Water softener question

[Amy Kemp]

So I have a water softener at my house secondary to hard water from a county water authority.
I had not accounted for brewing beer when I had the softener positioned and install. As such there really isn’t an option to move and it is almost impossible to run a pre-water softener line.
I have a dedicated garage space I plan on expanding and I want to address my water.
Currently I fill my water in the kitchen off a RO filter. I’m trying to figure out where to start in planning a water output source in my garage, and how to address my softener water if I pull a hose from outside to use a filter of some sort? Or do I just suck it up and use the RO water from in my house? (It’s only carrying 54lb worth of water 15’ and I surely can do that)
Thanks for any comments or previous threads.

 

[day_trippr]

I believe it is actually preferable to use softened water to feed an RO system as it prolongs the membrane life span verses hard water.
I assume anyone living with a softener does so because the water is hella hard, and hella hard water can be a challenge to brew with.

Given the options, I'd either find a way to run a tap off the RO system or invest in a second. My well water is in fact "hella hard" and I have lagers, wheats and kolschs (kolsches?) in my repertoire so I have a dedicated RO system for the brewery...

Cheers!

 

[ajdelange]

Nearly all modern softeners have a bypass valve so that you can disconnect the unit from the plumbing for service/replacement fairly simply but by operating the valve you can get feed water at the output of the softener. If you don't want to fill up the whole house plumbing with unsoftened water a saddle valve can almost always be installed on copper tubing and if you have PEX it's pretty simple to pop a tee with ball valve into a line (though you will have to shell out for the crimper or SharkBite fittings).

Whether you want to use this hard water or not depends on its chemistry and the beer you are trying to brew. Very hard water can usually be softened because most of the alkalinity is temporary and you can use the calcium to pull out the alkalinity which is your main goal.

Life will be much easier if you install an RO system. This should be done downstream of the softener as calcium carbonate will build up on your RO membranes as well as anywhere else. The under-sink units sold at home improvement stores are more or less immune to this but what you pay for this immunity is slow throughput and 4 or more gallons of waste water for each gallon of permeate. It makes more sense to install behind the softener and buy a higher throughput, higher recovery unit from Buckeye Hydro who are a sponsor here and reportedly most helpful to home brewers.

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

So I have a water softener at my house secondary to hard water from a county water authority.
I had not accounted for brewing beer when I had the softener positioned and install. As such there really isn’t an option to move and it is almost impossible to run a pre-water softener line.
I have a dedicated garage space I plan on expanding and I want to address my water.
Currently I fill my water in the kitchen off a RO filter. I’m trying to figure out where to start in planning a water output source in my garage, and how to address my softener water if I pull a hose from outside to use a filter of some sort? Or do I just suck it up and use the RO water from in my house? (It’s only carrying 54lb worth of water 15’ and I surely can do that)
Thanks for any comments or previous threads.

Why not just plumb in a tee/splitter and run a tube from your RO system out into the garage?

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

I believe it is actually preferable to use softened water to feed an RO system as it prolongs the membrane life span verses hard water.

Correct you are. We just did a maintenance job on a commercial RO system where for some reason they had decided to feed 7 gpg hard water to the RO. Needless to say, the membranes were scaled/ruined. We changed the feedwater to softened water, replaced the expensive membranes, and they are back in business.

Russ

 

[MaxStout]

I can't think of a reason one would want to use very hard water for brewing, except maybe for a Burton beer. In any case, you'd still want to know what's in that hard water. You can get the water tested for a reasonable cost from Ward labs. The best bet is feeding softened water into a good RO system and building your brewing water from that.

 

[mabrungard]

Exterior hose bibs are typically not fed with softened water and that could be a source for brewing. The adage “if the water tastes good, you can brew with it” may be sort of appropriate. If the water doesn’t taste bad, you might be able to brew with it. But you should find out what is in it by having it tested.

Setting up a RO machine for your brewing might be a better solution if your water taste or testing indicate a poor source.