To fellow brewers with swimming pools

[NotSoNew2Brew]

Whether this has come up in prior posts or not, I'm not sure, but thought I would go ahead and share a little story.

When I first started to brew, I lived in Livermore CA. Hot summers and cold winters. The house had a deep pool, 10' at least and even during summers it stayed really cold and it can get hot in that area. I got to thinking, what if I take my wort that was just boiled and put it in the pool? Sooooooo I carefully took my 5 gallons of wort in its stainless steel pot and set it on a step in the pool, the deepest step possible without it floating. I have let it float before, but the thought of all that spilling in pool, yikes!

A novel idea I thought to myself..and in 10-20 minutes depending on pool temperature, the wort was cool, really cool.... I transferred to primary then Walla!

Mind you, 5 gallons is all I brew. Anything over that will be difficult for one person of coarse, pot may be to big for one person to move. Try it, works like a charm and if you are like me, I put it on a step to the pool, and stir it gently, the stirring helps dissipate the heat....

Oh ya, be sure your sweeper isn't on...that may be a bummer.. I know I will hear the warnings and concerns of this process, but I tell you, it works like a charm....

Well with that, I'm off to look at some Prius's. Price of gas is killing me!

 

[Itsott]

I've used a pond pump to pump pool water through my immersion chiller then back into the pool. Works pretty good and little to no water waste


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[Goolsbymd]

I have a pool but I don't put anything in it beer wise, glass would make quick work of a liner pool. Not to mention if it tips over the chemistry wouldn't be terrible but the yeast might do something i don't know. I'll keep with my immersion chiller.

 

[flemming]

This past year I started dropping a pump in the pool to feed my immersion chiller. It works great and I love not wasting any water. During one cold snap the pool water was down to 37F so things chilled pretty quickly In the summer it's not an option though as the pool water is ~88F thanks to the solar heater.

Robert

 

[sandyeggoxj]

I've used a pond pump to pump pool water through my immersion chiller then back into the pool. Works pretty good and little to no water waste


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This is the thing to do if you have a pool.

 

[TwoGunz]

Similar idea but much bigger on scope to how I usually cool my wort. I have a big Rubbermaid container i fill with hose water and then keep the hose runnin slowly on the bottom and just drop my brew pot in. It floats on top, the water keeps circulating, and I'm ready to pitch in about 20min.


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[USAFSooner]

Same here. Use a pond pump to recirculate ice water in the mash tun through the chiller. I saw a thread on here where a guy wrapped a pool noodle around his BK and floated it into pool hahaha!


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[k1ngl1ves]

The only beer in my pool is in a koozie...

 

[poptarts]

I just use a 20 gallon trash can full of water that I wheel around the garage on a harbor freight moving dolly.

 

[AfricanBrewer]

@NotSoNewToBrew - my first coupla brews, before I made a chiller, the pool is exactly what I used, as you described. I just sat there keeping the pot stable for 20 mins, and that was that. Didn't work well in heat of summer where the pool water was too warm though. Thought I was being pretty innovative there, but people have clearly done this before

 

[blizz81]

I think the questionable part of this post is "California" and "cold winters" combined together.

 

[NotSoNew2Brew]

I think the questionable part of this post is "California" and "cold winters" combined together.

Well, that's all in your perception of cold... Yours might be below 0 degrees.....mine is in the low 40's