This may be a stupid question but if I bottle RO water from a dispenser can I stick it in a room and leave it until I'm ready to brew again ? Or should said bottled water be used promptly?
Ro water longevity
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Silver_Is_Money
Larry Sayre, Developer of 'Mash Made Easy'
I've used it months later.
OP
OP
Ok cool thank you !
I fill buckets with RO water on brew day for the next brew day, so I routinely go a week or two without issues. I use dedicated buckets and as this water get boiled I am not too worried about it.
I recall seeing similar questions before and the waters guys here seemed to think it would be fine.
I recall seeing similar questions before and the waters guys here seemed to think it would be fine.
It's highly probable there wouldn't be any problem. But as there's nothing left in RO to sanitize contaminated water one should put extra care in sanitizing vessels prior to filling.
fwiw, our friends at Buckeye Hydro recommend periodic end-to-end sanitation of consumer RO systems for pretty much the same reason...
Cheers!
fwiw, our friends at Buckeye Hydro recommend periodic end-to-end sanitation of consumer RO systems for pretty much the same reason...
Cheers!
OP
OP
So between filling the 5 gallon jugs we should sanitize with star san ?
RPh_Guy
Bringing Sour Back
Not RO water, but I let a clean brew bucket full of K-Meta treated municipal tap water stand for a month at room temps (had a lid on it), and it turned kinda slimy. To my surprise there was quite a bit of a brownish precipitation on the (white) bottom as well. It was sort of mottled, not an even coating. I'm going to repeat that experiment in a more 'scientific' way and see if this is common here.
On the one hand RO water has nearly no minerals that might feed algae and bacteria. On the other hand it has plenty of available water (obviously!) and no protection against the proliferation of unwanted organisms. As a rule drinking water shouldn't be stored for long periods of time unless it was packaged under strict sanitary conditions, like store-bought bottled water was.
One simple way to preserve it for some time would be to store it in kegs and carbonate it. The drop in PH alone would protect it against most undesirable bacteria. The CO2 would then be completely realeased upon heating the water to strike temp at the latest and would not affect the subsequent brewing process.
One simple way to preserve it for some time would be to store it in kegs and carbonate it. The drop in PH alone would protect it against most undesirable bacteria. The CO2 would then be completely realeased upon heating the water to strike temp at the latest and would not affect the subsequent brewing process.
OP
OP
Apparently your last post was clearly over my head .
I dump my RO water from an Aquatainer into the brew kettle on brew day, then set to refilling it so it will be ready for the next brew day.
I'm not sure how RO water with very low TDS would be able to "go bad." There's virtually nothing in it which might feed microbiological nasties. It's virtually sterile. As long as the vessel into which you're pouring it is sterile, and doesn't leach chemicals, you should be able to keep that water indefinitely.
I'm not sure how RO water with very low TDS would be able to "go bad." There's virtually nothing in it which might feed microbiological nasties. It's virtually sterile. As long as the vessel into which you're pouring it is sterile, and doesn't leach chemicals, you should be able to keep that water indefinitely.
RPh_Guy
Bringing Sour Back
Sorry, what?
I meant to say I don't see any benefit to rinsing water jugs with sanitizer.
I agree it's fine to store indefinitely without any extra precautions.
OP
OP
All good I just misunderstood what you meant . I thought you were saying that the jugs you hold the water in need to be cleaned .
I believe @day_trippr comment about end-to-end sanitation was with respect to the RO system and not just the container for the RO water.
I have seen comments about potential issues with leaving water in RO system between uses for systems that are not also used for making drinking water.
As the OP mentioned getting water from a dispenser I think I would look at the machine to see if there some sort of service date posted on it. Maybe look at where the water is dispensed to make sure it looks clean. I think if you are using it in the brew kettle there should not be a real concern, but I would be more comfortable using water from a machine inside a building vs one that outside.
I have seen comments about potential issues with leaving water in RO system between uses for systems that are not also used for making drinking water.
As the OP mentioned getting water from a dispenser I think I would look at the machine to see if there some sort of service date posted on it. Maybe look at where the water is dispensed to make sure it looks clean. I think if you are using it in the brew kettle there should not be a real concern, but I would be more comfortable using water from a machine inside a building vs one that outside.
OP
OP
Yes I'm more comfortable with using primo inside of Walmart then using Glacier outside of other stores. The Glacier ones do have service dates on them . Primo doesnt , at least where I get it . I have had an employee at the Walmart tell me they just serviced the machine. Checked it with my TDS meter and I got a reading of 10. My question was really could I let 5 gallons sit for a while before using in a brew . I received some good advice on taking my meter with me to check the water before I buy 8 gallons to only find out at home that the machine needs servicing
For typical organisms to grow, they need carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. Those are the three primary building blocks of life (look up: Redfield Ratio). In most cases, RO water is going to be virtually devoid of those components. The chance that something could infect and flourish in a RO container is incredibly low.
Life is incredibly tenacious. RO water exposed to air has a carbon source from dissolved carbon dioxide and, of course, it is not 100% pure (thus containing traces of the other elements required for life) and is subject to deposition of dust particle, etc and inoculation with airborne spores and bacteria. Nevertheless I have not found problems with RO water stored for months in an atmospheric tank (covered; insect screen on vent) and pressure tank but have never found any problems with stuff growing in it.
Years ago, however, I had a buddy who lived in Manhattan Beach and, thus, drank Sparklets water. He planned a party and figured he would serve a punch out of the crock in the Sparklets dispenser. When he pulled the bottle and cover off it looked like the sargasso sea in there. Absolutely disgusting. But the water tasted, smelled and appeared OK. He'd been drinking it for years.
If whatever grows in there doesn't stink up or flavor the water you have no concern as nothing pathogenic is going to pop up and even if it does, boiling will kill it. Making beer our of questionable water has been used for centuries as a means of preserving water for long voyages, for example.
All of this is mooted if the storage period you are interested in is a matter of hours (e.g. overnight) or days as nothing is going to grow to appreciable population in such a short time period.
Years ago, however, I had a buddy who lived in Manhattan Beach and, thus, drank Sparklets water. He planned a party and figured he would serve a punch out of the crock in the Sparklets dispenser. When he pulled the bottle and cover off it looked like the sargasso sea in there. Absolutely disgusting. But the water tasted, smelled and appeared OK. He'd been drinking it for years.
If whatever grows in there doesn't stink up or flavor the water you have no concern as nothing pathogenic is going to pop up and even if it does, boiling will kill it. Making beer our of questionable water has been used for centuries as a means of preserving water for long voyages, for example.
All of this is mooted if the storage period you are interested in is a matter of hours (e.g. overnight) or days as nothing is going to grow to appreciable population in such a short time period.
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In (typically commercial) settings where RO water will be stored in atmospheric (non pressurized) tanks, we often put a UV recirc loop on those tanks to avoid the bacterial slime that otherwise develops on the tank walls.
Russ
Russ
Silver_Is_Money
Larry Sayre, Developer of 'Mash Made Easy'
Since the RO water in and of itself does not contain anything that the bacteria can live off of, is it the tank walls that are providing food for them to grow and multiply?
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Remember that the walls of the tank are often exposed to the air. As the water level in the tank drops, room air is pulled into the 99% humidity atmosphere in the tank. Microbes are everywhere.
Some microbes (amoeaba for example) are actually predatory and eat other organisms. Some of those are known human pathogens. Water is a major disease carrier especially in developing countries, I wouldn't take this very lightly and always excercise caution.
There is a carbon souce: atmospheric CO2. Plus trace amounts of this and that from the feed and, if not stored in a sealed tank, inoculation with airborn spores.
