Utility bill adjustments for brewing/consumption

[jcorn]

I was just curious if anyone else has considered calling their local utility company to get adjustments made for their brewing hobby. I personally have reached the wonderful position of being fortunate enough to hardly ever buy any beer from the store. I only drink water and beer. My roomate and I drink consume alot of water in general. I filter my drinking water and use lots of it. Last year I brewed 160+ gallons and this year I plan to do even more damage than that. I added everything up and I actually use around 300-400 gallons of water for person consumption of boil off. That is alot of money to be charged for them thinking it goes back into the sewer. Is it worth pursuing an adjustment on my sewage or am I being foolish?

 

[b-boy]

I'm impressed that you did the math.

Where I am water is pretty cheap. I pay about $400 per year for my water. I'm guessing your local utility would not be open to making any adjustments, especially since everyone knows you only rent beer. That water will make it into the sewers eventually.

 

[jcorn]

I'm impressed that you did the math.

Where I am water is pretty cheap. I pay about $400 per year for my water. I'm guessing your local utility would not be open to making any adjustments, especially since everyone knows you only rent beer. That water will make it into the sewers eventually.

Haha man you had me rolling. At first I was thinking rent beer? Oh!! hahaha nice I pay $50 a month for water and $50 a month for sewage! Although we take a good amount of showers (2 of us)

 

[OscarBrau]

350 gallons per year is about 47 cubic feet of water per year. My city charges 2.99/ 100 cubic feet of water, and 3.99/100 cubic feet for sewer, so about $7.00/100 cubic feet total. your adjustment would about $3.50 for the whole year if you lived in my city. Probably not worth it.

 

[robfar]

They wouldn't take your word for it, but you can have them install a second water meter ($$) for your brewery. That's what people do that have underground lawn sprinkler systems. You wouldn't pay sewer charges on that second meter.

 

[Spartan1979]

Why wouldn't the same principle apply to what goes into your lawn?

BTW, good luck with that.

 

[jcorn]

Why wouldn't the same principle apply to what goes into your lawn?

BTW, good luck with that.

That is a good question. In theory all of the immersion chills and stuff should not be charged sewage. I bet you use every bit of 50 gallons on a chilling. Is anyone elses water and sewage as high as mine? I think I used 6440 gallons per last month. Could possibly have a water leak somewhere. I need to look into that.

 

[NervousDad]

My rate is .0105 per gallon so my brew day costs me $3.15. My average bill is about $80 a month and in In the summer it's around $350 with my lawn requirements ...

Don't know if it would apply to you but many areas have different meters 1 for potable water and one for outdoor water. 1 gets sewage charge the other does not.

 

[BreezyBrew]

My fiancé and I have a house and in the month I just happen to have in front of me, we used 4820 gallons.

 

[jcorn]

My rate is .0105 per gallon so my brew day costs me $3.15. My average bill is about $80 a month and in In the summer it's around $350 with my lawn requirements ...

Don't know if it would apply to you but many areas have different meters 1 for potable water and one for outdoor water. 1 gets sewage charge the other does not.

According to my calculations mine here in Indiana is actually cheaper than yours. I guess my bill just seemed high to me. My neighbors is around the same price (within 15$) so I am probably leak free. I will have to ask them about that seperate meter. That would sure be nice. Although I am sure I would have to run all the plumbing myself.

 

[jcorn]

My fiancé and I have a house and in the month I just happen to have in front of me, we used 4820 gallons.

I guess I am probably in the norm then. I take baths every so often too haha. I like to pamper myself prior to a good brew day haha. Just kidding, sounds kinda creepy actually.

 

[Yooper]

We don't get any adjustment for water that we use that doesn't go into the sewer system. Whatever our meter shows is what we pay for the water, and then a certain amount of that percentage-wise added to our bill for the sewer.

There are no adjustments.

 

[jcorn]

We don't get any adjustment for water that we use that doesn't go into the sewer system. Whatever our meter shows is what we pay for the water, and then a certain amount of that percentage-wise added to our bill for the sewer.

There are no adjustments.

And yet we still have to pay hydrant fees. We are giving them free money to begin with.

 

[wilserbrewer]

My rate is .0105 per gallon so my brew day costs me $3.15. .

Must be a large batch brew day...that would be 300 gallons of water?

 

[jcorn]

Oh and Wilser while I have you in here I wanted to thank you for the bag you sent me last week ([email protected]). It is wonderful and the bottom design makes it so much less of a mess when pulling out the bag! Cheers

 

[wilserbrewer]

Oh and Wilser while I have you in here I wanted to thank you for the bag you sent me last week....

Oh, glad you are enjoying the bag! Back on topic, sorry but 300-400 gallons is not much b/w showering, flushing, laundry etc...

Good luck in your quest for a credit...

 

[NervousDad]

Must be a large batch brew day...that would be 300 gallons of water?

6 gallon batches. That's my average water. I fill up and soak kegs , rinse, make up RO water, chilling, then cleaning before I'm done. I almost exactly at 300 gallons.

 

[Braufessor]

Water is crazy expensive in my town - My wife and I routinely have a $100 water bill per month. New sewage treatment facility is the cause of the expense. The "sewage" portion of our bill is 200% of the water portion. So, if you have $25 in water you have $50 in sewage. Plus a $25/month assessment for facility.

We can purchase a second meter for outdoor faucets for $60. The water that goes through this meter is not charged for sewage. I do a lot of gardening, have an outdoor koi pond, etc. that we use water for. In addition to brewing water that does not go down the drain. So, I run all my brewing water, chilling water through the outdoor faucet. Chill water I direct into my koi pond to replace evaporation. Or, we run it to plants, trees, garden, etc. Having the second meter that we are not charged sewage on is definitely a money saver for us.

 

[b-boy]

Wow - I had no idea how expensive water is in some places. That's crazy. I know some areas near me pay a lot more than I do because they have to pay off expensive sewage treatment plants that were recently built.

Some of you pay more for water than I pay to heat my home in January. I guess living next to Lake Erie is a good thing.

 

[beaksnbeer]

Damn, I REALLY LOVE MY SEPTIC AND WELL. We are very water wise, I use my 278 gallon rain barrel to recirculate water for chilling none wasted that way.

 

[Larzean]

Crazy on the expensive water! I think I pay like twice a year and it's under $100 per bill. That includes 3 people (2 women) showering, laundry, etc. Also I do most all the dishes and I'm not conservative at all with the water....


Sent from my iPhone using the Home Brew Talk App

 

[mattd2]

6 gallon batches. That's my average water. I fill up and soak kegs , rinse, make up RO water, chilling, then cleaning before I'm done. I almost exactly at 300 gallons.

My rate is .0105 per gallon so my brew day costs me $3.15. My average bill is about $80 a month and in In the summer it's around $350 with my lawn requirements ...

Don't know if it would apply to you but many areas have different meters 1 for potable water and one for outdoor water. 1 gets sewage charge the other does not.

On the 300 gallons per 6 gallon batch do you guys care to break that out? I can't imagin it is that much! thats 50x the batch size!

I would probably go through for 20 litres of average gravity beer:
30 litres total brewing water
50 litres chilling water (reclaimed for cleaning on brewday)
1 litres for sanitiser
50 litrs misc. cleaning
=131 litres = <7x the batch size

 

[NervousDad]

It comes down to cleaning for me.

Cleaning soaking MLT/BK before and after a brew:

15.5 gallons each plus hoses ext. = 31.5 x 2 = 63g

Back flushing wort chiller before and after brewing:

15 minutes @ ~2+ gallon a minute = 30g * 2 = 60g

RO water:
I only get 1:4 gallons of water due to the 75% rejection rate. so 12 gallons of RO water takes 48 gallons to make

Cleaning carboys I'd say 5 -10 gallons.

Chilling 5 minutes at ~3 GPM. minimum of 15 gallons.

Sanitizer 5 gallons.

So that's well over 200 gallons and that doesn't include all of the other cleaning I do, floors/driveway outside of kegs etc.

I know I could probably use a little less water when cleaning, but this is the process that always worked for me so I'm hesitant to change it.

 

[jcorn]

As for the chilling side of things, in the summer I run my wort chiller water back into the swimming pool. It normally adds heat to it as well so is a great addition. The winter is what kills me although it doesnt take as long to cool down because of the obvious cold ground water. I still sneak the water into my pool though lifting the cover just enough to sneak the outlet in (more water in the winter means less I have to waste opening the pool in the Spring. The only major changes I could think of adapting into my system might be to make a smaller size of sanitizer (doesnt save much an I already bottle it in 1 gallon juice jugs for later purposes) and maybe find a way to get a trash can full of water from the chiller for preservation.