Water Filter for Nano and Brew-On-Premise

[NigeltheBold]

The time has come to find an appropriate water filter for our brewery. We'll be a 3bbl brewery with a 3-kettle brew on premise system for our customers. The water in our area is pretty good, and I don't need anything extreme. I've heard that the auto-backflush filters are nice, but I can't spend $1500 on the filter. I've also heard you can use some of the canister filters with multiple stages if you want. I was looking on Home Depot's website at this system. I also found a whole-house filter that backflushes itself on this page.

Will either of these work? Do you have any other suggestions in this price range?

[Jim Russell]

If you are on municipal you should be able to get a water report that outlines your average water conditions, Hardness , solids, iron level etc. If you are on well water having a lab test is the way to go . Visible water quality will only detect 40 microns or greater, there could be other issues here.

But it could be a easy as a few canister cartridges for sediments and a carbon for taste , but it ramps up quick for more issues you want to allieviate.

Jim Russell

[NigeltheBold]

If you are on municipal you should be able to get a water report that outlines your average water conditions, Hardness , solids, iron level etc. If you are on well water having a lab test is the way to go . Visible water quality will only detect 40 microns or greater, there could be other issues here.

But it could be a easy as a few canister cartridges for sediments and a carbon for taste , but it ramps up quick for more issues you want to allieviate.

Jim Russell

According to the water report, "Our water’s Average Hardness is 157 mg/L (ppm), which equals about 9 grains/gallon. Average Iron Content is < 0.025 mg/L (ppm). Our water’s Average Total Alkalinity (as calcium carbonate) is 81.5 mg/L (ppm)."

There are a lot more numbers that I could list, but I thought these were the most important ones. What would you suggest? A couple of canister filters? What kind?

Thanks

[nateo]

According to the water report, "Our water’s Average Hardness is 157 mg/L (ppm), which equals about 9 grains/gallon. Average Iron Content is < 0.025 mg/L (ppm). Our water’s Average Total Alkalinity (as calcium carbonate) is 81.5 mg/L (ppm)."

There are a lot more numbers that I could list, but I thought these were the most important ones. What would you suggest? A couple of canister filters? What kind?

Thanks

Canister filters won't do anything about the alkalinity or hardness. They will help remove chlorine. You'd need a nano-filter or RO unit to remove the ions.

[NigeltheBold]

I'm mainly just concerned about chlorine odor and taste anyway. But the thing is, all of the water that will be going through the water heater will be going through the filter. So it needs to be able to handle a large amount of water without having to be changed every week. That's why I thought the Whirlpool system might be a good choice. I believe it backflushes itself. Or would canister filters be better?

[kererubrewing]

I'm on municipal water and for my 1BBL system have been filtering using a PAL 20" plastic canister with activated carbon filters to remove the chlorine (filter model C20P-CB5). They last a good while, but not forever and flow rates through it are 3-4GPM (could probably go higher, but then you don't do as good a job on the chlorine). The water is also very low in turbidity and I've not bothered with a second stage particulate filter upstream of the carbon cartridge. Here in NZ the cartridges cost ~NZ$60 and the polypropylene canister was ~NZ$110. The canister has 3/4" NPT which I reduced to 1/2" and fitted with camlock fittings. Your costs in the US should be considerably less than what I paid.

Lifespan of a cartridge is a vague concept. The slower you filter the longer they live. You could probably run two in parallel and get much better throughput and at a minor bump in price. I've been changing my filters out when I can smell chlorine coming through or every 30BBL / 3,600L (which ever comes first).

[NigeltheBold]

Thanks for the advice. So it sounds like canisters would do the trick, but I'm wondering if I'd be better off with the Whirlpool system since it virtually never needs to be changed? It also has a high flow rate...

[YSBrewer]

Call Russ at Buckeye Field Supply. He's REALLY affordable and easy to get on the phone. I'm running his stuff and it's great! Swing by the brewery sometime if you want to see it. I wouldn't invest in a back flushing system, you don't need it.

[NigeltheBold]

Call Russ at Buckeye Field Supply. He's REALLY affordable and easy to get on the phone. I'm running his stuff and it's great! Swing by the brewery sometime if you want to see it. I wouldn't invest in a back flushing system, you don't need it.

I'm assuming it's a canister type system? I'd love to stop by sometime and check the place out and/or lend a hand if needed!

[YSBrewer]

I run two 20" housings. One sediment and one carbon block. They are cheap to replace and last for a good long while for the amount of beer that we'll brew in our first year. They are small and mounted on the wall so there is no foot print to worry about.

[Bainbridge]

We use two 3M Aquapure whole-house canisters in series. 1st is an 801 with a coarse particulate canister to help protect the second, an 802, with activated charcoal for the chlorine. Get about 20 gpm through them, just fine for our needs in our hose, our keg washer and heat-x.

[mookdawg]

I'm assuming it's a canister type system? I'd love to stop by sometime and check the place out and/or lend a hand if needed!

Wanted to see where you landed with this. I found that same Whirlpool one, let me know how you panned out.

Cheers

[NigeltheBold]

We ended up going with two 20" filter cartridges in sequence. The first is a sediment filter and the second is a carbon filter. Works great and was easy for my plumber to install. The system wasn't very expensive either. I think it was around $150 if I remember correctly...