wort chiller and water use

[brew_ny]

Good Day I bought a 50 foot 1/2 inch chiller from NY Brew Supply for my 11.75 gallon brews

http://www.nybrewsupply.com/beer-ho...ort-chiller-garden-hose-fittings-12-x-50.html

it will be here tomorrow I plan on using it to brew on Saturday but I have a question

I have dug/shallow wells at my place so I have to be careful with my water use, I was going to just use the hot water

But I got to thinking would it be safe to just cycle my water right back into my well?

at first the water from the chiller will be hot but it will get colder over time, the well I am going to use is 20 feet deep and has at least 10 feet of water in it and is 5 foot across

I do not know if putting hot water back into my well is a good idea, we filter all the water we drink, cook with

or maybe would it be a better idea to put it into a holding tank to cool first, I have a 275 gallon water tank I could use

I just do not know how much water a chiller really uses

I would hate to screw up my well and make people sick, me I drink beer so I am all good

your thoughts

S_M

 

[NTXBrauer]

I guess it would all depend on how you will be feeding the water back to your well and any risk of contaminantion. Your holding tank would be the better option IMO.

 

[brew_ny]

I guess it would all depend on how you will be feeding the water back to your well and any risk of contaminantion. Your holding tank would be the better option IMO.

I was just going to run a hose right back into the well, I am thinking the holding tank might be a better option

maybe just run the water into the tank the first time to see how much I use and what it looks/smells like after it cools

The water at my place gets filtered with a filter that will turn pond scum into drinking water, so it would more then likely be ok

just thinking of the heat

S_M

 

[NTXBrauer]

I would agree you will want to know how much water you use, as your holding tank may be limited on capacity. With a flow rate estimate of 5 gallons per min and 20 mins to cool your wort to optimal temp, you easily have 100 gallons of water. This number will vary given a number of factors, but you get the idea.

Given the numbers above...your well should hold around 1500 gallons. You would be adding 6-7% of hot water, which should not greatly affect the temp of your well water. As long as you do not pull any contaminants back into the well water, I see no major concern.

 

[brew_ny]

thanks for the input, my holding tank is 275 gallons

so I may just run the water into it the first time to get an idea of the amount I am using

I have been thinking of maybe using a drum with ice water and a pump after I get the wort to around 100 degrees to get to the 65 to pitch

putting it back in the well would be the easiest for me

water where I am at can be at a premium at times so we use it wisely, kinda of the waste not want not idea

all the best

S_M

 

[The10mmKid]

brew, keep in mind that you don't have to run the water 'wide open' all the time. The flow rate needs to be enough that the chiller has enough time to collect all the heat it can.
You'll have to play with the flow. I would try to keep the chiller outlet temp at -20degF difference.
I.E. 200degF wort, 180degF chiller outlet. (valve probably wide open)
100degF wort, 80degF chiller outlet. (1/4 valve opening)

You should find that you can slow the flow down as the temps approach each other.

Have you considered a pre-chiller and a circulation pump?
That holding tank would be a great source of water down to ~100degF wort.

Take care of that precious water,
'da Kid

 

[brew_ny]

Have you considered a pre-chiller and a circulation pump?

I was thinking of pumping ice water through the chiller after wort is cooled down to about 100

thanks for the info about slowing the flow I had not given that much thought, I was thinking about using the tank for a bit as the weather gets cooler and just reuse the water

but if I can pump most of the water right back into the well that would be great

Take care of that precious water

with the type of wells we have and the fact so many people world wide do not have clean water

we work to try and use what we have wisely

thanks for the reply and the info

S_M

 

[ryan_george]

For 10 gallon batches I find that I use about ~30-40 gallons of tap water. I dump it all on my front lawn in hopes that it will eventually make it back to my deep well

 

[Yamamotors]

You should try the "no chill" way.

 

[brew_ny]

You should try the "no chill" way.

I have thought of that and read about it a bunch on an Aussie site, I just was having a hard time getting how to do the hops

For 10 gallon batches I find that I use about ~30-40 gallons of tap water.

I am going to just put it in a tank first to see how much because after it cools I can use it to water my livestock

all the best

S_M

 

[ryan_george]

Here is a thread that I was trying to find yesterday when I posted. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/wort-cooling-water-system-426662/

It seems like a very nice way of re-using your chilling water.

 

[brew_ny]

Here is a thread that I was trying to find yesterday when I posted. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/wort-cooling-water-system-426662/

It seems like a very nice way of re-using your chilling water.

thanks for the link a good read for sure


all the best

S_M

 

[Doed]

brew_ny,

I think The10mmKid hit it just right. I to am on a well, though a 214' deep well, and I don't like to waste water. I turn my flow rate way down so that the circulating water has enough time in the chiller to pick up heat from the wort. Keeping your flow rate down will help conserve water and most likely do a better job of cooling.

I also collect the chilling water in a big plastic tub. The water temp going into the tub is hot. After the tub is just about full, I switch to recirculating ice water from a bucket. I use the hot water in the tub to clean up with after the wort goes into the fermentor. After that it goes on the ground, but your idea of using your waste water to feed livestock is a good way to recycle it.

 

[brew_ny]

well I used my chiller on Sunday brewing a Munich smash and it worked great I used the first 5 gallons to clean up my equipment

and the rest I put into one of my storage tanks, it was only about 30 gallons of water total when I was down to about 70

I could have dumped it all back into my well without a problem, slowing the flow worked very well to help remove heat

I found toward the end of cooling if I let the water run to get cold the then stopped it for a few minute then turn the flow back on it dropped the temp even more

I have a small pump next time I am going to try running ice water in the chiller after I get it down to 100 or so

this time I just stuck the wort in my chest freezer for 30 minutes and pitched my yeast at 66

thank you all for your input and advice

S_M

 

[NTXBrauer]

Glad it worked out well for you. I thought you would actually use more water. Prosit!