RO water

[troublebrewing]

I don't know why I never realised this section was here...

Quick question, are you looking to achieve a certain TDS from your water, and is this done by adding campden tablets or some other product? What TDS (total dissolvable solids) are you possibly aiming for?

TB

[Aleman]

TDS is irrelevant to brewers . . . and RO water is not suitable for brewing 'as is', it needs lots of things adding to it. . . The RO process removes many of the important trace elements from the liquor that are required for yeast health and as they are useful in the ppb range and toxic in the ppm range at our level they are difficult to add back.

Big beer Factories use RO water for brewing in their worldwide factories so that they start with a common baseline . . . but they employ a small army of water chemists to ensure that they end up with their desired identical liquor no matter the source water. . . . and it's easy to treat 100,000L of water than it is 30L - Try weighing out 0.005g of zinc sulphate for example at home

[troublebrewing]

Cheers Aleman.

I'd got the impression that home brewers were buying RO kit, but I didn't read anything about adding stuff back in - which would seem a little odd, to say the least.

TB

[Aleman]

To be fair, you can use RO water in brewing . . . you just can't brew with it neat . . . but you can mix it with normal tap water to reduce things like alkalinity and calcium etc, also it's great for making up things like star san/iodophors . . . Of course once you have reduced the alkalinity to the level you need for the style of beer, you probably then need to put back some calcium / sulphate and/or chloride . . . just as you would if you were brewing with low mineral content supermarket water.

[EccentricDyslexic]

You got me worried now aleman....do I need to be adding zinc sulphate to my ro water?

Steve

[Aleman]

You got me worried now aleman....do I need to be adding zinc sulphate to my ro water?

Zinc is one of those elements that is required in minute quantities by yeast, like the majority of micronutrients, there is more than enough provided from the malt, and usually liquor, for it not be an issue. The quanities required are miniscule so it's not worth worrying about for a 25L batch as the malt will provide it . . . . I use Whitelabs Servomyces as a zinc supplement, which is yeast grown in a zinc rich environment, killed and milled to a powder, which has a surprisingly consistent level of zinc . . . . Brupaks yeast nutrient also claims to contain Zinc as well.

Of course that is one of the issues with using RO water for drinking . . . all the trace elements have been removed, and unless you are getting these in your diet from another source there could be issues further down the line . . .

. . . . Not got an RO unit yet . . . . but am looking into a couple . . . probably not use it for brewing though

[EccentricDyslexic]

Ta for that, i went for the ro because Gw's water calc throws a wobbly when i ask it for lager or stout with my tap water!(burton on trent tap water!!)

Plus i can use it for me Starsan;-)

Steve

[dogchillibilly]

I have also been thinking about RO.
In the new Gordon Strong book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brewing-Better- ... 136&sr=1-1 he uses nothing but RO water.

He then adds back to create the water profile he needs.
The fact that he's a three time ninkasi winner suggests he's doing something right.

( I don't know why amazon says not available as mine came about 3 weeks ago)

i know that it isn't going to make a huge difference, but my water is really hard and tastes like sh@t so I think I'll probably give it a punt.

The local garden centre aquatic centre sells the water 5 gal for 7 quid so I'll probably try that before investing.

[boingy]

Seven quid for brewing water!!!!
Have you considered stuff like Asda Smart Price water? About 8p per litre.
It's not RO but it is a known starting point at an, um, smarter price (less that £2 for a 5 gallon batch).