No more trips to the water store for RO!

[BrewinSoldier]

So now that I've upgraded to doing 10 gallon to 1/2BBL finished batches, it is a PITA to be carrying all those 5 gallon jugs back and forth to the RO water station. Plus having all those jugs taking up space in my garage sucks. I figured after 7 years of brewing, and upgrading my batch size, it was time for another upgrade.

I did some research and decided to go with Buckeye Hydro. I went with their Gapper RO system with Chloramine just for the finer filtering. I also added the DM2 TDS in and out monitor. While I was on the phone with them, we decided it would be best to add in a whole house water softener since I have horribly hard water. I was also trying to mimic the quality of water I get from Windmill so I added a UV light into the mix as well. The Gapper is rated up to 400GPD/16.6GPH. I didn't want to have to plan ahead for the water so I purchased a ROmate 40 gallon storage tank. Then I ran one more filter setup for after the tank to remove any odor and flavor from that.

Anyways, finally got it all installed yesterday. It was a bit of a pain figuring it all out. I had to spend $250 for a plumber to come and and run a drain for everything because I wanted to make sure it was up to code. After seeing what he did, I could've done it myself but I didnt know at the time. I had to fabricate and weld a few brackets. I also had to go buy quite a bit in extra parts that didn't come with the system which added on even more expense. Right now I'm only getting a 94-95% rejection rate and have about 14-15 ppm TDS which is still higher than I want. The water I get from Watermill never has more than 6 ppm so I need to figure that out. It's rated as a 98.5% rejection rate so maybe it just needs to break in for a week or two.

On to the pics. I still am waiting on one more part so I can clean up some more of the tubing. Also have some power cords to clean up still but it's up and running.

 

[sborz22]

I know this is a “Let me google that for you” question but I’m going to ask it anyway. How much is the initial cost to do this and what is your estimated upkeep costs?

 

[BrewinSoldier]

I think I spent around $2300 for the stuff from Buckeye after shipping. I found the ROmate from freshwater for $330 shipped. Then I spent another $150-200 or so on miscellaneous quick connect elbows, 1"ball valve for the ROmate, other fittings that I had to rig up for the UV light, etc. I had some scrap stainless tubing I used to fabricate a mount for the taste and odor filter housing. The ones online looked flimsy and cheap. Then I think $12 for some zinc coated angle iron. I cut a 6" piece of that and used my plasma cutter to make the holes for all the drain tubes. Put a few tack welds on it to the corrugated in the garage to create the 1.5" air gap required per code. I already had all that so no extra cost there.

Not sure on maintenance but since I added the water softener prior to the water hitting the RO unit, it should last up to 3 years. The RO membrane is like $105 to replace. The Chloraguard Carbon filters are $40/ea. If you don't have Chloramine in your water you can get the regular chlorine removal ones for like $23/ea. The sediment filter is $7.50. The taste and odor filter is less than $10. Not sure how long they last but that's what the pressure gauge and TDS meter is for. I guess it all depends on the quality of the incoming water.

 

[sborz22]

I think I spent around $2300 for the stuff from Buckeye after shipping. I found the ROmate from freshwater for $330 shipped. Then I spent another $150-200 or so on miscellaneous quick connect elbows, 1"ball valve for the ROmate, other fittings that I had to rig up for the UV light, etc. I had some scrap stainless tubing I used to fabricate a mount for the taste and odor filter housing. The ones online looked flimsy and cheap. Then I think $12 for some zinc coated angle iron. I cut a 6" piece of that and used my plasma cutter to make the holes for all the drain tubes. Put a few tack welds on it to the corrugated in the garage to create the 1.5" air gap required per code. I already had all that so no extra cost there.

Not sure on maintenance but since I added the water softener prior to the water hitting the RO unit, it should last up to 3 years. The RO membrane is like $105 to replace. The Chloraguard Carbon filters are $40/ea. If you don't have Chloramine in your water you can get the regular chlorine removal ones for like $23/ea. The sediment filter is $7.50. The taste and odor filter is less than $10. Not sure how long they last but that's what the pressure gauge and TDS meter is for. I guess it all depends on the quality of the incoming water.

I had an initial sticker shock when I read that until I estimated the amount of gallons of RO water I have used for brewing in the last year.

I feel like this is a pretty unique home brew move, I haven’t seen a post like this before!

Congrats and cheers!

 

[Dog House Brew]

I too do larger batch sizes. I read your post and for what I plan to brew is about $300 in water. Plus you added softened water to the entire house. Thanks for the post and information. Add the savings on plumbing fixtures and toilet rebuilds, not bad. Keep us posted on the break in and lower numbers. I’ve read incoming water temp makes a difference too. I’m jealous!! Nicest RO system I’ve seen to date. Prost!

 

[BrewinSoldier]

I too do larger batch sizes. I read your post and for what I plan to brew is about $300 in water. Plus you added softened water to the entire house. Thanks for the post and information. Add the savings on plumbing fixtures and toilet rebuilds, not bad. Keep us posted on the break in and lower numbers. I’ve read incoming water temp makes a difference too. I’m jealous!! Nicest RO system I’ve seen to date. Prost!

Damn! $300? Quick guesstimate is 15BBL batches?

Yeah that part definitely has to be taken into consideration when looking at the price. That was almost $1k of the price tag alone. I bought the house almost 2 years ago now and rebuilt the master bath shower completely in tile. Put a $300 shower head/valve assembly and our water us so hard I have to constantly pick the shower head with my thumbnail to unclog the calcium filled jets. My hot water heater clunks like crazy because of all the calcium build up in it so now when it goes, I know I won't ruin the new one.

Aside from all that, if I ever open a small taproom, I can just bring this RO system over with me.

We also go through 1-2 five gallon jugs of water a week so now I can just fill those right up here as well. This system is probably overkill for a lot, but it works for me and I always overbuild everything haha

 

[BrewinSoldier]

One other thing I learned during this build and I should say for anyone thinking of adding a RO system, plan out your space and design accordingly. Luckily I won't have to change out the RO membrane too often(hopefully), but the way I have it makes it impossible to change the membrane. You have to take the whole thing off the wall to do it and that's a PITA.

If you can see in the photos, I cut down a 1" thick piece of maple and screwed that into the studs, then screwed the RO system into that so it could support the weight of the RO system more spread out. I am going to fabricate and weld up some kind of swing arm system that will mount to the piece of maple, and then swing the RO system out at a 90° angle so I can have compete access to change out the membrane easily. Didn't even think about that when I installed it. I was only calculating in for the 3 20" filters and having room to drop them down.

 

[couchsending]

How bad is your water?

 

[specharka]

This is awesome. I am immeasurably grateful to you pioneering souls making it easier for suckers like me to piggyback on your success. I definitely don’t have need for a system that robust (400 GPD is ridiculous), but it’s great food for thought when I actually have the capability to build my own RO filtration system.

Keep us updated!

 

[BeerBrewerTrain]

Feel like being the beer fairy If your cheap or poor or dont wanna spend alot Link


https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p....gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CPWX_L_Spd0CFY3dwAodsAgNjg

This will help resolve some water issues city water no problem just do abit of research, calcium, salts, baking soda and your beer has improved should put this in beginner meh still good link.

 

[BrewinSoldier]

Feel like being the beer fairy If your cheap or poor or dont wanna spend alot Link


https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.20000-gallon-inline-water-filter.1001072827.html?eid=PS_GOOGLE_HD+|+E-Comm_E-Comm+|+Shopping+|+Kitchen_Kitchen_pla-303581696098&gclid=CjwKCAjw_b3cBRByEiwAdG8Wqh3YDi32NYR1SmZgbteToinAGYBtjN9J4_ScFHS0sAPZN652oxXS9RoCYuUQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CPWX_L_Spd0CFY3dwAodsAgNjg

This will help resolve some water issues city water no problem just do abit of research, calcium, salts, baking soda and your beer has improved should put this in beginner meh still good link.

Yeah nothing wrong with that for beginners. We actually are the only city around me that actually gets well water so we have really good water, it's just super hard. I've been using RO water for many many years and can't tell you how much I've spent on it to date, but it's a lot. I always build my water from scratch so if I make an award winning beer, I can duplicate it without having to worry if my source water has changed, messing with my mineral ppm's.

Everyone's at a different point in brewing and I don't think there's anything wrong with that as long as you enjoy your own beer.

Cheers!

 

[BrewinSoldier]

How bad is your water?

It's not that we have bad water per say, it's just really really hard water. I like to keep my beers consistent across the board and some have a very low mineral profile like my pilsners, which I wouldn't be able to do with tap water. I always start with a clean slate and build my water profiles up differently for specific beers.

 

[couchsending]

It's not that we have bad water per say, it's just really really hard water. I like to keep my beers consistent across the board and some have a very low mineral profile like my pilsners, which I wouldn't be able to do with tap water. I always start with a clean slate and build my water profiles up differently for specific beers.

You can always preboil and decant as well... it depends on what your starting values are but it’ll get Ca down under 50 and alakalinity to 60-70 which is really easy to nullify with some acidulated malt/lactic/phosphoric.

Mine is 250+ hardness, 610 TDS, 240 Alkalinity and I can make great soft pale beers with it. I was amazed that it worked so well actually.

 

[JMathie77]

Congrats! I just made a similar move for the same reasons, tired of hauling all those 5 gal jugs around! I have really hard well water, this has made a huge difference in my beers!

 

[BrewinSoldier]

Congrats! I just made a similar move for the same reasons, tired of hauling all those 5 gal jugs around! I have really hard well water, this has made a huge difference in my beers! View attachment 587301View attachment 587302View attachment 587303

Wow nice setup. So do you have a UV light on yours?

2ppm is super low. What is your incoming ppm? Did it have a break in period to get that low? Mine went down to 4ppm when I was doing the 60min flush, but now it's back up to 14ppm.

Also just went to fill up two 32oz bottles for starsan spray and the water smelled like burnt rubber...not good..I'm wondering if the UV light malfunctioned. If it was from the rubber bladder in the storage tank, I would think that the taste/odor filter post RO tank would've got rid of it. The only thing mine touches after that filter is the UV light setup.

 

[JMathie77]

Wow nice setup. So do you have a UV light on yours?

2ppm is super low. What is your incoming ppm? Did it have a break in period to get that low? Mine went down to 4ppm when I was doing the 60min flush, but now it's back up to 14ppm.

Also just went to fill up two 32oz bottles for starsan spray and the water smelled like burnt rubber...not good..I'm wondering if the UV light malfunctioned. If it was from the rubber bladder in the storage tank, I would think that the taste/odor filter post RO tank would've got rid of it. The only thing mine touches after that filter is the UV light setup.

Incoming from my water softener was 327ppm I haven't noticed a break-in period and I have no uv filter. My tank is a 40 gallon nsf plastic tank with a float valve to stop the flow, then is hooked to a pump and a 3 gallon bladder tank to stop the pump from short cycling. The pump pushes the water to fill my vessels and go to the water dispenser on my fridge. The guy who installed it said I could put in a de-ionizer tank to get the water to 0ppm but said it wasn't really worth it since my ppm was already so low. So mabe that would be something to think about.