Wort Chiller Water

Williams 728
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BoisePorter

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After seeing several postings today regarding wort chiller, I'm finally going to ask those that have chillers this:

What do you do with the water you run through the chiller?

In the summer, I could see possibly running it out onto your yard or garden or whatever. But in winter? That's a no go (unless you live in the south). I'm guessing if you run it for 15+ minutes, you're going through quite a few gallons. I certainly don't have a place to store that water, and definitely don't want to send it down the drain.
 
Unfortunatly I waste it and run it back into the sink during the winter. Someone I know uses it to fill up his washing machine to watch clothes with :)
 
I have yet to use my chiller during the winter for the very concern you have expressed. When I do brew I under up filling a rubbermaid tote up with water to do my clean up. I have seen somewhere on here a thread that someone posted about running their wort chiller water into a tote and using the now warm water to do the clean up of the brew day. I am leaning towards this strategy if I do use the wort chiller this winter. At the moment I have just used an ice water bath (using same said tote) to chill my wort.
 
I fill up my MLT (10 gal Cooler) with about 9 gal of water. Pump that through my IC and into my HLT until I have about 2 gal left in the MLT. Then I add ice to the MLT and recirc that into my IC untill pitch temp is hit. I use the water in my HLT to clean equipment and then use what I have left in the MLT to fill up milk/water jugs to freeze for the next brew.
 
I recirculate the water! I have a small electric submersible pump [Northern Tool has got them quite cheap] that I put into a 6 gallon plastic bucket. I dump about 3 gallons of water into the bucket, connect my water supply line from the chiller and run the return line back into the bucket. Plug the pump in, and chilling begins. When the water warms, I begin to dump in ice or...in winter...snow! As that warms, I dump in more ice and/or snow until my wort is under 100°F. Works slick! And then, I frequently use some of that water to water the indoor house plants.

glenn514:mug:
 
I let the water run down the drain. I use more water when I shower! My chiller is only 1/4" dia copper tubing that I made. It doesn't use that much water.
 
BoisePorter said:
Any guesses on how many quarts or gallons you run through when cooling the wort?
Click to expand...

I could easily go through about 25-30gal.. But that also depends on your chiller. I use a 25' 1/2" IC. It is a complete waste that's always bugged me.
I try to fill a bucket or two with the first hot runoff for cleanup, then the rest I have nothing more I can do but let it go to waste.

If I had a second IC though, I would probably consider recirculating it through some ice first to cool it down faster and in theory use less water.
 
Haven't used a chiller yet, but hoping to get one soon. My thinking is that I'll likely just end up sacrificing a shower for that day to make up for using the chiller. Brew days are usually sundays - so I'm home and not expecting to really go out anywhere at night. A heavy application of deodorant will do.
 
bonzombiekitty said:
Haven't used a chiller yet, but hoping to get one soon. My thinking is that I'll likely just end up sacrificing a shower for that day to make up for using the chiller. Brew days are usually sundays - so I'm home and not expecting to really go out anywhere at night. A heavy application of deodorant will do.
Click to expand...

LOL... interesting way to look at it I suppose.
Or you could always go the route of not flushing if it's just pee for the day... lol
 
37OliveStBrews said:
I have yet to use my chiller during the winter for the very concern you have expressed. When I do brew I under up filling a rubbermaid tote up with water to do my clean up. I have seen somewhere on here a thread that someone posted about running their wort chiller water into a tote and using the now warm water to do the clean up of the brew day. I am leaning towards this strategy if I do use the wort chiller this winter. At the moment I have just used an ice water bath (using same said tote) to chill my wort.
Click to expand...

Yeah this is what I do (if I remember). I take the first 5 gallons and use it to fill my carboy for sanitizing. Whatever is left I use to clean other stuff like the mash tun.
 
I want to make my own wort chiller. My issue that I'm having is it is 10F degrees out right now, so I obviously can't use my external hose spigot. My kitchen faucet and bathroom faucet won't work, as it doesn't have hose spigot connections on them.

Does everyone basically use there laundry/utility sink? My utility sink has a VERY old faucet that won't hook up to a hose adapter.

I think my only option is to disconnect my laundry machines cold supply, hook up my wort chiller to supply and then reconnect laundry after chilling.

Can I just close the valve to the cold supply, and disconnect the hose? I'm guessing a lot of water will be in the laundry hose and will get all over the place.

I'm such a noob
 
idigg said:
I want to make my own wort chiller. My issue that I'm having is it is 10F degrees out right now, so I obviously can't use my external hose spigot. My kitchen faucet and bathroom faucet won't work, as it doesn't have hose spigot connections on them.

Does everyone basically use there laundry/utility sink? My utility sink has a VERY old faucet that won't hook up to a hose adapter.

I think my only option is to disconnect my laundry machines cold supply, hook up my wort chiller to supply and then reconnect laundry after chilling.

Can I just close the valve to the cold supply, and disconnect the hose? I'm guessing a lot of water will be in the laundry hose and will get all over the place.

I'm such a noob
Click to expand...

You can go to a hardware store and get an adapter. Same adapter would work for a bottle washer if you used one of those also.
 

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