Thinking about getting a water filter. What are you guys using/doing?

[formula2fast]

I have been using Spring Mountain Bottled water since I started brewing, and quite frankly, I am getting sick of paying for water, having to get it and move it around and store it for brewing. I would like to put a filter in my house so I can use tap water. I am not sure I want to go the RO option as it is expensive and wastes water at the same time.

I found a whole house filter kit cheap, but not sure what filter would be best to prepare my water for brewing. I brew mostly darker high ABV beers or IPA's.

Any suggestions on filtering and what I need to remove aside from Chlorine?

 

[formula2fast]

Here is a link to my city's water report if that will help anyone guide me in the right direction.

http://www.yorkville.il.us/documents/Citywaterreport2013.pdf

 

[orj]

I have a basic under-sink charcoal filter and it works great. The tap water here in Richmond VA leaves a lot to be desired (especially after being spoiled by my years in the Pacific Northwest) but with that cheap filter it's just fine now. My efficiency went up a bunch after installing it too.

I'm no expert on water chemistry and the make-up of your municipal water supply might be different from mine but I've had great success using a cheap filter. If your water is really soft you may need to add some minerals after filtering but getting that chlorine out of your water is great and not just for brewing.

 

[Yooper]

You will want to get rid of the chlorine for sure.

The other things you want to know- calcium, magnesium, chloride, sulfate, and alkalinity are not in that report. You can send in a water sample to Ward Lab and for $26, get a households minerals test to see what you're working with.

 

[RonPopeil]

i use a drinking water hose and carbon filter for RV's. when i devised this idea i was reading about how garden hoses leave a rubbery flavor so i went this direction. the filter does a good job of removing chlorine as i've tasted several belgians with chlorophenols and can accurately attest to my setup not giving me those issues and that on very chlorinated systems.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006IX87S/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006JLSNI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[ddrrseio]

i ordered and never used a ward brewer's water kit. i would be happy to sell it to you for 20 shipped. it's essentially a bottle to collect the water, a prepaid return label and a shipping tube.

i didn't use it because i started buying RO water and adding minerals back.

 

[formula2fast]

i ordered and never used a ward brewer's water kit. i would be happy to sell it to you for 20 shipped. it's essentially a bottle to collect the water, a prepaid return label and a shipping tube.

i didn't use it because i started buying RO water and adding minerals back.

Thanks for the offer, but a good friend of mine is a chemist and works for a company that does water cleaning and purification, he said he would analyze it for me.

 

[whoaru99]

I've been thinking about getting a RO unit like this to combat the very hard city water we have here.

http://www.airwaterice.com/product/1MM/RO-MIGHTY-MITE-SYSTEM-50GPD.html

Like everything, spend a little more, get a little more...

http://www.airwaterice.com/product/1WATERCOP/WaterCop-5-Stage-Kitchen-RO.html

 

[loucurr]

I use an RV filter attached to my hose...works great. Just make sure that you get as much water out of it after use. It can last up to a year and costs under $18.

 

[cluckk]

I use a filter I built, based on a thread here on HBT. I used a shower-head charcoal filter cartridge and pieces of PVC to build the housing. I screw it onto an out tap when I brew and draw all my brewing liquor from it.

Here is the amazon link for the cartridge.

 

[MarsingRedneck]

Water cooler of Craigslist, $40, Refill 5 gal bottles at Walmart 38 cents a gallon. (Culligan) A no brainer

 

[whoaru99]

Water cooler of Craigslist, $40, Refill 5 gal bottles at Walmart 38 cents a gallon. (Culligan) A no brainer

Walmart is in a lot of places but still not everyone has one just down the street. The closest to me is 32 miles, one way.

 

[MarsingRedneck]

Other than situations like me, where the closest Walmart is 32 miles one way. It's no longer a no brainer.

Not if that is the only reason to go to Walmart. But a lot of Grocery stores do the refill thing now days like Winco, Albertsons e.t.c Check/call 1st of course. We live way out in the country here in Idaho nothing but ranches and farms and we have one little local market and it even does refills. But normally we wait until we go to Church in town about 15 miles away and have to get groceries anyway then do our refills while we are in town. No Expense for an RO system or whole house filter

 

[whoaru99]

Well, I guess it's all where you see value. The lesser cost RO unit I posted earler produces RO at $0.11/per gallon right out of the chute as I see it. $99 for the unit, prefilters good for 900 gallons.

The other unit that costs $50 more may be even a better value in terms of cost per gallon as the filters are larger capacity (and you get a holding tank).

 

[MarsingRedneck]

Well, I guess it's all where you see value. The lesser cost RO unit I posted earler produces RO at $0.11/per gallon right out of the chute as I see it. $99 for the unit, prefilters good for 900 gallons.

The other unit that costs $50 more may be even a better value in terms of cost per gallon as the filters are larger capacity (and you get a holding tank).

Then that should be the way you ought to go. For us here in the country a $99 system most likely will not clean up all the nitrates, alkali and rust in our well water. Having checked the water here, it is over 900ppm EPA suggests not drinking anything over 500ppm. When I checked the culligan water I get at Walmart, it worked out to 25ppm WAY different and makes for a nice Brew for us.

 

[govner1]

I have been using Spring Mountain Bottled water since I started brewing, and quite frankly, I am getting sick of paying for water, having to get it and move it around and store it for brewing. I would like to put a filter in my house so I can use tap water. I am not sure I want to go the RO option as it is expensive and wastes water at the same time. I found a whole house filter kit cheap, but not sure what filter would be best to prepare my water for brewing. I brew mostly darker high ABV beers or IPA's. Any suggestions on filtering and what I need to remove aside from Chlorine?

I set up hose bibs in my garage and have both cold & hot water charcoal filters using beverage grade hose specifically for my brewery. The advantage of the hot water filter is that I can now start w/ 120+ water in my HLT. Saves time and propane when getting to mash temp.

 

[pm5k00]

i use a drinking water hose and carbon filter for RV's. when i devised this idea i was reading about how garden hoses leave a rubbery flavor so i went this direction. the filter does a good job of removing chlorine as i've tasted several belgians with chlorophenols and can accurately attest to my setup not giving me those issues and that on very chlorinated systems.

http://www.amazon.com/Camco-40043-TastePURE-Flexible-Protector/dp/B0006IX87S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388614245&sr=8-1&keywords=rv+water+filter
http://www.amazon.com/Camco-22743-TastePURE-Drinking-Water/dp/B0006JLSNI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1388614299&sr=8-2&keywords=rv+water+hose

This is what I do. Never had a water report done, and I dont add minerals, but the water and beer taste good to me.

 

[schematix]

I started with a charcoal filter and it helps no doubt. But it doesn't change your mineral profile. If you really want to make great brews you need to adjust your water to the style. The only way to do this is either buy distilled/RO water all the time, or make your own RO water.

I'd suggest buying a $100-$200 RO system, learn Bru'n'Water (or another tool) and start enjoying some outstanding home brew!

 

[whoaru99]

Then that should be the way you ought to go. For us here in the country a $99 system most likely will not clean up all the nitrates, alkali and rust in our well water. Having checked the water here, it is over 900ppm EPA suggests not drinking anything over 500ppm. When I checked the culligan water I get at Walmart, it worked out to 25ppm WAY different and makes for a nice Brew for us.

And I probably will, but there is no basis to say that it won't work for you too. For all we know it might work better than whatever is used to make the Walmart RO.

 

[formula2fast]

At this point, I am not educated enough about water profiles to begin doing R/O and adding minerals, I just want water comparable to the bottled water I get so I don't constantly have to drop $1 per gallon or go get and store 15 gallons of water every time I want to brew. All of my brews have come out good with the water I have been using, and eventually I will figure out the water adjustment thing, but I am just taking baby steps right now. I think I am going to use one of those universal house filters with one of these two filters just to get started

CB1 http://www.omni-water-filters.com/cartcb1.htm
CB3 http://www.omni-water-filters.com/cartcb3.htm

It would be about a $40 investment which in two or three brews would be paid off from not using bottled water. Anyone have any objections to either of these? Does my idea suck?

 

[whoaru99]

This is what I'm currently using: http://www.menards.com/main/plumbin...ration-under-sink-system/p-2189914-c-8680.htm

 

[formula2fast]

So I have my filter installed and getting my water analysis done. Once I get that back, where can I find out what profile water I should have for different types of beers? Is there a cheat sheet somewhere that will give me profiles for water so I know what I need to add for certain brews?

I guess I lied about baby-steps and am just jumping in all the way to make the best beer I can.

 

[skitter]

At this point I'm using just the fridge water filter to refill, takes a bit but I only do 2.5g batches, so 3 of the Ozarka water bottles is all I need

 

[cjbalough]

I too have been using bottled water (mix of store brand spring water, "drinking water" and distilled). I have municipal water, fairly hard enough to leave mineral buildup in dishwasher and on faucets etc. I have a whole house cartridge filter, actually 2, one just after the meter and one under the kitchen sink, on the cold line. Are these enough? Right now I have the same "mid-grade" particulate + carbon cartridges at both locations. When I'm being cheap, I just use a particulate cartridge at the meter and a better carbon cartridge at the sink. I'd brew with cold sink water.

Also, right now I'm doing extract + steeping so I'm not overly concerned about chemistry, other than " good enough" to make good beer.

 

[formula2fast]

So here is my water report...The sample for this report was run through the filter I installed for brewing. What do I need to do with this water from here?

pH 7.9

Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 359
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.60
Cations / Anions, me/L / 7.36.5
ppm
Sodium, Na 99
Potassium, K 8
Calcium, Ca 24
Magnesium, Mg 9
Total Hardness, CaCO3 98
Nitrate, NO3-N < 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 11
Chloride, Cl 11
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 384
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 315
Total Phosphorus, P 0.22
Total Iron, Fe 0.06

"<" - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit

 

[Yooper]

Yikes, you have a ton of alkalinity.

The water has too much alkalinity for most beer styles (if not all). With a bicarbonate of 384, dilution isn't even practical as you'd have to dilute with RO like 9-1.

Maybe for you lime softening or preboiling to precipitate bicarbonate would work. For me, it wasn't practical (and my bicarb is lower than yours) so I invested in an RO system and most of my beer is predominately RO with a mix of my tap water.

Braukaiser.com has information on lime softening (I only tried it once) and we have some water gurus in the brewing science forum that can be far more help that I am.

 

[MindenMan]

If I remember correctly, not having a water storage tank, it really takes forever to get a couple of gallons of RO water.