Water pump for recirculating

[Bradyevenson]

I use an immersion chiller and am concerned with the amount of water I waste. Also, I don't think my tap water gets very cold so I end up spending 40+ min to bring the temperature of my wort down to the mid 60Fs.

What I'm wondering is if anyone has used a pump or some device that allows me to take a 5gal bucket, ice the water, and then pump it through my immersion chiller. This way I'm using very cold water and only using the 5 gallons instead of pouring gallons of water down the drain.

 

[helterscelter]

I use an immersion chiller and am concerned with the amount of water I waste. Also, I don't think my tap water gets very cold so I end up spending 40+ min to bring the temperature of my wort down to the mid 60Fs.

What I'm wondering is if anyone has used a pump or some device that allows me to take a 5gal bucket, ice the water, and then pump it through my immersion chiller. This way I'm using very cold water and only using the 5 gallons instead of pouring gallons of water down the drain.

lots of folks do this (myself included) to get our temp down the last 10 to 20 degrees. it's somewhat expensive to go from boiling to pitching using ice recirculation, but definitely doable (you'll go though ice VERY fast if you start from boiling)

folks usually run the tap water to get into the <80f (depending on ground water temps) range then swap to ice; collecting the hot-water run-off from the initial drop for cleaning purposes so they don't waste as much water.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I've read about people using a relatively inexpensive fountain pump (like $15 at Harbor Freight) to pump chilling liquid.

Just use a suitable size vessel for your cooling liquid. Fill it with cold tap water, do you initial chilling with just the water. When the temp get down to 85 or so, dump in your ice.

I am considering this method for my chilling next winter. I haven't brewed in the winter and SWMBO walked into the garage sunday while I had a hose running to chill the wort and asked "How are you going to do this in the winter?".

A recirculating system is really a solid option. I can even keep my chilling liquid vessel outside and just run the hoses under the garage door.

 

[Gravity]

I bought an aquarium pump for $10 - best money i ever spent. I have a similar problem where my water stays constant at about 80F. When its time to chill, I run the tap for about 20 min and get the water to about 90F then switch over to an old color mash tun with ice. I put the pump inside the tun and attach it to the chiller i'll replace the ice every 10 min or so depending 30 min or so later the wort gets to about 60F - cooler if I so wish . I also do a whirlpool when i've switched over to the iced mash tun water, it helps speed things along.

Works every time, and not much money spent or hassle as its equipment i already have

 

[Bradyevenson]

" I also do a whirlpool when i've switched over to the iced mash tun water, it helps speed things along. "

Do you use your chiller to whirlpool (stir) your wort or are you referring to another method? I'm unfamiliar with a lot of the terms as I've only been brewing for about a year and I brew alone so I haven't learned the terminology from anybody.

 

[Gravity]

I have a whirlpool port on my brew kettle, which is separate from my immersion chiller. I drop the chiller 10-15 min before flame out. I do not whirlpool with my chiller, these are separate things/actions. The chiller is first attached to the tap/water hose for about 15-20 min, then i switch it to the mash tun with ice. I use the aquarium pump to help circulate cold water through the chiller because my house water stays at about 80F.

At the same time that cold water is running though the chiller via the aquarium pump , I run the whirlpool with a chugger pump (this is not a needed step, i just like to do it). If your only issue is needing to cool your wort, then ice in the mash tun with aquarium pump would work really well - just have a bunch of ice on hand and a way to keep it frozen.

Mine looks something like the attached, I dump the pump into the ice tun. I put a long hose on the top port and attach it to the chiller which returns in to the mash tun, the bottom port sucks the cold water from the tun, and back through the top port - hence recirculation

 

[phyllobeddo]

I use a cheap pond pump from Harbor Freight to recirculate cold water through my copper immersion chiller. The pump sits in a plastic bin that's filled with 10+ gallons of water and frozen water bottles. I store the water bottles in a deep freeze and use them over and over. At some point during the boil, I put all the water bottles in the bin to start cooling the water. I pump the first few gallons of really hot water into a bucket and then start recirculation after that. Recently, I started adding a cap full or two of bleach to the water so that I wouldn't need to dump the water form the bin each brew day.