We just installed a reverse osmosis (RO) filter system at our house, because the tap water tastes gross. I tested the TDS and it was 3ppm! I thought “oh that must be great, pure water,” but my friend told me you actually want minerals in there to help extract.
So… Anyone else in this boat? I know there are RO systems that will remineralize after the filter, but ours doesn’t… And I don’t think I want to uninstall this beast. I know there are little drops you can add, but they seem expensive… Just wondering what y’all other home brewers do. Thanks!
Remineralize, buy bottled water, or possibly reduce your brew temp to try to counter the aggressive dissolving power it has. Could also buy a pitcher filter and fill it with tap, and use that for coffee.
RO is pretty bad though.
That’s interesting about water temp… I didn’t realize it was a matter of cleaner water extracting more. Do you mean RO is bad overall, or just for coffee?
Just for coffee.
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That looks like a good option. We basically have the same model but with 2 little tanks on top instead of 3. I could probably just add that filter at the end of the chain like you said. Thanks for the idea!
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So, I did end up going with this option. After some more research, I found that I don’t want my family drinking that super purified stuff (leaches minerals from your body, etc.). I didn’t get that exact ispring one–I got a kit from Apec (same brand as my RO setup) that includes an extra tube + the bracket to install it on the other cartridges (so I wouldn’t have to bust out the duct tape!). It arrives tomorrow… I’m excited! Thanks again.
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Sounds good, will keep that in mind! Should arrive today.
Yes, brewing with pure RO water will not produce great results. But luckily you can make your own re-mineralization drops with baking soda and Epsom salts, so that’s pretty cheap.
You can start by taking a look here: https://www.baristahustle.com/blog/diy-water-recipes-redux/
Beware, the rabbit hole is deep :)
I ended up ordering a calcium/alkaline cartridge to put at the end of the filter chain. But now that I know of this rabbit hole, I think I’ll be checking it out someday! Thanks :-)
Yes!
I based my recipe on WOC Budapest from Barista Hustle: https://www.baristahustle.com/blog/diy-water-recipes-the-world-in-two-bottles/
33,75g Sodium Bicarbonate, 62,85g Epsom salts, Dissolve in enough distilled water to make 1000ml of concentrate
Add 10ml of this concentrate to 5l of RO or distilled water.
Boom. Perfect water for brewing.
Dang, my inner coffee nerd is tingling at trying all the recipes. Thanks for this! And it looks super cheap.
Just curious, do you remineralize for drinking water too, or just making coffee?
It is super cheap 🤣
Only for coffee. Our tap water is hard af and destroys any machine it comes in contact with, but actually tastes OK most of the time.
There’s third wave, I’ve never used them so can’t say whether it’s any good
This looks super easy, and probably not that expensive when you divide it all out. It’d be fun to try the different profiles. Thanks for the link!
I want to try buying distilled and spring water to blend for a desirable TDS without the additional steps of making recipe water from scratch.
I use it for home brew beer, I get a pretty clean start with RO water and then re-mineralise depending on the style of beer. If you found an ideal mixture of the salts you want, you can measure this out for your volume of water. The salts are items like calcium carbonate, bicarb soda etc mostly common household items.
Excellent, thank you! I didn’t think it’d be similar for beer, but makes sense.
Yeah, here’s a bit of a guide from the beer side and a little extract.
The more chloride, the more malt flavors shine. Enhances fullness and malt sweetness (thick mouthfeel). The more sulfate, the more hops bitterness shines. Produces a drier or crispier beer (thin mouthfeel). Link
