No more RO water, what to use now

[VirginiaHops1]

I feel your pain OP. Safeway closed their filling station near me I often use but Wholefoods still has theirs open for now at least. I was already planning on getting a small RO system eventually but this will motivate me to do it faster, like as soon as possible.

 

[olotti]

Just for fun, here's the 2018 Lansing MI (hopefully that's the right Lansing) water quality report: https://www.lbwl.com/sites/default/files/inline-files/2018 BWL Water Quality Report_2.pdf

I lived in East Lansing for 6 years, so was curious

Yup that's the lansing. I didn't realize until after I sent away for the ward labs test that where i live now our water comes from BWL, I thought it was from the township itself. It'll prob be a good thing to get the up to date numbers cuz if the water is good I'd rather use my tap water anyway and it'll save me from filling all those jugs. Thanks for the info.

 

[dpeters]

Long ago, I connected some hose to the water tap on the refrigerator, and assigned a small child to fill buckets with it.

For a 15 gallon batch.

*That* was a one-timer . . .

Don't do that you will burn out the solenoid valve on the fridge, ask me how I know that...

 

[deuc224]

Yeah after a few RO station fills I decided to make my own RO system. It was a healthy investment but well worth the time saving and convenience of just going to my tap for brew water when needed.

 

[Jag75]

Someone mentioned collecting rain water. So it's been raining like crazy here for the last 4 days so I decided to put a glass outside to collect some rainfall. I was amazed when I checked with my TDS meter . It read 2 ppm ! That's insane . I never would have thought it would be that low . I live in California , which apparently it's illegal to collect rain water lol.

 

[dpeters]

Yeah after a few RO station fills I decided to make my own RO system. It was a healthy investment but well worth the time saving and convenience of just going to my tap for brew water when needed.

How did the cost to make your own compare to just buying one? I originally looked into just purchasing all the components too and the cost was almost the same as just buying the system not to mention I would have had to put it all together.

 

[bleme]

Someone mentioned collecting rain water. So it's been raining like crazy here for the last 4 days so I decided to put a glass outside to collect some rainfall. I was amazed when I checked with my TDS meter . It read 2 ppm ! That's insane . I never would have thought it would be that low . I live in California , which apparently it's illegal to collect rain water lol.

I know if feels great to stick it to 'the man', but California made it legal in 2012.

It is still illegal in most of the western States though.

 

[Jag75]

I know if feels great to stick it to 'the man', but California made it legal in 2012.

It is still illegal in most of the western States though.

Oh no kidding ok cool, thank you !

 

[deuc224]

How did the cost to make your own compare to just buying one? I originally looked into just purchasing all the components too and the cost was almost the same as just buying the system not to mention I would have had to put it all together.

Dpeters, just buy one. i was trying to be extra and make one like the HbrewO case and it ended up costing me a lot more than i needed to spend, and the fact that i dont really need it to be so portable because i brew like a normal person at home lol. Plus with the home ones you buy the filters are a lot bigger for more flow and probably longer life when you only use it to brew vs mine which is in a case.

 

[dochawk]

Don't do that you will burn out the solenoid valve on the fridge, ask me how I know that...

Ouch.

Having done it once was enough to convince me not to make that effort again . . .

[hm , and what insane algorithm matches "mesh spaghetti strap floral print" (seems to be a bikini top) to this thread?]

 

[Brewbuzzard]

OK, away for decades.

I'm guessing, though, that RO is not Read Only . . .

First I have to deal with Bureau of Indian Affairs Brewing, then Missing In Action, Beer, and now . . .

Reverse Osmosis. Strips everything out and leaves water a blank canvas to add chems to create the brewing water you want.

 

[Brewbuzzard]

what kind did u get? The only ones I’m seeing are hundreds of dollars and they all have to be installed under the sink. I’d like one I could just run a hose into and collect out the other end but maybe they don’t make em like that.

LiquiGen 5 stage. No tank, comes with garden hose connector. $139 TDS = 0

 

[dpeters]

LiquiGen 5 stage. No tank, comes with garden hose connector. $139 TDS = 0View attachment 675130

You can always remove the DI part of that system as it is not needed for brewing and then you don't have to be a slave to changing out the DI.

 

[MikeCo]

I was able to buy RO water at my local grocery store this morning; they haven't closed it yet. These are serviced monthly by an outside company, The latest service date was March 19, so it will be due soon. Hopefully it will get done on schedule.

I have been thinking more and more about getting my own RO system just for the convenience of not having to go fill containers for beer brewing and coffee. At 39 cents a gallon from the grocery store, the RO system would take a long time to pay for itself, but a couple hundred bucks might be worth it for the convenience.

 

[Paul_Aris]

Do you have well or city? I would figure out what your profile is of your tap water and adjust from there. Living by Lake Michigan I don't do anything to our water.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Our RO system at the store was shut down too. They did have pre-filled 5G jugs available, but at quite a bit higher cost plus you end up with a bunch of 5G jugs.

I posted on our homebrew club mail list and one of the members is going to fill a couple 5G jugs for me.

I don't have a water report for the water where I live and I really don't want to go down the path of trying to adjust city water...plus there's the chlorine/chloramine treatment to deal with too.

This may spur me to get an RO system. I need to get my brewing sink plumbed first though....

 

[mashpaddled]

I'm in the same bucket here. The local grocery stores have distilled and RO water in stock but I would have to go in and buy them which I do not exactly want to do. I have enough beer in the house I don't need to brew but I haven't brewed in a while and itching to at least get some more sour beer going so they can start aging away. I know a keg or two are running low and will need a replacement soon.

I've looked at installing an RO system in the house but between the cost of the system, maintenance and municipal water costs combined with how often I am brewing right now it would be hard to justify the cost of an RO system right now versus the cost of buying it at the store. Down the road with a kitchen remodel I would revisit the idea but if a good system runs $200-300 I would have to use 300-400 gallons of brewing water to break even. Last year I used in total about thirty gallons of RO water for brewing so not sure the investment makes tremendous sense for me right now.

 

[jdauria]

I'm in the same boat, usually use distilled water. But it's become hard to find in stores, or is a 2 gallon limit, plus the whole having to wait to get into the store issue. My tap water has 100 ppm sodium and 165 ppm chloride, so way to much to use to brew with. So I signed up with Crystal Springs water delivery service and they will deliver a 5 gallon jug of RO water every two weeks. Depending on my brewing schedule, I will either use that one jug and then add just a couple gallons of tap water, or wait to I get a second delivery and use both a jug and a half of RO water. It's a little more costly than buying water at the store, but well worth it during this pandemic.

 

[MikeCo]

Do you have well or city? I would figure out what your profile is of your tap water and adjust from there. Living by Lake Michigan I don't do anything to our water.

My water is from an aquifer and is super-hard. 24 grains per gallon.

 

[Master]

I have a Buckeye RO/DI system. And a 14 gallon tank.

Use it for brewing, water for my CPAP bubbler tank, any sort of chemistry stuff, mixing antifreeze, topping off batteries. Having the tank is nice when I want a bunch all at once.

 

[cubalz]

I have a company deliver me 20 gallons of distilled water every month. Check online to see if you have a company close top where you live. Easy peasy.

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

Here's some input for anyone considering buying a RO system.

Here's a not-so-good prefilter configuration:

Stage 1, on the right is a sediment filter. Fine and dandy.
Stage 2, in the middle, is a GAC (granular activated carbon) filter with end to end flow. This is ancient technology and is a carry over from before there was such a think as a carbon block (see stage 3 on the left). If you understand the filter spec's, in nearly all cases carbon blocks will far outperform GAC filters @ essentially the same cost. So you might ask "Why would a vendor include a GAC prefilter"?

Vendors know that new buyers nearly always think "more filters/stages is better. They are a very low cost way for a vendor to add a stage.

Russ

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

My water is from an aquifer and is super-hard. 24 grains per gallon.

So how hard does your water need to be to actually be considered "hard water?" Here are the widely accepted categories of water hardness:
(gpg = grains per gallon; ppm = parts per million)

<1.0 gpg or <17.1 ppm: Soft
1.0 to 3.5 gpg or >17.1 to 60 ppm: Slightly Hard
>3.5 to 7.0 gpg or >60 to 120 ppm: Moderately Hard
>7.0 to 10.5 gpg or >120 to 180 ppm: Hard
>10.5 gpg or >180 ppm: Very Hard

So at 24 gpg you are more than double where the top category begins.

Russ

 

[dochawk]

and here we're 17/290 . . .
fortunately it seems to fit what I like to brew (but kind of rough on the dishwasher and tiles in the shower, and some of the valves, and . . .)

gosh, seems we're only #2, though, behind Indianapolis . . .

 

[DanB_cdnbev]

There are several brands of Low Flow RO systems that are quite affordable....under $400 retail. If you shop around and buy it in pieces, you might get in for less than $200. If you build a proper sanitary reservoir for it[kegs work for this, if you know how to disinfect them correctly], then you can build up a brew's water over a few hours or days, and save a ton of $$$.
And if you have an RO system, your local fellow home brewers might cough up $1-2 a gallon. If you use Kegs or Ball Locks, you can fill their pre-sanitized container and manage Touch-Free exchanges. Just a thought.

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

There are several brands of Low Flow RO systems that are quite affordable....under $400 retail. If you shop around and buy it in pieces, you might get in for less than $200. If you build a proper sanitary reservoir for it[kegs work for this, if you know how to disinfect them correctly], then you can build up a brew's water over a few hours or days, and save a ton of $$$.
And if you have an RO system, your local fellow home brewers might cough up $1-2 a gallon. If you use Kegs or Ball Locks, you can fill their pre-sanitized container and manage Touch-Free exchanges. Just a thought.

There's very little price difference between our 24 gpd, 36 gpd, 50 gpd, 75 gpd, and 100 gpd RO Systems. Those capacities are a characteristic of the installed RO membrane. All our membranes up to 100 gpd are factory spec'ed at the same pressure: 50 psi. If you opt for the 150 or 200 gpd membranes, they require higher pressure (65+ psi). When all's said and done, this is why the 100 gpd Filmtec brand membrane is the most popular among home brewers. https://www.buckeyehydro.com/residential-ro-membranes/

Emily