tahoejoe Senior Member Joined: 9 Sep 2003 Posts: 557 Location: San Diego/ Incline Village Nv. Expertise: I live coffee
Grinder: Solis Maestro Drip: Behmor Brazen Brew System Roaster: Behmor 1600
Posted Thu Jan 10, 2013, 12:29pm Subject: Re: How to soften hard water without a softener if you rent
Hat tip to all for the data in this thread especially about the Zero Water products.
According to a very technically astute chemist who assists us (John Nanci- Chocolate Alchemy fame) those water conditioners are the only portable one's he's found that addresses the mineral issues assosicated with hard water.
Thank you Joe Behm
REMINDER: Never leave the roaster unattended when in use !! And remember to use our Rosetta Stone tip PART V PARAGRAPH 3.. it works !!!
efahl Senior Member Joined: 22 Dec 2011 Posts: 6 Location: Southern California, USA Expertise: I like coffee
Posted Sat Jan 19, 2013, 12:47pm Subject: How to soften hard water without a softener if you rent or want to avoid expense
Ok, based on this thread I went off and got a ZeroWater 10c pitcher. Wow, even without measuring TDS the difference in flavor of our tap water is astounding, it tastes like real water again! We had previously been using a Pur filter, so I have three data points:
Raw tap water = 392 TDS (tastes baaaaaaad) Pur filtered = 320 TDS (tastes baaaaad) ZeroWater = 0 TDS (wow, tastes like I'm in Michigan again, drinking Lake Huron water)
Our supply, as I mentioned above, is from varying sources depending on how full the local reservoirs are, so I think that the 390 is probably a low reading that will creep up as the reservoirs empty and we get more water from the Colorado (the ZeroWater site shows a mean of 525 for our zip). After testing, I decided to use the Pur to pre-filter for the ZeroWater, mostly because we have a few Pur filters and might as well use them up to save a bit of load on the ZeroWater ones before we abandon the Pur.
I'll be mixing down the 0 water to probably 50 or so to dump into the coffee maker (a Brazen, by the way, nice job, Joe). I'm operating under the assumption that "best flavor TDS" is very much a local thing, depending on the proportions of minerals in the water, so I'll have to experiment to find what I like best...
Posted Sun Jan 20, 2013, 8:17am Subject: Re: How to soften hard water (etc., etc.)
Dear Efahl,
Great! Thanks for being a 'guinea pig' and contributing your experience. It goes a long way for 'validating' this entire thread. How much did ZeroWater cost, if I may ask?
tahoejoe Senior Member Joined: 9 Sep 2003 Posts: 557 Location: San Diego/ Incline Village Nv. Expertise: I live coffee
Grinder: Solis Maestro Drip: Behmor Brazen Brew System Roaster: Behmor 1600
Posted Sun Jan 20, 2013, 10:12am Subject: Re: How to soften hard water (etc., etc.)
Buckley Said:
Dear Efahl,
Great! Thanks for being a 'guinea pig' and contributing your experience. It goes a long way for 'validating' this entire thread. How much did ZeroWater cost, if I may ask?
We are also testing the 23 cup version and if found to be suitable offer discount coupons to all Behmor customers.. And Efahl's idea of reintroducing some minerals back into the water is not a bad idea. Our resident chemist, techno guru and all around great guy John Nanci will be running tests on doing just that..
All for the love of coffee
REMINDER: Never leave the roaster unattended when in use !! And remember to use our Rosetta Stone tip PART V PARAGRAPH 3.. it works !!!
Posted Sun Jan 20, 2013, 10:23am Subject: Re: How to soften hard water (etc., etc.)
I bought mine at Bed, Bath and beyond for 39.95 including one filter and the TDS meter. A two pack of replacement filters cost 29.95. I used two of my saved up 20% coupons to bring my cost down to $55.00
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