Reverse osmosis filter system for homebrewing - RO water filter
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- Here is a brief run through of my reverse osmosis system. I use this to filter water before brewing. Look out for a future video to show how to build your desired water profile by adding minerals
Outstanding walk-through of your RO and BIAB system! Cheers!
Thanks Tony :)
From a link you put up elsewhere,this rig is sitting on my Amazon wish list waiting for me to figure out where its gonna go, but it will happen. As always many thanks.
Great video! Thanks for sharing the knowledge!
Thanks a lot SJ :)
Excellent overview on your RO system, going to do something very similar in a few months. Could you tell me where you acquired your float valve in the fermenter?
Hiyas, Thanks. I got mine from the same ebay supplier I got the RO system from, and they have sold out however here is an alternative www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Float-Ball-Valve-Shut-off-Automatic-Fill-Feed-Aquarium-Fish-Tank-RO-Water-DG-/122342249725?hash=item1c7c2a94fd:g:3TgAAOSwiONYLqt-
Nice water system setup there cracking update cheers
Very interesting video. Thanks.
Thanks Wild Boar Brewing.
Hi Sarah, thank you for showing your RO system. I have a question about the float valve. When the valve stops the flow, does the pump keep running? If so would this cause any issues with the RO system? Thanks and best wishes, Mark
HI Mark, That is a great question. My system has a two way auto shut off for the pump, so if the incoming pressure gets too low or the output pressure gets too high the pump automatically shuts off and comes back on when the pressure changes again. In this circumstance, the valve stops the output flow and the pressure builds up a little in the output pipe triggering the high pressure shut off. This stops any damage to the pump, then if some of the RO water is used the pressure drops as the valve opens and the pump starts running again.
@@DaftCatBrewing Sarah, thank you that is a huge help.👍
Great video, Sarah. Answered a lot of questions for me. I've been thinking about RO for brewing for a while now, as I love the idea of working with a blank slate and crafting water to the specific needs of each brew. I do have just one question for you, if you don't mind, which is: "Does the RO unit need to be running at all times, or can it simply be connected and flushed through each time it's needed?" I only intend to use mine for brewing, so it will only see action two or three times a month. Many thanks, and keep up the great work here and on UKCB, Gary.
Thanks a lot Gary :) I am the same, my one is just used for brewing so I just plug it in and flush it for around 10 seconds or so before starting to run off water whenever I am going to brew.
Many thanks for the swift reply. That's put my mind at rest - now to research building water profiles!
You're welcome. Just remember when it comes to water profiles that you are better off researching water profiles for a type of beer, eg pale hoppy, or dark malty profiles, rather than historic water profiles for a specific area, as even if the brewers did use the local water to brew their beer, there is nothing to say they didn't treat that water to change the profile before they used it.
Sound advice! I would hazard a guess that very few commercial brewers use untreated water from the local domestic supply, no matter how good it is for a specific style, due to fluctuations in mineral amounts, etc., from one month to the next (can't see Guinness being brewed with untreated Dublin tap water, for instance). This is why RO makes such sense to me. I've got a few water treatment programs, such as Bru 'n Water, and the water treatment facility built into Beersmith is pretty good, so I'm going to start getting my head around those before I ditch the CRS and campden tabs!
They are the two tools I tend to use for water as well. I'm still learning the water side of things myself and found Bru'n water a bit complex to begin with but think I'm getting to grips
with it now.
Great vid as usual! Have you thought about making a video about water chemistry? I've seen you always adjust the PH of your water before mashing and now I'm reading a lot about it. Cheers :)
Given that I'm still a relative newbie at water treatment, which is a very technical topic, I really don't feel I have a good enough grip on the topic. Tony Yates has done some very good videos on water that I highly recommend ua-cam.com/play/PLIAaxDY5ZCdcCigXii1h1DOAmED7djMsN.html
Daft Cat Brewing thank you! Will check that :)
Great upload,many thanks Sarah.I have heard these RO systems are quite wasteful and expensive to buy is that true? I presume you only run this for brewday and not normal drinking water ? Cheers.
They do use quite a bit of water flushing the membrane constantly whilst running. Like you say I only use it for brewing, and even then, not for all my brewing. Mainly for paler beers as my water seems fine for dark beers, but it always sucked for pale beers. It's the sort of thing I would only recommend if your normal water causes you problems, and if you brew enough to make it worth getting a filter instead of just buying bottled water
cracking video, i've had a commercial ro system sat in the shed for years, never thought of using it for brewing :-) are the additions hard to calculate Sarah? cant wait to rig it up, cheers ;-)
Thanks, They can be as easy or as hard as you want to make them. Gordon Strong in his book Modern Homebrew Recipes tends to use a small amount of acid and half a teaspoon of just one or two salts in each recipe, so that is as easy as it gets or you can individually calculate the additions using a spreadsheet like Bru'n Water or an app
aren't you worried about exposing the water to the air absorbing the atmosphere and changing the PH since there are no buffering agents in the RO water?
No. You adjust the water when you go to brew with it so normally end up adding acid at that point anyway
Great video, Sarah.
Do you know roughly what is the efficiency of your filter setup? I believe pumped ro systems are much more efficient but I still don't know the figures.
I don't know is the honest answer as I've never measured it but will try to remember to measure it next time for you
Love the video! Where did you get this system?
I got this one from ebay. The same system is available there now www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152457375831?var=451774013766&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
good show old chap
Hello Sarah.
Is the polishing filter a di resin one?
Yes. Whilst it was already included in the system I bought, it isn't really necessary for brewing water, so I wouldn't worry about paying extra to get it if you have your eye on a system without it.
so how long did it take you to reach the 15 liters?
It produced 2 litres in 5 minutes 33 seconds in this video ua-cam.com/video/2r_T7Bgi3hQ/v-deo.html
@@DaftCatBrewing thanks
Well, after spending far too much time and cash on other brewery upgrades I finally got round to ordering my RO system. After a lot of research and because I need to produce 90L of liquor per brew, I went for a pumped 150gpd 4-stage unit. (www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152457375831?var=451774013766&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT) This will produce 21 litres per hour (though the pump can only be used continuously for two hours, so I'll be running it via a segmented timer to give it 15 minutes or so rest every few hours). I'm not sure where you sourced yours, Sarah (it looks very much like the one I went for), but I can thoroughly recommend lcwaterproductsltd. You'd be hard-pressed to find a pumped unit at this sort of price, and nothing was too much trouble. All my questions were answered quickly and fully, and they really couldn't have been more helpful. Thanks too to Sarah for posting this video and all her help and advice answering my earlier questions below. I'm now looking forward to getting my first RO brew on next week!
That is the same people I used for mine, and the 150gpd is the exact same unit :) Glad it helped and hope it all goes well when you get it set up