RO DI and Coffee?

[Frop]

I'm wondering if anyone has rigged their RO/DI system to produce perfect water for coffee. I read a post about the water needing to be around 150TDS and a specific hardness for best flavor extraction. But my question is do they sell filters I can set after the RO and bypass the DI to remineralize the water at that specific level and give "the perfect" levels for coffee?

Here is the SCAA thing on water.
http://www.scaa.org/?page=resources&d=water-standards

 

[Peter Blue Reef]

I just use tap for coffee. I do drink my 6 stage water and have a separate 6 stage hooked up to my toilet so that my excellence is treated well when disposed of.

 

[drawman]

I'm wondering if anyone has rigged their RO/DI system to produce perfect water for coffee. I read a post about the water needing to be around 150TDS and a specific hardness for best flavor extraction. But my question is do they sell filters I can set after the RO and bypass the DI to remineralize the water at that specific level and give "the perfect" levels for coffee?

Here is the SCAA thing on water.
http://www.scaa.org/?page=resources&d=water-standards

If you're looking for 150TDS you could measure your tap TDS and RODI water and mix them accordingly to achieve 150 TDS. Not sure if you would luckily get the right hardness though.

 

[Frop]

I just use tap for coffee. I do drink my 6 stage water and have a separate 6 stage hooked up to my toilet so that my excellence is treated well when disposed of.

Bahahah

It's not just regular drip coffee it's espresso. I don't care about drip coffee water.

I've made espresso for coffee drinkers that always add sugar and creamer and they've drank it straight with the milk. There is a lot of flavor in beans that were freshly roasted a few days before brewing. You can literally taste the coffee being more sour or bitter depending on ~10 seconds of the shot pour. When you're trying to make something the best every nothing can be overlooked.

 

[rushbattle]

I made my own remineralization filter with MgO and CaCO3. I happened to use a 50/50 ratio. You have to have a pretty big filter canister to hold enough to get close to 150TDS. I find that 90TDS is a bit shy on alkalinity but plenty of Ca and Mg. It helps to keep scale down in the boiler if it runs in that range.

What is your setup? I have a modern lever machine and a Versalab M3 currently being modified by Frank Durra to ultra tight specs and some nice aesthetics.

 

[Frop]

I made my own remineralization filter with MgO and CaCO3. I happened to use a 50/50 ratio. You have to have a pretty big filter canister to hold enough to get close to 150TDS. I find that 90TDS is a bit shy on alkalinity but plenty of Ca and Mg. It helps to keep scale down in the boiler if it runs in that range.

What is your setup? I have a modern lever machine and a Versalab M3 currently being modified by Frank Durra to ultra tight specs and some nice aesthetics.

Stuff is dirty and I need a real table but this is what I have.



Actually my steam wand valve is messed up. Need to replace it. Decalcifier didn't help on the valve issue.

The heating element is outside the boiler on my machine so it makes it a little most resistant to scale build up on that part. Also I think it is a little more forgiving if the boiler isn't completely full but I try not to have it empty ;)

 

[Lynn52]

I use RO for drinking water, ice, and coffee. I have a valve so it only goes through the DI resin for the tank. Never have to descale my coffee maker any more.

 

[Frop]

I use RO for drinking water, ice, and coffee. I have a valve so it only goes through the DI resin for the tank. Never have to descale my coffee maker any more.

I always used distilled on my espresso machine before (the rest get regular water). Then I switched to some filtered water and a month later my valve got stuck when steaming milk. So.. but I was wondering about the RO+mineral filter for taste sake. :) if it didn't make a noticeable difference I'd just keep using distilled or RO.

 

[AcanSkywalker]

I just use tap for coffee. I do drink my 6 stage water and have a separate 6 stage hooked up to my toilet so that my excellence is treated well when disposed of.

RO water is okay to drink, RODI is not.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...ngaN8-101m29BSNgQ&sig2=x5VxaDK6d9fHLmUKBCvryA

 

[rushbattle]

Stuff is dirty and I need a real table but this is what I have.

Actually my steam wand valve is messed up. Need to replace it. Decalcifier didn't help on the valve issue.

The heating element is outside the boiler on my machine so it makes it a little most resistant to scale build up on that part. Also I think it is a little more forgiving if the boiler isn't completely full but I try not to have it empty ;)

Well I have a fancy lever machine sitting on a cheap short table because I haven't gotten around to building a custom table to fit where it needs to go. Looks fine, no worries, the coffee is what matters!

The mineral content (Ca and Mg) and the total alkalinity are the main factors involved in coffee extraction, by any brew method. The Ca and to lesser extent Mg are what cause scaling of the boiler.

I have this book and it is great:
https://waterforcoffeebook.com/

But most of the same content is covered in the following thread on HB:
http://www.home-barista.com/knockbo...ter-treatment-for-coffee-espresso-t41636.html

 

[Frop]

@rushbattle @saltyfilmfolks

Going French press.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

lol