Primo Water

[7mmSTW]

Has anyone gotten a breakdown on Primo brand water? This is the water I usually use. Just curious as to the amounts of minerals in the water. They list the minerals added but not the amounts as that is the "secret" recipe. I was just playing with the Brewzor Pro Beta and it has a place to add water profiles. Thanks

http://www.primowater.com/Water/Water-Factoids.aspx

 

[goodgodilovebeer]

Try calling them and tell them you're brewing with it and need to know the sulfate to chloride ratios, Ca, Mg, hardness, etc. I'm sure they'd tell you, since it's not impossible to have a sample analyzed. It may cost a few bucks if they're not willing to disclose the mineral content.

If they refuse to disclose the content, I'd be more than a little suspicious of their "primo" product.

 

[Darnell]

I have it on good authority that this is very VERY close to the bottled water in question.

ph - 7.8
TDS - 22
EC mmho/cm - 0.04
Cations /Anion me/L - 0.3 / 0.6

ppm
--------
Sodium, Na - 3
Potassium, K - < 1
Calcium, Ca - 1
Magnesium, Mg - < 1
Total Hardness, CaCO3 - 7
Nitrate, NO3-N - <0.1
Sulfate, SO4-S - 1
Chloride, Cl - 3
Carbonate, CO3 <1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 - 28
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 23

Add that to the following info http://primowater.com/PrimoNew/files/92/92ac9e80-5937-4ce2-8a8f-666816d8aed3.pdf

And you can build any water your want it to be.

 

[TANSTAAFB]

Old thread but just what I was looking for!

 

[dmaxweb]

I have it on good authority that this is very VERY close to the bottled water in question.

ph - 7.8
TDS - 22
EC mmho/cm - 0.04
Cations /Anion me/L - 0.3 / 0.6

ppm
--------
Sodium, Na - 3
Potassium, K - < 1
Calcium, Ca - 1
Magnesium, Mg - < 1
Total Hardness, CaCO3 - 7
Nitrate, NO3-N - <0.1
Sulfate, SO4-S - 1
Chloride, Cl - 3
Carbonate, CO3 <1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 - 28
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 23

Add that to the following info http://primowater.com/PrimoNew/files/92/92ac9e80-5937-4ce2-8a8f-666816d8aed3.pdf

And you can build any water your want it to be.

Anything newer than this out there?

 

[dmaxweb]

I just spoke with Primo customer service and they told me that the Exchange Bottles have the minerals (dissolved solids) added while the water from the refill stations do not. I assume the water from the refill stations (mine is at Walmart) is for all practical brewing purposes is the same as distilled.

The only difference on their Water Analysis Reports is Total Dissolve Solids (TDS)
5 for purified (refill station)
22 for exchange bottles

 

[Wrendelar]

I found this on the web a few months ago and when i tested the PH it was about on target for the 6.28

 

[dmaxweb]

Do you know if this was the pre-bottled or from bulk refill station?

 

[Wrendelar]

I believe this was pre-bottled from a swap site, Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot etc

 

[dmaxweb]

I use the Walmat refill station water to blend with my county water to build the water profiles. No minerals added post RO and only 39 cents/gallon. I brew 10 gallon batches so three 5 gallon bottles is about $6.

 

[TBA]

I use Primo refill also. What do you think the "Service" is they do on the machines? My store is pretty busy, I have to wait for the machine about half the time. It seems to be "serviced" about every 2 weeks. What do they do besides of take the coins?

 

[day_trippr]

I would expect there is a periodic need to change the pre-filters and even the membrane. I have to do that to my own system on occasion...

Cheers!

 

[TBA]

I understand that commercial RO is more efficient than home scale units but how much water do you think these machines waste?

 

[day_trippr]

I have no insight into commercial equipment - perhaps our friend Russ @Buckeye_Hydro can give us some specifics - but my system is likely "wasting" somewhere between 3X to 4X the product volume given my source water temperature and TDS...

Cheers!

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

Nearly all commercial RO systems (typically 500 gpd and up) are configured to run somewhere near a 50% recovery - or about a 1:1 ratio of permeate to concentrate. Recovery rates can go much higher with a recycle function (some of the concentrate is looped back to the feed side of the pressure pump). How are those high recovery rates possible?
The secret is buried in the fine print. If you read the spec's on any commercial system you'll see the expectation is that the feedwater is softened. Hardness should be less than 1 grain per gallon.
So for commercial RO's we spec, they typically include a backwashing carbon tank to remove chlorine (or a backwashing catalytic GAC tank to address chloramine), then a softener, then the RO.

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

If your home water is softened, you can shoot for the a 50% recovery on your home RO as well.

 

[day_trippr]

Not softened here. Total Hardness as CaCO3 = 218 - which if I understand the conversion to Grains Per Gallon correctly is approaching 13. And my well can run as chill as ~52°F which doesn't help

Cheers!

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

Not softened here. Total Hardness as CaCO3 = 218 - which if I understand the conversion to Grains Per Gallon correctly is approaching 13. And my well can run as chill as ~52°F which doesn't help

Cheers!

You definitely want to keep your ratio at 4+ to 1 and don't use a second membrane plumbed in series.

 

[buresh_matt]

For anyone coming back to this thread these years later. Get a PH meter and measure the Primo water yourself. I just made a brew with Primo and the PH was 5.7. I set my profile to distilled profile and it was way off.

 

[day_trippr]

At what temperature was that 5.7 reading made? If around 20°C/68°F that's not an alarming value.

fwiw, if this post is accurate, a TDS meter to test the machine output would be the first line of defense against surprise mash pH outcomes...

Cheers!

 

[mac_1103]

For anyone coming back to this thread these years later. Get a PH meter and measure the Primo water yourself. I just made a brew with Primo and the PH was 5.7. I set my profile to distilled profile and it was way off.

First of all, it's not distilled water, so there's that. Second, as mentioned in this thread and many others, accurately measuring the pH of water that has close to zero ions is almost impossible. Anyway, 5.7 isn't all that terrible. What pH were you expecting?

 

[DevilsCups]

I just brewed with Primo last week. 5gal of Primo and around 1.8gal of distilled strike water measured out to 6.4pH for me.