Hello all, first post here and am looking forward to starting my journey. I currently have a RO system at home, and have been told that this is not adequate brewing water. What are my best options in regards to the water I use? Thanks in advance!
-Dan
extract or all-grain?
RO water is great - you can do a lot with it. I buy it for .39 cents a gallon, so if you already have it - good for you. If you are doing extract, in particular, you are pretty much set. If you are doing all-grain, there are some additional considerations.
[quote=“Braufessor”]extract or all-grain?
RO water is great - you can do a lot with it. I buy it for .39 cents a gallon, so if you already have it - good for you. If you are doing extract, in particular, you are pretty much set. If you are doing all-grain, there are some additional considerations.[/quote]
I am just starting out, they will be extract kits… caribou slobber, and bourbon barrel porter.
For All Grain Brewing - With RO water, you need to add minerals back into it so that the water has the correct PH levels and salinity for proper mashing and sugar extraction.
For Extract Brewing - RO water should be fine because the extracts have all the minerals you need already added to them.
The general rule of thumb is that if the water is good enough to drink, it’s good enough to make beer with.
I’ve found that to be mostly true. Proper water chemistry is one of the steps that can take your beer from “pretty good” to “pretty awesome!”
If you have a water softener, don’t brew with that water. It’ll have too much salt in it.
I just switched to all grain and am just starting to wrap my head around water control. The last few extract batches we did just using tap water were pretty good, so don’t worry too much about it when you’re just starting out.
I do have a softener… My main water from the softener goes through the RO system and into the holding tank before it comes out of the tap up in the kitchen. So it should be all filtered out.
Yea, you should be just fine. Especially if you’re doing extract brewing. Don’t worry about it.
Though…if you’re really paranoid, you can buy 5 gallons of RO water from Walmart for a few dollars.
Sounds great, thanks for the help guys!
In regards to the water softener, it’s actually beneficial to feed your RO system water from a softener. It will greatly extend the life of your filters, particularly the RO membrane.
