 
I use mine to fill my clothes washer and wash/rinse off equipment.
 
Combine it with an ice bath and as it comes down pump the bath through it to reduce the amount of water you need to hit your target temp. Also, run the water off into a garbage can or buckets or whatever so you can use it for cleaning. After all it will be hot and ready to go.

It is just water. You can do whatever you want with it though really. Water your garden, wash your clothes, fill the tub and wash the dog, whatever.
 
As someone mentioned, get a secondary 5 gal pail, a cheap liquid pump (pet stores have them in the fish section), and a bunch of ice... Recirculation system.

If you don't wanna waste water/ice, use water frozen in gatorade bottles (or something of the likes) for ice cubes.

You're always going to have some waste.. But water is cheap and renewable.
 
I will use about 30-35 gallons of what starts out as 55F well water to chill a batch of beer to <70F. There's not much that can be done about that. I pour the water on bushes, hop plants, or anything else that needs watering, but the best thing I could probably do is to introduce a recirculation system. We have an old cistern in which the water is going to be about ground ambient (55F), and I could just put a submersible pump into the cistern, pump the water through the chiller and have the outflow routed back into the cistern. Certainly a workable system, with minimal investment and no waste water.
 
Beer making in general is a pretty wasteful process. If I'm remembering my numbers correctly, commercial brewers have to have a damn good process to down to even 6bbl of water to produce 1bbl of beer
 
I've mentioned this before, but why do people worry so much about "wasting" water? Of all the water usage in the US only 1% of the total is attributed to households.

I would be more worried about wasting water and what it does to my wallet.
 
I don't waste any water. I put a pvc female hose adapter onto the discharge line of my pool pump and all the water I use just goes right back into the pool. Then I recirculate cold water with a cheap immersion pump.
 
SPLASTiK said:
Whirlpool
Run it slower. If the wastewater is cool coming out you're wasting a lot of water.
Reuse water for cleaning equipment.
Use it for a load of laundry.
Click to expand...

That's what I do, I have a copper coil b/t the water sorce and IMC once I hit ~80 F I drop it in a ice buckit gets me to 65F from boil in 15-20 min.
 
SPLASTiK said:
Run it slower. If the wastewater is cool coming out you're wasting a lot of water.
Click to expand...

+1

Every time chilling comes up people seem to think the faster the water goes through the chiller the better it cools when in fact if the water is not in the chiller long enough to get heat transfer it is being wasted.

I have a 10 gallon mash tun and I run my chiller outlet into the outlet of the tun at about .5 gallons a minute to rinse the tun and cool the wort in about 20 minutes. What runs out of the tun goes into the flower bed.
 
SwampassJ said:
I don't waste any water. I put a pvc female hose adapter onto the discharge line of my pool pump and all the water I use just goes right back into the pool. Then I recirculate cold water with a cheap immersion pump.
Click to expand...

Same here. I drop a submersible aquarium pump into the pool, and return to pool.

Winter pool temps work great, but in the summer it only get the wort down to about 80.
 
SwampassJ said:
I don't waste any water.
Click to expand...

I call Shenanigans!

Do you shut off the faucet while brushing your teeth?

Do you shut off the shower when soaping and shampooing?

Do you rinse your dishes in a tub or under the running water?

Do you ever wash your car?

Do you ever hose down the porch?

All of these things 'waste' water.

B
 
I'm having a little difficulty with the concept of wasting water. I hear about it more and more but perhaps someone could help me understand the step where the water is wasted. The following is my understanding of how water is used, feel free to correct me if someone can.

Step 1 : Water comes out of ground/out of lake
Step 2 : Water is momentarilly sequestered in beer/sink/plumbing appliance/bladder
Step 3 : Water is returned to ground/lake

I get how energy is consumed in the process, but the water doesn't really seem to go anywhere. Perhaps I'm just getting a little testy because the media is now on a kick telling me that one pound of beef or one cotton t-shirt 'consumes' x amount of water, but can't seem to grasp the concept of the water cycle.

Sorry if this is went a little off topic, but in response to the OP, using the water (and heat) from the cooler in a second process in your home (ie laundry) is a good idea. It helps to save energy and money, but i wouldn't worry about the water, it will be fine regardless.
 
bad coffee said:
I call Shenanigans!

Do you shut off the faucet while brushing your teeth?

Do you shut off the shower when soaping and shampooing?

Do you rinse your dishes in a tub or under the running water?

Do you ever wash your car?

Do you ever hose down the porch?

All of these things 'waste' water.

B
Click to expand...

I don't brush.

I don't shower.

I eat from the can of hormel chili.

My car changes colors, I like it.

I use your house when you're not home.

I wish I was as constructive and useless in this post as you.
 
bad coffee said:
I call Shenanigans!

Do you shut off the faucet while brushing your teeth?

Do you shut off the shower when soaping and shampooing?

Do you rinse your dishes in a tub or under the running water?

Do you ever wash your car?

Do you ever hose down the porch?

All of these things 'waste' water.

B
Click to expand...

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I live in Michigan. When I CFC my wort, I don't worry about taking water out of the ground. I worry about putting MORE water in the the already saturated ground. My basement leaks plenty thank you very much.

However, in some areas, ground water is precious. When you take some out to chill your wort, then put it right back on the ground, it can evaporate into the air. This is not bad per se, but it does take water away from those who could use it for drinking and other 'necessities'. It will eventually get back into the ground as long as it is not being used faster than the water cycle can return it. And of course much depends on the weather systems.

Running a few gallons into the ground is nothing compared to the large factory down the road using many many thousands of gallons (or more).

Then again, there is no good reason not to reuse your water if it's possible.
 
::stepping on soapbox::

The big issue with water usage is that the available sources of clean fresh water are being depleted faster than nature can recharge them. It takes a long time for water to percolate through the ground back into an aquifer for instance. The issue isn't the water balance itself as clearly the water must go somewhere, but the fact that GOOD water is running out faster than it is being replenished.

::stepping off soapbox::
 
Ice isn't really a "responsible" alternative to using larger volumes of water in that the method of making ice (short of chipping it off of something during the winter in the North) is equally ecologically or even economically inefficient.
 
Bobby_M said:
Ice isn't really a "responsible" alternative to using larger volumes of water in that the method of making ice (short of chipping it off of something during the winter in the North) is equally ecologically or even economically inefficient.
Click to expand...

Very true Bobby. When you account for the energy to make, package, keep, and transport ice - you're better off watching that 20-30 gallons go down the drain.

Me? I have three 15-gallon tubs that I fill with water during chilling with my CFC. I use it for 1) clean-up, 2) watering plants, 3) tomorrow's cleaning and sanitizing base if I'm bottling or something the next day.
 
I don't feel that I'm wasting anything using a tub of ice. The ice maker is already on and the freezer is already on. I just dump the ice bin into a bigger bucket every couple days until the big bucket is full and ready for brew day.

As for water waste. I live in a desert our water gets pumped in so yes there is a very finite amount of it and it can get expensive. Conservation is a real thing here.
 
The fault in that logic is that the same energy would be used if you used the ice or don't. It takes much more energy to make ice than it does to keep ice frozen. When you take the ice, the freezer makes more (which takes energy). Water sitting in the trays adds heat to the freezer and the compressor comes on when it wouldn't have previously.

The most important thing in my mind is to make sure chilling wort isn't the last use before it gets evaporated. If the output goes down the driveway into the street, it's gone. If you at least hold onto it for some night time plant watering or dump it into the washing machine, it's water that you would have used directly out of the tap anyway. As far as I'm concerned, brewing with it was one extra use.
 
I've thought about this too. One of the reason's I haven't bought a chiller yet. Been contemplating the ice bath thing though.
 
I used a chiller for the first time a couple weeks ago on a ten gallon batch and I used a TON of water. It's not reasonable to use the water for a bath (am I going to bathe immediately just for the sake of not "wasting" the water?) or a load of laundry since I have an HE washer that uses very little water as it is. It was a bummer to see that much water go out into a lawn that is watered just fine. I guess the best I can do is use it to clean the equipment.
 
cklages said:
I'm having a little difficulty with the concept of wasting water. I hear about it more and more but perhaps someone could help me understand the step where the water is wasted. The following is my understanding of how water is used, feel free to correct me if someone can.

Step 1 : Water comes out of ground/out of lake
Step 2 : Water is momentarilly sequestered in beer/sink/plumbing appliance/bladder
Step 3 : Water is returned to ground/lake

I get how energy is consumed in the process, but the water doesn't really seem to go anywhere. Perhaps I'm just getting a little testy because the media is now on a kick telling me that one pound of beef or one cotton t-shirt 'consumes' x amount of water, but can't seem to grasp the concept of the water cycle.

Sorry if this is went a little off topic, but in response to the OP, using the water (and heat) from the cooler in a second process in your home (ie laundry) is a good idea. It helps to save energy and money, but i wouldn't worry about the water, it will be fine regardless.
Click to expand...

At its most basic form, your 3 step plan makes sense. However, it's not always that simple (especially step 3). For example, water that you dump into your lawn isn't immediately returned to the water system. Water that goes down the drain gets treated and is generally returned to the source right away.

So, I guess the term "wasting water" could be thought of two ways. One being that your chiller water goes down the drain, so you don't get any use out of it other than to cool your beer, and you're wasting money on your water bill. The other is that you dump your chiller water on the lawn which benefits you, but that takes longer before that water is usable again in the water system.

An interesting article I read recently that kind of talks about this:

http://www.slate.com/id/2268920/
 
We collect rainwater off our roof. When my 60 gallon barrells are full I can attach my chiller to them and use the rain water to chill my wort. Once the water runs through the chiller, I drain it right back into the same barrell to reuse on the plants or save for a future brew.
 
NorCalAngler said:
I used a chiller for the first time a couple weeks ago on a ten gallon batch and I used a TON of water. It's not reasonable to use the water for a bath (am I going to bathe immediately just for the sake of not "wasting" the water?) or a load of laundry since I have an HE washer that uses very little water as it is. It was a bummer to see that much water go out into a lawn that is watered just fine. I guess the best I can do is use it to clean the equipment.
Click to expand...

It's not that you are using a finite resource, it is that you are using a portion of the maximum water treatment capacity. Generally, unless you live in a drought region (I.e. The southwest) it is really not that big of a deal.
 
When I remember it goes into the washing machine. Lately when I brew (which I haven't gotten to do much) I go no-chill, faster and cheaper.
 
I am another one who puts the water into a large rubbermaid tub with some ice and recycles it through using a pond pump. When I am done, I put it into the bathtub (with the carboy) to keep my fermentation temps down. Works well for us :)
 
Baldy_Beer_Brewery said:
+1

Every time chilling comes up people seem to think the faster the water goes through the chiller the better it cools when in fact if the water is not in the chiller long enough to get heat transfer it is being wasted.
Click to expand...

People think that because it is true. The faster the water gets through the chiller, the greater the delta T in the coils relative to wort temp and the faster the chilling. In terms of water usage it isn't efficient but it definitely chills faster.

But there is a point where running water so fast that any incremental increase in cooling rate by flowing water through faster is overshadowed by the excessive waste of water. On the contrary, running too slowly will cause water to warm so much that you are losing all cooling power on the last few coils of your chiller while slowing cooling rate and not saving any water.
 
Certain sections of the country experience these funny things called droughts. My ground water seems to be cold enough for me to have enough to do a large load of laundry and have just enough left over water to clean all the equipment.
 
steinsato said:
We collect rainwater off our roof. When my 60 gallon barrells are full I can attach my chiller to them and use the rain water to chill my wort. Once the water runs through the chiller, I drain it right back into the same barrell to reuse on the plants or save for a future brew.
Click to expand...

I've warned people against this until I'm blue in the face. Rainwater collected off a roof with shingles is INCREDIBLY toxic. You can't even put in compost. For your sake I hope you have a ceramic tile or metal roof. Even then it's risky. Raccoons carry some really nasty parasites.

If you want to save water, do a recirculating pump or better yet No Chill.
 

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