Has anyone ever used the Reverse Osmosis water you can get from the Glacier Water dispensing machines for brewing? I was wondering what the ph of that water was. Does it just depend on the water source they get it from, or do they adjust for ph?
Has anyone ever used the Reverse Osmosis water you can get from the Glacier Water dispensing machines for brewing? I was wondering what the ph of that water was. Does it just depend on the water source they get it from, or do they adjust for ph?
If the meter works what would be a TDS range I would want to see?
32Brew said:Be wary of these machines because they're not really RO water machines. I was having problems with water chemistry, here in the Texas Hill Country, so I started buying the Glacier water. I had problems with that water too, so I called the company. I spoke with a lady that said they measure total dissolved solids, and keep the filter in place until it reached that limit (which she wouldn't reveal.) basically, they base the limit on the starting water profile. So, if you get a machine with a fresh filter, you will get close to RO water, but as the machine is used and the TDS goes up, you will be in uncharted territory. Based on my personal experience, the Glacier machine with a clogged/used filter will be close to the source water and therefore not worth using/buying. The catch is you won't know where the filters are on its lifespan either. In short, if you have hard water and are thinking of using a Glacier machine, it probably won't be a reliable source of water.
This isn't some scam, it's just how RO works. The machine closest to me takes in (on average) 500 TDS water. The product is 4 TDS (99% rejection) and will rise over the course of months to about 8 TDS (98% rejection). About this time, they will service the machine and the cycle starts over.
Any water being forced through an RO membrane is RO water, so I'm not really sure what you are claiming without knowing the TDS of the water you're getting from that machine. It's not "close to" RO water. It is RO water. It might be close to DI water, which is exactly what RO water is, and is totally acceptable.
But just to be clear, if you brew with RO you should add in minerals like LovesIPA points out (ref Palmer's book). When I brought this topic up with a few pro brewers, they said that water pH is not that critical for most beers and you should just brew with tap water to get good mineral content. But obviously there are chapters of books and many HBT posts that would claim otherwise.
How much was that exactly? The amounts?I use Glacier water vending machines for all my IPAs and light beers. I add the necessary amounts of MgSO4 and CaSO4 to the mash water as per the Palmer book. So far so good.
Have you used a BWT Water Filtration System??? I just bought an ECM Synchronika and do not want to burn out the boilers due to hard water. Your thread on ppm and store water machines is leading me to move away from this type of water purchasing.I ended up getting water from a PRIMO water machine which is associated with Culligan. It is probably the same thing, but the machine is newly installed. If I get one of those TDS meters and check it every time would that be a sufficient test to make sure it is still working? If the meter works what would be a TDS range I would want to see?
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