I wouldn’t try adding a filter to the end of that pull-out spray. The clunkiness of doing so aside, if the faucet is relatively new, the aerator might not even be adaptable to a filter. You could always add a filter under the sink, but that would require you to add a dedicated filter faucet and another hole in the sink/countertop. Otherwise you would be using nice, clean filtered water to wash your dishes.
Invest in a water test and know your water source. Sending a sample to Wards Lab is well worth it. You may be able to use straight tap, or be able to blend cutting your cost. I have pretty hard water and sometimes can get away with blending my water with RO. I spent one day going to multiple Wallymart stores, local groceries, and every water station I could find. Only one had TDS levels worth buying. Nearly all had readings 250-350.
That one was 35min from the house. I ended up buying from a local store. I buy 12-5 gallon jugs at a time for $.70/gallon. That was the best deal I could work. Every bottle I’ve purchased reads below 10 TDS.
+1 for the Ward’s Lab water report… You can also contact your local municpal water supplier…they have the data on the water available to the public for the asking.
If you are a public water supply, you should be able to carbon filter it, or campden out the chlorine and at worst, cut it with some purchased RO. Like what was said above, get a report. I’m on a rural water well in my front yard, so I went with a dedicated RO system. I just checked my TDS meter and it read 3. That is pretty minimal, so my treatment is to add back a little CaCl and CaSO4, with a touch of acid malt or phosphoric to get the pH right. That is for pale beers (mostly lagers).
I get RO from the dispenser at my local Walmart. 39 cents/gallon and usually under 20ppm TDS. You need to read the labeling on the dispensing machines. Some use the RO process and then mineralize.
You should consider contacting the water provider to find out what ions are in your water. If they can’t tell you, sending a sample off for testing is the next best way.
Filtering is not the only way to prepare water for brewing. The main thing to take care of when your water is from a municipal supply is to remove the chlorine compounds that are likely present in the supply. 1 Campden tablet per 20 gallons of water is generally sufficient to take out the compounds.
After that simple step is completed, the other thing you might consider is neutralizing excess alkalinity in your water. But you need that water testing result in order to know how much acid or other treatment might be needed.
Our municipal water is treated with free chlorine so a charcoal canister filter (mounted outdoors near where I brew) strips it out easily. I also use a portable R.O. system to make water which I use to dilute my filtered tap water for brewing, diluted more or less depending on the beer I’m making. I was doing the supermarket RO water routine for a while, but frankly I ain’t getting any younger and this is a heavy enough hobby without having to tote buckets or carboys full of water in and out of the car and up and down stairs. So over-paying for the portable HbrewO RO system was worth it to me purely for the convenience and portability of the system. Their replacement cartridges are relatively small, and proprietary, and not inexpensive. But it works great for me, my beer, and my fish.
When I make a batch of R.O. water it’s usually 20-30 gallons at a time whether I’m planning a brew or not. We also use it for replenishing our aquariums in between water changes (the fish seem to like that routine), and about a 50/50 dilution for our coffee maker reservoir to help with mineral deposits. Lowe’s or Home Depot sell a handy $12 hand pump (Primo brand) which fits any plastic carboy. We keep a 3 gallon Better Bottle tucked in a corner of our pantry with that pump on it for coffee maker refills.
And yeah, get your water tested, and get Martin’s Bru’n Water spreadsheet. Even if all you do is dilute your tap water with RO or distilled water like I do, the spreadsheet will tell you your results with any dilution ratio you choose, once you create a profile for your own tap water.
I had a similar problem. Now I use one of these filters
I attach it to an old brew-pot, which has a weld-less port. As long as the water level in the pot is above the filter, gravity takes care of the rest. So I pour water into the pot, it flows through the filter, and into the mash tun. I use some quick disconnects, too, which makes it easy to disassemble and store until the next time.
Local water is really poor for brewing. After lugging jugs of RO water for years, I bought an RO System.
A TDS meter is a good thing to have to see if your water is changing, regardless of source. The Wards lab report is good to have for tap water, or to check your RO quality.
I get my water in a nearby town that has damn near perfect brewing water. It sometimes (during summer) has a bit of algae and chlorine odor, so I run it through a carbon filter in what’s called an “RV” unit (about $30.00 at Lowes/Ho Dep). The cartridge removes all hints of odor/flavor.
I don’t use so-called RO or other bottled water because you don’t get a lot analysis, and have no way of knowing what’s in it.
A TDS meter is dirt cheap. As long as it shows, say, 10 ppm or under, what’s in it is probably insignificant. A good precaution for those who do buy their water.
+1 Purchased a TDS meter and just carry it along when I get my water for peace of mind. If I had the time to brew more than 10-12 10 gallon batches per year, I would install an RO system to skip the lugging. That gets old during peak brewing season (mainly Fall).
I purchased a 4 stage portable RO system from Amazon for ~$70. It was advertised as producing 0 ppm. Since I don’t believe most advertising, I also bought a TDS meter, and much to my surprise, it does actually produce 0 ppm water. Some supermarket gallons get pretty close to that, but not all. As far as the “fill your own jug” machines, I haven’t found any good ones.
Water straight from my well. Got a Ward Lab Brewers test and used that info to create a base water profile in Beersmith 3. Then I add whatever water agents are needed to match the given profile I select for the beer I am making.
How so? True, you don’t know the breakdown, but if there’s very little of anything, then there’s not enough of any given ion to make it worth counting as you plan water treatment. If it’s 5-10 ppm TDS, it might as well be treated like DI as far as I’m concerned. Anything present won’t push my profile out of tolerance. Moreover, if you’re buying alleged RO water and it tests higher, you can assume that the store does not adequately maintain the machine, its output will be highly variable and not to be trusted, and you should just find another source. Am I missing something of practical import, Charlie?