[yso191]

I finally decided to check my RO system which is made by Culligan.  I wondered how effective it was - if it really was equivalent to distilled water.  Here is what I just received:

pH 6.5
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 8
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.01
Cations / Anions, me/L < 0.1 / < 0.1
ppm
Sodium, Na < 1
Potassium, K < 1
Calcium, Ca 1
Magnesium, Mg < 1
Total Hardness, CaCO3 3
Nitrate, NO3-N < 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S < 1
Chloride, Cl < 1
Carbonate, CO3 < 1.0
Bicarbonate, HCO3 < 1
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 < 1
Total Phosphorus, P 0.09
Total Iron, Fe < 0.01
"<" - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit

[hopfenundmalz]

Close enough for homebrewing!

[HoosierBrew]

Yeah, I'd say it works !

[AmandaK]

Dang! What system do you have?

[yso191]

Its a Culligan under the kitchen sink system.  I have to start drawing water out of it the day before brew day because I only have a 3 gallon pressure tank.  I usually end up setting my phone to beep every 40 minutes so I can go draw another gallon off.  That gives it recharge time so that the pressure is good when I do.

[hopfenundmalz]

Dang! What system do you have?

It also depends on how mineral laden the source water is. RO takes out about 98%.

Any idea of what your tap water has Steve? The Ca and Mg look to be low on the city water report, but those are the only ions I saw.

[yso191]

I do!  The test below was done in 2012.

pH 8.2
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 179
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.30
Cations / Anions, me/L 2.9 / 3.2
ppm
Sodium, Na 40
Potassium, K 5
Calcium, Ca 12
Magnesium, Mg 5
Total Hardness, CaCO3 51
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.2 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 3
Chloride, Cl 6
Carbonate, CO3 9
Bicarbonate, HCO3 154
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 141
Fluoride, F 0.53
Total Iron, Fe < 0.01
"<" - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit

[mabrungard]

Ah, no wonder. The ion levels in the raw water are already more than sufficiently low for brewing. Since the final water quality is a percentage of the raw water quality, the machine ends up producing very low ionic content.

Unless there is great variability in that raw water supply, I would be brewing with that and have saved the money from the RO machine and applied it to another toy!

[yso191]

That is just the issue Martin.  My water comes from three wells, so it changes.  Couple that with the need to remove chlorine and RO water it is!  I like starting with a blank canvas as well.

[Tim Thomssen]

I use the same Culligan RO system with satisfactory results.  My wife hates it when I leave a 5 gallon bucket in the sink collecting water, but you can let it go for about 5 hours that way.

I picked up a cheap TDS meter from Amazon so I can periodically check the RO output, when TDS starts to go up, it's time to change the cartridges.

[speed]

Its a Culligan under the kitchen sink system.  I have to start drawing water out of it the day before brew day because I only have a 3 gallon pressure tank.  I usually end up setting my phone to beep every 40 minutes so I can go draw another gallon off.  That gives it recharge time so that the pressure is good when I do.
[/quote
We are going to use RO for our commercial brewery, 10. Bbl. and will have to collect about 500. Gallon. That's going to take awhile.

[hopfenundmalz]

Its a Culligan under the kitchen sink system.  I have to start drawing water out of it the day before brew day because I only have a 3 gallon pressure tank.  I usually end up setting my phone to beep every 40 minutes so I can go draw another gallon off.  That gives it recharge time so that the pressure is good when I do.
[/quote
We are going to use RO for our commercial brewery, 10. Bbl. and will have to collect about 500. Gallon. That's going to take awhile.

My little Village has a 10 bbl brewery now. The tap water here has high alkalinity. They have a smallish RO system and blend with the tap water. That is one strategy. One could look into a commercial RO system to supply all of the brewing water.

[james]

Its a Culligan under the kitchen sink system.  I have to start drawing water out of it the day before brew day because I only have a 3 gallon pressure tank.  I usually end up setting my phone to beep every 40 minutes so I can go draw another gallon off.  That gives it recharge time so that the pressure is good when I do.
[/quote
We are going to use RO for our commercial brewery, 10. Bbl. and will have to collect about 500. Gallon. That's going to take awhile.

For a commercial brewery you might want to look into a nano filtration system vs ro