Immersion Chiller Water During Winter

[Hwk-I-St8]

My first winter of brewing is rapidly approaching and I still haven't solved the problem of a water source and disposal for my immersion chiller. I usually just connect a hose and let it drain to the driveway, but that's not going to work in sub-freezing temps.

I'm thinking about buying a cheap pond pump and pumping water through the chiller, but I'm not sure how to handle the source and collection. Will a couple 5 gallon buckets work?

I'm curious what others are doing, what tips or tricks you have and any process suggestions. I've got a brew weekend coming up and, while I could reasonably use a hose and drain to the driveway for this brew, it might be a good opportunity for a dry run of the "winter process" where I can revert to my usual process if something goes awry.

Advice?

 

[GPP33]

I've got a pond pump from Harbor Freight that'll I'll employ if it get's really cold and I don't want to deal with ice. I have a big storage tote I fill up with water (add snow if you have it) and let it fill up a 5 gal bucket. Once the water coming out is no longer scorching hot you can recirculate it if you can keep taking thermal mass out by adding ice or snow.

 

[bucketnative]

I have run the water into 5 gal buckets, and then reused the water in the washing machine when doing laundry. After I filled the buckets, I just run the rest if any, into the sink. Our tap water is pretty cold during the winter, and it doesn't take long to chill.

 

[Homercidal]

I just supply from the sink and drain into the drain, when I brew inside. If I had to drain outside, I'd just drain to the yard.

Some people drain into their washer machine and run a load of clothes with part of the water coming from the brewing process.

I know people who have very successfully supplied their chilling water from a big bucket of ice water and a pond pump. Once the first minute or so is through, they recirculate back into the bucket and add ice as needed to keep it cold. It's not as efficient as having a fresh supply of very cold water, but as the chill progresses, the water returning is getting cooler, and eventually it stays fairly cold when mixing with the ice water.

 

[pshankstar]

I deal with the same issue you have OP living in Western NY. I have a submersible pump that I will recirculate the water after the first few minutes in a cooler or a big tub (like those ones you use to toss drinks and ice in for parties). Instead of running the water down the driveway, I just run the water out to the front yard for the first few minutes of chilling. If there is snow on the ground, I will shovel some of that into the cooler or tote to keep the water cold.

The other thing I do is try not to brew when it's near 0 outside or the windchill really bad.

 

[SleepyCreekBrews]

OP, Where is this ? (you didn't mention your location) .

When I brew in the dead of the winter, I can still use the outdoor hoses (as long as they weren't already full of ice). Running water doesn't freeze until well below 32 degrees, so as long as you're not brewing in sub-zero conditions, your outdoor hoses should still work for you ...just don't drain on the driveway and make a skating rink.
And, as the rest of the crowd said, recirculating and/or recycling water is workable, and always a good idea.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

OP, Where is this ? (you didn't mention your location) .

When I brew in the dead of the winter, I can still use the outdoor hoses (as long as they weren't already full of ice). Running water doesn't freeze until well below 32 degrees, so as long as you're not brewing in sub-zero conditions, your outdoor hoses should still work for you ...just don't drain on the driveway and make a skating rink.
And, as the rest of the crowd said, recirculating and/or recycling water is workable, and always a good idea.

I'm in Iowa. Temps in the winter can range from 40 degrees Fahrenheit to -20 degrees Fahrenheit. In Dec-Feb it is generally below freezing temps, sub zero only about 15 days a year or so.

I'm a little reluctant to run water in the hose due to concerns about forgetting to disconnect the hose and having a frozen valve/pipe. This is a real issue here so wise homeowners ensure all hoses are disconnected prior to the onset of serious winter weather.

I think I'll look into a fountain pump...harbor freight has some pretty cheap. I looked up the flow rate from a typical garden hose and it's pretty high (as high as 1400 gph for a 25' hose). I found an 800 gph pump on Amazon for $26...is that fast enough flow? I just bought a Hydra (been wanting one for months) and I'd like to make good use of it.

 

[McKnuckle]

I run my chilling waste water into buckets, then use it in a small water distiller. I use lots of distilled water in room humidifiers during the winter, and also for brewing! A small portion of the waste water gets poured down my sump pit which is conveniently in my basement brew room.

 

[MaxStout]

I'm in Minnesota, and have the same issue. I brew in the attached garage, and have a hose bib inside on the back wall that I don't have to shut off in winter. In summer, I collect the IC discharge in buckets and pour onto trees and shrubs. In winter I don't want to turn my yard into a block of ice. I would then just carry the buckets of water into the house and pour it down the floor drain. A waste.

Since I have an abundance of clean 5-gal buckets, I might just fill them up and set them aside. The first couple will be very hot, so that water can be used for soaking the kettle and other gear. I could use the rest to fill up the washer.

 

[jalc6927]

I'm in Texas so it's a little different but I use 5, 10 lb bags of ice and 1.5 gallons of water, (reused from the bucket I sanitized my chiller in) and recirculate that through chiller and cool wort in 15 minutes max in dead of summer with no real wasted water

I'm sure you guys in the icy tundra can use much less ice,

 

[OldHamlet]

I have a pond pump in a 100 gal tank. Even when it's 20 degs out,only the top 6 " freezes so i just punch a hole through. Look behind a water company like Culligan because they throw out tanks all the time.

 

[flugelizor]

Just don't make ice in your brew bucket... or your wife's favorite garden pail.
It will split.
Don't ask me how I know...

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I brew indoors and put a pot in the sink and run the discharge down the drain. For reference this pump gives what I would consider the perfect flow. I think I got it in Home depot in the garden section.

I here ya about the hoses in the winter. I drain the line going to the faucet in late fall. You could run a garden hose from the closest sink to the brew area and stick the hose and pump in a bucket and discharge with a vinyl tube from the pump to the lawn. Or if you have a basement add a faucet on a water line and run a hose out a basement window to keep the wife happy.

 

[SleepyCreekBrews]

I bet you could do a closed loop system for the winter if you had a section of hot water baseboard that was exposed to the winter air.
From the water bucket , through the pump, to the Hydra, to the baseboard chiller, back to the bucket.

 

[unviewtiful]

I think I'll look into a fountain pump...harbor freight has some pretty cheap. I looked up the flow rate from a typical garden hose and it's pretty high (as high as 1400 gph for a 25' hose). I found an 800 gph pump on Amazon for $26...is that fast enough flow? I just bought a Hydra (been wanting one for months) and I'd like to make good use of it.

The Hydra has a ton of restriction splitting to the 3 parallel lines, so make sure the pump has enough head pressure to push water at a decent rate through the coils. I live in a warm climate, so my situation is very different from yours. But I had one of the small ~360 gph pumps that couldn't push through the Hydra at all. But now I tend to use a pre-chiller so I just push straight from the hose. IIRC, JaDeD had a recommended pump somewhere on their website so maybe look for that.

 

[Murphys_Law]

I use a pump, a cooler and a 20# bag of ice. I also fill two homer buckets with water which I use for cleaning and that gets me down to ~140*. If you just start out with the pump and cooler I image it will melt the ice very quickly. An alternative is to keep a lot of frozen 1L "coke bottles" in the freezer.

As others said, make sure you get a pump which will pump a high volume. I first bought a small pump and it's sitting in the brew graveyard now,

 

[LittleRiver]

... pumping water through the chiller, but I'm not sure how to handle the source and collection. Will a couple 5 gallon buckets work? ...

Yes, 10 gallons of recirculated water will work, especially if the second bucket (or both) is filled with ice water.

But I don't think you will need to use ice, instead use the weather to your advantage. Put your buckets of water out in the cold for several hours (or overnight, depending on temps) before you need them.

I'm curious what others are doing, what tips or tricks you have and any process suggestions....

I'm in the south, so I don't face your cold weather concerns, but I brew on the loading dock at my shop, and there's no water nearby. That led me to a recirculating solution (photos in this post).

I use a Drummond 1/10HP transfer pump I got at Harbor Freight for about $50. It works great.

Recirculate from your first bucket of water until it's temperature stabilizes. Put the lid on this bucket, to save the hot water for use during cleanup. Move your hoses to the second bucket to finish off chilling the wort. You can use the resulting warm water for rinsing during cleanup.

If you can't dispose of the water outside, just dump it down your toilet (easier and faster than dumping in a sink).

 

[Toejam792]

I brew in my detached garage in western new york in all seasons. I'll brew when its single digits outside and never have a problem with the hose freezing during brew day. It has gotten a little slushy but that was only after I forgot to let it run for less than a minute to replace the water in it. It was in the single digits and I haden't used the hose from hlt filling till sparge, over 2hrs later. If I let some water out at mash in, I wouldn't of had any ice.

I assume you have frost proof hose bibs on your house, if you do you can use them with out worry, as long as you remove the hose from hose bib after every brew day. The reason it's a big deal to remove hoses before winter is because the water can not drain from the hose bib, freeze in the pipe and expand causing the pipe to burst.

I would drain into the yard instead of the driveway (for safety sake) but there is no reason you can't continue using your hose set up.

 

[MaxStout]

I'm in Texas so it's a little different but I use 5, 10 lb bags of ice and 1.5 gallons of water, (reused from the bucket I sanitized my chiller in) and recirculate that through chiller and cool wort in 15 minutes max in dead of summer with no real wasted water

I'm sure you guys in the icy tundra can use much less ice,

There aren't many advantages to our climate, but it is nice having tap water in the upper 40s in the winter, and rarely above 65 in summer. Water lines are buried 8 feet deep around here (we have had frost go down 6 feet on occasion).