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Water Quality Advice


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Hello - I am looking for some thoughts on our water quality as we are setting up operations here. We won't be doing mashes, just using it for boiler feed, cutting, cleaning and the occasional fruit fermenting.

Here is the link if anyone can spare the time to give some experienced advice - we are Ebbetts Pass on the charts: https://ccwd.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2018-Water-Quality-Report.pdf

From my layman's perspective, it looks like we are sitting very well for hardness in the boiler at 8.8 ppm. Also, non-detectible on Iron. Thoughts? Thank you again for any help!

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Multiple reasons.  You don't want anything in the water that will possibly louche or carry minerals that give off tastes to your spirits.

But probably more importantly you don't want to find out the city adjusted chlorines, fluorides or other things that will badly taint the TASTE of your spirits.  RO or other filtering systems are rather cheap compared to most things you'll purchase for a distillery, especially if you only need them for dilution purposes, not fermenting, cleaning, etc...

Of course think ahead.  For example if you have a tasting room/bar and serve ice you'll want pure/clean water for that as well.  Basically any water that touches your spirit after distilled.  You might be able to avoid RO (they waste water) and just use filters and carbon.

Depending on the amount of water you need you could get by with a large home setup (or 2) to a commercial system.  Shouldn't be hard to figure out your need based on how many bottles you pack a day, how much ice, etc you use...

You don't have to spend big bucks for a good system especially with water like yours. Something like this is probably overkill for your needs but should give you the capacity you need.  No affiliation with this company but I just did a quick google search to find something decent at reasonable price that could be self installed and comes with pump.  https://www.expresswater.com/products/600-gpd-commercial-reverse-osmosis-water-filtration-system-5-stage-high-capacity-ro-filtration-includes-pre-filters-pressure-pump-controller-gauges-and-ro-membrane  This will use standard filters/membranes you should be able to pickup anywhere.

You can add tanks to these types of system so you always have on-demand water already filtered and to allow the unit to produce clean water 24/7 but a system like this is likely fine for bottling/ice without a tank inline for any small distillery.

Do yourself a favor and get a couple/few water filter companies to come out to evaluate your needs and give you an estimate.  They might see other things you hadn't thought of or know the area/city water systems.  You could always post back here their recommendations to get feedback from others who have been in your shoes.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/4/2020 at 4:14 PM, DrDistillation said:

From a quick look, your water looks fine for everything you mentioned except for cutting/dilution.  You'll want to always use RO for that IMHO.

We are using RO to cut; however, the rum is cloudy still.  Thoughts?

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

You will still need the correct Chemical treatment for any Steam Boiler brought into service.

Intermittent Run Time on a Steam Boiler can be quite a challenge with respect to controlling corrosion through the entire system. It took me 2.5 years to come up with the right program for this particular system, chemical wise. Its not always possible to get the necessary answers from water treatment outfits. With this new wrought knowledge, I would start the next system off on this chemical choice and without any doubts it would likely perform well. The biggest problems in the scenario being dissolved oxygen in the boiler proper and carbon dixoide with respect to the return line. An Aquastat for hot standby on your boiler is a good idea.

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