I Am A Water Waster

[ozpowell]

I keep all my sanitization water in buckets when I'm done with it and we use it instead of flushing the toilets for the following couple of days.

 

[braufrau]

It might sound like a lot but as pointed out when you consider how much water other frequent processes use it isn't that much. Plus you get beer at the end of it...
I very much believe it should all be about how much you use overall anyway.
The council here is pushing this 'Target 140'. That is 140L per person per day.
Well I have a pool and I make beer and have a child which means more frequent washing and we are still at around 100, sometimes even less.
I re-use a lot of the water involved in the brewing process for watering, filling the pool etc. etc.

The libs in SA have a "19 point plan" for water.
One of the points is people who save water get credits they can use later or trade.
They also want to reintroduce excess water charges.
I think this is a great idea because it will get most people thinking about how to save water.
I remember how hysterical my grandmother used to get at the thought of an excess water bill.
And in the latest Organic Gardener there were a lot of letters on the restrictions and the consenss was
gardeners would go without a shower if they could water their plants.

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

And in the latest Organic Gardener there were a lot of letters on the restrictions and the consenss was
gardeners would go without a shower if they could water their plants.

Hmmmm... Interesting.

Consider - for the sake of argument - that I live next door to a gardener and that their gardening takes *less* water than my brewing. But, there are water restriction rules in place that say my next door neighbour can't pursue their hobby because it uses too much water.

Good thing I don't like my hypothetical neighbour too much.

 

[domonsura]

Yep, the rules are screwed. The watering rules are ridiculous, I see people throwing bucket after bucket after bucket of water on their lawns and 'that's OK because they are using a bucket' which IMO is probably the least efficient and most destructive way to water gardens.
As far as I'm concerned, excess water charges are the way to go. Stay under the limit for your household, and the water police leave you the hell alone.

This 'even numbered houses on Saturday and odd number houses on Sunday' rule that is in place here is such rubbish I can't believe it. Every weekend I see people all up and down the street blasting their bloody flower gardens/lawns with stupid amounts of water, 90% of which runs off. And yet I'm not allowed to install drippers or weeper hoses underground in my vege garden and slowly drip feed my FOOD SUPPLY with 20 litres throughout the course of the day..........cmon pollies, get your heads out of your orifices!!!!
The lack of common sense being imposed on us all by councils that have no damn idea about water conservation is astounding !

 

[danman]

And in the latest Organic Gardener there were a lot of letters on the restrictions and the consenss was
gardeners would go without a shower if they could water their plants.

we also have to realise where braufrau lives. i grew up in that town and i used to live with my plants in the room next door! but then i guess that type of irrigation setup is banned now anyway

 

[domonsura]

we also have to realise where braufrau lives. i grew up in that town and i used to live with my plants in the room next door! but then i guess that type of irrigation setup is banned now anyway

:huh: eh what?

 

[Lukes]

This is in the news today

"A man has been charged with murder after he allegedly got into a fight about water restrictions with an elderly man who was hosing his lawn"

 

[devo]

I only use tank water for cleaning and use tap water for my hot liquor and boil additions only.

 

[fraser_john]

This is in the news today

"A man has been charged with murder after he allegedly got into a fight about water restrictions with an elderly man who was hosing his lawn"

Totally off topic....but

What the hell is wrong with people these days?

"Relax....have a home brew" - Charlie​

Then call the water police and have the guy fined! Don't "allegedly" kick his head in!

 

[bconnery]

Totally off topic....but

What the hell is wrong with people these days?

"Relax....have a home brew" - Charlie​

Then call the water police and have the guy fined! Don't "allegedly" kick his head in!

Plus it turns out that apparently the guy wasn't breaking restrictions at all according to what I read...

 

[Stuster]

This is in the news today

"A man has been charged with murder after he allegedly got into a fight about water restrictions with an elderly man who was hosing his lawn"

In Sylvania Waters!

 

[fraser_john]

Plus it turns out that apparently the guy wasn't breaking restrictions at all according to what I read...

Yeah, so a simple phone call would have saved a whole lot of grief for two families

 

[Darren]

Hey Pumpy,

I use about 350 litres to make 2x65 litre batches. I find that double batches reduces the clean-up water significantly. I collect all my chiller water and re-use for washing

cheers

Darren

 

[Whistlingjack]

The rule of thumb for commercial beer production is 6 litres water demand for every litre of beer produced.

Of this, 3.8 litres is considered waste water, the other 2.2 litres comprises the beer, evaporation losses and containment in spent grains, trub and fiter materials.

I probably use about 5 litres per litre of beer at home.

WJ

 

[domonsura]

Very sad, but I suspect that overall, that's not the only headline we're going to see regarding fights over water in times to come...........I bet there's some serious stuff going on over fences in some parts of rural Australia as it is - and it's a whole hell of a lot more important out there than in the city.
I will admit though, the mindlessness of people bothering to water a patch of grass that they then cut and throw on the compost heap every couple of weeks does annoy me more than a little. Don't think I'd attack an elderley gentleman over it, but if there's a place to start the water education process, that's as good a place as any...it's not hard really.

Just do what our own body does with it's fluids. If it's not vital to survival, it's the first to get cut off from the juice. I'd rather go bald than die of thirst.

 

[afromaiko]

This is making beer we are talking about... running water straight down the drain would be wasting it. It'll come back around again eventually anyway.

 

[BoilerBoy]

Yep, the rules are screwed. The watering rules are ridiculous, I see people throwing bucket after bucket after bucket of water on their lawns and 'that's OK because they are using a bucket' which IMO is probably the least efficient and most destructive way to water gardens.
As far as I'm concerned, excess water charges are the way to go. Stay under the limit for your household, and the water police leave you the hell alone.

This 'even numbered houses on Saturday and odd number houses on Sunday' rule that is in place here is such rubbish I can't believe it. Every weekend I see people all up and down the street blasting their bloody flower gardens/lawns with stupid amounts of water, 90% of which runs off. And yet I'm not allowed to install drippers or weeper hoses underground in my vege garden and slowly drip feed my FOOD SUPPLY with 20 litres throughout the course of the day..........cmon pollies, get your heads out of your orifices!!!!
The lack of common sense being imposed on us all by councils that have no damn idea about water conservation is astounding !

Totally agree

I would also add that if they are serious about saving water

1. Before they start lifting the price they have to ditch this incomprehensible
Water to property value. A guy on radio recently sold his large properrty downsized to a smaller house in an upmarket area and now uses much less water, but pays more than what he did before :blink:

2. Having removed water/ property value, lift the price to a standard unit value on a user pay system
with a designated point where excess cuts in and you then pay more

This would put the control, the savings and the choice back to the consumer.

But instead the SA government is actually investigating who legally owns the water once it hits your roof
so they can charge you for storage of water on properties as well :huh:

A tax on the air we breathe surely cant be far away now

 

[KoNG]

Following Darren asking me how much water I use , I thought about it

1)Rinse the brewery out before I mash (20L)
2)Wash it down after I mash (20L)
3) sterilise the fermenter before use (4L)
4) soak the fermenter in napisan after use (30L)
5) sterilise the filterand tubes before use (3L)
6) rinse the filter after use (3 L)
7)soak the filter in napisan (5L)
8)rinse the keg out (6 L)
9)soak the keg in napisan (20 L)
10)Rinse the keg and beer lines (10 L)
11) rinse the beer glass before and after each beer (1L)
12) forgot cleaning with napisan two NoChill cubes (60 L)
13) rinsing No chill cubes (10L)
14) evaporation from kettle (15 L)
Would that be right to make a 40 liter batch I use 207 L water to get a beer into the glass I dont use a chiller that would add more ???

That does not include the water in the beer which is 40 L so that is a total of 247 Litres for a 40 litre batch
Pumpy ,

I am Gob smacked !!!!

WOW....
Pumpy surely you realise you dont "need" to use that much... as others have pointed out.
Fermenters can be cleaned after use with 1-2L of hot napisan and a soft brush. Then i just add another 1-2L of hot napisan and swirl/shake everynow and then.
same with iodophor, 1-2L for a keg/ferm etc
60 Litres for cleaning 2 cubes..!??! same as Ferms, i do a first up clean of 2 litres hot napisan (then dump that) and repeat, the second sol'n stays in the cube until next time. When i go to use that no chill cube again, the 2litres of napisan goes into a spare fermenter for future use, quick rinse, then 1-2 L of iodophor... which gets dumped into the waiting mash tun for cleaning etc.
I reckon you could more than halve that usage, pretty easily. IF you wanted to

It may help reduce the need for the desal plant.. and its shitty infrastructure ruining the ecology of Botany Bay.! but i'll leave that convo for the conservation-nerds-are-us forum... :lol:

 

[domonsura]

That's fine, I'll just start charging them for every drop that goes down the drain or evaporates from my property - it's then up to them to recover their costs from it by treating it. If I have to buy it, it belongs to me. Just because council has got first in line to take it away from my property, doesn't mean they'll get it for free.....

If they want to create this whole 'water is a commodity' bs to the extent of charging me to store water that I make the effort to catch, then it must be able to work both ways and I charge them for the water they catch from my property....

 

[warrenlw63]

This thread has given me a definite view of how much water I could be possibly wasting. OTOH I embrace my brewing at the expense of showers and wearing the same clothes too often. :lol:

I've also cut down to the bone the amount rinsing I do with cubes and fermenters.

For the people who wanna argue beyond that point... This pic's for you.

Warren -