Water Filtration

[gauch680]

Hey all, Im a newbie brewer with just a couple of extract home brews under my belt. Its been a blast and I can see this hobby continuing for years to come. My question is regarding brew water.

I live in the City of LA, not known for the finest of tap waters. I have been buying filtered two gallon jugs at the grocery store to brew with. This can get costly over the years and easily add 8$ to every brew I do.

Is there an easy way to set up an inline water filter system to my garden hose that I can connect to the end of the hose and fill up my brew kettle with? I know stuff like exists for RV's and filtering water from hook ups...

Has anyone set up a filter system for their garden hose....and whats the best way to do this?? Thanks in advance!

 

[WoodlandBrew]

The type of filter you need will depend on what makes your water unfit for brewing. If it smells rotten or like chlorine, a carbon filter will help. But if your problem is relates to water hardness or mineral content a carbon filter will not help. If you post a water report someone should be able to help you select a filter for your needs.


.... However, I did some digging. If these are close to what you actually have then you need to get the sodium level way down. That is best accomplished with reverse osmosis or ion replacement. (Magnesium is pretty high, but not terrible)

City  	     State  Mg     Ca     Na     K     Mg Rank  
Los Angeles  CA     16.70  35.37  91.67  3.38  84  

City Water Source                       Ca2+ Mg2+ Na+ 
Los Angeles, Calif Los Angeles Aqueduct 21   5    37 
 River Conduit                          58   13   48 
 Jensen                                 39   16   57 
 Weymouth                               68   29   98

 

[hbbend]

I have family in LA so I know what you're talking about. If I remember, it's a dirty metalic taste. Here in Bend I have a lot of chlorine in the water. You can boil off the chlorine but for LA water, I would either keep buying bottled spring water for best results or get one of those small cheap filters used for shower heads. I used one of those before and I believe it's a combination of filters to remove minerals from the water, so I'm not sure if it will drastically improve the taste like drinking water filters (carbon). They're easy to adapt to house plumbing or a garden hose which is why I mention it. There are various other filter options at home improvement stores that you can adapt to a garden hose too. Do a taste test; filtered and non-filtered to see the difference.
Like WoodlandBrew suggests on reverse osmosis, etc. it can get pretty spendy to clean your nasty water, or just buy the bottled stuff and save the headaches and consider it another ingredient. Also - you may want to do the water kegs if those are available in your area. That way you're not tossing out a bunch of plastic during each batch and it may end up being cheaper than individual 1 or 2 gallon bottles.

 

[Golddiggie]

I had a new filter setup installed under the sink at my new place (Nashua, NH). While the water isn't as bad as other places, including Natick, MA (where I used to live) or even Methuen, MA (where my sister and mother live) it's not what I would drink. The three stage filter I ordered (for less than it's currently listed at), and then had installed, works great. Goes down to .2 micron filtration, with easy to change filters. Basically, it produces water with zero off flavors in it (tastes 'wet' and that's all). I had a plumber install it for me, since I am just renting the house and didn't want to risk F'ing something up. Was their minimum (one hour) charge for labor and zero parts. :rockin:

While I'm sure there are people in Nashua, or the area, not filtering their brew water, I'm not willing to do that. IF I'm not willing to drink the water, I won't brew/cook with it.

BTW, I compared my new system to an RO system (my mother has one at her place)... If anything, my water actually tastes better than what comes from the RO system.

 

[Clonefan94]

I went to home depot and bought one of the whole house water filter housings, then bought one of the better carbon block filters to go inside of it. I'm not sure what it leaves as far as residual minerals, but it even takes out VOCs. It seems to work pretty well. I can taste chlorine in my tap water normally and with a basic water filter can still taste the hose if I use the garden hose outside. This filter got rid of all of the taste. I'm not saying my taste is perfect, but I was in the water business for a few years and became pretty sensitive to tasting different stuff in the water. It wasn't necessarily cheap, I think $20 for the housing and the parts to hook it up to the hose and another $30 for the filter cartridge to go inside. But the ability to just turn on the hose and fill my kettle is worth it. And over the long run I will definitely save money. I have noticed a distinct difference in my beer as well, since I switched to this filter over the one I used to use.

 

[Jps101]

To begin with, why is anyone drinking water. Being that the main ingredient in beer is water that is where I get my H2O intake...just kidding by the way. I live in Stevenson Ranch and am considering the same question.

 

[werthsoccer]

I am considering installing this filter since my dad has an extra one http://www.aquapure.com/aq-products...pure-drinking-water-filtration-system-lc.html

I haven't been able to find any details about the grade to which it filters (I'd like to get to .2 microns which I believe is suitable for taking out enough chlorine/chloramine). Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[BigFloyd]

I use on of these Camco in-line RV filters - http://www.amazon.com/Camco-40043-TastePURE-Flexible-Protector/dp/B0006IX87S/ref=sr_1_9?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1359173514&sr=1-9&keywords=rv+water+filter which you can get at WalMart. I also use 1/2 a campden tab in 5 gal for the chloramine they add to the water here.

If you use a hose, a "drinking water" hose won't give the water that rubbery "hose water" flavor.

 

[rbenn]

I've just recently went with a reverse osmosis unit. They are a bit expensive, but they work really well and pays for itself in the long run.

 

[WoodlandBrew]

I am considering installing this filter since my dad has an extra one http://www.aquapure.com/aq-products...pure-drinking-water-filtration-system-lc.html

I haven't been able to find any details about the grade to which it filters (I'd like to get to .2 microns which I believe is suitable for taking out enough chlorine/chloramine). Anyone have any thoughts?

a 0.2um filter will be very effective at removing bacteria, but dissolved molecules are much smaller than that. You will want an active carbon filter to remove chlorine chloramine.

 

[werthsoccer]

a 0.2um filter will be very effective at removing bacteria, but dissolved molecules are much smaller than that. You will want an active carbon filter to remove chlorine chloramine.

A representative from aqua pure told me that the filter I have does have a carbon filter, and according to this http://www.3mwater.com/media/catalog/product/pdfs/LCPDS.pdf it takes out about 95% of the chlorine. Do you think that is thorough reduction? He confirmed that it does not take out chloramine though.

 

[Erik Rodriguez]

We have pretty hard water here. 203.
Alkalinity of 106
Bicarbonate of 125
pH of 7.95
Calcium 50
Magnesium 19
Sodium 76
Potassium 4.0
Chlorine Residual 2.9
Thihalomethanes 37
Haloacetic Acids 16
Chlorite .15

Looks like most my metrics are pretty bad. How do I make this more suitable for brewing?