Should I use RO water?

[Airborneguy]

I'm on the fence whether or not I truly "need" to pick up an RO system. I get amazon gift card bonuses from one of my jobs. I am considering using my built-up rewards to purchase an RO system.

My water tastes good, and has low, easily adjustable numbers, including PH. I pre-filter with an RV filter, use potassium metabisulfite, and add other additions as necessary.

Realistically, how much of a difference will using RO water make? I'm reluctant because of the waste-water and extra step involved. I do not have room for a holding tank so I would have to run it the night before each time, with waste-water going into the sink.

For reference, here are my numbers:

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

You said it yourself: you have low, easily adjustable numbers - so it's probably not worth the expense and hassle. Have you tried brewing with RO water from a reliable source, to see if you can notice a difference?

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Your alkalinity is quite high but some acid will sort that out.

 

[Airborneguy]

Your alkalinity is quite high but some acid will sort that out.

I use lactic acid to adjust the PH.

 

[Red over White]

A zero water filter is another option and step with no waste water. It works well for me just putting the pitcher insert into one fermonster and feeding it with another. Once I adjust the tap valve for the proper trickle it's autonomous.

 

[Airborneguy]

Have you tried brewing with RO water from a reliable source, to see if you can notice a difference?

I’ve been considering doing so. The easiest source is a primo exchange nearby but they add salts back. My cousin has an RO system for his aquarium, but I’d have to transport the water from his house about 15 miles, so I’ve been putting it off. He may be my best bet.

 

[Airborneguy]

I really want to spend it on a Jaded Hydra, but they're not sold on Amazon unfortunately.

So correct me if I am wrong but RO literally just presents you with a clean slate. If you know your water's numbers, can eliminate chlorine/chloramine, adjust PH, and filter any sediment, there's nothing inherently "special" about using RO water?

 

[tracer bullet]

Yep, that's the gist, clean slate.

I think you already said it but if you have low, adjustable numbers already then you really don't need RO. Get it if it sounds fun but don't expect to notice much in the final product.

Buckeye Hydro here has been good to me in the past, good prices and service to really walk you through what you do or don't need, ultimately providing a plug & play setup. But Amazon can make sense if you have Amazon gift cards already.

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

I’ve been considering doing so. The easiest source is a primo exchange nearby but they add salts back. My cousin has an RO system for his aquarium, but I’d have to transport the water from his house about 15 miles, so I’ve been putting it off. He may be my best bet.

I use primo machines at the local grocery store. Machines are regularly maintained, and I usually get a TDS around 3 PPM.

 

[Brewdog80]

I filter my water through a carbon filter. It can taste bad otherwise, but I've made numerous good beers and I see no need to waste money on an ro system. If your beer is to your liking why try and do more to it? Try is the key word, just doing ro doesn't mean it will be better. And you would have to keep numerous salts to add back...

 

[Airborneguy]

Well that was basically my question: is there anything to RO besides the “blank slate” aspect? If not, which seems to be the case, then it’s not worth the investment. For me at least, since my water is pretty good for brewing with simple adjustments.

 

[MaxStout]

You could use some of that Amazon credit on a TDS meter. They are reliable and cheap, around $15. The meter won't tell you the makeup of the dissolved solids, just the overall content in ppm. But it's a good way to monitor your water to see if those levels change. And if you do choose to get an RO system, the TDS meter can monitor the system's effectiveness and determine when it's time to get new filters.

I will add that I use my RO system (Buckeye Hydro) for things in addition to brewing water. I use RO to mix Starsan and other chemicals, use it in my coffee maker (I never have to de-scale it), etc.

 

[Brewdog80]

If you have truly bad water and won't drink it. I lived in rural south GA in the 80s, in one home I had well water that would leave a red metallic ring when boiled, we didn't drink or bre with it

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

Well that was basically my question: is there anything to RO besides the “blank slate” aspect? If not, which seems to be the case, then it’s not worth the investment. For me at least, since my water is pretty good for brewing with simple adjustments.

I use RO water - I do like the blank slate approach, using the mineral additions as seasoning for the final beer. Stopped worrying about pH after I ran out of calibration liquids (made my brew day much easier). I buy the water as I figured I could buy quite a lot of it for the price of having my house water tested by a lab.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Well that was basically my question: is there anything to RO besides the “blank slate” aspect? If not, which seems to be the case, then it’s not worth the investment. For me at least, since my water is pretty good for brewing with simple adjustments.

My vote is that an RO system will not help you much. The only question would be how stable your tap water is from month to month. I know my can vary a bit (based off some testing data from the supplier and also from seeing other area brewer's reports). I have tweaked the base water profile that I enter into software to be closer to what I think the average numbers are and I don't worry about the +/- 20 ppm changes of some ions.

I suspect you can track down a source or RO if you want to try out. Around me I see some RO systems in Walmart and in a few grocery stores. If you did try that, it would be a good idea to verify the water with a $10 TDS meter to verify it is in the 10 or less range.

 

[YeastFeast]

I love my RO system (from Badger Hydro). I decided to go that route because my understanding is that source (tap) water changes month/month, year/year…
I don’t store it in a tank, just run my 10 gallons the night before and add salts to fit my needed water profile, simple & consistent.

 

[Draft Master Flash]

I've been using a counter top water distiller for my brewing water. I first start out with tap water running through a PUR filter just to keep the cleaning maintanence easy then after it gets distilled it runs through another charcoal filter that is mounted on the spout of the water distiller. TDS is 0. The water distiller cost me around $60 at Amazon and the cost of electricty of a gallon of water produced from it is about 30 cents. Using it along with Bru N Water has gotten me much better efficiency than before as well as better tasting beer. RO water is pretty similar to using distilled water. I think overall the cost of a water distiller wouldn't be much more than a RO filer.

DMF

 

[mabrungard]

As the OP surmises, their water is reasonably low in most ion species and its probably not a requirement to take the step to RO. The main thing that will need to be attended to is adjusting the alkalinity to suit the needs of the mash and the sparge. Having the results of that water test is an important step in determining what adjustments will be required for subsequent brews.

The chloride level is a bit higher than I'd like to start with, but its still fine.

Commence to brewing!

 

[Langerz]

I use RO from Walmart $0.39 a gallon. My home water is cheaper but not a big deal. For me the reason I do RO is consistency. The town I live in has decent water, but they draw from several sources depending on how the river water is testing. You can actually taste differences in the water as they shift from source to source. If I can taste difference I'm sure the profile is changing and I'm pretty sure I can't get "real time" reporting so to be safe I went the RO route.

I suppose I could install an RO system at home, but driving to Walmart and filling jugs on the way home from work a few days before a brew day isn't a big deal.

 

[Airborneguy]

I wish my local walmart had the fill station. We only have the swaps here. Walmart and Home Depot, right next to each other.

 

[Draft Master Flash]

The thing that concerns me the most is the accuracy of water reports as well as the ever changing water that comes from tap. It seems every time I look at the updated water report it's different than what it was before. So personally I would just prefer to start with a clean slate knowing what's really in my water. I've even had store bought bottled water I thought that tasted questionable.

But there is a micro brewery close to me that does just fine using plain old tap water.

DMF

 

[Bobby_M]

If the test was relatively recent, it would a good idea to get a cheap TDS meter and make a note of what it reads now. Every few months, make sure the TDS of your water continues to be consistent with that initial reading. If it changes, you won't know what changed or why but it will tell you that you can't trust the individual numbers that you got before. THAT is the advantage of an RO system. Blank slate doesn't change.

 

[Bassman2003]

I was going to try some "Twice the Ice" RO water for a brew and see if I noticed a difference. It is low cost for the try. Outside of flavor I wonder if anything else would change like head retention etc... The only way to know is to try a batch or two using familiar recipes.

 

[ShaneB]

You should check your local water quality report.

I have hard water (278ppm) with chloramines and other crap in small but legal amounts like Arsenic, Uranium, alpha and beta particles, fluoride (probably not good for yeast). Not to mention pfas and other "forever chemicals" that aren't listed on the water quality report (mine says water has been tested for these chemicals and does not have any known or reportable levels of PFOA or PFOS). I would at least use a carbon filter, I have a cheap 150gpd RO filter I got on ebay for under $50 used that was used for hydroponics (hydrologic stealth ro 150). The higher the GPD the faster it will give you water.

I only use tap water for brushing my teeth, otherwise I drink filtered water so for me makes sense to use it in my beer too. This is really dependant on the quality of your local water. My area uses chloramines and the waste just tastes bad.

 

[Airborneguy]

I’ve tested through Wards, I posted the numbers above. I’m considering another Wards test since a year has passed since that one.

 

[CobraVin]

I would like to switch to RO, its been a while since I tested through Ward and since water is always changing your shooting at a moving target. I would like to know what I am starting with every time. Looking at the Buckeye Hydro Premium. Does the chloramine stage help with Chlorine also? Currently my municipality uses chlorine. Does the ASOV include a float valve shut off for my kettle so I can fill overnight without worrying about overfilling?

 

[day_trippr]

The typical ASOV included with home RO systems closes the feedwater path when the product water path is closed. That's to hopefully prevent calamity due to a system leak. It does not regulate based on any kind of float valve - but I'm pretty sure if you want that kind of add-on function Russ @Buckeye_Hydro has it (and with that, hopefully Russ will check out this thread )

Cheers!

 

[Airborneguy]

Btw I used that amazon credit towards a growler werkz 1gal keg.

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

I would like to switch to RO, its been a while since I tested through Ward and since water is always changing your shooting at a moving target. I would like to know what I am starting with every time. Looking at the Buckeye Hydro Premium. Does the chloramine stage help with Chlorine also? Currently my municipality uses chlorine. Does the ASOV include a float valve shut off for my kettle so I can fill overnight without worrying about overfilling?

The chloramine stage is a very high quality carbon block - designed to address chloramines. Any carbon filter that treats chloramines will also handle the easier-to-treat chlorine.
The ASOV Kit (description is available if you scroll down on the Prem RO page) available as an option when you order the system does include a float valve. Yes - most mount that float valve in their kettle. When the float valve closes because the water level rises and closes it, the auto shut off valve (ASOV) senses that, and cuts off all flow to the system so that the concentrate ("waste water") stops flowing as well.

Russ

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

These handheld TDS meters are on sale (and what you'll find in my tool box).
https://www.buckeyehydro.com/tds3-handheld-meter/

 

[CobraVin]

These handheld TDS meters are on sale (and what you'll find in my tool box).
https://www.buckeyehydro.com/tds3-handheld-meter/

I added one to my order, thanks for the help on the phone today, looking forward to using it. It's supposed to be a non surprise gift from my wife for Christmas. I think I'm going to take it out of the box and put something else in there for weight and have her wrap the box to put under the tree since I want to brew before then with it. Haha she'll never know.