Creek Water Purification

[chriscapetrib]

Water directly from a rainforest creek sounds romantic but tastes awful (actually the water tastes great - but the beer it makes tastes like old sock with vinegar overtones!). I have recently returned to the world of HB after a long absence due to failed brews from bad water management and loving it again, but I'm moving back to the rainforest and need some purification or filtration advice. I have previously boiled the water. No problems, but boiling 23 litres of water is painfully slow and takes a long time to return to the right temperature in the tropics.

Chemical? Filtration? Heat? Or other? Any suggestions on the best method for turning creek water into beer?

The water used has had basic filtration taking out visible particles etc.

[ryan]

Why not just use rainwater? No shortage of it up there.

[James L]

I agree, rainwater would be my choice if i wasnt lucky enough to be able to get purified water from work...

Otherwise see if you can get one of those canister water filters that fits onto the tap. this means you can get bulk filtered water and can justify buying one because your partner can use the filtered water too....

I've seen them for sale at http://www.craftbrewer.com

James

[buscador]

buy a Brita, my brew loves it, yours will too!

b

[chriscapetrib]

I agree, rainwater would be my choice if i wasnt lucky enough to be able to get purified water from work...

Otherwise see if you can get one of those canister water filters that fits onto the tap. this means you can get bulk filtered water and can justify buying one because your partner can use the filtered water too....

I've seen them for sale at http://www.craftbrewer.com

James

I have tried rainwater a few times with mixed sucess - collecting after its been raining and hopefully washed away nasty stuff....but while Cape Trib-Nth Qld gets an average 4M of rain a year its mostly in summer when the temps start to make yeast 'go troppo'.

The canister filters sound like a good option - do they need the carbon filter if chemical contaminates are not a problem? or can I just use a fine filter 0.5 micron??? or what size filter is needed to take out ye old wild yeasts or other stuff that makes beer taste like old sock.

Chris

[Adzmax]

buy a Brita, my brew loves it, yours will too!

b

What sort of Brita filter do you use? The jug, cask or on tap system? Cheers

[buscador]

screw on to the kitchen tap, ive replaced the filter once and i believe i got 10 or so brews plus nice drinking water whenever i needed

im defintely taking this baby with me when i move house again, can i take the shed too??

N.B. never run hot water through filter,no bueno for the device, i did it for the first time on friday making my kirin ichiban deluxe and well, i was drinking while brewing, ya caught me

b

[chriscapetrib]

Right...... been awile...... the results - rainforest creek water does a fine brew through the winter.... come the summer (wet season) multiple failings again......tried 130um filter...not small enough to take 'old sock effect' out of the water.. the cure was 130um (which i now had to do the whole of the house) and two 10" canister filters 5um and 1um specificly for the beer. Amazing how much stuff is in the water - even though it looks crystal clear! Thanks to all for your posts - I now have beautiful soft water free of 'wild stuff'.

[Gym_]

Well I bought one of theses of this guy
http://www.clarencewaterfilters.com.au/ ... ductId=360
And use it from time to time to filter sediment out of my beer when I want to make a mega swill looking brew or when it’s a bit green and want a quick fix before kegging or I have a brew that didn’t drop suspension ..

Then I scored 20 coconut husk carbon filters off eBay for 50 bucks ..
And got some fittings from Bunnings so the filter plugs strait into my garden hose and I fill my fermenters and boil pots with that..
If I had the cash I would by Reverse Osmosis Unit
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/5-stage-Reverse- ... 240%3A1318