Deionised water - reassurance wanted

[bill_face]

Hello, I have been trying some recipes from a book called 'Brewing Classic Styles'.

One of the lager recipes suggests mixing tap water with deionized water. And a water chemistry app I've using suggests the same thing.

So I bought some dionized water. Cheapest stuff I can find: 'Car Plan' from Asda.

It says 'do not consume' on the bottle.

I'm presuming dionised water is deionized water, any your not meant to drink it anyway, And once made into beer, it will be perfectly safe.

Could someone confirm?

Cheers

 

[YeastFace]

I think it may be harmful for long-term consumption (e.g. you only drank/cooked with deionised or RO water), as you'd be missing out on the minerals.

Also if intended for a car, it may not be food grade.

I've used it for making up sanitiser, but have never brewed with it.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I think it’s just not intended to be consumed so the process to make and bottle it isn’t food safe. It could for example contain pathogens.

 

[Agentgonzo]

I think it’s just not intended to be consumed so the process to make and bottle it isn’t food safe. It could for example contain pathogens.

Or any other trace elements/metals/toxins etc. Not everything that's bad for you can be killed by boiling - eg heavy metal contaminants like lead.

In all likeness, you can brew with it and you'll not die, but by not being food-grade no-one will offer any assurance it won't harm you.

 

[Jim Brewster]

You probably  could as boiling it would kill the potential bugs and the trace amount of toxic substances would be minimal enough to not harm you instantly (long term is harder to say or prove). But the thing is, a 5L bottle of supermarket "mineral water" is about the same price and is usually pretty low in minerals, depending on the source. You'd just adjust the dilution rates to suit, if at all.

I wouldn't risk it, good beer means good ingredients and its not worth compromising for a minimal saving

 

[hoppyscotty]

I've been looking into this too for a stout recipe as my tap water has too much stuff in it I can't strip out so looking to dilute tap water with distilled or deionised. I suspect it's more of a case that it hasn't been tested to be labelled as food safe rather than it definitely or likely contains anything that is harmful so it's a backside covering thing. I decided not to go with the Carplan stuff and not risk it as you can buy food grade stuff off eBay cheaply enough if you can wait for the delivery.

I was more wondering about the difference between deionised water and distilled and which is better for brewing.

 

[bill_face]

Thanks for the input guys. I might save the Carplan for the car then.

I found a company called Spotless Water, which has reverse osmosis pumps in various industrial estate garages. Apparently it's safe for brewing with so I'll give that a go

 

[hoppyscotty]

Ah, there is one of those near me too so might give them a go then. NO sense in risking the CarPlan stuff if there are alternatives.

I've often wondered if the water coming off the condensing tumble dryer that currently goes down the drain could be used too? I guess that is in effect distilled water.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Ah, there is one of those near me too so might give them a go then. NO sense in risking the CarPlan stuff if there are alternatives.

I've often wondered if the water coming off the condensing tumble dryer that currently goes down the drain could be used too? I guess that is in effect distilled water.

Full of fluff and human skin etc, do not use it.

 

[Jim Brewster]

I've often wondered if the water coming off the condensing tumble dryer that currently goes down the drain could be used too? I guess that is in effect distilled water.

I wouldn't! It reminds me of this Dragon's Den for a so called purified water using the same principle but drinking a dehumidifier collector

 

[bill_face]

Full of fluff and human skin etc, do not use it.

Could you suggest an alternative?

I've been using this water chemistry calculator rececently: Liquor Treatment, or Knowing Your Anions

I input the figures from my water report and it looks like i need to dilute my very hard Bristol water down with something with less ions in to hit the Lager profile.

This seems to correspond with what is said in the book i mentioned 'Brewing Classic Styles', and corresponds with the observation that the Lagers i've made with neat tap water thus far haven't been very nice

I've been alright with using CRS and adding stuff for all the ales and darker beers i've made using the calculator.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Could you suggest an alternative?

Tesco Ashbeck water is suggested quite a few times as it's cheap and low in minerals.

 

[hoppyscotty]

I wouldn't! It reminds me of this Dragon's Den for a so called purified water using the same principle but drinking a dehumidifier collector

It’ll be fine it’s Peckham Springs!!!


Thought it would be a no go through the water looks to be pretty clear to me and free from fluff and skin but some soapy residue might be present. Though a mate of mines wife uses it for cleaning windows and it leaves a streak free finish so can’t be too much in there or it would show on the windows.

 

[Steve.]

Deionised water has everything stripped out, sold for cars to rinse off to avoid streaks after washing or for older battery top ups (also for irons). I visited brewers that add the minerals in to their water supply to “Burtonise” it. I’m sure it will be fine for brewing but might lack some of the nuances that people with better taste buds than mine could detect. Only reason it says not for consumption would be lack of documentation for food hygiene based on cost grounds. It will be produced from tap/river water and put through either reverse osmosis or ionic exchange resin beds and depending where you live would be better than using tap supply.

I have drinking water tap filter that costs ~£50 a year for a new cartridge that takes chlorine and lead etc nastiest out, you can taste the difference with tea so hopefully improvement with the brew

 

[aolcot]

+1 for spotless water if you have a station near you. 3.5p/litre, just add your brewing salts to build whatever profile you want and away you go.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

+1 for spotless water if you have a station near you. 3.5p/litre, just add your brewing salts to build whatever profile you want and away you go.

What’s their process for making spotless water?

 

[Agentgonzo]

IIRC spotless water is also not food grade, so probably no different from the car plan water. But I know people on here brew with it

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Why do people buy non food grade water when they can treat tap water, buy bottled water relatively cheap or buy a RO filter. I’m lucky that our water is relatively soft and needs minimal treatment.
Ca 25 Mg 7, SO4 21 Na 19 Cl 26 Alk 57.

 

[nickjdavis]

Why do people buy non food grade water when they can treat tap water, buy bottled water relatively cheap or buy a RO filter. I’m lucky that our water is relatively soft and needs minimal treatment.
Ca 25 Mg 7, SO4 21 Na 19 Cl 26 Alk 57.

In my case..

1) My tap water needs significant treatment...it is the Rocky Balboa of tap waters.
2) Plastic wastage, recycling time, shopping time.
3) Time to produce the required volume of water (I know...I had an RO system - its not the quickest) and excess water produced (3-4L for every litre of RO) during the process....only have limited water butt storage

My local Spotless station is seven minutes away from my house....it takes me two minutes to fill up two 20L jerrycans. so that's 16 minutes total to get my water (I cant even drive to my local big Tescos where I'm guaranteed to find 5L bottles of Ashbeck, in that time). 40L of Spotless costs me £1.40, the equivalent amount of Ashbeck would cost £12.00. Over 17 brews in a year that's £180 and countless hours saved.

What’s their process for making spotless water?

Its RO water.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

In my case..

1) My tap water needs significant treatment...it is the Rocky Balboa of tap waters.
2) Plastic wastage, recycling time, shopping time.
3) Time to produce the required volume of water (I know...I had an RO system - its not the quickest) and excess water produced (3-4L for every litre of RO) during the process....only have limited water butt storage

My local Spotless station is seven minutes away from my house....it takes me two minutes to fill up two 20L jerrycans. so that's 16 minutes total to get my water (I cant even drive to my local big Tescos where I'm guaranteed to find 5L bottles of Ashbeck, in that time). 40L of Spotless costs me £1.40, the equivalent amount of Ashbeck would cost £12.00. Over 17 brews in a year that's £180 and countless hours saved.



Its RO water.

Is it food grade Gonzo reckons it isn’t?