dealing with hard water

[SparWeb]

Sorry to hear that.
According to the health guidelines in Canada, 500 is the safety limit.
At times I'm aware of some sulfur in my water, as a faint smell the first time the tap is turned on in the morning.  Rarely.
I'm sure the chlorination thing would have no effect on the sulfur level.
Is there a filter that will make it better?

[Mary B]

I RO filter all drinking water and add back minerals to make it taste good. Being a beer brewer I can tailor it to match water anywhere in the world LOL Plain RO water will turn acidic fairly fast via O2 absorption. I filter the day before brewing for that reason.

[Bruce S]

Mary B;
Ditto, I steam distill any water going into topping off batteries or into the "spirits".
With our city water I don't have to worry too much about hard water or contaminates, BUT I don't take chances with battery water or Spirit water.
The yeast will tell me if I forget  .

Cheers
Bruce S

[jlsoaz]

I RO filter all drinking water and add back minerals to make it taste good. Being a beer brewer I can tailor it to match water anywhere in the world LOL Plain RO water will turn acidic fairly fast via O2 absorption. I filter the day before brewing for that reason.

Hi -

How do you add back?  I've been using a couple of different pitchers which claim to mineralize a bit, toward an alkaline ph, but I'm wary of whether this is really the smart way to do things.  Do you have any advice on this?

[Mary B]

Brew supply stores sell the minerals, typically use calcium carbonate, calcium chloride, gypsum. I have a spreadsheet that lets me calculate how much of each and it takes tiny amounts... 18 gallons of brewing water might get 8 grams total of a mix of the above

[jlsoaz]

Brew supply stores sell the minerals, typically use calcium carbonate, calcium chloride, gypsum. I have a spreadsheet that lets me calculate how much of each and it takes tiny amounts... 18 gallons of brewing water might get 8 grams total of a mix of the above

Ok, thanks, I'll look into it.  Come to think of it, the whole-house nanomembrane device I am buying will remove enough minerals such that it will come I think with re-mineralization built-in, but I"ll wait and see how that shapes up.

[Mary B]

Sulfate is bad in brewing water for almost all beer styles, Guinness is the only one that uses a high sulfate water source.  Now I like a stout now and then(the Guinness nitro cans are pretty tasty) but for general drinking I like a nice ale, my house ale(my own recipe) is 5.5% alcohol, slightly sweet, hint of bitterness, malty, biscuit undertone... just a good general purpose beer.

Sulfate makes lemonade taste really nasty, I mean beyond nasty... making pasta it gives it a funky smell... just not something I want to ingest!

[Bruce S]

Mary B

I use magnesium sulfate in my plant feeder water along with a few other items. I don't let the steam processed water sit without something in it.
I only process just enough water to make a batch of "fuel", anything left goes into the feeder water tank. I PH test that water every so often, just to keep an eye on it or if I'm trying out a hard to grow pepper plant.

Biscuit undertone  ?

Cheers
Bruce S

[bigrockcandymountain]

Mary, do you happen to share your recipes for homebrewing? I am just starting out.  Hoping to do a 10 gal batch this winter.  I have some hop bines that are growing like crazy so I would like to use those up.  I really like the english brown ales and bitters. 

Sorry for the thread hijack.  Maybe if i get a batch made we can have a proper toast sparweb. 

Do you have a particular model of membrane filter picked out jlsoaz? It will be interesting to see how it works.

[SparWeb]

BRCM,
Just let me know when the batch is ready for taste test.

Just let me know.

[bigrockcandymountain]

Will do, but just remember, this is a first attempt so drink at you own risk. 

[Mary B]

Mary, do you happen to share your recipes for homebrewing? I am just starting out.  Hoping to do a 10 gal batch this winter.  I have some hop bines that are growing like crazy so I would like to use those up.  I really like the english brown ales and bitters. 

Sorry for the thread hijack.  Maybe if i get a batch made we can have a proper toast sparweb. 

Do you have a particular model of membrane filter picked out jlsoaz? It will be interesting to see how it works.

Yes I do, this is my own recipe, adjust as you see fit. 11 gallon batch(my kegs hold 5 1/2 gallons so why not!). This is all grain so either ordr your grains crushed or make sure you have a barley crusher

16 pounds Gold Promise (This is a fairly sweet malted barley)
3 pounds Victory (This has the biscuit notes)
0.75 pounds UK extra dark crystal (adds coffee, caramelized fruit flavor)

For my system I need 16 gallons of water split 7.5 gallons to the mash and 8.5 to the sparge. If doing brew in a basket use whatever your losses need to end with 13 gallons for the boil)

Mash in with 162 degree water, yu want the mash to be around 150-154 after done stirring everything in. Mash for 60 minutes. Sparge with 170 degree water until you have enough in your boil kettle(remember need to end with 11 gallons), in my case that is 13 gallons.

Bring to a boil, add 2 ounces of Perle hops(this is the bittering charge), boil 55 minutes then add 2 ounces Hallertau Hersbrucker and boil 5 more minutes. Cool to fermenting temps of 64 degrees and add 2 packets of Nottingham Ale yeast. Ferment 7-10 days trying to maintain temps around 64 degrees.

This is a deep copper color, cloudy(Notty Ale yeast doesn't like to settle)



my brewing rig for now, working on an electric 20 gallon spike brew in a basket system to simplify things... and get away form breathing burned propane fumes...

[bigrockcandymountain]

Awesome, I saved it as a screenshot so I can find it when the time comes.  Thanks

[jlsoaz]

no worries on the thread hijack, but back to the issue at hand:

I am to receive my system on a pallet in a week or two and also will be receiving an ultraviolet system of some sort.  Ok.  A lot of this does bring to mind the question of whether I can or should plan for rainwater harvesting in future, or just leave it alone and stay with the town-provided water.  I haven't done any research yet on this, but just noting it here as a long-term question mark for me.

[bigrockcandymountain]

We harvest rainwater for garden watering just with some free ibc totes under the downspouts.  Our well water isn't great for plants. 

Are you thinking for drinking? Rainwater is really beautiful, soft water. 

You would want to filter it a bit, just to get the roof dust and bugs out I would think.  Maybe run it through a uv for drinking. 

I would say it is worth harvesting.  We are having the worst drought in years, and it still provides some water.  1" of rain off of our 2000sq ft roof makes about 1000gal.

I'm looking forward to your feedback on the filter system. 

[jlsoaz]

We harvest rainwater for garden watering just with some free ibc totes under the downspouts.  Our well water isn't great for plants. 

Are you thinking for drinking? Rainwater is really beautiful, soft water. 

You would want to filter it a bit, just to get the roof dust and bugs out I would think.  Maybe run it through a uv for drinking. 

I would say it is worth harvesting.  We are having the worst drought in years, and it still provides some water.  1" of rain off of our 2000sq ft roof makes about 1000gal.

I'm looking forward to your feedback on the filter system.

Good to know about the rainwater.  The whole-house nano-membrane system required that I invest in a tank, and a uv system, and I have to consider where to put it, and as I get the nano-membrane system up and running, I think all of this will lead to some thinking about future processing of water from one of my roof areas.

On the negative side, since I am not handy, and this is a major project, and I seem to have a special gift for getting capable people to blow me off for days, weeks, months, years and decades at a time, it will probably be 2023 before I get it installed if ever, and then 2027 before I turn to the rainwater question.  OK, 2023 is exaggeration, but I'm in teeth-gritting-manage-my-own-expectations-mode for trying to overcome the inertia around here on getting projects like this done, so we'll see how it goes.

[SparWeb]

...a special gift for getting capable people to blow me off...

No it's not you - it's them.
A co-worker of mine has been waiting for a landscape contractor to finish a simple retaining wall in his backyard for over a year now.  They came last spring, dug it up, left, and didn't come back.

[bigrockcandymountain]

We hired one contractor for our house build (to pour concrete foundation walls).

He set us back 2 months right at the start of our build.

[jlsoaz]

Ok, I have bought and paid for this system, about $6k+ for equipment and about $4.5k for installation including some miscellaneous equipment that came up, wiring, and electrical contractor, and the main plumbing work.
https://www.raindanceh2ostore.com/store/p99/Deluxe_RainDance-1500P_Whole_House_Nanofiltration_Package.html

I've talked with the plumber who took the lead on this, who was very enthusiastic about the project and he may take the lead on writing up the project, with some pics etc.  We weren't quite sure what the answer was from the company as to how many other residences have opted for this solution.  My plumber has a lot of customers with significant hard water issues and salt softeners, but I'm the only one who has opted for this particular solution.

Anyway, it's only been up and running for a few hours, but yes, ppm is down from about 350 ppm to about 16 (including some sort of minor re-mineralization that it puts back in?  I think?).  and hardness seems to be dramatically reduced.

[MattM]

Your copper lines will love you for it.