Pure Water: How Reverse Osmosis Works

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2019 issue of Zymurgy Magazine

By Martin Brungard

Water is the largest component in beer, and water quality directly affects beer quality. Brewers historically used the water they had available, but making great beer is difficult if your source doesn’t rovide water that’s suited to brewing the beers you want to make. Purification enables brewers to tailor water to the beer you want to brew.

There are several ways to purify water. Filtration removes things like bacteria and silt. Chemical precipitation can remove calcium and magnesium. However, brewers may need purer water that is better suited for the beers they want to brew. Distillation makes water pure, but that method is costly in both time and energy.

Reverse osmosis (RO) is a modern method that provides high-purity water for brewers and brewing…