Central TX brewers: drought stopping you?

[slim chillingsworth]

austin has just enacted stage 2 water restrictions. i'm starting to worry that my brewing so regularly (every two weeks) is unethical, and considering cutting back.

i already don't water my lawn or most of my plants, and don't own a car to wash, so maybe i'm justified in using my ration for beer? it's still frivolous, to some extent, but it's also one of the most important hobbies i have.

any thoughts?

 

[IrregularPulse]

Catch your chilling water to use for next sessions brew water.

 

[Austin_]

Didn't No-Chill brewing evolve from water restrictions in Australia?

 

[Homercidal]

I think you can use the water carefully and still continue to brew, but do you NEED to brew that often? Of course, no chill is an option too. Or maybe even going from beer to say, mead, or something for the dry periods.

 

[user 30639]

Not yet...but I only brew about once every six weeks.

 

[GoldMiner]

Stop bathing.

 

[tcklord]

You probably still use less water than it would take for them to produce and ship you BMC. So I say go ahead and keep brewing! Although I would look into no chill if water were an issue up here.

 

[pretzelb]

I thought I was the only one that felt a bit guilty about water consumption with this hobby. Glad I'm not alone.

I just try to conserve as best I can. I try to reuse sanitary solutions as much as possible and I chill in the same cooler that I'm using to ferment so that water is reused. Anything I need to throw out I try to use to keep the foundation watered (we aren't rationed yet).

 

[AnonyBrew]

As far as I know the restrictions are for watering your lawn with sprinklers, not for other uses. I have not seen where it says you cannot wash your car or hand water, etc.

I also brew every other week & have no intention to stop at this time. I also recirculate my chilling water in a cooler of ice since our tap is over 80F.

 

[slim chillingsworth]

As far as I know the restrictions are for watering your lawn with sprinklers, not for other uses. I have not seen where it says you cannot wash your car or hand water, etc.

stage 2 began monday

Outdoor irrigation is prohibited except on assigned days at designated times (see once-per-week schedule below)
Golf fairway irrigation is limited to assigned days before 10 a.m. and after 7 p.m.
Golf tee and green irrigation is limited to every other day
Vehicle washing is limited to designated days and times, with a hand-held bucket or a positive shut-off nozzle on a hose*
A person may not conduct or participate in a charity car wash
The use of outdoor ornamental fountains is prohibited except to provide aeration for aquatic life
A person may not fill, refill, or add water to an indoor fountain
No automatic fill valves are allowed for pools or ponds
Washing of sidewalks, driveways, parking areas, patios or other paved surfaces is prohibited*
A restaurant may not serve water to a customer unless requested by the customer

 

[LoneOakDesign]

I recirculate my chill water and keep it. I use about half with oxyclean for cleanup and the rest to rinse the oxyclean off. Works for me.

 

[shortyjacobs]

A restaurant may not serve water to a customer unless requested by the customer

Wow, now that's some intense water conservation!

 

[dogbar]

I just use the cooling water to keep alive the plants I have to water anyway. The only net is all the water for cleaning, sanitizing, etc., which isn't insubstantial, of course.

 

[AnonyBrew]

stage 2 began monday

Does that count for Pflugerville?

 

[PortageeExpress]

My last batch was no chill, but that's more due to the pain of getting wort to pitching temps, rather than having to do with the water restrictions.

My lawn is mostly dead, and I wash my truck about once a year. I don't feel guilty nor unethical for brewing on a normal schedule during water restrictions.

 

[KopyKat]

My last batch was no chill, but that's more due to the pain of getting wort to pitching temps, rather than having to do with the water restrictions.

My lawn is mostly dead, and I wash my truck about once a year. I don't feel guilty nor unethical for brewing on a normal schedule during water restrictions.

My last 6 batches have been "no chill" to cut time off my brew day in the hot summer days. I may just use that as my standard since the beer is just as good.

My small patch of lawn is also dead and I never wash my truck. (if I approached it with a bucket of soapy water it would probably run off and never come back)

No guilt here either.

 

[ChickenSoop]

Cooling my beer uses less water than a shower. 20 minutes and turn down the flow to 25%. Running water slow through the cooler - it still adsorbs the heat. Using low flow probably doesn't take much more time than using full flow.

The efficiency of this simple cooling coil probably depends more in the inlet temperature, than on the flowrate. Slow the flow to 25%, and the water will have more time to adsorb the heatload.

 

[Arkador]

Thankfully there are no restrictions here in Fort Worth!!!

 

[slim chillingsworth]

I just use the cooling water to keep alive the plants I have to water anyway. The only net is all the water for cleaning, sanitizing, etc., which isn't insubstantial, of course.

and of course the 10 gallons or so it takes to make a batch of beer.

 

[Saccharomyces]

As far as I know the restrictions are for watering your lawn with sprinklers, not for other uses. I have not seen where it says you cannot wash your car or hand water, etc.

LCRA stage 2 water restrictions prohibit washing your car, filling swimming pools, or watering 'landscaped areas' except on designated watering days before 10am or after 7pm. Washing of paved areas is prohibited. Hand watering is allowed.

I reclaim as much chilling water as possible for cleaning, and I have switched to using a pond pump with ice for the second stage of chilling (after the wort gets down to 100*F).

Yes Pflugerville is included, the restrictions are from LCRA which is our (and the whole Austin area's) water source.

 

[david_42]

Golf fairway irrigation is limited to assigned days before 10 a.m. and after 7 p.m.
Golf tee and green irrigation is limited to every other day

So, you really don't have a water problem. In the the last three places I've lived, golf courses were not allowed to use potable water, just recycled/treated waste water.

If they can water the golf courses, you can brew.

 

[kerklein2]

The difference being that golf courses are a significant source of income for the city and telling a business that they can no longer operate their business is not a good idea. I'm also guessing that the water they use is not the same water that we drink. Probably just straight from the Colorado and not treated.

 

[rico567]

Wow, now that's some intense water conservation!

+1 The list is a joke. What, saving money on drinking water and INDOOR FOUNTAINS (there's some really heavy water use, right there- wonder whether I could count all the indoor fountains in Austin on the fingers of one hand....), but they still allow irrigation of mother-loving GOLF COURSES!!!

This is just like noise abatement regulations at airports. Landing and takeoff at John Wayne Airport (Santa Ana, CA) has to use extreme angles of descent and takeoff so as not to be too loud over the houses of all the rich, entitled white people in Newport Beach. If the traffic patterns went over the barrios of East L.A., they wouldn't care whether the planes left tire tracks on the roofs of people's houses. Same principle here.

Ya lost me with "golf"......BREW ON!!!

 

[MarsColonist]

Ive got a couple rain barrels I keep to dump my cooling water... crack it open at night to water the garden... I heard the other day that Lake Travis is only 40% full. Wow. I had no idea it was that low. Ill be brewing the next 10gals on Saturday... T-storm brewday!

 

[godofcheese]

Not yet...but I only brew about once every six weeks.

Same boat here.

But over here we finally got some rain. Lets hope its a wet winter!

 

[Dr_Deathweed]

I brew every 6 weeks as well, but will probably brew 20-30 gallons at a time. I do all my brewing and clean up in the yard, so all water goes back into the ground and none down the drain. I dont count the water that goes into the beer, because its about the same as you pouring a glass of water from the tap each night, who cares if you just got all your "drinking water" for a couple weeks at once.

The output of my cfc has a sprinkler head on it, so early mornings/evenings I use it to water my (dead) lawn. If I am brewing in the afternoon, I have gone no-chill latley since I dont want to be in the sun any longer than I need to be

 

[Sedge]

Stop bathing.

You jest, but this might actually be a viable option. A 5 minute shower typically uses more than 5 gallons of water, depending on shower head. Skipping a day per week should yield enough for a brew day without changing your usage as the municipality sees it.

Before anyone asks, yes I do bathe regularly.

 

[Rick500]

I use the water that goes through my immersion chiller, for washing clothes. I just catch it and pour it into the washing machine.

The water actually used in the beer... well, if it's for consumption, it's not wasted as far as I'm concerned.

 

[slim chillingsworth]

i decided to bring this up with a regular customer where i work who works for the city water company (in some respect or another, i'm not sure what he does exactly). he told me not to worry about it. he said that the people they are worried about are wasting thousands of gallons, and i'm justified in using the water for something that is not a waste.

it put some of my worries to rest, but i'm still of the opinion that others being more wasteful doesn't justify my using more than i need. hopefully things don't get much worse.

and for the record i already bathe a good deal less than most people, but that's just because i think most people bathe wayyyy more than necessary.

 

[slim chillingsworth]

this is by far the most useful and clever suggestion of the thread, in my opion:

I use the water that goes through my immersion chiller, for washing clothes. I just catch it and pour it into the washing machine.