Water test results before and after home RO system

Mashing
1

I put in a home (Hydrotech) RO system just after Christmas. I have the same system at my office and have been brewing with that water since the beginning but I got tired of lugging water. I am on a well with softened water and I was really curious how effective this unit would be. Not sure I understand all the results, but it changes a lot. Would love feedback on how I should treat my RO water. I have been adding gypsum and salt for all styles but have not yet delved into Bru’n Water. I know I need to.

Before:

Sample ID : #2 KITCHEN SINK

pH 8.1
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 258
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.43
Cations / Anions, me/L 4.7 / 4.9

                                                  [u] ppm[/u]

Sodium, Na 106
Potassium, K 2
Calcium, Ca < 1
Magnesium, Mg < 1
Total Hardness, CaCO3 < 1
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S < 1
Chloride, Cl 15
Carbonate, CO3 6
Bicarbonate, HCO3 262
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 224

“<” - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit

With RO:

pH 7.2
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 17
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.03
Cations / Anions, me/L 0.2 / 0.2

                                                        [u] ppm[/u]

Sodium, Na 4
Potassium, K < 1
Calcium, Ca < 1
Magnesium, Mg < 1
Total Hardness, CaCO3 < 1
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S < 1
Chloride, Cl 2
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 9
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 7

“<” - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit

2

Bru’n water is going to give you your best results, but if you are looking for something general, I would start with this probably:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewin ... er-198460/

Gives general additions for RO water and various styles in first post.

3

Working with low mineralization water like RO is easy in most cases. Most of the salts added to create your working water for your brews are soluble. The only problematic issue is when more alkalinity is needed for grists that have a significant percentage of crystal or roast malts. Chalk is not a reliable alkalinity contributor. Pickling lime and baking soda are reliable. Both have their drawbacks and both require a careful hand in dosing since you don’t want to overdose with either.

By the way, your water is even less mineralized than my RO. But the difference is not worth mentioning. A brewer should typically want more mineralization in their brewing water than is supplied by RO. Adding minerals is a good idea. Just don’t overdo it! Less is more.

4

[quote=“mabrungard”]Working with low mineralization water like RO is easy in most cases. Most of the salts added to create your working water for your brews are soluble. The only problematic issue is when more alkalinity is needed for grists that have a significant percentage of crystal or roast malts. Chalk is not a reliable alkalinity contributor. Pickling lime and baking soda are reliable. Both have their drawbacks and both require a careful hand in dosing since you don’t want to overdose with either.

By the way, your water is even less mineralized than my RO. But the difference is not worth mentioning. A brewer should typically want more mineralization in their brewing water than is supplied by RO. Adding minerals is a good idea. Just don’t overdo it! Less is more.[/quote]

Martin, I started entering these result into the spreadsheet yesterday but got a little confused at times. I need to spend more time reading all the info. Thanks.

5

Is the unit working with softened water or prior to the softener?

6

Softened water. So does the fact that it is taking so much sodium out of the water mean that I would have to change filters often?

7

No, sodium is quite soluble. So the constant side-stream flow is carrying out the excess sodium and other ions. Feeding a RO unit with ion-exchange softened water will extend the life of the membrane. The only downside to feeding softened water is that the sodium content of the product water is slightly elevated above what it would have been if you fed it hard water. In general, that means less than 10 ppm Na in the product water. It’s negligible.