Using a tap for .....water?

[johnwpowell]

i got 4 taps on my beer fridge and rarely have 4 kegs. Wondering if I could hook into the ice maker valve and dispense water. Don’t know what sort of pressure is involved and if it’s a good idea but wondering.

 

[Miller4]

Not sure on hooking it to the ice maker supply, but I don’t see why not. I often keep a keg of water on tap at 30psi or so for Italian sodas/plain drinking. As long as the incoming pressure from the water line isn’t crazy high I think it would work fine.

 

[SW Ohio Keith]

Spare tap on kegerator!?

 

[Miller4]

Spare tap on kegerator!?

I find myself in a spare tap situation more often than not. I made an 8 tap keezer and have only had all taps taken one time, at my wedding. Now it’s in a storage unit, but should be getting it out next week finally.

 

[SW Ohio Keith]

Damn it, I need a bigger keezer. 8 taps!!!

 

[Yooper]

I have sparkling water on tap, but I keg the water and serve it from the kegerator that way. I love it- it encourages me to drink more water, and it taste great with the carbonation.

 

[Miller4]

Here’s a picture for your viewing pleasure. Very simple and straightforward, but definitely room for a water keg.

Damn it, I need a bigger keezer. 8 taps!!!

 

[SW Ohio Keith]

Mine's just a baby.

 

[gnef]

I have a separate water tap connected directly to my RO system in the basement. I just Teed the line that was going to the kitchen faucet. The kids really enjoy pouring their water from the tap.

 

[Pkrd]

Spare tap on kegerator!?

Thats a confirmed case of kegerator neglect. The HBT police will be around shortly to find a loving home for that baby.

 

[gnef]

Thats a confirmed case of kegerator neglect. The HBT police will be around shortly to find a loving home for that baby.

Haha! I have 14 on my walk-in that stay pouring all the time. I probably don't drink enough in that case though. haha.

 

[Vale71]

Not sure on hooking it to the ice maker supply, but I don’t see why not. I often keep a keg of water on tap at 30psi or so for Italian sodas/plain drinking. As long as the incoming pressure from the water line isn’t crazy high I think it would work fine.

On an unrelated tangent, I had to Google what the heck an Italian soda is, because I actually live there and I've never seen one being offered. Why is it that everything seems fancier if you put Italian in front of the name?? On the one hand it's kind of flattering, on the other hand it's kind of a form of cultural plagiarism...
To the OP and to get back on track, if you can set a lower pressure for your Italian (yeah, right... ) soda keg you should be fine. Beer has a higher viscosity than a water and syrup mix, so you'd need lower serving pressure to get the same flow rate with a lower viscosity fluid such as soda.

 

[Soulshine2]

On an unrelated tangent, I had to Google what the heck an Italian soda is, because I actually live there and I've never seen one being offered. Why is it that everything seems fancier if you put Italian in front of the name?? On the one hand it's kind of flattering, on the other hand it's kind of a form of cultural plagiarism...
To the OP and to get back on track, if you can set a lower pressure for your Italian (yeah, right... ) soda keg you should be fine. Beer has a higher viscosity than a water and syrup mix, so you'd need lower serving pressure to get the same flow rate with a lower viscosity fluid such as soda.

if it says Frageeelay...it must be italian.

 

[Miller4]

On an unrelated tangent, I had to Google what the heck an Italian soda is, because I actually live there and I've never seen one being offered. Why is it that everything seems fancier if you put Italian in front of the name?? On the one hand it's kind of flattering, on the other hand it's kind of a form of cultural plagiarism...
To the OP and to get back on track, if you can set a lower pressure for your Italian (yeah, right... ) soda keg you should be fine. Beer has a higher viscosity than a water and syrup mix, so you'd need lower serving pressure to get the same flow rate with a lower viscosity fluid such as soda.

That’s funny, I don’t know what else to call it as that’s what I’ve always heard. Maybe carbonated water with flavor syrup? Anyways I carb and dispense at 30psi with no problems, it does dispense fast but that’s fine by me.

 

[user 30639]

I have sparkling water on tap, but I keg the water and serve it from the kegerator that way. I love it- it encourages me to drink more water, and it taste great with the carbonation.

I do this as well. My wife and I drink a lot of Topo Chico. I mean A LOT. Both straight and as a mixer for cocktails. I found a website that has the salt/mineral contents for various mineral waters and replicated Topo. I keep a keg of it on tap at all times.

 

[processhead]

You mean you can drink water?

 

[Scout]

I used my kegerator as a waterator at my old house. I tee'd into the water supply, ran it to a corny, then to the tap. No matter how thirsty or how much I drank, I always had ice cold water on hand.

I did have two issues with it, one related to the hose coming off the barb and soaking the inside of my kegerator, the other one was I forgot to drain the keg before winter. Otherwise, the tap faucet worked fine.

 

[firerat]

You mean you can drink water?

I drink a lot of water.

I just add a bit of fermented grains and hops to flavor it a bit.

 

[crazyjake19]

I drink a lot of water.

I just add a bit of fermented grains and hops to flavor it a bit.

Exactly! I drink tons of water, it's just been flavored either by grain and hops, or coffee beans.

 

[Horseflesh]

I do this as well. My wife and I drink a lot of Topo Chico. I mean A LOT. Both straight and as a mixer for cocktails. I found a website that has the salt/mineral contents for various mineral waters and replicated Topo. I keep a keg of it on tap at all times.

That’s such a great site. I need to make more mineral waters. I’ll try Topo Chico.

 

[Yooper]

I do this as well. My wife and I drink a lot of Topo Chico. I mean A LOT. Both straight and as a mixer for cocktails. I found a website that has the salt/mineral contents for various mineral waters and replicated Topo. I keep a keg of it on tap at all times.

I would like to try a Topo clone- where did you find the info? What profile do you have for it?

 

[user 30639]

I would like to try a Topo clone- where did you find the info? What profile do you have for it?

You can download the spreadsheet in the link I had posted. For a 5 gallon keg of Topo, it's a mix of table salt, baking soda, Epsom salt, calcium clhoride and gypsum. It's approximately 5 grams total for the keg. I don't remember the exact mixture off the top of my head, but the spreadsheet makes it easy. You just select the water, select the amount you want, and it will tell you how much minerals you need for each.

 

[Horseflesh]

Have you found that the minerals dissolve OK if you fill the keg, dump in the minerals, and then put it in the keg cooler? I was wondering if everything dissolved adequately quickly while it was cooling, or if you needed to dissolve as much as possible while the water was warmer. Basically looking for lazy prep here. A keg of Topo sounds like a great idea right now.

 

[Yooper]

You can download the spreadsheet in the link I had posted. For a 5 gallon keg of Topo, it's a mix of table salt, baking soda, Epsom salt, calcium clhoride and gypsum. It's approximately 5 grams total for the keg. I don't remember the exact mixture off the top of my head, but the spreadsheet makes it easy. You just select the water, select the amount you want, and it will tell you how much minerals you need for each.

I did download it- the one for excel, but Topo wasn't in the list so I didn't know where to find it.

 

[user 30639]

I did download it- the one for excel, but Topo wasn't in the list so I didn't know where to find it.

That spreadsheet isn't super user friendly. Here's what I do for a 5 gallon keg.

Sodium Chloride - 1.1 grams
Baking soda - 0.9 g
Epsom salt - 1.7 g
Gypsum - 0.1 g
Calcium Carbonate - 1.3 g

 

[Horseflesh]

This is great timing. I happen to be in San Antonio right now and got to try Topo Chico for the first time. Thanks for the ingredients.

 

[Yooper]

That spreadsheet isn't super user friendly. Here's what I do for a 5 gallon keg.

Sodium Chloride - 1.1 grams
Baking soda - 0.9 g
Epsom salt - 1.7 g
Gypsum - 0.1 g
Calcium Carbonate - 1.3 g

Thanks!!!!! I have a keg of water now on the tap, and it's ok, but when that's gone I'll try this. Again, thank you!

 

[Horseflesh]

I have drank a couple of kegs of Topo Chico now, and wish I had put a mineral water keg on a long time ago. I actually have had the Khymos spreadsheet for a while, but never did anything with it other than make a 2L bottle of San Pellelgrino a couple of years ago. This thread got me to blow the dust off and take another look. Helps that I have extra kegs now too.

The spreadsheet is not super friendly but if you can do beer water, you can do this. Like a beer water tool there is a place to enter you home water report. If you have set up a beer water tool you should have all of this information on hand.

https://i.imgur.com/w18XNqo.png

Then, you can select a mineral water and it will show you what minerals to add for various volumes. Unfortunately it does not list a 5 gal keg, but you can add a new column to calculate that. Just multiply everything in the 10 liter column by 1.893. I also added another column of alternative names for the various salts:

https://i.imgur.com/6GPIJfC.png

Or, on the Calculator tab, you can enter in any volume and get the values that way.

https://i.imgur.com/jMDl1cI.png

The tool lets you turn off some salts that you don't have, and calculates an alternative mix. There are also small discrepancies between the calculations on the Simple Calculator and Calculator tabs. <shrug>

With my soft home water, my Topo Chico mix comes out like this.

1.03 Table salt
0.39 Sodium bicarb (baking soda)
1.73 Epsom salts
0.04 Gypsum
1.15 Chalk
4.3 Total Salts

San Pellegrino is like drinking a rock in comparison.

1.76 Table salt
10.92 Epsom salts
9.19 Gypsum
3.31 Chalk
25.2 Total Salts

 

[Vale71]

What is actuall meant by "chalk"? If it's calcium carbonate good luck getting it to dissolve, that might take years or even decades.

 

[Horseflesh]

Doesn't it dissolve in carbonated water?

 

[Vale71]

Yes, but it can take quite a long time.

 

[Horseflesh]

It seemed to work fine at about a gram per 5 gallons. Haven't tried a more mineralized recipe yet.

 

[Vale71]

You sure it was actually calcium carbonate also known as limestone?

 

[Yooper]

It's not hard to dissolve CaCO3 in water when you bubble c02 through it.
http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Building_brewing_water_with_dissolved_chalk

I would never use it for brewing (bubbling c02 through it, and having it precipitate out again or adding an acid just to dissolve it) but I have two uses for it now. One, I use it to make a homemade remineralizing toothpaste, and two, carbonated water!

 

[Horseflesh]

You sure it was actually calcium carbonate also known as limestone?

"Calcium carbonate" is right on the bag. I bought it for making beer a long time ago when I just started reading about water adjustments, before I knew it was a poor choice for that purpose.