RO Water

[xon432246]

I know many home brewers don't recommend using RO water unless you add certain things back to it, but I was wondering if anyone has used the discharge or rejected water from an RO unit to brew with? I'm not sure but I think the water is sediment and carbon filtered but not passed through the RO membrane. Any thoughts?

 

[Yooper]

RO water is fine to use! I assume you're doing extract beers, but I use RO mixed with tap water for my AG beers also. The amounts of minerals/salts needed are minimal.

If you're using extract as the base for the beer, it already has been mashed to produce the extract so RO water is great for those beers.

The discharge water, well, no. That would be were all the alkalinity and "stuff" that comes out of the RO water goes. That's ok for laundry, but NOT for brewing.

If you wouldn't drink it, you certainly don't want to brew with it.

 

[Hermit]

I currently run the discharge into a barrel and use that water for a variety of things, but I'm using RO + calcium chloride for brewing.

 

[JNye]

You can drink and brew with RO waste water. You are correct, it is filtered, but not through the membrane. It will have higher TDS then your tap, so unless you have very high mineral content to start with, you'll be fine. I use a mix of ro/waste water, I'm able to make it faster and its chlorine free. I'll use straight RO for the lightest of brews. Currently I use a variety of mixes and just keep good notes on what I start with, so I can decide for myself what I like best. Generally the lighter the brew the more RO % I'll use, but at this point I am still experimenting.

 

[Hermit]

The purpose of starting with RO water is so that you know where you are starting from when you 'build' it and eliminate all other variables.

 

[Hammy71]

I use RO/DI water mixed with my tap water. Usually 75% RO/DI and 25% tap. Having a reef aquarium (that requires RO/DI) comes in handy...

 

[xon432246]

Is the RO water sanitized enough or do you still need to boil it?

 

[Hammy71]

I use it just like regular water. I'm all grain but if I was topping off I would boil it. I trust the filters...but the container the water is kept in, who knows?

 

[JNye]

I use RO/DI water mixed with my tap water. Usually 75% RO/DI and 25% tap. Having a reef aquarium (that requires RO/DI) comes in handy...

This is my most popular starting water so far too. Except I use ro waste instead of tap, so its been through the carbon. I got a reef tank too.