+3 to the TDS meter. I “shopped around” with it at 3-4 stores and settled on one that is consistency < 10.
I find the units maintained by Glacier are often very good at 5-15ppm. I have a random icehouse nearby with an attached RO machine that does vary, but it’s cheaper and pours heavy. I try the random machine first and if it is high I go at a glacier machine.
For reference, the TDS of my tap water is 250+
My regular purchase is from a Glacier machine, 39 cents/gallon. It’s also the closest one to my house.
4 local groceries here (all same Big K brand) all carry RO machines from Glacier. I buy at the one that has almost always been serviced within 2 weeks of my visit. That machine is almost always sub 5 tds with my meter(thanks for that tip Jon) while the others have been as high as 55-60 and generally not serviced recently.
One time I had to use a machine inside a Kroger that was terrible, but my only option. Buddy lived 20 minutes away from anything. The machine way pouring 40ppm and wasn’t the typical coin-op. It poured one gallon at a time, had to cycle between pours, and I payed at the checkout. Took a long time to get my 18 gallons for our 10 gallon IPA.
I wish the Glacier machine near me was as reliable. It had a servicing sticker of a week prior and was the machine that read 60ish ppm TDS. Pissed me off. Pretty sure that ‘servicing’ was pencil whipped.
One place has been between 3 and 7 ppm TDS, $0.44/gallon, it gets used for lagers. Surface water source.
Another place runs 42-47 ppm TDS, 0.27/gallon, used for ales where I will add a lot of salts. Ground water source.
My kroger is $0.39/gallon. The machine has double spouts so I can put 2 big blue 5 gallon jugs on it at once, but it does only dispense 1G at a time. I have to hit each dispense 5 times to get 5G. I also think it pours a little lite, so I top it off
Mine is a free-pour with two spouts, but only one bottle fits at a time. It’s right next to the chips, and I always seem to wind up with a couple of bags in my cart during the second bottle fill.
Unfortunately, that high dose of carbonic acid is not accounted for in Bru’n Water. The carbonic acid would likely affect the pH result and leave you with a lower than estimated mash pH.
Interesting. I’ve had some issues that I’ve accounted for or adjusted in my calcs through experience. For the longest time I thought it was malts I was using, but I suspect it’s more of the carbonic acid issue that’s led to lower than bru’nwater projected PH. Good stuff once again on this forum.
Edit: I should add that when I use distilled water, I’m pretty much dead on to bru’nwater projected PH. With my RO- I’m usually about .1-.2 lower than projected, and have to account for that.
Martin, wouldn’t it be quickly buffered out once the grain is added? I thought carbonic was a pretty weak acid, and if its reading 5 in RO it seems like theres really not that much there.
Could be why I’ve been hitting lower than predicted pH’s lately - I’ve been using mostly RO water from Whole Foods to cut my tap water. Previously I cut with distilled and was dead on. Trouble is bottled distilled is more than double the price.
I’m wondering the same thing.
confirmed again today that when using distilled, my acutal PH is almost dead on to bru’nwater target PH. today bru’nwater projected 5.43, actual 5.41.
last brew with my RO water was bru’nwater projected 5.6 and actual 5.45 (right where I wanted it). perhaps as Martin said, carboninc acid in play and not accounted for in his software.
That carbonic acid thing is a very real possibility for RO water. Its already taken down one brewery that I know of. It will drive pH down.
I guess I need to figure out a way to assess and account for high carbonic acid content (from high dissolved CO2 content) in RO water. It will likely be assessed via a pH reading from the RO water and I’ll need to figure out how to account for it from there.
Thanks for keeping a tab on that performance.
no problem-thanks for giving me a possible answer.
Ken, have you noticed your pH coming in consistently .15 under predicted in your RO beers ? Across light/med/dark colored beers? Just curious. I used to spot check with colorpHast strips, not so much now. I always seemed to get readings very close to predicted and stopped checking as often. I check a new recipe most times, but not a recipe that I’ve brewed before if it’s unchanged.
Yes consistently. Not sure f you remember, but for the longest time I thought it was some malt I was using…couldn’t figure it out. May have much to do with my source water before it becomes RO water.
I just learned to account for the difference and have managed just fine now.
Yeah, I remember. I’d be curious how much variability there is area to area, with your RO water remaining so consistent.