Show Us Your RO Water Storage Tanks

[adpostel]

I've been looking at ideas for an RO water storage tank and wanted to see what you guys have come up with and how it has worked out....

 

[Bobby_M]

Why not just fill your brewing kettle(s) directly?

 

[day_trippr]

^that^
My RO system does have a "4 gallon" pressure tank (actually capacity closer to 2 gallons) but it only serves a dedicated faucet. I fill my brew rig directly as my system produces ~4.5 gph and it takes 20-22 gallons for a 10 gallon batch, so only a handful of hours required...

Cheers!

 

[Bobby_M]

To be more clear, I use a float valve clamped to the lip of my kettle set to the height I want it to fill. I don't have to worry about overflowing it and I just turn the supply on the night before and it's all ready for me first thing in the morning.

 

[BAF]

I have mine plumbed in for the ice machine and for drinking water, so I just up-sized the pressure tank to 12 gallons. That's enough to fill my kettle. Gives me extra capacity for other purposes too (like filling the 5 gallon Igloo cooler with water and ice for events in the summer).

 

[hottpeper13]

I use the 5 gal jugs I used to buy it with. Because there is no back pressure I get 5 gal of permeate to 4 gal of effluent and i collect the waste in a bucket and put it in the washer,no waste. I just set a timer for 1 hr and do that twice for 10 gal.
Here's a tip, RO water is very polar and if you are putting directly into a stainless vessel and not brewing the next day ,you should treat it with the salts for brew day,otherwise it will strip the passivization off.

 

[Teufelhunde]

I've been looking at ideas for an RO water storage tank and wanted to see what you guys have come up with and how it has worked out....

I brew 5 gallon batches, so am starting with slightly over/under 7 gallons. I have an undersink RO system, so I bought eight gallon jugs of RO water to start out, then after the first brewday, just refill the jugs and store until the next brew day.

 

[YeastFeast]

I decided NOT to go with a storage tank when I purchased my RO system. I just fill my kettle the day before for brewing.
Works good for me. I only use my RO system for brewing.

 

[TheCache]

The house I moved into had an RO system with a 2.5 gallon tank. It's in the basement and runs to a spigot at 2 different sinks and our refrigerator (for ice and water dispenser). When I started doing 3 gallon full boil stovetop BIAB I had the local water shop add a second 2.5G tank which cost around $100.

I load up my kettle in the morning before I start heating for the mash. Obviously wouldn't work for anything requiring more than 5 - 5 1/2 gallon boils.

Of course, I did extract and partial mash brewing for years using pre-softener tap water with campden tablets and did some really good beers, so I could probably supplement the RO with a bit of tap if I needed more water.

 

[Bobby_M]

Here's a tip, RO water is very polar and if you are putting directly into a stainless vessel and not brewing the next day ,you should treat it with the salts for brew day,otherwise it will strip the passivization off.

Can you provide any sources for this statement? I don't believe RO or distilled water to present any problems for the chromium oxide layer of stainless steel.

Perhaps any areas that are already oxide-compromised will rust SLIGHTLY faster in RO but not in a day or two. If you notice a couple rust spots, it's time to passivate anyway.

 

[brewbama]

I plumbed my RO permeate line to terminate next to my kettle. I snap on a QD hose, turn on the water, set the timer for 2.5 hrs, and come back to a filled kettle when bitchin betty tells me the time is up. I prep my yeast and sugar so when the kettle is full I can add it, put the lid on, and I’m ready to brew the next AM. (I add Brewtan B to the deaerated water before strike but I add brewing salts and Ascorbic Acid to the milled grain in the mash tun).

When I do collect water I just fill gal tea or milk jugs. I use it in the coffee maker, countertop ice maker, ice tea maker, and humidifier. I also give it to my cat. I collect a cpl gal at a time for those uses. It lasts a cpl days or so.

 

[adpostel]

So my overactive brain came up with this solution to constantly have ~20 gallons of RO water “on tap”. I took a Gray 20 gallon Rubbermaid Brute Trash Can (NSF 2,21 rated…. Meaning food safe) added a SS ball valve to the bottom, plumb a float valve at the top and just T off my water line going to my small RO tank. I can just go straight from the ball valve into my pump and pump straight into my kettle on brew day. I can also fill water jugs for whatever purpose as I’ll always have plenty of RO water on tap. Any thoughts are certainly welcome…

 

[adpostel]

Like this…

 

[Teufelhunde]

So my overactive brain came up with this solution to constantly have ~20 gallons of RO water “on tap”. I took a Gray Rubbermaid Brute Trash Can (NSF 2,21 rated…. Meaning food safe) added a SS ball valve to the bottom, plumb a float valve at the top and just T off my water line going to my small RO tank. I can just go straight from the ball valve into my pump and pump straight into my kettle on brew day. I can also fill water jugs for whatever purpose as I’ll always have RO water on tap. Any thoughts are certainly welcome…

The only issue I can see with this is that your RO tank likely has a pressurized rubber bladder in it(at least if it is a small undersink unit) that is compressed up to line pressure as the RO system filters water and puts it in the tank. If you have the valve open to the trash can, until the trash can is full and the float valve closes, there will be no pressure at the faucet from your RO system.

Lon

 

[505-Brewer]

I plumbed my RO permeate line to terminate next to my kettle. I snap on a QD hose, turn on the water, set the timer for 2.5 hrs, and come back to a filled kettle when bitchin betty tells me the time is up. I prep my yeast and sugar so when the kettle is full I can add it, put the lid on, and I’m ready to brew the next AM. (I add Brewtan B to the deaerated water before strike but I add brewing salts and Ascorbic Acid to the milled grain in the mash tun).

When I do collect water I just fill gal tea or milk jugs. I use it in the coffee maker, countertop ice maker, ice tea maker, and humidifier. I also give it to my cat. I collect a cpl gal at a time for those uses. It lasts a cpl days or so.

I dont follow. Why are you adding yeast and sugar to your kettle before you brew?

I like that you give some to your cat! my cat requests correction demands ice from the ice machine when we get some fair enough!

 

[adpostel]

The only issue I can see with this is that your RO tank likely has a pressurized rubber bladder in it(at least if it is a small undersink unit) that is compressed up to line pressure as the RO system filters water and puts it in the tank. If you have the valve open to the trash can, until the trash can is full and the float valve closes, there will be no pressure at the faucet from your RO system.

Lon

So I think you are exactly right.... I thought of that, and I think if I put an inline check valve into the line going to my trash can, that should eliminate that... Or I just have to wait to use the faucet until the trash can is full again.... Great suggestion, though...

 

[Teufelhunde]

So I think you are exactly right.... I thought of that, and I think if I put an inline check valve into the line going to my trash can, that should eliminate that... Or I just have to wait to use the faucet until the trash can is full again.... Great suggestion, though...

Come to think of it, if you could find and inline valve for the line to the trash can that would only open at or near line pressure, that would maintain the pressure at your faucet.

 

[Bobby_M]

So I think you are exactly right.... I thought of that, and I think if I put an inline check valve into the line going to my trash can, that should eliminate that... Or I just have to wait to use the faucet until the trash can is full again.... Great suggestion, though...

That's exactly how I operate mine. My RO output goes to a tee first and then each tee output has an inline check valve. Once water leaves the tee, it can't come back. One goes to my pressure tank, dispenser faucet, and any other point of use destination. The other output goes to a ball valve, then over to the float that I hang on my kettle for brew day fill ups. While the kettle is filling, it is only drawing off the membrane real time and does not deplete the small pressure tank.

 

[matt_m]

Mine is about like @Bobby_M's but I have a 14 gallon storage tank on the brewing side because of a previous attempt to add enough storage for brewing. That didn't really work out as planned but after some recent upgrades I made the split. We do use RO and DI water at the brewing/bar area sink so I would want some amount of storage there no matter what, just could have been a lot smaller. On the plus side, it only takes an hour to fill my kettle these days.

 

[millstone]

I dont follow. Why are you adding yeast and sugar to your kettle before you brew?

I believe BrewBama is referring to YOS Yeast Oxygen Scavenging, see this ---> https://www.**********************/deoxygenation-revisited/

Added link
Don't know why link is not working, should be The **************** dot com / deoxygenation - revisited /

 

[hottpeper13]

Bobby, I put 5 gal in the BK and 8 gal in the HLT and got called away to make venison sausage. 3 days later and my BK was so clean it even took off the blue ring from the induction burner. At the next MBAA Milwaukee district meeting I brought this up and collectively they told me to repasivate and in the future to add the salts for that brew to the liquor rite away.

 

[Deadalus]

Bobby, I put 5 gal in the BK and 8 gal in the HLT and got called away to make venison sausage. 3 days later and my BK was so clean it even took off the blue ring from the induction burner. At the next MBAA Milwaukee district meeting I brought this up and collectively they told me to repasivate and in the future to add the salts for that brew to the liquor rite away.

This does make sense. Water's polarity is an important player in the erosion process--it's a polar solvent-- and ultimately the formation of sedimentary rocks (geologic time). RO water has very little dissolved material left in it and hence lots of possibilities to dissolve material. RO water is neutral but would be picking up some CO2 as it sits as well. I'm not sure how fast that happens and I am not familiar with the strength of the bonds involved in chromium oxide nor its rate of formation to recommend any needed actions. Adding the brewing salts to the HLT would reduce the ability of the RO water to dissolve other molecules however. I am thinking however that SS would be kind of useless for tubing if water could rapidly deplete the chromium in the SS. While not RO, a source of city or well water would still have the capacity to dissolve the chromium oxide and in any flowing water situation that would make SS a poor choice for tubing as it would rust. Pure speculation on my part though.

 

[brewbama]

I dont follow. Why are you adding yeast and sugar to your kettle before you brew?

I like that you give some to your cat! my cat requests correction demands ice from the ice machine when we get some fair enough!

to deaerate the water in an effort to reduce disolved O2 in the beer.

 

[Jay7]

I built the system Brian has at short circuited brewing on YouTube and absolutely love it. I put it under the drain board of my 24”x24” sink. Not all that expensive either.

 

[Bobby_M]

Bobby, I put 5 gal in the BK and 8 gal in the HLT and got called away to make venison sausage. 3 days later and my BK was so clean it even took off the blue ring from the induction burner. At the next MBAA Milwaukee district meeting I brought this up and collectively they told me to repasivate and in the future to add the salts for that brew to the liquor rite away.

About five years ago, I was making and storing RO in an HDPE barrel in the attic above my store and would sell water to customers. The entrance to that barrel was a 18" long piece of 1/4" 304SS tube with a .020" wall thickness. The float was attached directly to the bottom of it. It was in 24/7 contact with RO water for four years. If RO was particularly corrosive to stainless steel, that tubing would have snapped in half and the barrel would have overflowed.

I'm just saying, I don't want people to get the idea that a couple days in the kettle is going to bore a hole through the bottom. We're also generally not making RO/DI with 0 TDS, but more like 8-12 TDS

 

[505-Brewer]

to deaerate the water in an effort to reduce disolved O2 in the beer.

Interesting. Guess your getting nutrients for the final pitch too.
Id just degas w CO2. Love the approach. Thanks.