Has anyone tried to hook up a cartridge water filter to a garden hose for brewing purposes? I'm thinking about trying this, but wonder whether it's worth it.

I use a carbon filter that I connect to my sink faucet. I only filter that water which makes it into my beer and the stuff I mix with Star San.

Water filters don't do much. They will remove the particles (so does letting your beer sit in a secondary) and will remove some organic volatiles if it has activated carbon but it will not remove everything they say it does especially chlorine. I have never found one to pass the AgNO3 test which identifies chlorine presence very quickly.

My water definitely smells better through a filter, however I also use a campden tablet. All I know is that I had a very bad off flavor develop in some of my beer and It wasn't an infection. Filtering and a campden tablet has it fixed, so far.

I use an inline activated charcoal filter for all water for consumption, though I don't use it with the water for mixing down iodophor.
To me, it saves a lot of time over pre-boiling the water the night before.
And it's a lot more convenient, because if I need another quart or two, I have it right there.
I haven't had an issue.

Thanks for the feedback - sounds like this is something worth exploring. I think I found a good site: filtersfast.com

Check your local Ace Hardware or Lowes. My filter housing with 2 filters cost me less than $30 at Ace.

Aquasana.com (Sun Water Systems)...although around $135 for a dual undersink filter, is thought by many folks to be pretty good! And, that includes Consumer Reports I thimk... only flows .5 gal minute...but like folks above say, if using to mix cleaners etc ya don't need to filter water. But, I mix Star San with ~5 gal filtered H2O in a carboy so it'll last loooong time, and it does.

That site can save me some cash on filters... Too bad I just replaced them all....

They have some cool 5 inch filters with 1/4" lines.... would make a nice Randal....

ah use a filter cuz ah serves mah beer in mah brewree ands mah gests thinks it makes it tasts better

and it looks teknecool

KB; Not sure filtering your beer when serving is the best thing to do...well maybe in your case!

meant they see it on the wall in the brewing area...

"that's no down stream beer"

I would challenge anyone that uses a water filtering system to have thier water tested with and without the filter to see if you're getting what you paid for. I would do it but my water is so good from the tap (think Pilsen water) that it wouldn't make a difference. Make sure you follow good practices for a proper experiment.

If I have an abundance of anything in my water, it would probably be iron. I'll bet most filters will take care of that.

BB, how about an experiment with your water then? I'll pay half for the water testing if you commit to running a proper experiement which I know you would. Post details of your water filter. Provide brand name and the filter size. It should be measured in microns and it's important whether it's an absolute measurement or a mean measurement. As an example, a 0.5 micron filter may filter anything above 5 micorn on average so 50% of what gets through is >0.5 micron. A 0.5 micron absolute filter will block everything over 0.5 microns.

We already know you have activated carbon. Does it note how much and what the allowable flow rate is? Activated carbon works best at rated flow through the filter. Anything above that rated flow will reduce its effectiveness.

You would need to buy two new plastic sample jars.

Up for it?

I did an at home water test with my filtered water vs. tap water and it was vastly improved. I didn't remove all the chlorine but it did get rid of most of it along with lowering the iron content and some other minerals.

I'm not saying that filters are miracle workers but I think my beer tastes better and I know my water tastes a lot better through the filter. The rule of thumb is that if it doesn't taste good then don't cook with it.

You can throw all the scientific data you want at me but the fact of the matter is, I notice a difference for the better so it's worth it.

Let me think about that Danno. I'm kind of like Lupo, it works and and I'd be hard pressed to stop using it. It a very large filter, but the flow rate is very slow.

Mssrs. D and BB;
I asked 'Aquasana' (my undersink dual filter folks) if they claim to remove all Cl including Chloramines!! (When you buy - One of their suggestions is to only use the filters for maximum of 500 gals/6-months, whichever is first! And, they will send you filters every 6 mo if u sign up!) My water filtered tastes good and I can't 'smell' any Cl... I use it for cook/drink/brew.

Here is their answer:
""The AQ-4000 uses coconut shell carbon and potassium zeolite ATS. Chloramines removal for the AQ-4000 is >90%, but not for the full 500 gallon capacity (chloramines requires more chlorine for disinfection than using chlorine alone, and exhausts the media more quickly), Chloramines removal slipped below 90% at 800 gallons, which allows us to claim 400 gallons at >90%reduction.
The A-cartridge breaks the bond between the chlorine and the ammonia, and slightly reduces the chlorine concentration. The B-cartridge then removes the chlorine with the coconut shell carbon and the ammonia with the charged potassium zeolite.
Claiming chloramines on our certificationwould require that we reduce all contaminant reduction claims to 400gallons, which we'll do when more cities make the switch.
""Sun Water Systems" "Healthiest Drinking Water On Earth"- We Guarantee it! ""

That's pretty good Cl/Chloramine removal, IMHO, compared to 90% of the rest of the filter selling dudes in the US!!

"They will remove the particles"
my sediments exactly