Chilling by the pool

[Demus]

Anyone out there use their pool water to chill their beer? I was thinking a sump pump or a hose attached to the pool pump return could supply my plate chiller. This would also heat the pool a little! Any concerns? Pitfalls?

 

[baulz]

It should work, depending on your pool water temperature. I used hot water from my immersion chiller a couple times to fill the hot tub, it didn't do as much as I expected. But at least it wasn't just getting dumped on the lawn.

 

[Ben58]

I use the pool during the summer as well. Submersible pump - hose - chiller and hose back to pool. Now I am working on an idea for the winter months utilizing an automotive heater core.

 

[day_trippr]

Topic makes me laugh. Somewhere buried in the bowels of this beast we call HBT are some epic pictures of folks who literally floated their kettles in their swimming pools to cool down the wort. If I could find even one I'd at least link it...

Cheers!

 

[craigmw]

This really isn't so crazy. Our pool is hovering in the mid 50s, so I could actually brew some nice lagers and keep them at the perfect temp by just floating the carboys in the pool. But, I would need to keep the light and chlorinated water, leaves, etc out of the fermenters. I guess a big black garbage bag might work for this.

 

[zachattack]

I'd think the chlorinated water would attack the copper chiller, but in the relatively short contact time it might not be a concern.

 

[NTXBrauer]

I did this a few weekends back. Forgot to sanitize the immersion chiller, so I sat my BK on the top step in the pool. The 60 degree water did cool it down, but it took a bit longer than using a chiller.

 

[m3n00b]

Yup!