Wort chillers?

Just curious, but don't wort chillers consume A LOT of water to cool the wort? I kinda have a problem with the concept of running water for 10 or more minutes when I could use 2 bags of ice (and thus lots less water). Thanks in advance.

They do, but ice won't chill a full boil very fast at all. I brew outside and run the water into my flower beds. So, not really a waste

just put the outlet end on your sprinkler and water the yard . that way you can put ot to use for two pruposes aty the same time.:cross:

You are definately going to use water, so if you are concerned about conservation the other guys have the right idea.

I wouldn't think it would be much more water than, say, the amount you use in the shower everyday. Might be wrong though, but then again you're probably only going to be using it twice a month at most (unless you really, really love brewing).

Not trying to hi-jack the thread here but I'll chime in on the fact that here in south Florida from January through about July, we are under water restrictions. Most homes in the community I live in have "dual water". Potable treated water provided by the municiple source (like everyone else) and re-use water, this is water that is re-claimed and processed for irrigation and exterior, non-potable usages. Having said that, I would need to chill using house water and my real questions is;

The water here is generally warm (70-85°) in non-winter months, are there any methods of cooling the water so that it's not a wash between a wort chiller and 4 bags of ice in terms of how long it will take to cool?

First of all, if conservation of resources is your goal, making ice consumes a lot of energy.

I also live in a climate where the water reaches above 80° in the summer months. I use the water and went it gets about as low as it will go, I hook up a prechiller with a bag of ice to get it where I need to be.

Since I only brew once a month and my wife runs the washer and dryer at least once a day, I feel like real greenee.

lgtg said:

The water here is generally warm (70-85°) in non-winter months, are there any methods of cooling the water so that it's not a wash between a wort chiller and 4 bags of ice in terms of how long it will take to cool?

Click to expand...

You can make a pre-chiller. It's basically another immersion chiller that cools the water you use before it's used to chill the beer.

here is an idea i have seen used before and I'd like to try it..
not so much to save water but to be able to pump some really cold water through my chiller..

use a submersible aquarium pump similar to this one
http://www.shop.com/op/~Submersible_Pump-prod-43131779-56961632?sourceid=298

to recirculate ice water that is being stored in an cooler through your immersion chiller. (not sure if it would work will with a CFC or not) i imagine that you could cool down 5 gallons might quickly with some ice water..
not to mention they make pumps like this for saltwater aquariums. put some salt in your cooler of ice water and your mixture will get even colder..

anyone done this before? does it work well?

ws

Get a CFC. Your cooling times are cut in half. And, like everyone else, I water the flowers. Even with 80º water, you'll still chill your wort from 220º+ down to 80 in a matter of minutes.

I wonder if Glycol would work circulated through the wort chiller then back into a proper and safe storage device. I know some brewerys that use glycol for all cooling needs.

KopyKat said:

First of all, if conservation of resources is your goal, making ice consumes a lot of energy.

Click to expand...

I'm not debating that, because you're right. It just seems to me that whatever chiller method you use there is a huge consumption of water. If you recirculate water from an ice chilled cooler, then maybe at least you minimize water usage.

Run tap water through the IC for 5 minutes. Even with the tap at 85F, the wort will hit about 110F. From there, switch to a pond pump in a bucket of ice water.
This is the most efficient way. If you try to use icewater only, it's going to take more than a bag. In any case, nothing is free. If you need 3 bags of ice, that's $5+ and a lot more than it would cost for the 30 gallons of water you usually burn in an IC chill. If you argue that you can make your own ice, true but that's a lot of electricity to do so. We usually write that off in our mind because we have a freezer running anyway, but how many people know that putting anything warm in there immediatey starts the $$$$ compressor?