BeerBorg

I recently installed a reverse osmosis filter in my new brewroom and thought I'd share with you how I went about it and what available features to look for if you decide to make your own pure water at home. The unit I choose produces about 90 gallons of RO water a day and we've been using it for everything from making coffee to drinking water since I hooked it up. Obviously I really bought it for brewing my beer with but there are many other applications where RO water can be used instead of water from the local water source.
The SpectraPure CSP RO 90-AF filter cost me close to $300.00 to have it shipped to my house, I realize it's a bit pricey but over the long run should more than pay for itself in convenience. No more lugging heavy bottles of water home from the store or scrambling to find a store that has enough distilled water for brewday. (I've been building my own brewing water profiles using distilled water for about six months now).

Reverse Osmosis Common Terminology And Features Of The SpectraPure Filter

Sediment Filter reduces sand, silt, sediment and rust that affect the taste and appearance of the water.

Carbon Block filters reduce chlorine, taste and odor problems, particulate matter, and a wide range of contaminants of health concern -- cysts (cryptosporidium and giardia), VOCs (pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals), certain endocrine disrupteors, Trihalomethanes (cancer-causing disinfection by-products), heavy metals (lead, mercury), turbidity, MTBE, Chloramines and asbestos

Thin Film Composite (TFC) membrane is made of a a synthetic material, and requires chlorine to be removed before the water enters the membrane. Chlorine will cause irreversible damage to a thin film membrane element and for this reason, carbon filters are used as pre-treatment in all residential reverse osmosis systems using TFC membranes. A Thin film membrane has a higher rejection rate (95-98%) and longer life than the CTA membrane.

Automatic Flush Control system (AFC) is used to periodically rinse the accumulated impurities and concentrated waste water from the surface of the RO membrane to help increase the life of the membrane. The AFC will flush the membrane for a short period at start-up, every hour during operation, and at shut-down.

Auto Shut Off valve stops the flow of water from the local water supply line when the output of RO water is stopped, this saves a lot of water.

Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) meter reads and displays the concentration of dissolved solids in a solution. Since dissolved ionized solids such as salts and minerals increase the conductivity of a solution, a TDS meter measures the conductivity of the solution and estimates the TDS from that. The digital TDS meter readout provides a way of telling how well the RO membrane is working, too high a reading indicates there are higher levels of dissolved solids in the RO water being produced.

Tri-color Pressure Gauge lets you know when the sediment and carbon block filters need to be changed. By reading the pressure differential between the local source supply line and the output of the filter media this gauge indicates when the filter cartridges need replacing.

Float Valve monitors the water level in an RO reservoir to automatically shut off the RO water feed to prevent overfilling. It works in the same way your auto sparge arm works in a mash lauter tun. Once the RO water feed has been shutoff the automatic flush control will run for about 30 seconds before shutting off the local water supply.

The filter uses about two gallons of water to produce a gallon of pure RO water, a gallon of brine water goes down the drain and a gallon of RO water goes into your container for drinking. Overall after the initial sticker shock to buy this unit it is relatively inexpensive to use and maintenance is minimal thanks to the digital TDS meter that tells you how well the RO membrane is performing and the color coded filter pressure gauge that let's you know when the sediment and carbon block filter cartridges need replacing. Anyhow I could have labeled this post 'Fun With Water', because soon I'll be using the RO water to create my very own blend of mineral water and brewing water profiles.

How often do you think you'll have to change the filters and what do you think it will cost you per year?
This is above my pay grade but in my next life, I'll likely ask for one.

Sweet Vince.

At the end of the day, if it helps make better beer, it's worth it. This is a hobby after all.

Nice!

One thing I need to point out since you mentioned you were using this for drinking water is that you have to make sure to drink "other" water as well. We had a RO system put in at the farm since it is on well water and to be "better safe than sorry" for my sister's young (at the time) kids as we were not sure 100% of the effects of the fertilization and spraying. The water company that put it in emphasized to be careful as it removes not only the bad but the good. He went on to say that drinking that water exclusively could lead to leaching the body's nutrients as well. When brewing beer, you are adjusting the water properties to a specific region to try and mimic their styles so you are adding back in the good stuff, but not many people do that to the actual drinking water.

Now, this has been debated to death with some saying it is bull but I just wanted to point out what we were told by the water experts.

Beer-lord wrote:How often do you think you'll have to change the filters and what do you think it will cost you per year?
This is above my pay grade but in my next life, I'll likely ask for one.

My brother-in-law installed the 180 gallon per day filter nearly two years ago I'll have to call him to find out, but the unit I have with the automatic flush feature claims two years between RO membrane replacements. Time will tell for sure based on water volume processed per year though. The TDS meter is reading .005 now when it gets up around .030 I think the membrane will need replacing. As for the sediment and carbon block filters once the pressure gauge is in the red they'll need to be replaced too, possibly every 4-6 months based on usage and local water quality.

Other than that yearly sanitization of the filter with the cartridges and membrane removed is recommended, using a mixture of bleach, soap and water. The manual comes with a lot of formulas for testing the TDS levels of your source water against those of the RO water produced.

DaYooper wrote:Nice!

One thing I need to point out since you mentioned you were using this for drinking water is that you have to make sure to drink "other" water as well. We had a RO system put in at the farm since it is on well water and to be "better safe than sorry" for my sister's young (at the time) kids as we were not sure 100% of the effects of the fertilization and spraying. The water company that put it in emphasized to be careful as it removes not only the bad but the good. He went on to say that drinking that water exclusively could lead to leaching the body's nutrients as well. When brewing beer, you are adjusting the water properties to a specific region to try and mimic their styles so you are adding back in the good stuff, but not many people do that to the actual drinking water.

Now, this has been debated to death with some saying it is bull but I just wanted to point out what we were told by the water experts.

I too have read the pros and cons of drinking nothing but RO water and the concern of the water not having any minerals and salts. I'm a bit skeptical of either side of the argument though for a couple of reasons. The reverse osmosis technology was created by the US Navy to provide drinking water on ships but I'm not sure if that RO water had some salts and minerals added back into it before use. A lot is said about there being plenty of salts and minerals in the food we eat that we shouldn't have to worry about it. In the next few weeks I'll be trying my hand at producing my own mineral water, based on the water properties of Pellegrino mineral water.

ScrewyBrewer wrote: The filter uses about two gallons of water to produce a gallon of pure RO water, a gallon of brine water goes down the drain and a gallon of RO water goes into your container for drinking.

I think this would be a deal-breaker in California these days. Given our drought, I can't see anybody allowing a 1-for-1 trade off.

ScrewyBrewer wrote:I too have read the pros and cons of drinking nothing but RO water and the concern of the water not having any minerals and salts. I'm a bit skeptical of either side of the argument though for a couple of reasons. The reverse osmosis technology was created by the US Navy to provide drinking water on ships but I'm not sure if that RO water had some salts and minerals added back into it before use. A lot is said about there being plenty of salts and minerals in the food we eat that we shouldn't have to worry about it. In the next few weeks I'll be trying my hand at producing my own mineral water, based on the water properties of Pellegrino mineral water.

Very interesting!