[BeerSeq]

Hey y'all,

Have a couple dumb questions here. Recently bought a new house, and as such would like to limit my indoor brewing activities to keep the kitchen nice and orderly.

1. Where do y'all direct the outlet water from your immersion chillers? When I brewed in my apartment, I would simply run it down the sink, but now that I'm connecting up to the garden hose outside, I haven't figured out what to do aside from clumsily filling up buckets with water and periodically dumping the water onto plants. This activity keeps me quite occupied and doesn't allow me much time to stir the wort or move the chiller up & down to ensure rapid chilling.

2. How do y'all make your yeast starters outside? I used to do it on the stove, but now I'd like to do it outside. I can't quite place my flasks on my propane burners as they are too small to fit on the platform. Was considering buying a camping stove of sorts expressly for this purpose, but it seems a bit wasteful.

That's all for now... any tips for me? Thanks!

[Bob357]

Early on in the chilling process you want to contain the very hot water. After 5 or 10 minutes it'll be cooled off enough that it won't harm plants, so route it onto the lawn or into flower beds or vegetable garden.  As for making yeast starters, I would just make them indoors. Not like they take up a bunch of space or disrupt anything.

[RC]

1. I have a pool that constantly needs to be topped off in the summer months. Outlet water goes there.

2. Not a great idea to put a flask on any burner. Better to fill a flask with boiling water or wort, but not bring the liquid to a boil in the flask itself.

Re:#1, you can try pre-chilling the water or no-chill brewing to minimize the volume of water needed for cooling.

Re:#2, if I need to make a starter around the time I'm brewing a batch, I submerge the flask in the sparge-water kettle to pasteurize. I use Propper and bottled water, so I have no need to boil DME.

[pete b]

I always have thought of the disposal of chilling water as way more problematic when I have to brew inside: putting all that water into in my case a septic system or for others a municipal waste system. Outside is easy, collect the hot stuff in the fermenter and add sanitizer then let the cool stuff go in the yard, where it does good, not harm.
I don’t understand why you still wouldn’t do your starter on the stove top.

[RC]

I always have thought of the disposal of chilling water as way more problematic when I have to brew inside: putting all that water into in my case a septic system or for others a municipal waste system. Outside is easy, collect the hot stuff in the fermenter and add sanitizer then let the cool stuff go in the yard, where it does good, not harm.
I don’t understand why you still wouldn’t do your starter on the stove top.

Flasks are made of heat-resistant borosilicate glass but they don't have a shape that distributes heat evenly. You risk cracking the glass by putting it on direct heat, especially an electric burner. A gas burner isn't as risky, but it's still not a good idea unless you've shelled out for a top-quality flask from a reputable source.

[denny]

I make my starters the day before, so I do it inside.

[Visor]

 I catch the 1st chiller runoff in a 5 gallon cooler to use for later washing, once it's around 110 it goes on the lawn. While that may at first blush seem a bit too warm for watering, on any sunny day the water in a hose that's been in the sun for an hour or more is usually hotter than that.

[Kevin]

I run my chiller hose into the yard. I also would advise not to heat starter wort on a stove top in an Erlenmeyer flask.

[fredthecat]

i have a weird question.

i too am going to finally start brewing outside. i have a lot of trees. i'll be doing it i imagined just outside the garage on the driveway?

How do you guys keep crud from falling in? especially in say fall?

[pete b]

i have a weird question.

i too am going to finally start brewing outside. i have a lot of trees. i'll be doing it i imagined just outside the garage on the driveway?

How do you guys keep crud from falling in? especially in say fall?

I never find that a lot of stuff finds it’s way in and I just pick out the occasional leaf or yellow jacket.

[fredthecat]

i have a weird question.

i too am going to finally start brewing outside. i have a lot of trees. i'll be doing it i imagined just outside the garage on the driveway?

How do you guys keep crud from falling in? especially in say fall?

I never find that a lot of stuff finds it’s way in and I just pick out the occasional leaf or yellow jacket.

i guess so right.

[ynotbrusum]

I have used a window screen material when it’s really windy.  Just clamp it in a few places and lift it for access….

[goose]

1. I have a pool that constantly needs to be topped off in the summer months. Outlet water goes there.

2. Not a great idea to put a flask on any burner. Better to fill a flask with boiling water or wort, but not bring the liquid to a boil in the flask itself.

Re:#1, you can try pre-chilling the water or no-chill brewing to minimize the volume of water needed for cooling.

Re:#2, if I need to make a starter around the time I'm brewing a batch, I submerge the flask in the sparge-water kettle to pasteurize. I use Propper and bottled water, so I have no need to boil DME.

This is from my college chemistry lab experiences.  If you put a flask on a burner you need to put a wire gauze (available from most scientific supply houses) under it to keep the direct flame away from the flask.  The wire gauze will diffuse the flame so you don't create hot spots on the borosilicate glass (a.k.a Pyrex) that could crack  it.  If you are using a glass cooktop stove, it is not necessary to use the wire gauze but I would also use one on a coiled burner for the same reason mentioned above.

[erockrph]

i have a weird question.

i too am going to finally start brewing outside. i have a lot of trees. i'll be doing it i imagined just outside the garage on the driveway?

How do you guys keep crud from falling in? especially in say fall?

I never find that a lot of stuff finds it’s way in and I just pick out the occasional leaf or yellow jacket.

Yeah, but do the leaves add polyphenols? Is there a pH drop after the yellow jacket addition?

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[Wilbur]

If you have a rain barrel you can dump your outlet water in there to cool. Plus then you can use rainwater to water things. A lot of the time cities will have programs for free/cheap rain barrels.