This 'RO water' you guys talk about...

I installed a fancy big system a few years ago. Cost was a bit over $100, as i recall (DIY using commodity parts). My marginal cost for RO water is about 3 cents per gallon.

 

RO= Reverse Osmosis. It is a treatment process that is used in a lot of towns for water/wastewater treatment. Basically the same process that cleans your water that comes out of the tap (if you live in towns using this process), treats your water that you buy in a bottle. There are a lot more methods of fixing your water problems though, and there is a ton of information out there! First step is to get a water report from your town to see what concentration of minerals are in your water and what chemical byproducts are hanging around in there!

 

Yes, the bulk water they sell at the super market is RO. It can be used for all grain brewing of most styles with a minimum of adjustment.

My city water's pretty much undrinkable, so we have these big five gallon jugs I fill up at the supermarket for about 30 cents a gallon and that's what we use for drinking water. So it's relatively easy for me to fill a couple of those up in advance of brew day. I usually adjust the mash with about a teaspoon of gypsum or calcium chloride, depending on the style, sometimes with a little baking soda for dark beers. You can go that route, or you might consider using some of your city water mixed with RO, which will bring down the hardness into a range that's more conducive to lighter beers. There are some useful spreadsheets available online to help you hit the water profile you need: I find EZ Water the easiest to use, and many people like Bru'N Water.

 

I've had 2 UTS RO water systems for years now. 1 for 20 years and another one for > 8 years. Keep in mind, I live in an area where the well water has Arsenic and PO 210. I'm a little paranoid and would rather err on the side of caution...Yasser Arafat supposedly drank homebrew before his demise : )

I still buy my RO water for beer even though I have RO water systems in my house.

 

I live in an old farmhouse built in 1890 by general custer so I really don't trust our well water and don't drink it at all. I've recently been buying distilled water and building my water up with salt/mineral additions using bru'n water spreadsheet to get my water into whatever range I'd like and have had great success. So i guess if i wanna look into saving money down the road I should build a still so i can make my own water and or rye whiskey. I always thought that RO water was pretty much the same as distilled (0 calcium, 0 mag, 0 sulfate etc...) but my not understanding RO and being to lazy to research it is what led me to distilled and adding gypsum/calcium chloride/calcium carbonate etc. as needed.

 

Pretty cool. Especially when the Battle of Little Bighorn was in 1876.

Edit - RO is not distilled, but if the feed water is not too bad, it almost is. The stuff I buy had 12 ppm dissolved solids, all of the brewing ions were <1 ppm.

 

Have you seen the movie step brothers??
I would have been to lazy to find the RO water report and build up with salts from there so I went distilled cuz I'm very lazy and can buy it when getting groceries so my wife doesn't know that out of our $130 dollar grocery bill, $20 of it provides me with brewing water for my next couple batches, and I have some more money to throw at grain/hops/gadgets.

 

Legend has it that Abe Lincoln was born in a log cabin he built with his own hands. : )

 

Have not seen that movie.

George Custer, and his 2 brothers were all killed at Little Bighorn.

I buy RO for $0.29 a gallon. I did pay for a Wards Lab analysis to see how good it was. Since I brew 10 gallon batches, it is more cost effective than distilled. I use Brunwater for the salt additions.

 

Anyone have thoughts on how to get that first gallon out of a 5 gal jug of RO without it glug glug glugging all over the place? I'm considering drilling a hole in the bottom and putting a bung in, but I see where Murphy's Law comes into play here.

 

I am fully aware that building up from distilled is not cost effective at all and hopefully one day I will have my own RO system or just finally send my water to ward labs so I can build up from our house spring water as it is all natural, and free, but as I mentioned earlier I am lazy.

 

Well so am I, but saving some $ is a motivator, along with getting the brewing process understood and in control.

 

put a piece of pipe in it (serious)...more hassle than what it's worth for me...I just pour slowly/horizontal.

 

tough guy, eh?

 

Yea one day I will focus more on saving money. Right now I'm focusing on process and good beer, and having total control of my water profile now is definitely paying off, and I think critical to very pale/very dark beers.

 

For most peoples water, that is correct. Mine would be ideal for very dark beers. Lighter beers not so much.

Edit -getting the process under control is the way to make excellent beer. Good thinking and keep at it.

 

You don't need to get a water report to use RO water. You can build up from RO using the same additions you would use for distilled. The difference will on be a few ppm and not enough to affect your beer.

 

If your water is high in carbonates and alkalinity then boiling it should make a considerable improvement.This should be standard procedure when brewing anyway , boil for a bit and even blow air through it to help remove the CO2.
Alkalinity itself is easily rectified if necessary using a tiny amount of mineral acid.

 

Custer died in 1876. Where was that in "Step Brothers"?
Sorry that's way off topic, but if I didn't ask I'd have to watch it all over again.