Conserving Water?

[surfbrewer]

I'm trying to come up with a way to cut down on the amount of water that I use for cooling. Right now I use a CF chiller and the amount of water that I go through is pretty amazing.

I generally will fill up a standard size trash can and then will continue to water the lawn and the plants with the rest of the runoff, but I would like to recycle or reuse as much of the water as I can. I figure that recirculating through an ice bath or a variation of that will probably be the way to go.

Do any of you have any trick ideas or methods that you are using to conserve water?

Cheers

 

[billtzk]

Plate chillers tend to use the least water. I start off with garden hose water and recirc wort through the chiller and back to the BK until I get down around 110, then I switch to ice water from my HLT (CLT?) and recirc that until I get to pitching temp. People who live where ground water is cold can skip all that and just make a single pass through the plate chiller, but that doesn't work in Texas.

I also reuse my runoff. I collect it in pair of big plastic tubs and I use it for cleanup, then any excess I use to water my garden.

 

[eriktlupus]

I'm trying to come up with a way to cut down on the amount of water that I use for cooling. Right now I use a CF chiller and the amount of water that I go through is pretty amazing.

I generally will fill up a standard size trash can and then will continue to water the lawn and the plants with the rest of the runoff, but I would like to recycle or reuse as much of the water as I can. I figure that recirculating through an ice bath or a variation of that will probably be the way to go.

Do any of you have any trick ideas or methods that you are using to conserve water?

Cheers

is your exit water hot while your running the CF? if not your using to much volume thru it, slow down the water till it comes out at least warm and adjust as needed

Plate chillers tend to use the least water. I start off with garden hose water and recirc wort through the chiller and back to the BK until I get down around 110, then I switch to ice water from my HLT (CLT?) and recirc that until I get to pitching temp. People who live where ground water is cold can skip all that and just make a single pass through the plate chiller, but that doesn't work in Texas.

I also reuse my runoff. I collect it in pair of big plastic tubs and I use it for cleanup, then any excess I use to water my garden.

i use a 55g plastic drum for collection purposes then start the next brews cooling with that next time(i switch between 2 drums)using a 12vdc boat bilge pump

 

[surfbrewer]

No. My exit water is what I would call luke warm. Next time I'll try turning it down a bit. I like the idea of using two seperate barrels and alternating them with a pump. Thanks for the ideas, anyone else?

 

[billtzk]

That is a great idea, eriktlupus. If I can get ahold of a couple of 55 gal drums for cheap I will do that too. It could be set up to stockpile rain water from your roof too, and use that for either brew chilling or for the garden.

 

[eriktlupus]

normally they do collect runoff from the roof. this i just how i add to it,unfortunatly it doesn't work here in winter

mine cost me $8 each (food grade pickle vinegar barrels)

 

[surfbrewer]

I just looked on Craigslist and found three 55 gal. barrels that would work great the guiy is even selling them with a pump.

 

[NateKerx]

I recently measured the amount of water i waste with a standard immersion chiller. Came close to 30 gallons. I was embarassed

 

[BlindLemonLars]

I direct the output of my chiller into a spare pot to collect a few gallons of the hottest water, which later gets used to wash the chiller. Once the pot is full, I drop the output hose into my pool.

 

[Loweface]

I recently measured the amount of water i waste with a standard immersion chiller. Came close to 30 gallons. I was embarassed

If you look at it from the right perspective this doesn't have to be reduced. By this I mean you could offset it against water savings elsewhere in the house. A brink in the toilet cistern will reduce every flush by that volume. (would probable save you your 30 gallons between brewdays).

There are lots of ways to save water around the house. Don't use the dishwasher and water the plant with the basin water. Take quicker showers. Repair dripping taps quickly...

That way you can feel less guilty for wasting water on brewday (and can then go on and reduce it anyway )

 

[Bobby_M]

Dishwashers actually use less water than hand washing. The easy way to save water is to use icewater but from an economic perspective, it's a lot more expensive. I don't know the exact numbers but just for giggles say it takes 30lbs of ice + 10 gallons of water to cool a 10g batch. Maybe it would take 60 gallons without the ice. 50 gallons of water costs less than 50 cents. How much is 30lbs of ice? Easily a few dollars. It's difficult to know which is more eco friendly because you can't always know if it electricity was produced cleanly. At least water technically gets back into the system eventually.

 

[zoebisch01]

Also, in following Bobby's statement, to produce energy alone is consuming a resource. It takes a good deal of energy to turn water into ice.

I have a different thing I do. When I am doing double batch days, the outlet from my coil chiller goes into my strike (or sparge depending on how I am operating that day)water pot. When I get it full, it's usually around 140 to 150 for the strike and 130 for the sparge, the difference coming from the added volume. I have a well in Central PA so my water is in the 50's. I also have a septic tank, so any runoff really gets back into my local aquifer or for the most part I believe that is true. I will have better means in the future to catch the runoff into a graywater catchment, it's on my to-do list. I do feel guilty every time I don't save the runoff for watering plants.

 

[brewpal]

I worked on a system to save the cooling water two 55 gal plastic drums I could use to water the plants. After messing around with different configurations and not being happy with any, I decided to calculate the cost of all the water I use on 45 gal brew days using info on my water bill: $1. I now run the water to the lawn or into the street.

 

[Chad]

I changed my cooling routine because North Carolina has been under severe drought conditions for nearly a year. My hose output is about 5 gallons per minute. Chilling wort to pitching temperatures took about 30 minutes -- 150 gallons. It didn't seem right use that much water just to chill wort.

I bought a pond pump (300gph) and a couple of hose adapters. The pump goes in a 48qt cooler with 3 bags of ice and a just enough water to cover the pump.

I hook the groundwater hose to the chiller until the wort drops below 100°, usually 10-15 minutes. The hot output is used to rinse the mash tun and fill a bucket or carboy with hot water and PBW for post-brew cleanup.

Once the wort drops below 100° I turn off the hose and connect the immersion chiller to the pond pump. The chiller output is directed back into the cooler. The warm water exiting the chiller melts the ice, creating more cold water that gets sucked into the pump and up through the chiller. Three bags of ice is just about right. There is still ice left when I'm done, so I could probably get away with two, but I like the added insurance. With the ice water circulating, it takes 10-15 minutes to get the wort down to 60°. My last batch was a Vienna lager and I wanted to pitch cold. It took somewhere between 20 and 25 minutes to get the wort to 45°.

I'm pretty happy with this setup. Yes, there is more crap out on the deck and I have to swap hoses around. There is also the added expense of purchased ice. On the other hand I've cut my water usage in half and I don't create a marsh in my back yard every time I brew.

Chad

 

[lustreking]

If you have some laundry to do, you could dump some of your water in the washing machine

 

[zoebisch01]

At any rate, my dad recalls his uncle telling him "You will probably see the day when Water becomes the most valuable commodity". From the looks of things, I'd say my great uncle was probably right on track. We should have been conserving water decades ago.

I was thinking a glycol (or such) filled recirculating coil outside in the winter with a heat exchanger would be a very cool DIY project.

 

[Bobby_M]

It's really only an issue in the warmer months. In the winter my tap water is 45F and I use about 1:1 ratio of coolant to wort so 10 gallons for a 10 gallon batch (through a CFC). That uses no ice and hardly any water (all of which goes into my washing machine). Even better, you can make your own ice for a recirculator if you're 32F and under outside and probably use less than 5 gallons doing so.

The issue is in the summer where ANY method is going to use significantly more resources. You have to ask yourself which one is more costly to you and/or the environment. I do not feel bad about using a little extra water if there's no draught because I don't run it down the drain. If the flower beds need the water, they get it. If not, I use it for cleanup. Any leftover goes into the washing machine. Unless you're also taking navy showers and wearing your clothes two days in a row, I hardly think mindful brew water usage is going to change the world. The idea of buying or making ice though injects the question of how the electricity for doing so was generated. Solar, wind, hydro, nuclear OK... coal, oil, garbage burning?? Not so much.

 

[zoebisch01]

I hardly think mindful brew water usage is going to change the world.

Agreed, but I think it is a general mentality thing for lifestyle rather than the mere consolidated effect of water conscious brewers.

 

[Loweface]

There is a big difference in wasting straight well water and the chlorinated, flourinated, water that comes throught the pipes. If you do pump up your own and it get put back on the plants then all you've really wasted is the energy used to pump it up right?

 

[zoebisch01]

There is a big difference in wasting straight well water and the chlorinated, flourinated, water that comes throught the pipes. If you do pump up your own and it get put back on the plants then all you've really wasted is the energy used to pump it up right?

Mostly. I do think some goes into the Septic and evaporates rather than seeping back into the aquifer. I am not sure how much goes either way.

 

[Loweface]

Didn't someone say they were considering recirculating pool water through an immersion chiller? Not even a 10 or 15 gallon batch is going to put much of a dent on the temp of that mass of water but hey every little helps right?

 

[strohs]

I use a recirculating pump and have cut my water consumption down to about 10 gallons for chilling.

One person being conscious of their water usuage isnt going to make much a difference, but if 100 people on here all brew 10 batches a year and conserve 20 gallons of water per brew - thats 20,000 gallons of water saved (and I think most here would agree that those are pretty conservative numbers)

 

[Bobby_M]

How have you cut it down to 10 gallons? Ice? Where did you get the ice? I'm arguing that the BETTER conservation between water and electricity is not that easy to determine.

 

[FSR402]

Man I just let mine rip and run onto the lawn. It's just going to soak back into the ground where it came from.

I guess I just don't worry about it. But then again I have a lot more water near me then most of you.

 

[strohs]

How have you cut it down to 10 gallons? Ice? Where did you get the ice? I'm arguing that the BETTER conservation between water and electricity is not that easy to determine.

I start with some ice and about 3 gallons of water and I drain the hot water into my mash tun until its cool enough to start recirculating.
Before I start recirculating I dump in a gallon every so often to make sure the pump is covered and I add ice as needed.
It takes ~1/2 hour to chill to pitching temp, and I use at most 10 gallons of water (plus the ice)


The better conservation in this case, in my opinion, is the water.
The amount of energy required to make ice and run a small pond pump for a half hour is minimal.
Compare that to wasting 30+ gallons of clean water...

 

[SenorWanderer]

i think the better way to think about this is what's more important for you to conserve given where you live. i live in CO so water conservation is more important. we have a water budget here and using more than you're allowed for a month is like using up your cell phone minutes; very expensive. those of you who live in the midwest or the northeast and aren't under drought conditions might be better off trying to conserve other resources. don't get me wrong, save all that you can all the time, but a few gallons of water down the drain in those areas isn't a huge deal.

as for electricity consumption bobbyM is on the right track with considering where your electricity is coming from, but unless you have solar panels on your roof than your electricity is being generated by what ever the mix is on the grid. buying wind power credits gives a false sense of conservation too, because your power is still coming off the grid, which might be just 1-2% wind.

the water from my IC refills the HLT first, 2 5g buckets second, and then runs down the driveway, but i don't usually get the second bucket full unless i'm chilling for a lager.

 

[Seawolf]

It's ok, water is self recycling. It can never REALLY be wasted. It's the law of conservation of matter, and the very simple cycle of water, evaporation, rain, water, etc.

All that water that you're "wasting" is just going back to mother earth. It's clean, potable water, and you're certainly not hurting anything with your "waste".

Now, if you were a nuclear power plant, you would end up with radiated water as a byproduct. What do you do with that stuff?

Don't sweat it.

 

[Loweface]

All that water that you're "wasting" is just going back to mother earth. It's clean, potable water, and you're certainly not hurting anything with your "waste".

True if its untreated well water, there is significant cost to clean, filter and chlorinate the water in your pipes...

 

[AnonyBrew]

I changed my cooling routine because North Carolina has been under severe drought conditions for nearly a year. My hose output is about 5 gallons per minute. Chilling wort to pitching temperatures took about 30 minutes -- 150 gallons. It didn't seem right use that much water just to chill wort.

I bought a pond pump (300gph) and a couple of hose adapters. The pump goes in a 48qt cooler with 3 bags of ice and a just enough water to cover the pump.

I hook the groundwater hose to the chiller until the wort drops below 100°, usually 10-15 minutes. The hot output is used to rinse the mash tun and fill a bucket or carboy with hot water and PBW for post-brew cleanup.

Once the wort drops below 100° I turn off the hose and connect the immersion chiller to the pond pump. The chiller output is directed back into the cooler. The warm water exiting the chiller melts the ice, creating more cold water that gets sucked into the pump and up through the chiller. Three bags of ice is just about right. There is still ice left when I'm done, so I could probably get away with two, but I like the added insurance. With the ice water circulating, it takes 10-15 minutes to get the wort down to 60°. My last batch was a Vienna lager and I wanted to pitch cold. It took somewhere between 20 and 25 minutes to get the wort to 45°.

I'm pretty happy with this setup. Yes, there is more crap out on the deck and I have to swap hoses around. There is also the added expense of purchased ice. On the other hand I've cut my water usage in half and I don't create a marsh in my back yard every time I brew.

Chad

Holy crap! Is this me? lol

This is exactly how I chill and my last brew was also a Vienna Lager. Weird.

 

[JustMrWill]

Didn't someone say they were considering recirculating pool water through an immersion chiller? Not even a 10 or 15 gallon batch is going to put much of a dent on the temp of that mass of water but hey every little helps right?

I am doing that....just got my copper tubing...and am going to hook it to my pool pump.

The drain will go back into the pool. I may even have the brew pot in the pool as well. Still working out the details.

Here is what I have been doing for my last few AG batches...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/eco-friendly-homemade-wort-chiller-66260/

-Will