# Store Bought Water



## jongylary (15/12/13)

Hey guys,
My water at home is purely good for washing or showering and not good for drinking. so i buy water from wookies - whatever is cheapest.
Is there any issues using store bought water (usually 10-15lt containers i use)

is there a better store bought water brand than another or cheapest is fine?

Regards

Jongylary


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## yum beer (15/12/13)

Store bought water is gonna get price, but if its all you got.
Avoid the home brand offerings.

Sample the various offerings from smaller bottles before commiting to a bigger quantity. Some brands are 'saltier' than others.

Pureau water in the boxes is very 'clean'..filtered and such, probably best available but also pricey.


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## QldKev (15/12/13)

Have a look at the label, it will tell you the breakdown of what is in it. Some of the bottled waters are very high in carbonates. Some are RO water and will have 0. You may find a mix is the best way. Have you looked at filtering your mains water? A filter for the end of the hose can be made pretty cheaply. Here's a thread where I setup one


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## jongylary (15/12/13)

Thanks for your reply yum beer

i was also looking at nicking some water form a mates rain water tank and fill up the older containers then run it into a brita water filter cartridge - but i'm thinking this will be like crazy long for a process - can i get away with doing a boil up keep boiling for like 15 mins then pour into a fermenter to cool then start making up a wort? or would i run into issues such as getting the correct water level calculated... with the weight of the wort in water displacement?? or am i over thinking this-
just being that brew is 90% water better to have the best ingredient possible to maxamise quality in the final product


Drink well, drink fast and drink to good times
Regards
Jongylary.


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## NewtownClown (15/12/13)

yum beer said:


> Avoid the home brand offerings.


Why? Do you have a reason or just a hatred for supermarket brands?


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## Mardoo (15/12/13)

When I was brewing extract-wise I started cubing boiled water in the same manner as the no-chill brewers do their wort. You could do this with your friend's tank water if you wished. There are a few threads about brewing with rainwater. Maybe have a look at those.


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## Ducatiboy stu (15/12/13)

Tank water is great. It gives a great starting point if you want to play water chemistry latter. I used to brew with it for years, and I didnt bother filtering it.

And there is nothing wrong with "home brand " water at all.


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## Tex083 (15/12/13)

Not sure where in QLD you are but find a Marine aquarium shop, they WILL sell RO water for around $3-5 per 25L RO water is used a lot in the marine aquarium hobby as phosphates in tap water cause alge blooms.
I use Williamstown Aquarium in VIC, I now have a RODI system so I make my own.

If AG brewing try adding some calcium chloride to the water to bring it back to 50ppm (3-4g/25L)


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## Dunkelbrau (15/12/13)

Nope, nothing wrong with home brand water, it's the same manufacturer as mount franklin at Coles if they still use the same supplier. (Coca cola).

I wouldn't pay 2000 times the price of tap water for very long, gryphon brewing has a tap mountable RO for like 250 bucks. Get that and build your water, it will work out cheaper and better in the long run! And you can drink it too.


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## QldKev (15/12/13)

I looked at the RO setups (not knocking any brand), but it seemed expensive when you need to replace a few cartridges etc all the time. That's why I went my budget filter setup, as above. It costs <$10 every 6months or so to throw it away and start with a fresh one.


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## Ducatiboy stu (15/12/13)

But....some claim that RO water is not the most suitable water for brewing as it is to pure and lacks some of the minerals and salts that sre benificial to yeast. 

And Coke-cola-amitall pretty much own the bottled/spring industry.


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## Northside Novice (15/12/13)

If you are buying your water from wookies I would be carful , even though they are cute , sometimes they will piss in their own water , 
What wookies are you buying from ?


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## Glot (15/12/13)

"mineral water" often contains a lot of minerals and is very hard. Distilled/ demineralised water is very bad for your health due to osmosis within the body cells. It can also damage seals on things.


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## Glot (15/12/13)

It all depends on the actual issue with your tap water as to how best treat it. If it is dirt, then a fine washable particle filter. If it is chlorine, then either just boil it off or use a carbon filter. If it is very hard then you may find a cheap water softener is the go. You need to get your water analysed and advice from experts as to the best options. OR, just keep buying bottles of water. Get the 20 litre water cooler ones if they are available to you. Cheaper.


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## Ducatiboy stu (15/12/13)

Glot said:


> "mineral water" often contains a lot of minerals and is very hard. Distilled/ demineralised water is very bad for your health due to osmosis within the body cells. It can also damage seals on things.


Traditional Burton-on-Trent water as hard and is used to make the best english bitters. It is a lot harder yhan your run of the mill mineral waters. 

Pilsner water is the opposite in being very soft, like rain water.

Personally I would just use the tap water.




Edit: not trent-on-burton


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## slcmorro (15/12/13)

jongylary said:


> i buy water from wookies - whatever is cheapest.


I find Ewoks prices to be heaps better. Ever since the Clone Wars, the Wookies have been jacking up prices to try and cover their losses they suffered by backing the Rebel Alliance...


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## Dunkelbrau (15/12/13)

Ducatiboy stu said:


> But....some claim that RO water is not the most suitable water for brewing as it is to pure and lacks some of the minerals and salts that sre benificial to yeast.
> And Coke-cola-amitall pretty much own the bottled/spring industry.


If you're building your water profile from RO, you still have those minerals for yeast as you're building the ion profile.

As for price, If the water is "undrinkable" then a good multi stage filter will get rid of off flavours, and be shit loads cheaper than bottled water. 

I have a feeling it's just the taste of chlorinated water the OP isn't into.. My mother won't drink sydney water, only bottled because of the chlorine taste.


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## Ducatiboy stu (15/12/13)

I have trouble drinking town water. Lucky I have a tank out the back.

The prob with the "chlorine" is if they use chlorine or chloramine to treat the water Chlorine will easly evaporate from water reasonably quickly, chloramine take more work. Vitamin C tablets from the chemist can be used to remove cloramine.


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## superstock (15/12/13)

Ring Logan Council and find out where your water comes from. I'm at Greenbank and don't have a problem with the water.


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## real_beer (15/12/13)

QldKev said:


> I looked at the RO setups (not knocking any brand), but it seemed expensive when you need to replace a few cartridges etc all the time. That's why I went my budget filter setup, as above. It costs <$10 every 6months or so to throw it away and start with a fresh one.


I had a chat to Nev a while ago about his RO system & I'm pretty sure he said the filters are good for doing about 5,000 litres of water. This is his unit http://gryphonbrewing.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=74&products_id=463 I wanted one straight away of course but next year will have to do. What I like about Nev is he's a no bullshit up front type of character that stands by his word & products so I'd be confident his system is worth the investment.

I must state now under open disclosure that I'm hoping Nev is going to give me one of each of his products for this glowing endorsement :lol: FFChance. No really, 5,000 litres is a lot of water & as Perth water comes from all over the place, underground, dams, the ocean, its a bit of kit that while not necessary is probably going to be well worth it.


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## Dunkelbrau (15/12/13)

I'm also planning on purchasing one, but not until I get a whole pile of other crap sorted out and can brew a lot better beers than I am, no point complicating it when my water is pretty good when you use the normal filters.. But once we build our house, it's going in the brew cave!


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## Ducatiboy stu (15/12/13)

When you build your house, Get the biggest rain water tank you can. 




Miss my 70,000 litres of rainwater storage


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## yum beer (15/12/13)

My comment on 'home brand' water directly relates to 'Home Brand' Spring Water, it is ******* disgusting, I don't know if its the water, the way its treated or just a shitty cheap bottle but when I have tried it, it was almost undrinkable and certainly not a taste I would be volunteraly putting in my beer.
There is another they sell at Woolies, I think its called Mangrove Mountain, could be wrong, its cheap in big 15l bottles IIRC and it also tastes prettty rank.
Hence, my suggestion to sample different brands.


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## Dunkelbrau (15/12/13)

yum beer said:


> My comment on 'home brand' water directly relates to 'Home Brand' Spring Water, it is ******* disgusting, I don't know if its the water, the way its treated or just a shitty cheap bottle but when I have tried it, it was almost undrinkable and certainly not a taste I would be volunteraly putting in my beer.
> There is another they sell at Woolies, I think its called Mangrove Mountain, could be wrong, its cheap in big 15l bottles IIRC and it also tastes prettty rank.
> Hence, my suggestion to sample different brands.





yum beer said:


> My comment on 'home brand' water directly relates to 'Home Brand' Spring Water, it is ******* disgusting, I don't know if its the water, the way its treated or just a shitty cheap bottle but when I have tried it, it was almost undrinkable and certainly not a taste I would be volunteraly putting in my beer.
> There is another they sell at Woolies, I think its called Mangrove Mountain, could be wrong, its cheap in big 15l bottles IIRC and it also tastes prettty rank.
> Hence, my suggestion to sample different brands.


Its pretty interesting, because all of the bottled water brands claim to be pure water.

It was probably bottled in some shitty plastic and left in the sun or something.. i saw some pallets of beer at the local Dans the other day sitting outside in the sun, went for a feed at the pub nearby, a couple of hours later the same pallets were still in the sun.

I remember once when i was in hospital a few years ago, i was given an Aroona (not sure if thats spelled correct or even the right brand) bottle of water, and i couldnt bring myself to drink it. Probably all run out of the same factory.


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## jongylary (23/3/14)

i found the solution to the water issue. i packed our shit up and moved house into town, now i have clean and clear water. no trying to calculate water costs into my brew expenses. on ward and upwards


thanks for all the replies, sadly to say no more buyin water off wookies lol.

Jongylary


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## yum beer (23/3/14)

Could be time to sell my Wookies shares, may be a down turn coming.

Good to see you took the easiest approach to fixing the water problem.


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