Frozen Spigot Blues

I knew this would happen. My water supply is frozen. I have always gotten my water directly from my well in the basement in the Winter. But, now that we have moved, I have a town water supply and I get it from the outside spigot. Last night I filled the HLT (temps hovered around the mid 30's for the day), and didn't think to empty the spigot line before heading off to bed. So, mashed in this morning and then went to refill the HLT, no dice. Frozen. I am hoping that when it comes time to use my Immersion chiller in about 6 hours that the temps will rise enough to thaw it out. If not, it's going to be a natural cooling process outside for 12 gallons of Wort . The mere thought of it scares me. If it comes to that, I'll have to keep it covered and maybe even use paper towels/rubbing alcohol along the edges of the tun.


I'm going to have to figure something out for my next batch. I'm thinking of getting a plumber over here and having a Spigot placed inside my garage which normally doesn't get below 45 degrees. Wish me LUCK!!!

I use a small pond pump in an ice water bath because I run into the same problem in the winter.

Either do a no chill brew, or fill up a big rubbermaid bin with Ice/Snow/Salt/Water and pop your kettle in there to cool. Stir up both the wort and the water mix that should get it down to pitching temps pretty quickly.

Just pour some boiling water over the spigot. Done.

Thanks for the ideas mah Bruddahs!!! :rockin: As far as the Put Water in a Large tupperware container and immerse the boil tun in it, not gonna happen. I brew alone, and I'm all set with picking up 12 gallons of Boiling Wort to place it in an Ice Bath. Of the very few brewing accidents I have had, one of them involved a no socks/sandals and gallon of Boiling water on the foot spillage deal. Not pretty. As far as the boiling water on the spigot, that's what I was planning on doing after I thought about the situation a little more. Looks like I'll be alright though. We're having a heat wave here and the temps are up into the lower 40's. Just checked, and sure as poop, I have flowing water. YESSUH!!!