Water Quality - Filters?

[hando]

Sorry if this one has been flogged to death. All I could find in the searches was filtering beer.

Anyway on with it:

Just wondering if it is a good idea to use filtered water in the fermenter (I do K&K). If so, would a particle filter do or should I get a carbon filter also? How many people out there are doing this?

Understandably this would be dependant on where the water supply is coming from. I am in Sydney and the water should be pretty good already. Is it going to make much of a difference.

Cheers
Hando

 

[Airgead]

Hando

I used unfiltered Sydney tap water for years with no issues. Now I'm using my rainwater tank and run that through a filter to strain out any crap that gets in (mostly spores from our neighbour's &%$#*()^ treeferns).

Cheers
dave

 

[altstart]

Gooday Hando
I use a reverse osmosis and carbon filter on Brisbane town water. The finished water is as pure as you can get it made an enormous difference to my brewing. This also allows me to profile my brewing water to the area that the beer I am brewing comes from.
Cheers Altstart

 

[Fatgodzilla]

Gooday Hando
I use a reverse osmosis and carbon filter on Brisbane town water. The finished water is as pure as you can get it made an enormous difference to my brewing. This also allows me to profile my brewing water to the area that the beer I am brewing comes from.
Cheers Altstart

Love you to explain the process, equipment and cost of acquisition of reverse osmosis and carbon filter. Is this two seperate systems you've combined as one ?

 

[Kingy]

Hando

I used unfiltered Sydney tap water for years with no issues. Now I'm using my rainwater tank and run that through a filter to strain out any crap that gets in (mostly spores from our neighbour's &%$#*()^ treeferns).

Cheers
dave

Have you noticed any differance in the beers?

 

[QldKev]

I'm also a filtered water user.

I tried rain water but being a non AG brewer all my water doesn't get boiled; better outcome but had some infected brews. Gave that up.
Got the 2 stage filter from Aldi (under sink job) and run all my brew via that; heaps better than straight town water. I just plug a clear hose onto it and straight out the back window into my fermentor.

QldKev

 

[hando]

Wow! I wasn't expecting nobody to say "Not I". So far everyone filters their water.

Altstart: What sort of additives do you use to profile the water???

Cheers
Hando

 

[peas_and_corn]

I use good ol' Adelaide water. No problems here.

 

[Darren]

Wally,

RO wastes alot of water. You only get 20% out of what you put in!

cheers

Darren

 

[matti]

HANDO!
HerE's a link to an old thread.
LINKY

I must say that filtered water have saved my S/S wares somewhat.
The beer taste better too.
Still have to adjust the PH though for mashing pale malts.

It shouldn't be a problem Witk K+K and I think it would improve your beer too.
Bunning got descent water filters and price.
Places like Bing Lee and Big W has got reasonable priced filters too unless you want the top of the range.

Cheers Matti

 

[domonsura]

I filter my water through a 5 micron taste & odour filter to clean it up a bit - being here in Adelaide where it's some of the worst tasting water I've ever had come out of a tap, the filter makes a big difference straight away - my theory is you get out what you put in so if your water tastes bad in the first place....well...........

I don't think I'd ever go as far as RO, it seems a little bit excessive to me.

 

[geoff_tewierik]

I've got access to both Deionized H2O and Purified H2O, haven't yet decided which will be used for my brews.

 

[Airgead]

Have you noticed any differance in the beers?

Not much at all. My main reason for using the rainwater is because I'm a bit of a hippy and felt guilty about using town water. Sydney water is peretty soft anyway so the water profile is quite similar. The first brew I tried with the rainwater I didn't filter but got so many of the *(&&%^ fern spores in the HLT I abandoned the brew and bought a filter. I hate those &*^%$ tree ferns.

Cheers
Dave

 

[vicelore]

Not much at all. My main reason for using the rainwater is because I'm a bit of a hippy and felt guilty about using town water. Sydney water is peretty soft anyway so the water profile is quite similar. The first brew I tried with the rainwater I didn't filter but got so many of the *(&&%^ fern spores in the HLT I abandoned the brew and bought a filter. I hate those &*^%$ tree ferns.

Cheers
Dave

lol

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Adelaide water is perfect for making English bitters because it is nice and hard and minerals in it..