Starting with RO Water and adjusting from there

Brewing Processes
21

My friend has this system and says that his filters last almost a year (I think my demand will be greater, but figured that I would give it a try):

http://www.waterfiltersonline.com/detail.asp?product_id=Hydro_4vtfc75g

I don’t have this in hand yet, but am looking forward to installing it, Amanda.  My wife is skeptical, because she thinks this is just another beer-related purchase…but, hey, I have water science guys suggesting RO, so it gave me enough cred to win her over on a trial basis.  She says if it isn’t working after 3 months, she reserves the right to return to delivered bottled water (at $7.50 per delivered 5 gallons).  I figure it will pay for itself inside of a year.  We will see…I am betting it works out fine.

22

Also, I upgraded to the 20 gallon accumulator tank.

I am so jealous of those northwestern US brewers with the good water out of the tap!

23

Very much glad to be a Northwestern US Brewer. The Water is one of the many great things about living out here.  8)

24

Agreed! Except I’m in flood stage runoff mode right now, so next week’s brews will be distilled with a bit more Ca and Lactic than normal for me.

25

Hmmm… would you mind taking a picture of the install when you’re done? I’m curious to see if this would work in my brewery.

Martin, what type of system do you have? And where are you keeping such a large tank? Are there any upgrades you would need to a ‘normal’ system to push RO water into a larger tank?

26

My system is down in my mechanical room, so there is space. Adding extra storage to your system is very easy. If you are running a pressurized system and you already have the typical small pressure tank that many home systems come with, all you have to do is Tee in another pressure tank(s) into that line that the existing pressure tank is on. It is that simple. If you get a great deal on multiple small tanks, its OK to gang them together by Teeing them onto the line.

27

Isn’t there quite a bit of waste water with RO systems?  What do you do with it?  Is the waste filtered some?  I would love to get an RO system, but don’t know where to get it.

28

Yes, the waste water is significant, but I am on a well system, so I can afford to use a fair amount of water, because it only costs me the electricity to pump it.

I got the larger accumulator tank to accommodate storage as Martin indicates.  Since I don’t have it yet and haven’t got an actual result as yet, I have to say YMMV to the max.  I would possibly feel very different if I was paying a lot for my water.

I will keep you posted, Amanda, but I doubt that I will have this installed and running until later in March.

29

Thank you. Waste water is one of my concerns. Where does it all go? What’s the RO to waste on some of these home systems? I have a feeling it’s like 25% efficient.

30

You are right about that - I have heard that it takes 4 or 5 gallons to make one RO gallon with these systems.

31

I did buy a place recently that has a well that hasn’t been used in 20 years.  I’m going to look into a system with some type of sizable storage tank for the RO.  Is it possible to send the waste back through the membrane?  There has to be a way to use the waste water I’m sure.

32

Hopefully Martin or Carl (where the heck is carl anyway?) will respond with better info but I believe that alot of the systems have like a 90% rejection rate. so it takes 10 gallons to make 1 gallon. now, that water doesn’t just disapear and I imagine it can go lots of places. it’s only 10% more hard than it was when it came in so you can use it for lot’s of things I would think, depending on how hard it is to start. watering plants if nothing else.

33

There are methods of adding the waste back to the cold water supply of the house. I have also seen people plumb the waste into a cistern or rain barrel system. Pretty sure both options would require pump.