Water filter

[Subtle Duck]

Hi all, wondering if any of you can provide any advice/ experience?
I've just managed to procure (for a small trade of homebrew) a water filter (shown below), in the vain hope that I can plumb it in and reduce the hardness of my water. Does anyone one use such a thing? And if so will it work? From the description I'll be able to vary the hardness of my water depending on how much I bypass.

 

[user 18729]

Not sure on the one you have ordered but I’ve just pulled the trigger on a small 4 stage RO system for brewing the odd lager. Hopefully someone will weigh in with some hands on experience of your filter

 

[Subtle Duck]

Ordered? Thankfully after a few chats about water hardness and my inability to brew pale brews with my tap water, the coffee supplier I use has donated this contraption to me. It's generally used for espresso machines. Maybe going to have your buy some kit to test my water but should be a boon to my brewing

 

[strange-steve]

after a few chats about water hardness and my inability to brew pale brews with my tap water

I fear you may have been misinformed, hard water is good for brewing so using a water softener is the last thing you want to do. They work by removing calcium (which you want) and replacing it with sodium (which you don't want, at least not in large quantities).

 

[Subtle Duck]

Oolong, think I may have to look into this a little further. Was hoping it'd be the answer to my prayers

 

[strange-steve]

If you're having difficulty with pale beers specifically then it's very possibly down to high alkalinity. You could try a brew with Ashbeck water and some gypsum to see how it compares.

 

[Subtle Duck]

From the look of it, it's only a carbon block filter and I can use the control head to regulate how much water goes through the unit and by pass some to keep some calcium content

 

[Subtle Duck]

That's the thing, ashbeck water weighs a lot when I'm trying to get it home on my push bike

 

[strange-steve]

From the look of it, it's only a carbon block filter and I can use the control head to regulate how much water goes through the unit and by pass some to keep some calcium content

If it's only an activated carbon filter then all it will do is remove chlorine, which is a good thing but it can be accomplished much more quickly and efficiently with Campden tablets. Activated carbon won't change the mineral composition of the water.

 

[strange-steve]

That's the thing, ashbeck water weighs a lot when I'm trying to get it home on my push bike

Ha, that's a fair point. In that case you need to find out how to manipulate your tap water. Try this thread.

 

[Subtle Duck]

Thanks for the comments, think I'll have to look into this further

 

[LeeH]

Have you had your water tested? If not you’re just guessing.

 

[Subtle Duck]

I think it might be time to by a test kit. Been winging it at the moment