No hot water.... Can I wash with cold?

[BeerTooth]

Greetings all.

First a quick intro.
I am from central Washington state. I am new to brewing and have yet to do my first.

I have been talking with a good friend over the last 6 to 8 months about brewing (he has been brewing for 8 or 10 years) and gathering my equipment. I am ready to go for it, but... I have no hot water source where I will be brewing. Although I do have cold filtered well water. Will I be okay washing my equipment with cold soapy water, then sanitizing?

Thanks for all advice.

Here is my setup...

 

[Kent88]

You have a burner, a few if I am not mistaken, if you have an extra kettle you could warm some up with that.

Be careful with the soap you select, some leave a residue that you don't want in your wort.

 

[ong]

I would heat up a gallon to mix up some PBW for scrubbing equipment down. That’s a neat sparge head!

 

[user 205607]

When I cool the wort with an IC I capture the hot water in a bucket and my empty mash tun and use that for cleaning.

 

[ancientmariner52]

Does your water heater have a drain valve? You can connect a high temp garden hose to that and run ~120°F water wherever you want it. It's good for the water heater to flush it out now and then, as well.

 

[BeerTooth]

Never thought about heating some using a burner. I feel silly. :/

Capturing the cooling water is a good idea too.

I have thought about a hot water hose ran out to where I need it, but have spent a lot of money lately.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I collect my chiller water and use it for the laundry. If my wife doesn't use it in 2 days then it goes in the garden.

 

[Sparkncode]

PBW or sodium percarbonate are fine with cold water, just soak a little longer.

I use it for my bucket fermenters, a couple of scoups of sodium percarbonate and fill bucket to the rim with cold water and put lid on. Next day or two rinse and its done. That takes off even stubon karusen etc without risking scratching the plastic.

For times when I want to give my herms ports a good clean i heat it up but those cleaners dont need heat, it just speeds them up.