Anybody use a water filter rather than bottled water?

[r-evans]

Seen a lot of people saying to use bottled water as it is going to be better quality than most tap water, I live in London so our tap water isn't great.

I'm thinking if I have to buy 5 gallons for each brew, that'll be £5 a time going by Iceland's prices which is just over the road. Not a lot really but it all adds up over time.

Anybody use one of these instead? Figure it'd save money in the long run (depending how long the filters last)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01A5LSEGK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Strollon15]

Why not just use a water filter jug you can get from any supermarket ??

Like this one maybe : http://www.johnlewis.com/brita-alun...o53UPabwwCPysPzg5fRo4aAgb08P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

I use a combination of bottled water / filtered water and my beer tastes great :thumb:

 

[chewie]

If you are intent on buying a filter that requires plumbing in, do have a think about where exactly you put it. If it was me i would place it on a seperate pipe that is only used for drawing of drinking water and nothing else, if it is fitted inline in a place where it is serving the whole house (bath/washing machine/dishwasher/toilets) the filters can need replacing a lot more often.

 

[r-evans]

Why not just use a water filter jug you can get from any supermarket ??

Like this one maybe : http://www.johnlewis.com/brita-alun...o53UPabwwCPysPzg5fRo4aAgb08P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

I use a combination of bottled water / filtered water and my beer tastes great :thumb:

I think for the sake of two quid I'd rather just get the one I posted, would drive me mad having to fill that jug 20+ times on brew day :smile:

If you are intent on buying a filter that requires plumbing in, do have a think about where exactly you put it. If it was me i would place it on a seperate pipe that is only used for drawing of drinking water and nothing else, if it is fitted inline in a place where it is serving the whole house (bath/washing machine/dishwasher/toilets) the filters can need replacing a lot more often.

I wasn't going to plumb it in, I have some 1/2" silicone hose left over from my Wort Chiller build so would just put some 1/2" barbs on either side of the filter and just stick it on the work top as I'm filling the HLT.

Just simply a hose from tap to bucket with that filter in the middle.

Like this...

 

[Razor]

I don't know much about your linked filter. A brita filter would probably end up costing far more cos the cartridges aren't cheap. Do you have a Tesco nearby? They do 2l of water for 17p which I use. It only £2.21 for 26l which works out about 5p a pint.


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[r-evans]

I don't know much about your linked filter. A brita filter would probably end up costing far more cos the cartridges aren't cheap. Do you have a Tesco nearby? They do 2l of water for 17p which I use. It only �£2.21 for 26l which works out about 5p a pint.


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That's not too bad but our closest Tesco is a train ride away and we don't have our car down here. Iceland and Sainsbury's on our street, Iceland is cheapest.

I think the filter would save money and also save me lugging 20+ litres of water up two flights of stairs to our apartment every time I want to brew :lol:

 

[TartanSpecial]

I'm in Epsom and have an Omnipure in line activated carbon filter to our drinking water tap and works well...changes unpleasant tasting water into nice tasting water which is fine for AG brewing. I need to change the cartridge every 9month to a year. My cartridges cost �£25... Will the aquafilter actually take out the chemical nasties since it only seems to be a polyurethane filter, not activated carbon...unless I'm reading it wrong.

 

[Sandimas]

I use an in-line filter to a 3rd tap in the kitchen sink, had it put in when we had the kitchen re-done. Really produces nice water, noticed a difference when I left the cartridge in too long (18 months).

 

[r-evans]

I'm in Epsom and have an Omnipure in line activated carbon filter to our drinking water tap and works well...changes unpleasant tasting water into nice tasting water which is fine for AG brewing. I need to change the cartridge every 9month to a year. My cartridges cost ���£25... Will the aquafilter actually take out the chemical nasties since it only seems to be a polyurethane filter, not activated carbon...unless I'm reading it wrong.

We rent so can't really start plumbing unfortunately.

I know the one I linked have different types of filters, some that are washable so you only need one that'll last a good while, but not sure about the carbon.

Is that something that is needed? You seem to know more about this than I do :thumb:

Guessing it'd be something like these... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0049GR0AY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[foxbat]

One thing to bear in mind is that the filter will not change hardness or alkalinity. If you have hard alkaline water before filtering then that's what you'll have afterwards. The horrible taste of chlorine will be gone though.

Some good simple selections of bottled water:

Sainsbury's basics: high alkalinity, good for stouts and dark beers that use acidic malts.
Asda Eden falls/Tesco Ashbeck: low alkalinity good for pale ales (and diluting star san!)

 

[Razor]

That's not too bad but our closest Tesco is a train ride away and we don't have our car down here. Iceland and Sainsbury's on our street, Iceland is cheapest.



I think the filter would save money and also save me lugging 20+ litres of water up two flights of stairs to our apartment every time I want to brew :lol:

Maybe an inline filter would be best for you then. :lol:


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[terrym]

Seen a lot of people saying to use bottled water as it is going to be better quality than most tap water, I live in London so our tap water isn't great.

I'm thinking if I have to buy 5 gallons for each brew, that'll be ����£5 a time going by Iceland's prices which is just over the road. Not a lot really but it all adds up over time.

Anybody use one of these instead? Figure it'd save money in the long run (depending how long the filters last)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01A5LSEGK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

There's water filtration and there's water purification.
Filtration only removes solid particles by passing through a filter medium, manufactured to a pore size. Any solids smaller than the pore size will pass through unless the filter medium is blinded or effectively blocked. And when the pores are blocked that's it, you have to backflush to remove the solids, but most domestic fiiters will not be able to do this so you have to renew the filter medium.
Purification may involve filtration, but will provide materials like ion exchange resins and activated carbon which will remove selected chemicals from the water, and these are effective until the resin and carbon are 'full'. The Brita type of water clean- up is of this sort and that's why you can only use them to process so much water, since after that they are deemed have reached their working capacity, so although you can pass more water through they have become ineffective.
My guess is that the Amazon product is a filter only, although I might be wrong. I would contact the supplier before you purchase

 

[TartanSpecial]

you need a carbon filter to take out the chemical bad taste compounds and chlorine. As foxbat says the Calcium and alkalinity stay the same, so if you are in a hard water area you still need to treat your water (I use CRS) to stip out the excess alkalinity.

 

[TartanSpecial]

this is the one I use. It fit into a proprietary omnipure head casing
http://www.simply-soft.co.uk/product/omni-pure-q5420-8-gac-1m-carbon-block-q-series/
Its designed to take out taste and odour compounds.

 

[chewie]

I wasn't going to plumb it in, I have some 1/2" silicone hose left over from my Wort Chiller build so would just put some 1/2" barbs on either side of the filter and just stick it on the work top as I'm filling the HLT.

Just simply a hose from tap to bucket with that filter in the middle.

Like this...

If the hose doesn't like to stay on your tap you could utilise a washing machine valve below the sink with a hozelock quick disconnect attached, this would give you easy connection as well for a wort chiller or a hose for rinsing stuff down.

 

[r-evans]

There's water filtration and there's water purification.
Filtration only removes solid particles by passing through a filter medium, manufactured to a pore size. Any solids smaller than the pore size will pass through unless the filter medium is blinded or effectively blocked. And when the pores are blocked that's it, you have to backflush to remove the solids, but most domestic fiiters will not be able to do this so you have to renew the filter medium.
Purification may involve filtration, but will provide materials like ion exchange resins and activated carbon which will remove selected chemicals from the water, and these are effective until the resin and carbon are 'full'. The Brita type of water clean- up is of this sort and that's why you can only use them to process so much water, since after that they are deemed have reached their working capacity, so although you can pass more water through they have become ineffective.
My guess is that the Amazon product is a filter only, although I might be wrong. I would contact the supplier before you purchase

you need a carbon filter to take out the chemical bad taste compounds and chlorine. As foxbat says the Calcium and alkalinity stay the same, so if you are in a hard water area you still need to treat your water (I use CRS) to stip out the excess alkalinity.

Cheers guys, seems I need to do a bit more research than I thought. Thanks for the info.

this is the one I use. It fit into a proprietary omnipure head casing
http://www.simply-soft.co.uk/product/omni-pure-q5420-8-gac-1m-carbon-block-q-series/
Its designed to take out taste and odour compounds.

Guessing that's one you plumb in? No good for me in a rented flat.

If the hose doesn't like to stay on your tap you could utilise a washing machine valve below the sink with a hozelock quick disconnect attached, this would give you easy connection as well for a wort chiller or a hose for rinsing stuff down.

I have a hozelock tap connecter for my Wort Chiller that works fine so would just repeat for this, I already have the spare hose and connector.

 

[Tanzanite]

Seen a lot of people saying to use bottled water as it is going to be better quality than most tap water, I live in London so our tap water isn't great.

I'm thinking if I have to buy 5 gallons for each brew, that'll be �£5 a time going by Iceland's prices which is just over the road. Not a lot really but it all adds up over time.

Anybody use one of these instead? Figure it'd save money in the long run (depending how long the filters last)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01A5LSEGK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

If you can afford it buy an RO unit google R.O Man , you will get an 100gal per day unit and all the spare bits for £140 stick it under the sink and make has much water has you like.

 

[MyQul]

London water isnt the best tasting out of the tap for drinking but I find it's fine for brewing with. For pales your more than likely need to strip out the alkalinty but for dark beers I find it's great for making thinkgs like stouts, porters, and milds straight out the tap. I just add a bit of camden tablet

 

[r-evans]

If you can afford it buy an RO unit google R.O Man , you will get an 100gal per day unit and all the spare bits for �£140 stick it under the sink and make has much water has you like.

As said I can't plumb anything in, plus as I'm trying to save money £140 would buy me enough mineral water for 28 brews, that would probably take me 3 years to use up and I'll most likely be living back in Leeds by then with lovely Yorkshire water :)

London water isnt the best tasting out of the tap for drinking but I find it's fine for brewing with. For pales your more than likely need to strip out the alkalinty but for dark beers I find it's great for making thinkgs like stouts, porters, and milds straight out the tap. I just add a bit of camden tablet

So a Camden tablet would strip the alkalinity? I would mostly make pales.

 

[MyQul]

So a Camden tablet would strip the alkalinity? I would mostly make pales.

No, sorry I seemed to have caused some confusion by conflating a couple of issues here. Campden tablets get rid of any chlorine or chloramines in the water. You need acids to strip out the alkalinity. I use brupaks CRS (a blend of acids). Have a read of strange_steve's excellent water guide for beginners. It should help. http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=64822