Misleading Asda Water!

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

I always use supermarket water for my brews so I know that my salts ratio's are correct as tap water can vary. I normally use Tesco brand but it's been difficult to get lately so I thought I'd try Asda.

On my online shop, I ordered 5 packs (all it would let me have) of 12 500ml bottles at £8.20 in total. I ordered this because it was all I could find on the website, with the right level of minerals in it. When it arrived, I found the bicarbonate was higher than my own tap water! Naturally I was annoyed as this was falsely advertised.

First picture is what the website says, and second picture is what I received. It is not a substitute as I made sure to tick the 'no substitutes' box for this item.

The one saving grace is that I can go on the website and complain. I chose the 'wrong item sent' option as that was the only one that was appropriate. Supposedly they have sent a refund so we'll see if that arrives.

I appreciate there are shortages and I allow for that, but I think this is wrong. You're not getting what they've advertised. It is useless for the brew I want it for so now I will have to use it for something darker in colour.

Hope this helps someone!

 

[Leon103]

I just use my tap water and spend the £8 On extra hops.

 

[MickDundee]

I just use my tap water and spend the £8 On extra hops.

Depends where she lives - she might be spending the extra £8 on water treatment if she doesn’t buy her water in.

Seriously though, I was terrified by water treatment for quite a while but if you have a water report and find a decent calculator (I use the one on Jim’s Beer Kit) it’s actually very straightforward, and will be much cheaper (and better for the environment) than buying multiple 500ml bottles of supermarket water.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Perhaps I'm being misunderstood. I am very comfortable with water additions and find it extremely easy, as brewfather is very straightforward.

I add extra salt additions to my bottled water, to get to my desired profile, as the bottled water is very soft. I am only using the bottled water to keep my ratio's consistent. Tap water can be up and down, and as I'm very particular, I want to be extremely sure that the figures I'm working to are correct. If you don't do this, you can't be sure what's going in it. unless you test your tap water before every brew, errrr, no!

I normally buy the 5L bottles but can't get them at the moment, and when I do I recycle them until they're falling to bits!

There's no point making a beer water profile if it turns out to be completely different because your tap water is different to what you have recorded!

I was trying to help people who also use bottled water with my post, and advise going into the shop and checking the label instead of relying on the website. Lesson learned!

I can't make the styles I like with my tap water - the bicarbonates are too high. I prefer to do things properly and I don't cut any corners whatsoever - it's just my way.

We are looking at RO systems though. Let's say it's £100 - that will pay for itself after 10 brews or so. Not entirely sure how they work and how to install, but trying to find out. Do you use one @Hazelwood Brewery? If so, could you offer any advice please?

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

We are looking at RO systems though. Let's say it's £100 - that will pay for itself after 10 brews or so. Not entirely sure how they work and how to install, but trying to find out. Do you use one @Hazelwood Brewery? If so, could you offer any advice please?

I use this one @Tess Tickle - as supplied it's a bit slow, but it's fine so long as you're not in a hurry (it produces about 4 litres per hour).
I think that @Hazelwood Brewery uses a similar one but has added a pump to increase the water pressure in order to up his rate to about 14 litres per hour.

Note that as well as producing purified (RO) water, these filters also produce a larger quantity of 'bypass' water which is totally clean water but has a very slightly higher level of minerals in it.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Thanks TETB!

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Forgot to say we also have an air still, but again not sure what that will do to the water - and it only produces 4L per 24 hours!

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Thanks TETB!

No worries :hat:

I just looked it up, and the volume of 'bypass' water produced should be about 4 times the volume of filtered. You don't want it to be any less than that otherwise your RO membrane won't last very long.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

That gives me anxiety as I don't know what's in the bypass water. Do I have to use that or just use the other stuff that comes out? Am I misunderstanding?

Like I say, I like the bottled water because it's always the same - there's no guesswork involved about what might be in it, and you can be sure you're getting the water profile that's intended.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

The air still will produce very pure water but it would be a very energy-intensive way of doing so - you'll generally be better off using an RO filter.
Incidentally I would say the labelling on the ASDA bottles is probably an average and I wouldn't really trust it until I'd tested the hardness myself. It's not hard to do - I just use one of the Salifert KH kits for testing aquarium water.
In fact I test the hardness of my tap water before almost every brew, because it does go up and down a bit) :-) :-)

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Thank you, will discuss all this with @Jim Goer and see where we get to.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

That gives me anxiety as I don't know what's in the bypass water. Do I have to use that or just use the other stuff that comes out? Am I misunderstanding?

Like I say, I like the bottled water because it's always the same - there's no guesswork involved about what might be in it, and you can be sure you're getting the water profile that's intended.

You've no need to be concerned about the bypass water from an RO filter: it's just your normal tap water, but with the original minerals very slightly (and I mean very slightly) increased. You can use it for whatever you like - many people just let it run down the drain but that's a bit of a waste - you can wash up with it, drink it, put it on the garden...

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Okey dokey!

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Do I have to use [the bypass water] or just use the other stuff that comes out?

Fret not, it a lot simpler than it sounds. The filter setup is very simple. There is one pipe that goes in, and two that come out (they are all 1/4" push fit which will be very familiar I'm sure).
The pipe going in has to be connected to your cold water at mains pressure (the higher pressure the better).
The first pipe coming out is your RO water: this is just your tap water but with the minerals removed
The second pipe coming out is your bypass water (some people call it the waste water): this is just your tap water PLUS the minerals that the filter has removed from the RO water

 

[Paul7189]

I use this one @Tess Tickle - as supplied it's a bit slow, but it's fine so long as you're not in a hurry (it produces about 4 litres per hour).
I think that @Hazelwood Brewery uses a similar one but has added a pump to increase the water pressure in order to up his rate to about 14 litres per hour.

Note that as well as producing purified (RO) water, these filters also produce a larger quantity of 'bypass' water which is totally clean water but has a very slightly higher level of minerals in it.

View attachment 65996

I was looking at a system like this and having two tanks. One for the RO water and one for the bypass water. I can then use the RO water for brewing and run the bypass water through my counter flow chiller and then into the tank that held the RO water. This can then be used for cleaning so there’s minimal waste water.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Is it possible to pay a bit more and get one that doesn't emit as much bypass water?

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Fret not, it a lot simpler than it sounds. The filter setup is very simple. There is one pipe that goes in, and two that come out (they are all 1/4" push fit which will be very familiar I'm sure).
The pipe going in has to be connected to your cold water at mains pressure (the higher pressure the better).
The first pipe coming out is your RO water: this is just your tap water but with the minerals removed
The second pipe coming out is your bypass water (some people call it the waste water): this is just your tap water PLUS the minerals that the filter has removed from the RO water

Got it!

So you don't need to plumb them in at all?

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

The kits normally come with a little adapter fitting that you clamp onto one of your water pipes and cuts a little hole to connect the 1/4" tubing. I didn't use it - the tap in the garage has a 3/4" bsp thread on it so I just screwed a JG adaptor onto that.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Is it possible to pay a bit more and get one that doesn't emit as much bypass water?

No - and anyone that offers to sell you one is a charlatan. You need that amount of bypass water to stop the membrane wearing out very fast.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

You need to replace the membrane about once a year anyhow (depending on how much you use it) but they aren't expensive.
Have a look at my thread here maybe: Doubled my RO flow rate