softened RO water

[wpopp]

I'm getting a water softener and a RO system installed in my house. I've read in Jamills book that softened water should never be used for all grain brewing. Would I be able to use it if I added minerals to the water? If so, what do I need to add?

 

[kvess]

Look at ph 5.2 stabalizer and gypsum as a start.

 

[malkore]

You'd be better off having a bypass installed before the softener.

Do you have liquid rock for water? Why the softener AND the RO unit? (lies removed)

 

[wpopp]

I do have extremely hard water, water tech said I could get by with just the softener, but that the RO system would give bottled water quality. Need the softener before the RO or I will constantly be plugging RO filter.

 

[Seven]

I contacted these guys with your same question a couple of months ago. They advised brewing with water that has gone through the softener and then through the RO system. I'm no expert on water and I haven't done anything with this yet so I don't know if their advice is correct or not.... but I'm assuming they know more than me.

 

[user 4295]

You do not want to use the water right after the softener, as the magnesium and calcium ions are replaced with sodium. Excessive amounts of sodium is not good for beer. You can use the water after it goes through the softener and RO system as the RO will strip out all of the remaining ions. If you do use the RO water you will have to use water salts to get your ion levels correct for the beer you are brewing.

 

[DRog00]

You'd be better off having a bypass installed before the softener.

Do you have liquid rock for water? Why the softener AND the RO unit? RO water lacks the 'good stuff' so don't water your plants with it or drink much of it.

Stop spreading false information. RO water is completely safe to drink.

 

[bigbeergeek]

Why not use potassium chloride in place of the sodium chloride? You don't want all that sodium in your drinking water either...

 

[rico567]

Stop spreading false information. RO water is completely safe to drink.

I certainly hope so. We have used nothing but RO water at home for drinking and cooking for nearly 20 years. As we are quite healthy, I'm sure there are no problems with it......unlike our well water, which is loaded with iron and calcium.

 

[Yooper]

I do have extremely hard water, water tech said I could get by with just the softener, but that the RO system would give bottled water quality. Need the softener before the RO or I will constantly be plugging RO filter.

Right- that's exactly how it should go. The water softener before the RO unit, with RO water coming out in the end.

That's perfect for brewing, as well as for your household drinking water (and coffee and such).

 

[user 4295]

RO water is stripped of it minerals. Water in general is a strong solvent. [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]RO water without any substance is as unnatural as a pocket of vacuum within a normal atmosphere. A pocket of vacuum will suck any and everything around it until the pressure becomes equal to the surrounding.
[/FONT]
Likewise, RO water will leach out any and every substance that it can dissolve from the substances that it comes into contact with, until it's content reaches equilibrium with it's surrounding or the water is saturated with the substances so that it can no longer dissolve any more substances.

Knowing this, where do you think the RO water gets the minerals from to reach equilibrium once you ingest it? All of my customers that have RO systems due to their poor water quality all use ionizers to add back the essential minerals to their water before ingesting or using it for watering their plants. RO water will also become acidic over time as it's exposed to the air it will absorb CO2.

Feel free to argue with this if you want, but you can't deny the chemistry.

 

[rico567]

Tap water varies naturally in mineral content. There's some that is naturally soft, very low in minerals. In others, like our well water, it's got very large amounts of iron and calcium. In the area my wife's family is from in NW Ohio, sulfur in the water is very strong, to the point where the room reeks of rotten eggs when a tap is opened. People drink all these wildly varying waters every day (including what amounts to recycled water more and more cities are resorting to). If any ill effects could be correlated from mineral content (or lack thereof), I have to think it would have happened ere this.

We have been drinking and cooking with nothing but RO water at home for twenty years, and are pretty much disgustingly healthy, whatever we are or are not getting from the water (and I suspect that nothing's being absorbed through our skins from showering in our well water).

No one is denying any chemistry; in our case I just fail to see any effects from such chemistry. I've been brewing with RO water for 5 years, and have been pleased with my beer. Thanks to reading some threads about amending brewing water, I have just this season brewed some of my favorite beers using gypsum and calcium chloride in the RO water....and we shall see.

 

[boscobeans]

RO water is stripped of it minerals. Water in general is a strong solvent. [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]RO water without any substance is as unnatural as a pocket of vacuum within a normal atmosphere. A pocket of vacuum will suck any and everything around it until the pressure becomes equal to the surrounding.
[/FONT]
Likewise, RO water will leach out any and every substance that it can dissolve from the substances that it comes into contact with, until it's content reaches equilibrium with it's surrounding or the water is saturated with the substances so that it can no longer dissolve any more substances.

Knowing this, where do you think the RO water gets the minerals from to reach equilibrium once you ingest it? All of my customers that have RO systems due to their poor water quality all use ionizers to add back the essential minerals to their water before ingesting or using it for watering their plants. RO water will also become acidic over time as it's exposed to the air it will absorb CO2.

Feel free to argue with this if you want, but you can't deny the chemistry.

I guess rain water that doesn't fall through a cloud of man made industrial pollutants or naturally occuring things like CO2 or O2 is also poison. ?????

Nature makes rain water by distillation and it, unless as stated above, is as pure a form of water as there is. NO MINERAL CONTENT AT ALL--ZERO, NADA...

No argument about this other than to say that in all the years of the stated dangers of RO almost all the research seems to come from "scientists" who have some interest in the sale of re-mineralization equipment.

Just my opinion but it seems just like the claims of magnetic water softener dealers. I find it hard to comprehend that simply passing water through a magnetic field removes or inactivates mineral content in any manner. Where does it go ?? If in some magical inactive state does it stay that way once it passes through a water heater or our own gullets. I think not.

My vote goes to Mother Nature.

OMO

bosco

 

[rico567]

Well, unfortunately, instead of a discussion of water amendments, we've reached the well-known

 

[boscobeans]

Sorry !

I'm new to the forum and not having done any searches on the topic didn't know the horse was already dead.

bosco

 

[rico567]

Sorry !

I'm new to the forum and not having done any searches on the topic didn't know the horse was already dead.

bosco

Not you- the situation. There have been RO threads that have descended into this sort of back & forth before. I should have known better than to get involved in this one.

 

[bigbeergeek]

Knowing this, where do you think the RO water gets the minerals from to reach equilibrium once you ingest it?

From everything else in your gut. If you survived exclusively on RO water for a week you could run into trouble, but the minerals in your Wheaties you had for breakfast and the salt on your french fries will keep you and your tissues safe.

 

[DustBow]

Use mostly your RO water, dilute it with some of your tap water - pre-softened.
Then read this post: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/#post2310230

Add back some calcium chloride (and some gypsum if you want the sharper hop character)

I've had great results since I started doing this earlier this year