Water Vending Machines

[danath34]

Anyone use a Glacier or similar water vending machine as their water source?

I recently decided to switch from bottled spring water to a 5gal jug that I can refill at a machine for $.20/gal to save money.

I also decided to start learning about water chemistry at the same time.

According to Glacier, the water goes through 5 stages:
1) Carbon filter
2) Micron filter
3) Reverse Osmosis
4) Second carbon filter
5) UV treatment

IF the water truly does go through these steps, and IF someone maintains the system on a regular enough basis, I would assume this would be pretty damn near distilled water, and treat it as a blank slate. However, without sending a sample for analysis, I obviously can't be sure.

Does anyone have experience with these water vending machines? Are they really giving you what they advertise? Anyone get a sample analyzed by chance?

 

[ArcaneXor]

I use nothing else and treat it like RO water in my Bru'n Water spreadsheet, but haven't sent it off to analysis to verify. The beers come out much better than with the nasty tap water around here.

 

[h-bar]

I have never gotten a sample tested, but I do treat it as a blank slate...sort of. I measured the ph, and found it was around 6.5. I recommend at least measuring the ph. I always use that water for brewing and add the necessary salts in. It works well. I recently made a munich helles with that water, and it tasted very crisp and clean when I tried it before lagering. If there was a problem with the RO water, it would have shown up in a light colored beer. Someday I might have the water tested, but I doubt I'll find out anything shocking.

 

[mabrungard]

Effectively, RO water can be considered to be equal to distilled water. The concentration of ions making it through a properly operating RO membrane is typically in the single digits. That is not enough to concern ourselves with for brewing water chemistry. The most important thing to monitor is if the machine is actually putting out this level of purity. A cheap, accurate, and easy way to check the quality of water from these machines is to have your own Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) test meter. They are dead, simple meters and they are cheap. If the TDS is less than 25 ppm...great! If the TDS is over 50 ppm...then you may want to say (or do) something about the water quality. There have been plenty of cases where a RO vending machine wasn't removing anything from the water...just charging for tap water.

 

[Braufessor]

I use them..... I have sent samples in from my local Co-op and from local walmart to ward labs...... both came back exactly like I would expect RO water. Not "distilled" but close. B'run water allows you to put in "RO Water" and it will give you a typical very low mineral content, but not zero.

 

[GotPushrods]

I used the gas-station Glacier machine before I installed my RO unit in the garage.

It would start at 3 TDS after service, climb to 5 TDS over a few months, get serviced and start over. Overall awesome RO water at 98%+ rejection. And at $1 for 5 gallons, it was really cheap.

As long as you have a TDS meter, you can check the quality for yourself pretty easily.

 

[danath34]

Thanks for all the input guys! Gives me a lot of confidence in the machines.

I may look into a TDS meter just to spot check. Any recommendations for a lower cost but decent meter?

 

[mabrungard]

HM Digital is a good brand. They are all relatively cheap since they are essentially an ohm meter with a couple of electrodes that are set a certain distance apart. Should be easily less than $30.

 

[MerlinWerks]

Had the local Whole Foods water tested and it is as advertised...

 

[day_trippr]

Maybe not in your area
https://www.vendingtimes.com/news/s...ion-in-soda-fountains-water-vending-machines/
Apocryphal water vending tales aside, invest in a TDS meter (I have an HM Digital handheld that today costs $15 on Amazon) because you never know when retail water systems were last serviced and if they're holding to their designed performance...

Cheers!