To where are you targeting the delivery of it? If to a dishwasher or washing machine, a simple method is to run a faucet near the machine until the flow is hot ... such as at the kitchen sink. Otherwise, pretty much the only way is via a recirculation pump on a flow loop from the water heater across all the taps. Some plumbing systems are constructed with a dedicated recirculation loop. There are retrofit pumps that are installed at the furthest usage point from the heater, feeding water from the hot line into the cold to create a flow loop ... usually operated on a timer or on-demand a few mins before hot water is needed. One such product is the Metlund D'MAND System. There are others.

See my response to your first post.

I agree with nigelsgarden that the recirc should work. Did you run a new line back to the hot water heater and feed the recirculated water back into the cold water inlet fitting on the heater? There are easy to install recirc pumps which use the cold water feed to the bath room as the return pipe. The problem here is that with the recirc pump running you won't have any cold water, because the cold water pipe will get packed full of hot water. Mark, if you saw anything discouraging feeding the mini hot tank with the hot water line it would have been to avoid the following situation": 1-You start showering, and the tank gives you nice hot water right away. 2-The nice hot water you use from the tank is replaced by the cold water in the 50 feet of pipe from the hot water heater to the bathroom. 3-As the limited supply of hot water in the mini hot tank starts to become exhausted, the shower will begin to cool down, because the cold purge water is filling the mini hot tank. 4-The shower probably won't go completely cold, because when the pipe purge is done, there will be hot water from the big hot water heater filling the mini hot tank, and the outlet temperature will rise again, until the temp at the shower equals the output form the main hot water heater. If you like to sing in the shower, the cold phase might give your voice a nice operatic vibrato (caused by shivvering) and the arrival of the very hot water can help you with a couple of high notes till you get everything regulated.

Thanks for the quick reply. I'd hoped there was a less tedious and more eco-friendly method. The water will be (or should be) to hot to go and pour on the grass and plants, and I just can't let all that run down the drain....I guess I could use the trash can to let it cool down. Guess I'll see if I can find the tub specifications...or try to remember geometry and do some calculations? Then I'll definitely need a nice long bath!