I have been collecting my water used for chilling in 10 gallon coolers and using that for cleaning equipment after the brewday and then watering plants just like you said pretty much since I started brewing. Also putting star san in spray bottle to spot sanitize can cut down on needing to fill a huge bucket of water for sanitizing equipment and helps get into hard to reach places. Great video topic!
As a homebrew supply shop, I'm always looking at the packaging of items that I get in as well. Lots of my regulars bring back the plastic bags for the bulk grain, which is always cool to see.
Wholesome video and some good tips. The best thing we could all do to help the planet is to advocate for the end of a system that requires infinite growth on a finite planet, incentivizes climate destruction for the sake of profit, etc...but for now I really like the idea of no chill. The water wastage has always been the hardest part for me
I liked the focus of this video! I typically do most of these already but there are great tips in here. I typically use a CFC to chill my wort then capture the water in a bucket and use that hot water to clean my equipment. Great show!
First video I’ve seen that brings up the topic. Giving me a lot to think about, even the little things goes along way. I have friends with dogs, family with livestock and here I’m chucking the grains in the corner of my yard. And that tip about keeping the CO2 from fermentation in a spare keg 👌👌👌
That makes me happy to hear! I was a bit unsure whether or not people would care about this topic but glad to know you got something out of it! Cheers🍻
It's great to see someone talking about this on the homebrew scale! Definitely going to try to put some more of these into practice. I also wanted to add to your mention of recycling paper bags that often "brown matter" is important in compost too, so (I think) many industrial-scale compost operations will take those brown paper bags along with food scraps, etc. (so long as there are no staples or tape), at least that's been my experience
I started buying bulk grain (and doing some home roasting for fun) after finding a mill on craigslist for $20. I don't have the ability to chill where I am so all my brews are no-chill. One of the best tips I heard early on was putting sanitizer in a spray bottle. I'll typically make about 2 gallons of star san solution and put some in a spray bottle and then use the rest for larger stuff and bulk sanitization. I just got a couple of kegs and a spunding valve so I definitely want to try pressure fermenting and capturing the excess c02.
To save water during chilling, I will boil a gallon or two of water two nights before brew day. I put that water in sanitized food containers, and throw them in the freezer. Then on brew day, I calculate using about a gallon or two less water so that when i get to the end of my boil, i don't even need my chiller. I just throw in the giant blocks of ice, which rapidly cools down my wort, gets me to my 5 gallon mark and saves all of the time I'd normally be spending watching the thermometer drop! Its a few extra steps to set up and more math to do, but it's worth it to not watch gallons and gallons of water run down the street.
I have a big rainwater tank so for chilling i simply cycle the rainwater out of the tank trough my chiller and back to the tank again so I dont waste any water on chilling. I think I´ll try reusing the fermentation CO2 since that would be a good way to reduce cost as well and it seems to be pretty easy to do.
My LHBS will give you grains in old grain bags. A small charge for each one, but then you have a reusable bag. I bring 5 gallon buckets with me to the LHBS as I don't have the storage capacity for buying in bulk. No charge for a bag, reusable, and I have a place to mill the grain into.
The amount of plastic bag waste can be ridiculous! I try to use what bags I get in place of trash bags to at least put them to another use. Also, beautiful pup!
I've successfully brewed 2 beers using 15 - 20% old dryed bread. And they're pretty darn good :) The brittish brewery Toast Ale gives a couple of reciepes and advises to do that. Mainly : The bread proportion shouldn't exceed 30% as bread it doesn't come with any enzymes and will rely on the malt's enzymes during the mash.
Good stuff! I always use the no chill method, or if it's summer time I hold my kettle in the pool and it cools really quickly. What about reusing your yeast? I think you can use them up to 10 times. That's my next venture now that I have a secondary fridge.
The spent grain leftovers bothers me because it's such a large batch. I never worry about my used coffee grounds because it takes 3 months to generate the same waste.
Also maybe thinking about getting some solar panels to offset the amount of electricity it takes to brew (all in one systems of course). Could look into a rocket stove instead of propane burner for you kettle cookers.
Where I live the water CAN NOT BE wasted never dumped all that water and cringe every time i see a video where its dumped away, Started making ice and recicle it with a pump then i had de oportunity to put a tank and cicle throw it until de temp of the tap water is equal to the water coming out then just close circuit with some ice.. works like a charm got lager temps easy
Environmental - Some of this sounds really counterproductive or destructive. Pre-chilling water for example (or using ice)- the compressor or Peltier cooler uses a ton of electricity to pre-chill the water you are going to use. In NAMR it takes approximately 15 GALLONS of water to produce 1kW of electricity. The electricity consumed making 20 gallons of ice, can be far more than just using room temperature tap water. It's substantially more than just re-using water from the tap, and infinitely more than just letting the wort cool down with ambient air. You have line losses, compressor inefficiencies, the energy used to maintain the temperature in the fridge/freezer, etc. An efficient compressor based mini-fridge can still consume around 80 watts an hour just to be running so if it runs 12.5 hours to chill your wort to pitching temp you blew another 15 gallons of water at a power plant to say you didn't use it at your house. If it took 48 hours you used 57.6 gallons of water. If it takes a few days to prechill ice, and post-chill a fermenter you easily climb into the hundreds of gallons of water. Now imagine your fridge is inside a living space that's also conditioned and all the heat dumped from chilling, has to be conditioned a second time, we can really double up those numbers. If its a Peltier based chiller go ahead and multiply these numbers by 3 or 4. The mini fridge just being plugged in and not used for wort chilling uses an average of 233-310kWh a year or 4650 gallons of water. The only real green advice is let it cool down with ambient air, or if you use water re-circulate as much as possible and use the 'waste' water after it chills to water plants or whatever The idea of shopping at your LHBS reducing emissions - How? The vast majority of emissions came from the products making it to the store, having to keep a store open, staffing the employees and their trips, the entire manufacturing or growing/harvesting/packaging process. Easily 99%, and when its instead shipped to something like a brewery by rail or semi in bulk its far more efficient per lb of product and far less emissions are created than vs somebody buying small amounts for home brewing in their personal vehicles. BTW if its water we worry about, 3-6 gallons are used to manufacture 1 gallon of gas. Buying in bulk in a single trip sure it saves emissions vs making 10 trips, but its probably delusional to think homebrewing is saving emissions compared to commercial brewing or that buying stuff for a single batch locally is any more emissions friendly than ordering it online. Make less trips or have less deliveries is sound advice. Reusing spent grains - 'i made dog treats', 'dont give spent grains to dogs they are toxic'. Maybe some grains? Or maybe hops are toxic to dogs. felt like a mixed message. The act of having somebody else compost something... its going to break down anyways. In a landfill or a commercial compost, in your backyard, anywhere as long as you don't launch it to space. Its going to have the same net emissions. You just add emissions by having it shipped, or having it sorted, or having to rotate it, but natures going to break it down no matter what with exactly the same emissions eventually. The only thing that seems like its green here would be suggesting just do it in your backyard so you dont spend additional emissions shipping it to a landfill or a composter (who then ships it again somewhere else)
I think the message that you shouldn't give dogs spent grain that contains hops was pretty clear. So no mash hopping if you want to make dog treats. Using spent grain to feed chickens or in your own or neighbors compost is a good idea. So is buying in bulk. The cool water thing may depend on where you are located. If you are in a region where water is a scarce resource but solar energy is plentiful, using ice packs and reusing water may be better. But in other places it's probably better to just use tap water, capture that and use it to clean or water plants etc. Friend of mine uses rain water to cool his beer, at least during the cold months.
These were just some ideas to make better choices on a small scale. There is obviously a bigger issue at hand but was only hoping to give home brewers some ideas on where they can be a little more green. No one is perfect!
@@TheBruSho No worries friend I wasn't accusing you of being perfect just offering my personal perspective on some of the actual impact of the suggestions
Do you do anything to be more eco friendly when brewing? Lmk! 🌎🌱
My favorite way to get rid of spent grains - give them to the chickens. In a matter of days they’ll eat a whole brew’s worth.
That’s amazing, those little guys are master composters!
My chickens love the grain pile. 🐓🐓🐓🐓
I have been collecting my water used for chilling in 10 gallon coolers and using that for cleaning equipment after the brewday and then watering plants just like you said pretty much since I started brewing. Also putting star san in spray bottle to spot sanitize can cut down on needing to fill a huge bucket of water for sanitizing equipment and helps get into hard to reach places.
Great video topic!
That’s awesome! And great point about the spray bottle. Definitely saves on water!
As a homebrew supply shop, I'm always looking at the packaging of items that I get in as well. Lots of my regulars bring back the plastic bags for the bulk grain, which is always cool to see.
That is great! Love to hear that your supporting it too. Not every shop is like that
Regarding the sanitizer: I usually fill a keg and purge it while taking it out. I end up with a purged keg.
perfect way to get a fully purged keg!
Wholesome video and some good tips. The best thing we could all do to help the planet is to advocate for the end of a system that requires infinite growth on a finite planet, incentivizes climate destruction for the sake of profit, etc...but for now I really like the idea of no chill. The water wastage has always been the hardest part for me
Well said! 🍻
I liked the focus of this video! I typically do most of these already but there are great tips in here. I typically use a CFC to chill my wort then capture the water in a bucket and use that hot water to clean my equipment. Great show!
Glad you enjoyed this one! Cheers 🍻
First video I’ve seen that brings up the topic. Giving me a lot to think about, even the little things goes along way. I have friends with dogs, family with livestock and here I’m chucking the grains in the corner of my yard. And that tip about keeping the CO2 from fermentation in a spare keg 👌👌👌
That makes me happy to hear! I was a bit unsure whether or not people would care about this topic but glad to know you got something out of it! Cheers🍻
It's great to see someone talking about this on the homebrew scale! Definitely going to try to put some more of these into practice. I also wanted to add to your mention of recycling paper bags that often "brown matter" is important in compost too, so (I think) many industrial-scale compost operations will take those brown paper bags along with food scraps, etc. (so long as there are no staples or tape), at least that's been my experience
Great point, I didn't even think of that!
Buying in bulk and using chilling water for cleaning helps me cut down wastefulness. Great video!
Thanks man!! 🍻
I started buying bulk grain (and doing some home roasting for fun) after finding a mill on craigslist for $20. I don't have the ability to chill where I am so all my brews are no-chill. One of the best tips I heard early on was putting sanitizer in a spray bottle. I'll typically make about 2 gallons of star san solution and put some in a spray bottle and then use the rest for larger stuff and bulk sanitization. I just got a couple of kegs and a spunding valve so I definitely want to try pressure fermenting and capturing the excess c02.
Sounds like your doing a lot of the right things, Cheers Stephen! 🍻
Awesome topic, as always. Thanks Trent!
Thanks for watching!
Grains after the mash is what I give to the chickens as well. Good video.
To save water during chilling, I will boil a gallon or two of water two nights before brew day. I put that water in sanitized food containers, and throw them in the freezer. Then on brew day, I calculate using about a gallon or two less water so that when i get to the end of my boil, i don't even need my chiller. I just throw in the giant blocks of ice, which rapidly cools down my wort, gets me to my 5 gallon mark and saves all of the time I'd normally be spending watching the thermometer drop! Its a few extra steps to set up and more math to do, but it's worth it to not watch gallons and gallons of water run down the street.
Excellent tip! TY!
I set up a small compressor to capture the co2 but found that it works great to just carbonate using pressure brewing.
Oh wow I didn’t know you could do something like a compressor to capture. Cool idea
Nice, I may be trying the recycled water chilling next time. I'd love to try an Exchilerator! Cheers!
Yeah I’m just diving into the Exchillerator. Excited to put it through the paces
I like to capture my chilling water and use it to clean. My spent grains go to my farmer buddy for chicken feed, they love this stuff!
Awesome love to hear it!
I have a big rainwater tank so for chilling i simply cycle the rainwater out of the tank trough my chiller and back to the tank again so I dont waste any water on chilling. I think I´ll try reusing the fermentation CO2 since that would be a good way to reduce cost as well and it seems to be pretty easy to do.
That’s a great idea. I wish it rained more in SoCal!
@@TheBruShoI´m glad that we get lots of rain here in southwest germany.
Nice Trent! Digging the recapturing co2! 🍻
My LHBS will give you grains in old grain bags. A small charge for each one, but then you have a reusable bag. I bring 5 gallon buckets with me to the LHBS as I don't have the storage capacity for buying in bulk. No charge for a bag, reusable, and I have a place to mill the grain into.
Great thinking! I got a bucket I could use for this
The amount of plastic bag waste can be ridiculous! I try to use what bags I get in place of trash bags to at least put them to another use. Also, beautiful pup!
I've successfully brewed 2 beers using 15 - 20% old dryed bread. And they're pretty darn good :) The brittish brewery Toast Ale gives a couple of reciepes and advises to do that. Mainly : The bread proportion shouldn't exceed 30% as bread it doesn't come with any enzymes and will rely on the malt's enzymes during the mash.
Oh that’s super interesting and a great reuse for an otherwise discarded product. I’ll have to try that out!
Nice to see someone talking about this!
I thought it was about time!
Good stuff! I always use the no chill method, or if it's summer time I hold my kettle in the pool and it cools really quickly. What about reusing your yeast? I think you can use them up to 10 times. That's my next venture now that I have a secondary fridge.
That pool trick is genius! And yeah reusing yeast is a good option. Saves money more than anything
I guess I've got to buy a house with a pool now🤔
@@davec4955 Sounds like a good enough reason to me! ;)
Trent, I haven't never thought about using the CO2 generated from fermentation to prep a keg before transferring. Awesome idea.
Yeah I’m really getting interested in it myself. seems like a great way to use an otherwise wasted by product
Good stuff Trent! Getting a more efficient chiller has helped me save gallons upon gallons of water!
I’m hoping my new one will do the same!
@@TheBruSho was that the exchilerator that in the video?
@@ElementaryBrewingCo yeah just got it and really just trying it out. We will see how it goes!
The spent grain leftovers bothers me because it's such a large batch. I never worry about my used coffee grounds because it takes 3 months to generate the same waste.
Yeah I wish there was a better way to reuse it, but if an animal can eat it then thats cool hah
I saw a video where the guy had the discharge hose from the wort chiller going to his laundry wash machine.
That is pretty genius, I might have to try that!
Also maybe thinking about getting some solar panels to offset the amount of electricity it takes to brew (all in one systems of course). Could look into a rocket stove instead of propane burner for you kettle cookers.
That’s a great point. I didn’t even bring up gas and electricity use!
Braj, never thought about reusing the CO2 genius
Yeah it’s something I’m just now getting into. Pretty neat to keep learning new things
Nice video and great ideas. This should at least get people thinking.
That was my hope! Cheers
Trent I think growing your own hops would be a fun way to reduce waste and save money. I ordered some rhizomes this year to give it a go!
Oh interesting yeah especially if you reuse chilling water to water the rhizomes ha!
Love this video so much! 🌿🍻🌏 great ideas!
Thanks!
cheers Trent...great vid
✌🤘
Thanks buddy!
Cheers!
🍺MBC for Mother Nature!
Where I live the water CAN NOT BE wasted never dumped all that water and cringe every time i see a video where its dumped away, Started making ice and recicle it with a pump then i had de oportunity to put a tank and cicle throw it until de temp of the tap water is equal to the water coming out then just close circuit with some ice.. works like a charm got lager temps easy
That’s a great setup! Especially if water is a rare commodity!
Environmental - Some of this sounds really counterproductive or destructive. Pre-chilling water for example (or using ice)- the compressor or Peltier cooler uses a ton of electricity to pre-chill the water you are going to use. In NAMR it takes approximately 15 GALLONS of water to produce 1kW of electricity. The electricity consumed making 20 gallons of ice, can be far more than just using room temperature tap water. It's substantially more than just re-using water from the tap, and infinitely more than just letting the wort cool down with ambient air. You have line losses, compressor inefficiencies, the energy used to maintain the temperature in the fridge/freezer, etc. An efficient compressor based mini-fridge can still consume around 80 watts an hour just to be running so if it runs 12.5 hours to chill your wort to pitching temp you blew another 15 gallons of water at a power plant to say you didn't use it at your house. If it took 48 hours you used 57.6 gallons of water. If it takes a few days to prechill ice, and post-chill a fermenter you easily climb into the hundreds of gallons of water. Now imagine your fridge is inside a living space that's also conditioned and all the heat dumped from chilling, has to be conditioned a second time, we can really double up those numbers. If its a Peltier based chiller go ahead and multiply these numbers by 3 or 4. The mini fridge just being plugged in and not used for wort chilling uses an average of 233-310kWh a year or 4650 gallons of water. The only real green advice is let it cool down with ambient air, or if you use water re-circulate as much as possible and use the 'waste' water after it chills to water plants or whatever
The idea of shopping at your LHBS reducing emissions - How? The vast majority of emissions came from the products making it to the store, having to keep a store open, staffing the employees and their trips, the entire manufacturing or growing/harvesting/packaging process. Easily 99%, and when its instead shipped to something like a brewery by rail or semi in bulk its far more efficient per lb of product and far less emissions are created than vs somebody buying small amounts for home brewing in their personal vehicles. BTW if its water we worry about, 3-6 gallons are used to manufacture 1 gallon of gas. Buying in bulk in a single trip sure it saves emissions vs making 10 trips, but its probably delusional to think homebrewing is saving emissions compared to commercial brewing or that buying stuff for a single batch locally is any more emissions friendly than ordering it online. Make less trips or have less deliveries is sound advice.
Reusing spent grains - 'i made dog treats', 'dont give spent grains to dogs they are toxic'. Maybe some grains? Or maybe hops are toxic to dogs. felt like a mixed message. The act of having somebody else compost something... its going to break down anyways. In a landfill or a commercial compost, in your backyard, anywhere as long as you don't launch it to space. Its going to have the same net emissions. You just add emissions by having it shipped, or having it sorted, or having to rotate it, but natures going to break it down no matter what with exactly the same emissions eventually. The only thing that seems like its green here would be suggesting just do it in your backyard so you dont spend additional emissions shipping it to a landfill or a composter (who then ships it again somewhere else)
I think the message that you shouldn't give dogs spent grain that contains hops was pretty clear. So no mash hopping if you want to make dog treats.
Using spent grain to feed chickens or in your own or neighbors compost is a good idea. So is buying in bulk.
The cool water thing may depend on where you are located. If you are in a region where water is a scarce resource but solar energy is plentiful, using ice packs and reusing water may be better. But in other places it's probably better to just use tap water, capture that and use it to clean or water plants etc.
Friend of mine uses rain water to cool his beer, at least during the cold months.
These were just some ideas to make better choices on a small scale. There is obviously a bigger issue at hand but was only hoping to give home brewers some ideas on where they can be a little more green. No one is perfect!
@@RedHotBagel love that rain capture idea!
@@TheBruSho No worries friend I wasn't accusing you of being perfect just offering my personal perspective on some of the actual impact of the suggestions
@@RedHotBagel I scrolled back in you are right - he does say make sure the grain doesn't have hops before giving it to your dogs
This would’ve been a great Earth Day video, but it’s great nonetheless.
Haha I was thinking the same thing!
If you're an electric brewer, switch to a power provider that offers renewable energy! I'm on 100% renewables
That’s a great idea and great point!
Shorten your boil to 1/2 hour and save a ton of fuel. You may need more bittering hops.
That’s an excellent point! Something I’m doing and didn’t even think about it’s impact
I don't have to worry about any water waste.
Well water baby 😎
Luckyyyy