Cooling wort without running water: HELP

[jcastanon]

Hey everybody,

I recently moved to an all grain system in a buddies garage. It's a great little space except for one thing: there is no way to get running water. No hose. No sink. Not even a rain gutter. Okay maybe there's a rain gutter.

ANYWAYS, I have had trouble with cooling my wort in a timely manner. I have tried an ice bath, but the problem with that is none of my pots fit into a cooler. I also tried putting my wort into my fermentation vessel while it was in an ice bath. That worked... kinda. I did effectively warp my better bottle and it took a couple hours for me to get to a temp where I could pitch my yeast.

An idea that I had was to place my immersion chiller into an ice bath and let the wort flow through that into my fermentation vessel. I figured it could work like a counter flow chiller minus the running water.

I was wondering if anyone has tried this method before or if anyone has any better suggestions.

Thanks in advance and I look forward to responses, ideas, and probably some ridicule.

 

[Vesku]

I've been thinking to use an old dehumidifier to cool water and then use the cold water and CFC to cool the wort. If you could get a powerful enough air conditioner you could run the gas straight on to the CFC. A plenty of Chinese manufactures to choose CFC's from. Or if you can find an old ice making machine.....

Take a look at this thread to get some ideas: http://ecorenovator.org/forum/geothermal-heat-pumps/484-homemade-heat-pump-manifesto.html

 

[BayerischBier]

if you have no hose etc in reach, how do you get water, as the main ingredient of beer, to the garage?
How far is the garage from the next water source?
You could run a long hose for fresh water and then just attach a run-off hose to the chiller and get the used water into the backyard etc.

 

[Bradyfumbled]

I have a small submersible pond-pump that I toss into a bucket of ice water and attach it to my wort chiller. I then recirculate cold water into my immersion chiller. That would be an easy way to deal with your problem, if you don't want don't want to deal with pumping the actual wort. Just have to lug a cooler full of water to the garage.

 

[discooby]

I liked your original idea of recirculating the wort in an immersion chiller put into an ice bath… obviously you’d have to run sanitizer in the chiller. More beers new brew rigs use something similar for step mashing (just the opposite). I have a 50’ copper iwc and always try to get as much water out as possible but know there’s still some in it when it gets put away… I’d be reluctant to run my wort through it.

I go with pond pump in ice bath.

 

[djt17]

I have "no chilled" my last 6 batches. It works good. The Aussies have been doing this for years. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/exploring-no-chill-brewing-117111/

 

[JonM]

Take a bucket and attach a hose bib to that. Run a hose from that to a pump, and pump the water into the chiller. Recirculate from the output back into the bucket. Add ice or snow to the bucket as needed.

 

[jcastanon]

I use those 5 gallon bottles of distilled water from Walmart.

 

[cfrazier77]

I have "no chilled" my last 6 batches. It works good. The Aussies have been doing this for years. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/exploring-no-chill-brewing-117111/

I was going to recommend this but got beat. I have been wanting to try this myself.

 

[kaboom133]

I would imagine your idea with the IC would work just as well as a CFC as long as you had enough ice to keep the water around the chiller cool. Either pump it through or elevate your kettle enough to get a good siphon through it. I siphon my wort through a CFC and it comes out the other side at about 65 degrees.

 

[AnchorBock]

Take a bucket and attach a hose bib to that. Run a hose from that to a pump, and pump the water into the chiller. Recirculate from the output back into the bucket. Add ice or snow to the bucket as needed.

Would a pond pump work in a cold garage? Like MN in the winter cold (detached unheated garage)?

 

[Adamski]

I second the no-chill method. Don't know why more people in the US aren't getting on board. We've got it pretty nutted out here in Aus. Some people are even doing 100% cube-hopped beers with no boiled hops. The hot wort sits above isomerisation temp for a fair while so having the hops in the cube gives you bitterness, flavour and aroma all in one addition.

 

[discooby]

...having the hops in the cube gives you bitterness, flavour and aroma all in one addition.

Is that Australian for pellet hops?

 

[JonM]

Would a pond pump work in a cold garage? Like MN in the winter cold (detached unheated garage)?

Probably - this isnt anything that'll be touching the wort, so it doesn't need to be food grade, etc.

 

[AnchorBock]

Probably - this isnt anything that'll be touching the wort, so it doesn't need to be food grade, etc.

Right, just wasn't sure how a pond pump would do with ice cold water and below freezing ambient temperatures. I was thinking about it more and believe that some people up here run ponds year round, I'll look into that a bit and see what they're using for pumps. I'm getting sick of carrying a kettle from the garage down to the basement to chill the wort...

 

[Huaco]

You are in 'The Springs' man. You have electricity right?
The day prior to brewday, go fill up several buckets or even a HUGE ice chest with water. Even if you have to carry 5 gallon buckets out to it. leave the ice chest lid open and let the cold nights chill the water for you. The morning of brewday, shut the lid of the ice chest to retain the cold. Brew your beer... Attach submersible pump to an immersion chiller. Pump the chilled water through the IC. Bingo.

 

[Adamski]

Is that Australian for pellet hops?

No.

Cube

That is an HDPE 'cube' as we use for the no-chill method.

You can do a normal 60 minute or 90 minute boil without any hops at all, put about 200g of pellets/flowers into the cube and then transfer the boiled wort in on top, squeeze the air out and tighten down the cap. The boiling wort pasteurises the cube and due to the temp remaining over 85 degrees C for an hour or so you get utilisation of the hops. The only water you use in this wort chilling method is cleaning water with PBW for the cube and a Starsan rinse.

Here's another article on the process here.

 

[jknapp12105]

Hey everybody,

I recently moved to an all grain system in a buddies garage. It's a great little space except for one thing: there is no way to get running water. No hose. No sink. Not even a rain gutter. Okay maybe there's a rain gutter.

ANYWAYS, I have had trouble with cooling my wort in a timely manner. I have tried an ice bath, but the problem with that is none of my pots fit into a cooler. I also tried putting my wort into my fermentation vessel while it was in an ice bath. That worked... kinda. I did effectively warp my better bottle and it took a couple hours for me to get to a temp where I could pitch my yeast.

An idea that I had was to place my immersion chiller into an ice bath and let the wort flow through that into my fermentation vessel. I figured it could work like a counter flow chiller minus the running water.

I was wondering if anyone has tried this method before or if anyone has any better suggestions.

Thanks in advance and I look forward to responses, ideas, and probably some ridicule.

Buy a horse trough & use that to put your pot in to cool your wort. My 10 gal pot fits great in one with ALOT of room for ice. Just a cheap and easy solution

 

[ToV]

Many good suggestions have been posted. I think whatever method is used you will need a pump. I remember using a counterflow without a pump (kind of like using an immersion chiller as you describe) and without a large drop it will take forever. Recirculating ice water through the chiller would allow you to use a non-food grade pump.

Still it seems that the simplest way would be to get a couple long hoses and run water from a faucet out the the garage and then away again.

Or you could do what I did when I was propane brewing outside and my CFC clogged.

 

[tasq]

Many good suggestions have been posted. I think whatever method is used you will need a pump. I remember using a counterflow without a pump (kind of like using an immersion chiller as you describe) and without a large drop it will take forever. Recirculating ice water through the chiller would allow you to use a non-food grade pump.

Still it seems that the simplest way would be to get a couple long hoses and run water from a faucet out the the garage and then away again.

Or you could do what I did when I was propane brewing outside and my CFC clogged.

Snow is an insulator. You slowed the chill down by doing that.

 

[Aa760]

Can somebody post a link to an affordable, workable pump that they use to run ice water through their IC to chill it? I have seen 20 dollar numbers to $80, and don't want to over or underspend. I thought I saw a link for one that was around 40 around here somewhere, but can't seem to find it now.

 

[Huaco]

your best bet would be to get a sump pump. that way, you can set up a carboy washer as well as use it to pump chilled water for chilling your wort.

 

[bribo179]

I no chill and use corny kegs instead of cubes. Works great.

 

[bribo179]

I also use real wort starters since I pitch a day or 2 later!

 

[Aa760]

your best bet would be to get a sump pump. that way, you can set up a carboy washer as well as use it to pump chilled water for chilling your wort.

Like this?

http://www.amazon.com/Wel-Bilt-Submersible-Pump-21-13-1in/dp/B0000AX09E/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=TUF8GJI3AV41&coliid=I3NWKYIN1BJHU5

 

[Huaco]

Actually I would go with THIS pump.
It is only a few bucks more and it is a trusted brand. Plus, quite a bit stronger.
Use it to push the chilled water like you want to do and then follow this thread for instructions on building a carboy/keg cleaner.

 

[Aa760]

Sweet! That is actually the one I bought, since I had free shipping for it on prime. And thanks for the carboy washer tip- will have to work that up on the next project!

 

[Aa760]

Just wanted to share how stoked I am on the pump setup to cool wort- no more flooding the backyard or running the garden hose in the house. Did ground water until 110, then ice water to get the rest of the way. Still took about an hour, but went through a fraction of the water. Next time, I will go grab a bag of ice from the store before starting the chill and I should be able to get there faster. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

 

[Huaco]

Dang! You got that pump FAST!

 

[Aa760]

Seriously! I was surprised. It showed up in the afternoon while I was heating water for a post Christmas brew! I figured, ok then, let's break it in! Worked great! Thanks!