Water use

[Moe]

400 litres of water on my meter is about £1.20 of charges.

You can drastically improve chilling performance if you stand there and jiggle the immersion chiller while it's chilling.

My last two brews I have stirred with the mash paddle whilst it was cooling, I was surprised at the difference it made

 

[Agentgonzo]

You can drastically improve chilling performance if you stand there and jiggle the immersion chiller while it's chilling.

You can also drastically improve efficiency (ie, use less water) if you reduce the flow through the chiller (whether it be immersion, CFC or plate chiller). The hotter the water coming out of your chiller, the less water you will use overall (the same happens when you jiggle the chiller or stir the wort).

There's nothing wrong with taking 30-40 minutes to chill your wort (this is still really fast BTW) and it uses far less water than trying to chill it in 10 minutes.

 

[RichK]

For a 24 L brew, I'll start with ~33L water (mash + sparge)
The cold water tank (gravity feed through cooling coil) holds ~50L
Then cleaning up will take another 20L (?)

So around 100L ballpark. Half of which is for cooling. Perhaps I should collect that & re-use for cleaning.

 

[MashBag]

Busy making it hard.
Overnight chill = Just pop the lid on and run away.

^^What he said.

Leave it in the kettle. Lid on.

 

[MashBag]

My last two brews I have stirred with the mash paddle whilst it was cooling, I was surprised at the difference it made

Thermal lamination. If you have one, pop the pump on.

 

[Moe]

Thermal lamination. If you have one, pop the pump on.

Yes I’ve always done that. Stirring makes it quicker still.

I don’t stand there the whole time, just give it a good mix whenever I walk past it.

 

[hoppyscotty]

Well in the UK were hardly short of water at the moment and it’s dirt cheap. I now brew with RO water from Spotless and that is a few quid for the brewing and sparge water and I have a decent plate chiller so no more 40 minute chilling, so that saves some water, it’s used for washing up too so minimises additional washing up water. It’s electricity costs that are getting stupid. I’ve now insulated my vessels to try to be as efficient as I can there.

 

[Moe]

Well in the UK were hardly short of water at the moment and it’s dirt cheap. I now brew with RO water from Spotless and that is a few quid for the brewing and sparge water and I have a decent plate chiller so no more 40 minute chilling, so that saves some water, it’s used for washing up too so minimises additional washing up water. It’s electricity costs that are getting stupid. I’ve now insulted my vessels to try to be as efficient as I can there.

That’s how I see it.

And if need to justify it: I must use far less water brewing than my green fingered neighbours do watering lawns and plants.

 

[prog99]

No water meter is the answer

Living in the Scottish Highlands is the answer (although even where I live we were a hairs breadth from a hosepipe ban last June)

 

[Bzee]

I put my fermentation vessel into a larger plastic bucket with about 40 litres of water in it and thats cools it down in about an hour. Chillers sound stupid extravagant i never used one becuase was worried about leaks and the general palavour.

 

[MashBag]

Yes I’ve always done that. Stirring makes it quicker still.

I don’t stand there the whole time, just give it a good mix whenever I walk past it.

Sounds like you need more surface area. My chiller (with the pump running) was only on for 6-8 minutes, until it reached 20

 

[MashBag]

Well in the UK were hardly short of water at the moment and it’s dirt cheap. I now brew with RO water from Spotless and that is a few quid for the brewing and sparge water and I have a decent plate chiller so no more 40 minute chilling, so that saves some water, it’s used for washing up too so minimises additional washing up water. It’s electricity costs that are getting stupid. I’ve now insulted my vessels to try to be as efficient as I can there.

An "all you can eat" buffet, doesn't mean you need to load your plate like a well crafted pyramid and then waste half of it..... Or does it?

 

[MashBag]

And if need to justify it: I must use far less water brewing than my green fingered neighbours do watering lawns and plants.

We all need to consider our impact on natural resources, including your neighbour. Flowers should be planted according to the natural water requirements, and vegetables watered accurately.

Just Sayin '. (I can get it wrong too, but I try to start in a different place)

 

[gavp1979]

Sounds like you need more surface area. My chiller (with the pump running) was only on for 6-8 minutes, until it reached 20

I thought you just 'pit the lid on the kettle and run away'?

 

[MashBag]

I thought you just 'pit the lid on the kettle and run away'?

Yes I do now. But it wasn't always like that

 

[gavp1979]

Ahh got ya, you used to use a chiller before moving to no chill

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Well in the UK were hardly short of water at the moment and it’s dirt cheap.

It depends on where you are - London already depends on the desalination of seawater, and I'm sure many of us have experienced hosepipe bans in recent years. It's not just about the monetary cost, it's about being responsible with the consumption of resources.

The East of England faces "projected water shortages of 800 million litres" per day by 2050, according to a group looking at water security.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-67694328

"By 2030, seven regions in England are set to be severely water stressed....By 2040, the year the Environment Agency has warned that England risks running short of water, the number of seriously water stressed regions is on course to rise to 12, out of a total of 17...almost four out of five (79%) Brits say that reducing the amount of water they use is important to them. Three in four (76%) believe saving water is more important now than it was a decade ago."
https://www.kingfisher.com/en/media...-will-face-severe-water-stress-by-2030-a.html

 

[MashBag]

I wasn't going to go there, but I do agree entirely