R/O price

[timbo41]

I've just contacted a local aquatics place and been given a price of £3.20 per 25 litre for R/O. just wondering if this seems reasonable, having never having had much to do with it. Its my first baby steps in improving the water for my brews

[bryan_r]

My local Maidenhead Aquatics charged around that (might have even been £3.50, can't remember exactly) when I got some back in the summer.

[Dave S]

My local Maidenhead Aquatics charged around that (might have even been £3.50, can't remember exactly) when I got some back in the summer.

Mine charges £2.50, but £3.20 or £3.50 isn't bad when you consider the additional cost per pint is around 6 or 7p

[timbo41]

Shock!!!!! that puts me at about 40p a pint

as the water around here is an issue, I reckon that's well worth it!

[Morten]

How much is a small RO unit?

I got mine in Denmark for ~£60, it is cheap but reasonably effective, about 1l RO water from 2,5l tap water.

[OnlyFerment]

I use one of the Vyair units http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-Stage-Pumpe ... 19e69da224 currently £137.50. I have adapted it to add takeoffs after the solids/GAC/carbon filters for brewing (no chlorine/chloramine but still contains minerals) and after the RO membrane for the aquarium and then have a drinking water tap after the final carbon filter. Far better value than buying water at the LFS as I have control over the water quality - some LFS water is very poor quality.

I'm not sure you really want to be using RO for brewing as it has no minerals in it whilst mineral balance for brewing liquor is important.

Dave

[Aleman]

If the aquarist shop properly maintains their RO unit then it is more cost effective to buy it in. . . I know of several reports where RO water supplied was not as good as it should have been . . .in one case it had an alkalinity of 200 . . compare to the 315 for the area.

I keep umming and arrhing about buying my own RO Unit, but given the running costs (and I'm not even on a meter remember that you use 3-4L for every litre you make) it's not really justified . . .Yes you can make it more efficient Using a pumped suply and a permeate pump you can get it down to 2L used for each litre produced but then you are looking at around 600 quid for a 75GPD system . . . Of course that would have an in line TDS meter so that you know just how pure your water is.

[Dave S]

I'm not sure you really want to be using RO for brewing as it has no minerals in it whilst mineral balance for brewing liquor is important.

Dave

I don't think many people use 100% RO water. Its main use is to provide a dilution to your tap water to alter the salt concentrations for various beer profiles.