Water saving

[lang]

Firstly, G'day from me, have been brewing for a while now and find this forum excellent,well done. What I'd like to know from brewers is, if you live in the bush and water is of a concern,that is the use of, any tips on reducing the use in regard to washing and cleaning of carboys and bottles.
What I have been doing is to quick rinse the finished bottle and then rack upside down outside in (one of those about 1"square mesh shop display stands,their great) then prior to bottling, spray with an atomiser each bottle with a Brewshield product,then decant the brew. So far all's well, but, any help would be greatly appreciated. Water is a real concern, I have one tank I try to keep for brewing but if things get tight I certainly don't want to have to resort to creek water.
As I live in the Northern Tablelands things are a bit iffy with temperature sometimes,like now,so it's watch and shift the brew around to keep a temperature conatant. But, I love the brewing, even the partaking of the finished product.. Thanks, Lang.

[timmy]

Lang,

IMO the biggest waste of water when brewing is the cleaning aspect, but since you have a no-rinse sanitiser you've pretty much got that licked. Creek water should be fine provided you boil it first (and filter it if there are loads of minerals in there too). You also might have to adjust the pH depending on the style you're brewing. As far as temp is concerned, get yourself a fridgemate (temp controller) if possible.

Cheers,

Tim

[Chris]

I conserve water by running my idophor solution from my fermenter into my kegs then sealing until required.

Works well.

[drsmurto]

I have a 20L plastic cube of my no rinse sanitiser made up and reuse it many times over. Once its get floaties in it and/or starts taking on a colour i tip it out and start again. I use this for everything in my brewery that needs sanitising.

Finally got my rainwater tanks connected and a pump installed so i can recycle the chilling water meaning the biggest source of water use is in the beer!

[lang]

Many thanks brewers, I'll carry on as before but have taken notice of the 20l sanitiser idea, that's good..Quick question, any outlet sell the no rinse type sanitiser in greater volume than the 250ml bottles?.. Would be handy to get a litre or two of the stuff ,can't seem to find any source so far.. Thanks again,great forum and will participate.

[timmy]

One of those 250ml bottles is enough to make 250L of sanitiser.....

How much do you need???

[Chris]

My HB shop sells idophor in 1L bottles. It's more expensive than just buying 4 x 250mL bottles though.

[lang]

Hi Timmy, the only brand I can buy,when available,is Brewcraft brewshield and the instructions are 30ml to 1ltr of water.So thats around 8ltrs. What brand do you use that makes 250ltrs from 250ml. That would be excellent,although sounds a bit strange.
I am pretty isolated and to get to a Brew shop is a long trip so I stock up big when I get to town and as I don't reuse the sanitiser I do go through a bit, just thought that a litre or more may be a bit cheaper and it's here when I want it. Am paying around $7.00 for the small botle.Often I just can't get it..
Thanks Chris, often the case..