Ro/di

[JamieT]

Hey all..

I'm on a city water supply and I am not comfortable that the water is of consistent chemistry. I am considering building an RO/DI station and then making creating my water profile from scratch each brew..

Who out there is building up a water profile from RO/DI for each brew, and what was the determining factor in your switch to this methodology vs. treating tap with campden or boiling or whatever your previous process was..

JT

 

[Bobby_M]

I've been thinking about doing it to completely erase the chance that the system's source will change without me knowing. However, I'm going to try to convince folks in my club to send samples to the lab at various times during the year to get an idea of how much and often the chem changes. If it's a few PPM here and there, I'll stick to modifying because it's cheaper.

Find out if your water chem right now is such that additions are the solution to most brews. If it is, then test it again in 4-6 months. If you have to cut with RO or distilled most of the time, you might as well build from 100%. For me, the only thing that can benefit from mostly or all distilled is Pils.

 

[lamarguy]

Houston has good drinking water. Why do you believe the water chemistry is suspect?

You just need a charcoal filter to remove chlorine/impurities and dilute the filtered water with RO to achieve your target profile. Of course, salt additions may be necessary to balance out the sulphate concentration.

 

[dragon99]

I've switched to RO for two reasons:
a) my water sucks. its extremely soft, but has a tremendous amount of bicarbonates. Its much easier for me to start with RO and build up the minerals I'm needing.
b) I already had the filter setup, just had to buy new filter catridges. So for about $50 I've got fresh clean RO water

I didn't go all the way with DI though. Mainly a cost factor for me. DI cartridges add up pretty quick. Sometime soon I'm going to have my RO water tested to see what I've got, but for now I just assume its about 97% less than what it started with.

 

[JamieT]

Houston has good drinking water. Why do you believe the water chemistry is suspect?

You just need a charcoal filter to remove chlorine/impurities and dilute the filtered water with RO to achieve your target profile. Of course, salt additions may be necessary to balance out the sulphate concentration.

Well we have a water softener on the house that the wife loves, but after a recent bad batch I have noticed a distinct chlorine / chloramine scent in the shower.. I think occasionally the water district changes the chlorination.. I would prefer to start from scratch and build a profile than guess at what I have going on at any given time dependent on what the district is doing and if I have been diligent in keeping the softener full of salt..

JT

 

[lamarguy]

Well we have a water softener on the house...

Forget the chlorine, that's fixed with a $10 charcoal filter. Your problem is the water softener. Water softener = bad beer.

 

[JamieT]

Forget the chlorine, that's fixed with a $10 charcoal filter. Your problem is the water softener. Water softener = bad beer.

Gimme the skinny here.. Whats the deal with the softener..?

 

[Bobby_M]

It replaces calcium and magnesium with sodium. It's mostly the reverse of what you want in your brewing water. Just because you have a softener doesn't mean you can't tap into the water source before the softener.

 

[lamarguy]

Gimme the skinny here.. Whats the deal with the softener..?

Water softeners replace calcium/magnesium ions with sodium ions. You end up with a water profile that is totally undesirable for brewing - high sodium and low calcium/magnesium.

In Houston, you're much better off hooking up to the water supply before the water softener and using a "whole house filter" with a charcoal filter. See my previous post.

 

[lamarguy]

Dang, I guess you type faster than me, Bobby!

 

[JamieT]

OK... Well Tapping in before the softener is not big deal.. Makes me feel better that I am likely on the right track to diagnosing this recent bad batch..

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I am one of those lucky brewers that has managed to track down a source at the lab who forwards me monthly analysis results.

Unless there is signifigant drought or flood worthy rainfall, the ppm's change very little from month to month.

 

[JamieT]

Thanks for the guidance guys..