Hi All… Been AG brewer for about a year now. I am moving soon and the faucets in the condo are all fancy and cannot be rigged up to my wort chiller (no hose hookups either)…I am thinking my only hope will be the bathtub faucet. Anyone have any experience with how to do this?
thanks
The faucets won’t support the threaded couplers, like the kind you get with the bottle jet washers?
If not, maybe you could put water in the tub and circulate it through the wort chiller with an aquarium pump.
I should probably explain my intention a bit more… I’m talking about the lower/larger faucet at the botton of the tub. If I can secure some king of flexible material around the faucet opening, then clamp it to the tube on the wort chiller…I may have something.
Have you considered using the Australian “nochill” method? They put the hot wort into a “jerry” can and let it cool overnight. You can google for more info.
That was my thought too. You can get a submersible pump with garden hose fittings at Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc. It might be the cheaper/easier/safer option.
Thanks…do aquarium pumps have that much power?
Not all of them do. Make sure you get something with a decent gallons per hour rating. I bought a little aquarium pump for much the same reason that pumped around 150 gph and it didn’t cut the mustard. Then I upgraded to a 1470 gph sump pump and that gets the job done. Overkill really but in a pinch I could also pump out my basement. ;)
Is there also a sink in this bathroom? Maybe you’ll have better luck finding an adapter for that faucet.
I had this problem in an apartment I rented. You should be able to remove the faucet tip and screen and screw in an adapter that has male threads to the female threads used for a hose adapter. I would remove that part and bring it to Home Depot or Lowes whatever you favorite shop is and find the right part.
If all else fails, I would replace the faucet. I would sacrifice some decor for a good homebrew anyday!
No can do…they are all fancy-pants faucets where the water comes out like a waterfall etc…
couple ideas. first, most shower heads are just threaded on and can be taken off. put a T valve in that would normally couple to a hand held nozzle. then connect to this.
the second is to use an “intercooler” which is what i am planning on building. this gets the cooling water colder than the faucet water. use a resevoir (cooler, tub, etc,) filled with ice or ice packs. then pump water from this through the wart cooler and back over the ice. this has the effect of using colder cooling water and you need to use less water overall. you then don’t need to have constant supply from the faucets
A pump to recirculate is my vote. Simple and easy to put in service and store when finished.
Not the aquarium pump for the indoor 20 gallon glass aquariums but for the outside fish ponds. All the big box stores carry them.
Tygo…don’t you mean GP_H? Most fire trucks only pump 1200 GPM_ :
Oops. Corrected. Thanks
Maybe he could just use one of those then?
How much are you looking to cool? Five gallons? Ten? Harbor Freight has cheap pumps.
Why not solder on some hose fittings? Maybe something like this? Not for a bath tub but just to get those creative juices flowing.
Nice…I assume you have a pump in there? What kind/model is it? I’d only be chilling 5-6 gallons.
This is the item. Chilled about 6 last batch though it’s usually 12 gallons.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=98342
The frozen bottles work ok. Not great. I use them to get it into pitching temps after getting the wort down below 100F with tap water. Ice works best.
Thanks! that’s actually the one on harbor freight i thought looked best for the job…
I like the bucket in the tub with a pond pump ideas. I use an ice chest and a very small pond pump from Lowes.
Here’s the pump I used:
http://www.lowes.com:80/pd_212810-70161-19035_0_?newSearch=true&catalogId=10051&productId=3024445&Ntt=212810&N=0&langId=-1&y=9&x=26&storeId=10151&Ntk=i_products&ddkey=http:OrderDisplay
Check this thread for more ideas. I have pics of my set up posted here:
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=100.45
We use the shower head method. We removed the shower head and installed a 1/2" NPT female to 3/4" male hose thread fitting on the shower stub. We then put a 1/2" NPT male to 3/4" hose thread female fitting in the shower head. This way we can easily remove the shower head when need the tub for brew things and put it back when we are done.
This is very handy!! We put a 6 foot 1/2 white Marina hose on the stub and normal squeeze trigger nozzle on the free end to do all of our clean up. You have all the hot/cold water you need and a tub to catch the mess! We did put a simple hose shut off on the hose ahead of the nozzle so we can remove the nozzle without turning off the water.
For chilling, we use a plate chiller and a wort wizard vortex pump on the outlet. The set up is easy. We put a shelf across the end of the tub, we put a milk create on the shelf. We use bungee cords to hold the chiller on the side of the milk create faceing the tub. We put a shower mat on the floor of the tub and set the fermenter in the tub close to the chiller. Hook it all up and your chilling and aerateing the wort in one operation ---- Mess free!
Hope this helps
Preston