Adelaide Water Quality

[Alcofrolic]

Hi guys

Anybody using Adelaide tap water and have advice for using additives for improvement of quality?.. aside from 'Don't use it :)' 

I'm in Mitcham and unsure where the mains are pumped in from here.

[Journeyman]

Maybe filter it? That should clean up most of the unwanteds. 

Are you planning to do AG? If so you might want a pH meter (~$20 on ebay) so you can adjust things. Not sure about the rest - all my beer water comes through RO under the sink.

[Alcofrolic]

RO - niiiiiice. Yep AG in a Grainfather. Just jumping back in after baby break.

Maybe I'll just buy boxes of Springwater from Woolies  

[Malter White]

I'm in Adelaide. I have a Puratap. They aren't that expensive to have installed. Having said that, there are other brands of water filters that might be even cheaper. Puratap are like the iPhone of filtered taps. Only their filters will fit so you need them to do filter replacements. I believe some other brands you can buy filter replacements at hardware shops and fit them yourself.
They have single and dual filter models. They ring you to replace the single filter every 6 months or every 12 months for the dual. I have a dual filter. Last year they charged $89 to replace them. I always stretch the 12 months out to 15-18 months for economy reasons.

Edited March 30, 2020 by MUZZY

[Otto Von Blotto]

Alternatively you could get a small water still off eBay and distill the water. You will have to add minerals back into it to suit the style you're brewing but it's not too hard. I do this for most batches I brew now and just store it in plastic cubes/jerrys. I live in Brisbane and the water is good quality, but it doesn't suit the styles I like the most. I do have a couple of recipes it works well in though.

Edited March 30, 2020 by Otto Von Blotto

[Titan]

Is Adelaide water that bad?

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

Have read so many complaints over the years about Radelaide water. Must be imported from the ganges.

[Alcofrolic]

[Alcofrolic]

Adelaide water isn’t terrible. It’s not great though. 

[Journeyman]

You can do an RO system with mineraliser under the sink for about $100. About 250 litres a day for 12 months minimum before you change filters - best systems have a ~9L tank with it but that's not essential.

Drill a hole in the bench and you have on-demand pure water - RO and distilling are the only ways to remove fluoride - no other method of filtering can do it.

Even better, RO removes the need to boil your water for sterilising - there's not a virus or bacteria in the world small enough to pass the membrane.  

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

31 minutes ago, Journeyman said:

You can do an RO system with mineraliser under the sink for about $100. About 250 litres a day for 12 months minimum before you change filters - best systems have a ~9L tank with it but that's not essential.

Drill a hole in the bench and you have on-demand pure water - RO and distilling are the only ways to remove fluoride - no other method of filtering can do it.

Even better, RO removes the need to boil your water for sterilising - there's not a virus or bacteria in the world small enough to pass the membrane.  

Yep. If i didn't have a rain water tank id be getting an RO system. As Kelsey says for some styles especially pilseners it makes a world of difference having extremely soft water. 

[Alcofrolic]

RO $100. I’m in. System recommendations?

[Beerlust]

Hi Alcofrolic.

I am an Adelaide resident & find the most noticeable & offensive trait of our water here is the chlorine level above other things such as fluoride levels. You can smell it & taste it when drinking it from the tap. The chlorine levels just like when you chlorinate your pool water, stop algae & bacteria forming, so I get why it is there. It can create flavour issues though with certain beer styles that benefit from it's removal.

The advice & options already offered are sound, but if you wish to spare yourself some expense, this unwanted trait can be dealt with a number of other ways (IMHO) that will improve the quality of the water you begin your brewing processes with.

One of our resident brewing guru's (Hairy), suggested I try prepping my brewing tap based water with Campden tablets. These tablets added to your tap water will remove chlorine/chloramine from your water if it is present along with preventing wild yeasts establishing in your brewing water/brew. These tablets also help address astringency issues that surface in your final beer when these chemicals are still present at the glass.

One of the longtime mentors of the Coopers forum & part of their DIY development team for many years also gave advice on this issue. He (PB2) personally used a Puratap system for his brewing water at home. His advice on removing chlorine at no expense is to simply place the volume required in a plastic see-through container & put it out in direct sunlight for 24-48 hours & this will naturally remove the chlorine from the water.

Be aware though that once the chlorine has been removed from the water, it is more open to algae & bacterial spoilage, so use it in your brewing fairly quickly after I would think.

Just another couple of options open to you.

Cheers,

Lusty.

[Alcofrolic]

Thx lusty. I appreciate each of you in respect to the wisdom and experience passed along and the time spent in replying. Thanks all.

[Malter White]

16 hours ago, Titan said:

Is Adelaide water that bad?

It has a lot of fluoride and chlorine in it and has a distinct taste. It's drinkable but not great. Most of our water is sourced from the Murray, so after the Vic dairy farmers' cows have defecated in it, the NSW rice and cotton growers let their run off into it plus every other source of pollution from upstream it finally arrives in SA. It has to be heavily treated to make it potable. Water filter taps are in most homes for drinking water.

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

1 hour ago, MUZZY said:

Most of our water is sourced from the Murray, so after the Vic dairy farmers' cows have defecated in it, the NSW rice and cotton growers let their run off into it plus every other source of pollution from upstream it finally arrives in SA. It has to be heavily treated to make it potable. Water filter taps are in most homes for drinking water.

Sounds like it is the Ganges from your description muzzy. 

[Journeyman]

13 hours ago, MUZZY said:

It has a lot of fluoride and chlorine in it and has a distinct taste. It's drinkable but not great. Most of our water is sourced from the Murray, so after the Vic dairy farmers' cows have defecated in it, the NSW rice and cotton growers let their run off into it plus every other source of pollution from upstream it finally arrives in SA. It has to be heavily treated to make it potable. Water filter taps are in most homes for drinking water.

Hey, it's better than it was. I came through Murray Bridge back in the 70's and the river smelled like a sewage farm. That smell isn't around any more.

16 hours ago, Alcofrolic said:

RO $100. I’m in. System recommendations?

I just went and looked at the seller I bought from in July last year. It was cheaper to buy a new system than even replace just the cartridges using the original Qld supplier. Bit shocked at how the prices have gone but even so, one similar to what I bought is way cheaper than anything I found in Australia. I'll PM...

[Titan]

23 hours ago, Alcofrolic said:

RO $100. I’m in. System recommendations?

Yep me too.

[ben 10]

18 hours ago, Greeny1525229549 said:

Sounds like it is the Ganges from your description muzzy. 

When I was in Varanasi the river Ganga still had dolphins swimming in it.
No dolphins in the Murray!!!!

[Malter White]

22 hours ago, Greeny1525229549 said:

Sounds like it is the Ganges from your description muzzy. 

It is but it's treated Ganges.  

[UncleStavvy]

The West End brewery in Adelaide draws their water from wells drilled years ago which is all run through an RO plant(Haters of the Draught insist it's made from untreated Torrens water). Coopers do the same but their ground water quality isn't quite as good resulting in more RO waste to get rid of. It was deemed a major issue when they relocated to Regency Park from Kent Town. I was on the drill crew that drilled all the new wells for Coopers.

[Journeyman]

15 hours ago, Titan said:

Yep me too.

Turns out the price has jumped considerably since I bought my new RO system last July - You're probably looking at $200 now with a spare set of filters and a membrane extra. 

So this system seems around the best value currently - and he has 100% on 27,000 sales. (i.e. a reliable seller) and he's in Australia. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Reverse-Osmosis-Under-Sink-Water-Filter-RON-5-6-7-Stage-USA-RO-Membrane-Filters/122252427177?hash=item1c76cfffa9:m:mMB50rjzhM-iJWWWiBmF2VQ - Note there are options for both tank and which filters - scroll down. I doubt you want an alkalising filter if you're getting it for AG seeing the goal seems to be to have acidic pH for the mash. Also, this is a 175 L/day system - you can get replacement filters that step that up considerably or look for a seller that offers those options.

The mineraliser for mine was an add-on from a different ebay supplier, but even without it you can simplify any water treating for AG because you're starting from exactly the same pH and quality each time. For general drinking, a mineraliser is a good idea because pure water flushing liver and kidneys can strip you of some vital minerals. Obviously not so necessary for beer...

 

[Journeyman]

15 hours ago, Ben 10 said:

When I was in Varanasi the river Ganga still had dolphins swimming in it.
No dolphins in the Murray!!!!

That'd be those barages they've used to destroy the estuary that used to be there and make it all fresh. Bye-bye mulloway and estuarine ecosystem and hello carp.

Edited April 1, 2020 by Journeyman