Running Water Lines For Brewery in Garage

[awoitte]

I'm currently using bottled water for brewing but want to invest in (at the very least) a carbon & 1 micron filter side by side as well as a water line to draw cold water into my HLT for beginning my brew day. Looking into the future (if not right away), I'd like to easily be able to retro fit the setup of carbon/1 micron with an entire RO system (which I believe has both of those included)..

Is the best practice for this to have a plumber run a copper water line from where my water comes into the house and place it next to the brewery with basic hose connections that will fit the water filters/RO, followed by a ball valve connection, and then maybe have some tubing at the end so I can place it in the kettle when I want to fill her up?

I'm also considering having a plumber (or DIY) T off the hot water heater that's in the garage so that when I finally install a small utility sink I have both hot/cold water.

Just looking for some general advice/guidance for types of connections, what if anything I definitely want to do, and anything I shouldn't do so that I don't regret cutting corners or miss something after moving forward.

 

[bkboiler]

Hmm... What's your batch size?
I am putting a utility sink in my garage to support brewing in the next few months and plan to spend $40 and $40 on the sink and faucet respectively since I don't need bling.
Planning to braze copper in under the house since that's the style of the existing plumbing. That may be the big expense of the whole install...

I'm also planning an RO system under the sink. I was surprised at how affordable these are...around $150 for a small 75gpd system. Apparently can get away with replacing sediment and particulate filter annually and membrane and other stages maybe every two years depending on usage.

No plan to run a pot filler next to my brewery since my entire brewing setup is on casters and also I plan to connect hoses to the faucet thread to do cooling and cleaning of pots (may just jam some vinyl tubing over the RO spigot to fill the HLT).

 

[awoitte]

Hmm... What's your batch size?

My batch size varies anywhere from 5-15 gallons but that doesn't make much difference. I don't need RO for my sink as it's primary use will be for cleaning/rinsing and I only care to use RO water for water actually used in my mash/boil kettle.

 

[day_trippr]

Before I got into water treatment I'd get a water test pertinent to brewing beer. https://www.wardlab.com/services/water-analysis/, w-501 "brewers test", for instance. Send your own small bottle and the cost is under $30. Then you'll know what you're facing.

fwiw, hardly anyone still runs copper lines as the plumbing world has moved to PEX. A Good Thing, imo. Copper has too many down-sides to make sense anymore. Most localities frown on DYI plumbing of potable water so a pro may be required.

If you figure how many hours you'd allow to collect enough brewing water for your biggest batch the cost of RO systems is quite modest these days. 50 gallon per day systems with plenty of pre-filtering and carbon blocks galore sell for under $200 all up and are easily self-installed...

Cheers!

 

[bkboiler]

Gotcha same here. Planning to rough in my connections maybe sometime in July...
There's a sweet sink shut off from the orange home store that just has a simple 90 deg turn to shut it off...those are worth the money as much more reliable than the older style. They also make ones that supply two outputs. We used one like that when we did our kitchen sink and ran the other output to the fridge.
In this case that's what I'll use to supply the RO system which will just be an auxillary spigot I'll drill and install next to the main faucet.

 

[bgmac]

As someone that started keeping saltwater reef tanks that need perfect water and have been running an RO system for about 10 years at home. Go ahead and invest in the RO system. I start with a 5 micron filter, then 1 micron, then 2 catalytic carbon filters to remove all chlorine/chloramines. Make sure your RO system has a permeate pump so the pressure is high enough to push through the RO membrane properly. Don't bother with a DI filter as that would take you days to produce 10+ gallons of water.

During long runs when prepping 15-16 gallons of water for a 10 gallon batch brew day, the RO system puts out around 2-4 TDS water. Then build it up using brewing salts.

I also have the RO system hard piped into the kitchen frig for drinking water and a separate spout on the kitchen sink that I can use for drinking and cooking. I use a bypass cap on the frig filter since a filter would be pointless. You should install a 2-3 gallon head tank to provide steady flow when filling cups or pots for cooking.

Expect the RO membrane to last 5+ years if you use it every day like I do. Expect to change all the pre filters about once a year. Don't let the RO sit for weeks without use. Mine is used several times every day making better then store bought bottled water.

I bought my system and all supplies from: https://airwaterice.com/

Let me also add I have 30 years experience maintaining, installing, operating, repairing RO and steam heated Evaporator systems producing up to 10,000 gallons a day with chlorine and bromine injection systems and UV light treatment systems.

 

[day_trippr]

I'll stick a plug here for HBT member Russ at @Buckeye_Hydro. Great guy who is apparently happy to help RO neophytes build a system tailored to their input water quality/pressure/temperature and output volume requirements. He helped me upgrade my system to 100 gpd and to account for my well pump pressure variation. For sure saved me from thrashing about and wasting $$

Cheers!

 

[burntchef]

I installed a utility sink with hot and cold water, done. Fill pots with food safe 5 gallon bucket in the sink.
Eric

 

[bkboiler]

edit: accidental post

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

Yes - makes sense to harbplumb (copper or PEX) to the general location of your future RO system. If you terminate that pipe run with a quarter throw shut off valve followed by a garden hose bib you'll be good to go once it's time to install the RO.

Russ

 

[Scout]

My opinion, If you are going to have a plumber T off the hot water heater, he may as well T off the inlet for cold water as well. To reduce the expense, just have him splice in a T with ball valves and you can run your pex yourself.