Water Conservation When Brewing

[Mr_McGibblets]

Lots of good comments and pointers here. Since I am in Southern California, I too try to re-use as much water as possible.
On brew day, because the "cold" tap water is actually pretty warm, I buy a 20-lb. bag of ice from Costco for $2.30 and add it to the tap water in a 5-gallon bucket for use with my wort chiller and small garden pump. Once that process is done, I dump all of pumped water into my fountain, plants, trees, etc. Next time I will use some of the initial hot water to clean the brew kettle too!
I use the SS BrewBucket as my fermenter and yes, using 5-gallons of fresh water and PBW just to get the level up to the crud at the top seems wasteful, so next time, I'll add something to the bottom 1/2 or so to displace most of the water and end up using much less water & PBW. Does anyone happen to know if used PBW is OK to put on plants or grass?
I can make a 5-gallon batch of StarSan last almost a year as long as I mix with distilled water and make sure that the surfaces are very clean prior to sanitizing, then, back into the large Jerry can it goes. I test with pH strips every now and then, and even a year later, it's still clear and measures under 3.5.
FYI, I got my Jerry can from Winco for just $6.00!
http://selfreliantsisters.blogspot.com/2012/03/winco-bulk-storage-items-containers.html
Also, FWIW, I rarely soak anything completely in StarSan. I either spray it down or add a cup to the fermenter, install the lid, shake it around to evenly coat the inside and then dump it back into the Jerry can for reuse.

 

[bbenesh]

Thank you Matt for your insight.
While I certainly appreciate your input, not everyone may brew like you do. Furthermore, I've spent enough time with other Brewers to see certain habits of theirs and make notes accordingly. Had you written the article, perhaps you would have done so differently based on your experiences. Also, I wash after a brew day and before a brew day because I keep my equipment outside where it comes in contact with lots of dust. I don't wish to let the crud bake on post boil and sit for weeks. So, I wash it afterwards, and maybe a week or three later I will give a quick rinse to remove dirt before brewing.
Also, "add a gallon and give it a good shake" might be fine advice if you are in the business of breaking your back or are using smaller equipment but myself and many other homebrewers do tend to believe that when lifting can be avoided it should.
While I may fill a fermenter with a solution to clean it, I do save it and use it later as stated.
Thanks for reading!

 

[bbenesh]

In curious how the Jerry Can will work out! Let me know!

 

[Apple_Jacker]

I just purchased a water pump from Harbor Freight and used that to make a closed-loop wort chiller and used it for the first time last week. I took my largest cooler and packed it with several ice packs you get when you order from Blue Apron (I saved a dozen or so of these; you get 2 large ice packs per shipment), and then filled all the way up with water. I made the mistake of letting the first few gallons of hot recirculated water back into the cooler before I let the hose drain outside into my yard. This water made its way down to water my muscadine and concord grape plants. After the water stopped being overly hot, I put the hose end back into the cooler.
This still took longer than I wanted (almost 40 minutes). Next time I'll try to add ice to the water as well to cool it even more, and I might also use my utility sink instead of my cooler as it can hold much more water. I have a feeling that I was trying to use too little water.
Regarding sanitizing and cleaning - I've always only sprayed Star San on my stuff after I cleaned it. I never let solids dry up or solidify on my equipment anyway, so cleaning, and therefore sanitizing, is always quick and easy. I just bought my second bottle of Star San this past weekend. I bought the other bottle 4 years ago.

 

[MagicMatt]

I guess my point was more towards the fact that your article is geared to reducing water usage, yet you say there's no way around filling up your equipment to the top for "full volume soaks". If you really want to conserve water, you can easily eliminate almost 40 gallons of wasted water by altering the methods you describe.
I don't think it should matter who writes the article - if the goal is to reduce something as much as possible, one would expect all shortcuts to be taken (those that do not pose risk). I was simply pointing out that your methods of "saving water" sound more like an added waste of water to me.

 

[bbenesh]

Fair enough.

 

[ben]

I disagree. After letting it sit and cool off I end up with completely clear wort. I then transfer it to my fermenter through a siphon to avoid the junk that has settled and to aid in aerating it before adding my yeast

 

[VT_jlee]

I have an immersion chiller, when I chill I first hook it up to a hose and collect the water in a bucket for cleaning, once that is full the water goes into the fermenter for sanitizing. After those are full my wort is usually down to ~100F so I hook up a submersible pump in a small cooler filled with frozen water bottles. I run the chilled water through the coil and back into the cooler and that drops it down from 100F to pitching temp. The couple of gallons in the cooler can then be used for clean-up. This way all water is reused and I don't really consider it wasted!

 

[VT_jlee]

I mentioned my method in detail above, but I also use a closed loop cooler. I keep old water bottles in the freezer and drop those into the water with my submersible pump and it my chilling water nice a cold. Once I'm done, the ice is melted but I just put them back in the freezer and pull them back out again next brew day. The bottles have been through at least a dozen brews and I haven't had to refill them yet.

 

[oakbarn]

Saving the cooling water. What a brilliant idea, I brew large batches and use lots of water in Texas. But I could reduce that by simply re routing the cooling water into my Mash Tun. I use the same water to clean the Mash Tun as I do the Brew Kettle and the rest of my system. I never thought about using the cooling water. Great idea.

 

[maxxxx]

Spray bottle works great!

 

[Jacob]

One Step is a sanitizer. They no longer market it as such in the US because they would have to get it certified in each state, but it does sanitize after about three minutes soaking.

 

[homebrewer_99]

My wort chiller is attached to a sink faucet. The first hot water is collected in a 3 gal bucket with some Dawn added. It's used for cleaning up later. After the brew is chilled I leave the chiller hooked up and run hot water through it for spraying/cleaning in the sink. Basically, it washes itself. Whenever I make up a batch of StarSan it's usually 5 gallons in a primary bucket. I also fill up a spray bottle from the new batch. ; ' )