Immersion chillers and frozen outside faucets

I'm brewing a 10 gallon batch this weekend. First time brewing this year in which it will be (and has been) really cold. My outside faucet has the hose disconnected, so it should be fine. But I'm wondering if I could hurt anything by connecting my immersion chiller and using it to chill my wort in the middle of winter. Can the faucet be damaged by the cold or ice?

I always thought that the danger of breaking it was if the hose was connected, and water froze in the faucet it might not have enough room to expand and could rupture. Is there still this risk if I don't leave anything connected to the faucet when not in use?

Brian

Your faucet should be fine as long as you disconnect the hose and shut off the outside faucet when you are done. Do you have a shut off that is inside the house? Normally there is a ball valve just before the outside faucet. That way you can shut that off, and then open your outside faucet to relieve any pressure that might build from the water freezing inside of it.

I wondered the same thing but I think that as long as the pipes inside the house are warm then you should be ok. I have to chill outside as well and used the outside water faucet and hose. I did it a few weeks ago and it was in the 30's here in Denver. I disconnected the hose when I was finished and no problems. water coming out of the hose is moving too fast to freeze. I do not think hose spigots are like sprinkler systems in that they retain water. I could be wrong but so far so good

We don't have an internal shutoff. I'm wondering how these faucets work, because the valve shutoff can't be right under the dial where I turn the water on and off, because that is outside, and the water right behind it would freeze for sure. Maybe I should research how the faucets actually work. My best guess is that the dial on the outside closes a valve somewhere further up the pipe (like a foot or so inside). But that is a total guess.

You will either have a ball valve inside your house like black95tt said, or you will have a frost-free spigot. It's one or the other. You should be fine with the frost-free, but if you have the ball valve, it should be shut off every winter. You leave the outside faucet open and that allows the water to drain out. You want to make sure you do this so you don't damage your pipes. Frost-free requires no maintenance.

Long story short, you will be fine.

I've looked for ball valves before, after my father told me that his old (early 1900's) house employs this method. I could never find any though. So I assume I have Frost Free spigots . Is there any way to tell for sure, like label or something? I'll look for ball valves again before brewing just to make sure I've got this right.

For those that don't know, Frost Free spigots close 8-15" further up the line, and are supposed to be installed in a sloped manner so the residual water will drain out of the faucet after closing the valve. Or so Google tells me.

This past weekend I bought a garden hose to sink adapter and ran my chiller water hose inside to my kitchen sink. I'll use that this winter if I brew anymore. It was very nice cause I then also had Hot water for cleaning. Made me plan on running hot and cold water lines to the garage this spring.

I'd love to be able to do that for piece of mind. But our home's previous owners installed nice faucets on all our sinks that can't connect easily to hoses. Great idea for the hot water for clean up though.

bdnoona said:

I've looked for ball valves before, after my father told me that his old (early 1900's) house employs this method. I could never find any though. So I assume I have Frost Free spigots . Is there any way to tell for sure, like label or something? I'll look for ball valves again before brewing just to make sure I've got this right.

For those that don't know, Frost Free spigots close 8-15" further up the line, and are supposed to be installed in a sloped manner so the residual water will drain out of the faucet after closing the valve. Or so Google tells me.

Click to expand...

Frost free spigots have a plastic cap on the top of it. Underneath that cap is an anti-syphon mechanism that releases the pressure in the line to allow the water to flow back into the house. At least the spigots on my house are of this design...hope this helps.

If you have a washing machine then you have a garden hose connection inside already.

Here is what I did to solve this problem, without having to piss of the wife by running hoses through the house:

Purchase a pond pump (I think a sump pump works too). About $30.00.
Get a rectangular cooler.
- Put the pump inside the cooler.
- Put cold water in the cooler - about 1/2 way up the pump.
- Get some snow from outside and fill to the top of the pump.
- Hook your hose to the top of the pump - this will be the outlet.
- Hook the other side of the hose to your immersion chiller.
- Put the outlet hose of the chiller into your cooler.

When you plug in the pump you'll be recirculating cold water through your immersion chiller. No worries about faucets or messes. It works with things like the Therminator too.

If you don't have snow, get some ice and use that instead.

You'll probably discover that your garden hose if frozen. Water collects in the low spots and freezes. I had to put mine in the bath tub last time to thaw. When I finished brewing, I blew the hoses dry with compressed air.
Good Luck...

If you have a friend that is a plumber and likes beer you could have him put in a hose hook up under the sink.

Although I know this isn't what you're asking...

+1 on the washing machine. Already there. Already waiting for use. Unless you have a washer-dryer stack, or whatever, it should be easy to get to the connection. So easy, unless yours is upstairs like mine. PITA to carry a carboy up and down.

We just finished a nice spell where it was like 18f daytime and 4f at night and I did a couple of brews. My advice is to store the hose somewhere warm ahead. Or, have some sort of plastic storage box (I bought a couple from walmart for like $6 each a year ago as a multi purpose bottle sanitizing racking thingy) full of warm water to thaw the hose during the boil.

At those temps an unheated garage can freeze pet water bowls, but is great for a 2 day cold crash on a finishing bear. I prefer hooking up to the washer connection when possible tho.

HSM said:

If you have a washing machine then you have a garden hose connection inside already.

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This may work great for some, but my washing machine is in the basement on the west side of the house in the far corner and I brew in the garage on the east side of the house . I've thought of adding a Y connector under the sink, but now after brewing once in the cold with hot water available....it's just too awesome.

WillPall said:

Although I know this isn't what you're asking...

+1 on the washing machine. Already there. Already waiting for use. Unless you have a washer-dryer stack, or whatever, it should be easy to get to the connection. So easy, unless yours is upstairs like mine. PITA to carry a carboy up and down.

Click to expand...

This may be my biggest bonehead moment of all time. I never even thought of the washer machine hookup idea. My utility room is right next to my garage (where I boil with garage door open in the winter) and my kitchen.

I filled my bottling bucket with snow and water and put it on top of my fridge. Then I let gravity do the work on my last batch (first one of the year with below freezing temps outside). It took forever because the water flowed so slowly.

The washer machine idea is so simple it could have hit me over the head and I still don't think I would have thought of it. Thanks!