Water Filters

beerboy · Post by **beerboy** » Sunday Apr 17, 2005 2:12 am

Has anybody tried Brita water filters? The type that just screw onto your tap. I am thinking about buying one to filter the chlorine out of my tap water. Haven't brewed for a few years now, going to get back into it. Learnt a lot from my HBS the other day. I did all the wrong things years ago ie: used sugar, used unfiltered tap water out of the garden hose and used the dodgy yeast that came with the Coopers kits bought from the supermarket which my HBS owner told me were no good. Couldn't believe all the different brews on the market these days and all the recipe's as well. Have about 300 old mainly XXXX bottles waiting to be filled, they are the old type before they started putting beer in twist top bottles.

Hrundi V Bakshi · Post by **Hrundi V Bakshi** » Sunday Apr 17, 2005 8:38 am

I have been using the cartridges intending for the fridge coolering jugs.
Please to read my speaking somewhat low in this thread
http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/vi ... .php?t=435

Very cheap as only a cartridge and cheap bucket is being needed and very easy to assembly and very handy to filter.

Terry · Post by **Terry** » Sunday Apr 17, 2005 9:42 am

Tried doing that myself for my recent brew but couldn't get the filter to seal on the bottom of the bucket. Tried making O rings of sorts by cutting the top and bottom off balloons and sliding them up the filter to act as a seal but still didn't work, water was still leaking out and not going through the filter, so I gave up. How do you get around this problem?

grabman · Post by **grabman** » Sunday Apr 17, 2005 9:47 am

beerboy,

have a look on ebay as well, I picked up a filter kit a while ago for abour $50, was only single cartrdige etc. I use it for filtering beer from fermenter in kegs, as I have water filter tap in kithsn already, but could easily use to filter brew water!

Also the Coopers yeasts are ok, just chek for use by date on kit to make sure they aren't too old, also try to rehydrate yeast by making a starter prior to brewing, this will give your beer a better start.

good luck

Post by **Oliver** » Sunday Apr 17, 2005 10:21 am

Don't stress about the chlorine.

See this post:

http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/vi ... .php?t=261

Cheers,

Oliver

Hrundi V Bakshi · Post by **Hrundi V Bakshi** » Sunday Apr 17, 2005 10:36 am

Terry wrote:How do you get around this problem?

By making the hole slightly smaller than the filter to ensure a tight fit. I am having to force the filter thru the hole. The hole must of course be round and perfectly so - use a hole saw to making it.

Andrew · Post by **Andrew** » Sunday Apr 17, 2005 11:33 am

At my place we have tank water - probably should get a filter etc etc but for some reason I prefer the taste it gives homebrew.

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Sunday Apr 17, 2005 11:40 am

If you are brewing from grains you need an inline filter, no two ways about it. I use one dedicated. If you are brewing from kits it isn't to much of a worry.

Mashing produces phenols which react with the chlorine to produce chlorophenols.

Again, If you are going from kits it is not repeat not an issue

Dogger

Hrundi V Bakshi · Post by **Hrundi V Bakshi** » Sunday Apr 17, 2005 12:47 pm

Mr Dan,

I may be completely mistaken, so pardoning me if this is innaccurate, but I am believing that phenols are produced by the yeast during fermentation, so the problem of chlorophenols applies to everyone who ferments, mashers and kitters alike, I am thinking.

munkey · Post by **munkey** » Sunday Apr 17, 2005 7:58 pm

the thing you have to look out for also with filters is,
i use a carbon filter and there re 2 variatys, block and lose packed. the differense is that to cut a long story short
the lose packed arent as efficient or realy suitale for use on there own.

you want a block carbon filter and this needs to be rated at about 1 micron to be effective, thease cartrages can be picked up for relativaly cheep, for the use in reverse osmosit systems as a pre filter.

and if your quite resorsefull and handy with tools you can fassion a water filter, in line with your tap or connected by hose to your tap (easyer option)

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Monday Apr 18, 2005 4:51 am

In order to form chlorophenols. you need both chlorine and phenols. The chlorine is stripped in the early stages of fermentation from a kit/ sugar (malt) brew. The phenols form in the end stages of a fermentation so the two never meet.

Phenols are however extracted during a mash or partial mash. If you are using chlorinated water to sparge you will form chlorophenols.

Guru, put both of them at the scene of the crime and yes you will produce chlorophenols. Chlorene by itself or phenols by themselves are no issue. (mind you, if you can run your water through a carbon filter please do, the taste is just awesome) If you are a newcomer to the brew world, don't spend another 60 bucks until you are playing with mashes.

If you are worried about something, be worried about the floride that is added to the water. Floride will displace Calcium in the body leading to osteoperosis. Guru, some of your countrypersons had this happen as the village was pulling drinking water downstream of an exposed florite bed.

Dogger

db · Post by db » Wednesday Oct 05, 2005 8:29 pm

I'm currently looking into getting a bench top carbon block filter.. so i thought i'd drag this old one back up for some input from all the filterer's out there - is it worth going for a 0.5 micron filter?.. the 1 micron filter price is looking better to me at the moment

what do you guys use?

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Thursday Oct 06, 2005 2:26 am

I think that .5 micron is a bit tight, I just use the Brita, I will see what size it is later on.

Dogger

NickMoore · Post by **NickMoore** » Friday May 12, 2006 10:45 am

this from the brita site:

"What is the maximum amount of water I can filter daily?

Up to 6 litres can be filtered daily by the BRITA Cartridge without any reduction in efficiency ... the Ion Exchange Beads will then have sufficient time to properly handle the adsorption / absorption cycle and still provide optimum results. More than 6 litres daily may slightly decrease the Cartridge's ability to remove impurities."

only 6 litres a day. it'll take four days to fill a fermenter!

Rubber.Piggy · Post by **Rubber.Piggy** » Friday May 12, 2006 4:52 pm

6L a day for optimum filtering, it does not stop working if you exceed 6L a day. I personally filter into a jerry can and I run a bucket full (~8L) each day so I've always got the brewing water I need. This keeps good efficiency and also means I'm not waiting around for 25L of water to pass through a Brita.

Without data you can't know how much efficiency reduces, but for 25L I can't imagine it would be getting anywhere near zero. If the water tastes better then the filter is still working.

gregb · Post by **gregb** » Friday May 12, 2006 7:08 pm

I drink about 4 Litres of water a day.

Cheers,
Greg

Ash · Post by **Ash** » Friday May 12, 2006 7:10 pm

gregb wrote:I drink about 4 Litres of water a day.

Cheers,
Greg

5 here

gregb · Post by **gregb** » Friday May 12, 2006 7:12 pm

You win.

Cheers,
Greg

Tipsy · Post by **Tipsy** » Friday May 12, 2006 10:38 pm

Ash wrote:
gregb wrote:I drink about 4 Litres of water a day.

Cheers,
Greg
5 here

How many litres of beer does that leave room for

gregb · Post by **gregb** » Saturday May 13, 2006 4:50 am

Passes through fast enough to not be a problem.

Cheers,
Greg