this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2023
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We just installed a reverse osmosis (RO) filter system at our house, because the tap water tastes gross. I tested the TDS and it was 3ppm! I thought "oh that must be great, pure water," but my friend told me you actually want minerals in there to help extract.

So... Anyone else in this boat? I know there are RO systems that will remineralize after the filter, but ours doesn't.. And I don't think I want to uninstall this beast. I know there are little drops you can add, but they seem expensive... Just wondering what y'all other home brewers do. Thanks!

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[–] Candelestine 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Remineralize, buy bottled water, or possibly reduce your brew temp to try to counter the aggressive dissolving power it has. Could also buy a pitcher filter and fill it with tap, and use that for coffee.

RO is pretty bad though.

[–] KammicRelief 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's interesting about water temp.. I didn't realize it was a matter of cleaner water extracting more. Do you mean RO is bad overall, or just for coffee?

[–] Candelestine 2 points 1 year ago

Just for coffee.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There’s third wave, I’ve never used them so can’t say whether it’s any good

https://thirdwavewater.com

[–] KammicRelief 1 points 1 year ago

This looks super easy, and probably not that expensive when you divide it all out. It'd be fun to try the different profiles. Thanks for the link!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes!

I based my recipe on WOC Budapest from Barista Hustle: https://www.baristahustle.com/blog/diy-water-recipes-the-world-in-two-bottles/

33,75g Sodium Bicarbonate, 62,85g Epsom salts, Dissolve in enough distilled water to make 1000ml of concentrate

Add 10ml of this concentrate to 5l of RO or distilled water.

Boom. Perfect water for brewing.

[–] KammicRelief 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Dang, my inner coffee nerd is tingling at trying all the recipes. Thanks for this! And it looks super cheap.

Just curious, do you remineralize for drinking water too, or just making coffee?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

It is super cheap 🤣

Only for coffee. Our tap water is hard af and destroys any machine it comes in contact with, but actually tastes OK most of the time.

[–] slipperydippery 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, brewing with pure RO water will not produce great results. But luckily you can make your own re-mineralization drops with baking soda and Epsom salts, so that's pretty cheap.

You can start by taking a look here: https://www.baristahustle.com/blog/diy-water-recipes-redux/

Beware, the rabbit hole is deep :)

[–] KammicRelief 2 points 1 year ago

I ended up ordering a calcium/alkaline cartridge to put at the end of the filter chain. But now that I know of this rabbit hole, I think I'll be checking it out someday! Thanks :-)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I use it for home brew beer, I get a pretty clean start with RO water and then re-mineralise depending on the style of beer. If you found an ideal mixture of the salts you want, you can measure this out for your volume of water. The salts are items like calcium carbonate, bicarb soda etc mostly common household items.

[–] KammicRelief 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Excellent, thank you! I didn't think it'd be similar for beer, but makes sense.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, here’s a bit of a guide from the beer side and a little extract.

The more chloride, the more malt flavors shine. Enhances fullness and malt sweetness (thick mouthfeel). The more sulfate, the more hops bitterness shines. Produces a drier or crispier beer (thin mouthfeel). Link

[–] NotTheVacuum 2 points 1 year ago

I want to try buying distilled and spring water to blend for a desirable TDS without the additional steps of making recipe water from scratch.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)