Pure RO Water (without additives)

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ryojin

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It seems it is getting harder and harder to find jugs of pure RO water these days. Most manufacturers are now slapping a "with minerals added" on their labels. This results in it being very difficult to start from a "clean slate" water profile when brewing. If you are taking water chemistry into consideration and adding in minerals as needed per your style profile, how are you accomplishing this today?
 
I fill up two buckets with 5 gallons of RO water from the Glacier machine at my local grocery store for $3.50. My TDS meter shows the water has been between 2-8 PPM on average, and recently was 12 PPM. I think that would be acceptable for RO water.
 
There are two shops locally to me that only sell RO water that I had no idea about until I decided to go with RO for brewing. Look and I'll bet you'll find one. Me, I trust a specific water retailer over a machine at the grocery store.
 
Home-system RO water stored in a 55 gallon container, which is on top of my beer fridge in my garage was some of the best money I ever spent.
For a little over a hundred bucks, it is so worth the the money compared to having to go the the store for water.
Also, just think of when the Zombie Apocalypse happens, you'll have 55 gallons of water stored.
 
There are two shops locally to me that only sell RO water that I had no idea about until I decided to go with RO for brewing. Look and I'll bet you'll find one. Me, I trust a specific water retailer over a machine at the grocery store.

The trouble with those machines is that you don't know how often they change out the filters, and you don't know how clean the lines and taps are. Too many variables.

I used to buy bulk water (and sometimes gallon jugs of RO or distilled). Took the plunge and bought a home RO system. For a little over $100, no more hauling jugs of water around.
 
Hey! It doesn't matter if the RO machine is your own or it's down the street at the store. You still HAVE to have a TDS meter to check the quality of the RO water. Get a decent TDS meter. It will only cost $20 to $30. Its worth it.


I agree with Martin. I added an inline TDS meter to Bulk Reef Supply water system. Was only a few bucks more to the system that ran me about $100 and it supposedly has a better accuracy than the ones you dip. I still send out a water sample to Ward labs every year or so as a sanity check.
 
Hey! It doesn't matter if the RO machine is your own or it's down the street at the store. You still HAVE to have a TDS meter to check the quality of the RO water. Get a decent TDS meter. It will only cost $20 to $30. Its worth it.


I agree with Martin. I added an inline TDS meter to Bulk Reef Supply water system. Was only a few bucks more to the system that ran me about $100 and it supposedly has a better accuracy than the ones you dip. I still send out a water sample to Ward labs every year or so as a sanity check.

I also liked the idea of having 30 gallons of water on tap in case of an emergency.
 
Call a place that specializes in aquariums and fish supplies. I could not find a local source of bulk RO water but read online that aquarium hobbyists will built up their own water for certain species of fish, reef, coral, etc. (Sound familiar?)
 
I fill up two buckets with 5 gallons of RO water from the Glacier machine at my local grocery store for $3.50. My TDS meter shows the water has been between 2-8 PPM on average, and recently was 12 PPM. I think that would be acceptable for RO water.

Yeah, I get 12ppm from a brand spanking new RO system (down from 320ppm) which the store where I bought it says is within acceptable limits.
 
Where do you find a RO system for $100? And is it safe to keep RO water for extended periods? I know that we boil for an hour and we could use pond water and still produce safe beer. But my concern would be that something growing in the water could 'taint' the flavor of the water.

:mug:

-Brian
 
The primary building blocks of life are carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. While carbon and nitrogen are in the air, they generally aren't useable in their atmospheric form to create life. The typical limiting factor is phosphorus. The RO process should strip out virtually all the phosphorus and take out the possibility of supporting life in that water.

Remember, almost all the water in the world has been present for billions of years. All water has been dirty at some point in its existence. I wouldn't worry about anything growing in stored RO water.
 
How often are you guys changing your filters? Just curious. Right now I'm paying $1/gal and want to know if it's worth it to go buy a system. For those of you that have the system exclusively for brewing, do you change once every 50 gallons or at what rate?
 
How often are you guys changing your filters? Just curious. Right now I'm paying $1/gal and want to know if it's worth it to go buy a system. For those of you that have the system exclusively for brewing, do you change once every 50 gallons or at what rate?

I did the math for someone on this a few months ago and basically if you go by the filter manufacturer's service cycle recommendation and adhere to the 200g Federal annual homebrew limit, most filters (not the membrane) should last a couple of lifetimes...

Cheers!
 
No, the carbon filter has a finite capacity. While chlorine compound destruction does consume the carbon in the reaction, the typical 10" carbon filter can easily treat 1000 gallons of water and that goes way up if the flow rate is slow.
 
Home-system RO water stored in a 55 gallon container, which is on top of my beer fridge in my garage was some of the best money I ever spent.
For a little over a hundred bucks, it is so worth the the money compared to having to go the the store for water.
Also, just think of when the Zombie Apocalypse happens, you'll have 55 gallons of water stored.

I don't mean to hijack but I have a quick question. I have an apec 3 gallon RO system that I use and start filling 2 days ahead of time. The drum with float valve seems like it might have to get installed here.

Are you gravity feeding out of the drum?

Is the drum open or have an air valve? Trying to figure out how the air displacement works when filling or draining.
 
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