# Do you use tap water for wine making ?



## parrothead

What's best spring water or just regular tap water? {maybe boil it first}


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## Runningwolf

Tap water is fine if it's not heavy in minerals/solids and does not smell. Also if you use a water softner it's not a good idea to use it.


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## Rocky

There have been varying views on this question. One school of thought is if the water is good to drink it is good for wine. Others use bottled water and some use distilled water. Personally, I buy bottled spring water and that is what I use. I may be wasting money because our local water is excellent, but it gives me a higher level of peace of mind.


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## TonyP

parrothead said:


> What's best spring water or just regular tap water? {maybe boil it first}



For cleaning and sanitizing I use tap water. For adding to wine I use spring water. Note that Kraus cites distilled water as the #9 reason for fermentation failure. Instead of explaining, here's the link:

http://www.eckraus.com/wine-making-stuck-9/


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## Boatboy24

I don't. I figure the extra $2-4 per batch for spring water is worth not having the chlorine and flouride that is in my water supply. I think it's fine, but I just choose not to use it. A while back, when I used to brew beer with a friend, we'd run several gallons through a Brita filter, and that was cheaper than buying spring water. I have read that using distilled isn't recommended.

For cleaning/sanitizing and mixing with Meta and other cleaners/sanitizers, I do use tap water.


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## olusteebus

My water here in Alabama tastes like wine. It works very well.


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## Bartman

What's your concern about the water? Microbes or minerals/lack of minerals (leading to failed fermentation)? Boiling would certainly take care of them, but there may be other yucks in there that might not be best for your wine.

Another 'solution' would be to use kits that require no water addition or only use fresh grapes. That avoids the issue altogether.


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## Rickochet

Water softened with a salt type softener can impart some unusual tastes especially due to the high sodium content. I would suggest a water analysis from a reputable lab. After reading lots of information on labs, I sent one to Ward Labs. The report was quickly emailed to me and the results were surprising. Total Dissolved Solids and Sodium were way over the limits.

I recently installed a reverse osmosis water system and what a difference it has made in my wine and beer. To perform a true comparison, when you make your next batch split it. Use tap water for half the batch and RO or spring water for the other half. After it is ready to drink, invite some friends over for a evening of blind wine tasting and ask them to help decide which wine tastes better. It just may surprise you--plus it's fun!


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## TonyP

Bartman said:


> What's your concern about the water? Microbes or minerals/lack of minerals (leading to failed fermentation)? Boiling would certainly take care of them, but there may be other yucks in there that might not be best for your wine.
> 
> Another 'solution' would be to use kits that require no water addition or only use fresh grapes. That avoids the issue altogether.



There are many concerns about water, from microbes to minerals and fluoride to other additives. Of course some wine makers have well water, which adds to the potential problems.

I don't believe boiling takes care of additive issues. For example, iron in water is not lost through boiling.


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## Bartman

TonyP said:


> There are many concerns about water, from microbes to minerals and fluoride to other additives. Of course some wine makers have well water, which adds to the potential problems.
> 
> I don't believe boiling takes care of additive issues. For example, iron in water is not lost through boiling.



I agree. I apparently edited out the part that said boiling would eliminate the microbes, but for minerals, boiling would effectively concentrate the mineral content.


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## Pumpkinman

I'm going to use a 5 gallon carboy of spring water that I bought a few storms ago, its just sitting here in the way, the next batch of red dragon Melomel will get the star treatment...lol


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## Duster

olusteebus said:


> My water here in Alabama tastes like wine. It works very well.



looks like I need to move to Alabama


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## eblasmn9

olusteebus said:


> My water here in Alabama tastes like wine. It works very well.


 I am Jealous. I wish my water in Ohio tasted like wine. Then again after awhile it does taste like wine after I have added it to my wine kits. I do have reverse osmosis filtering system that I use. It works quite well.


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## weaverofmusic

May I ask why you use water in your wine process apart from cleaning???
I thought it was crush, press then ferment.


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## Runningwolf

If you buy a Concentrate kit they require it. Also some people use it to reduce acid.


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## weaverofmusic

Thanks for that 
I knew Calcium Carbonate did this - but can leave a chalky taste if too much is used, also potassium bicarbonate, but using water to lower acid is a new one for me 
This is a great site


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## Runningwolf

weaverofmusic said:


> Thanks for that
> I knew Calcium Carbonate did this - but can leave a chalky taste if too much is used, also potassium bicarbonate, but using water to lower acid is a new one for me
> This is a great site


 When you use water to reduce your acid ensure you add the proper amount of sugar to it to bring it up to the same sg as your must.


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## Rocky

Weaver, water is also added to fresh crushed grapes if the Brix reading is too high, as can result from water evaporating out of the grapes prior to harvest. Water is added to "cut" the Brix down to something that would result in a not too hot wine.


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## Sammyk

*No salt in water softener water!*

Huge misconception here about water softener water. There is NO salt in water that goes through a water softener. The salt in softeners is used to recharge the minerals in the mineral tank only. And that water goes away on the final rinse of the softener cycle.

I know this because I had my water tested coming from the water softener when we lived in MI and had a water softener and the water contained NO salt.

Ask any reputable water softener company and they will tell you the same thing.

Here in NC we have perfect well water - odorless and colorless and very soft (pH is 6.0 and TA is 60) tastes better than any bottled water one can buy. A 200' deep well probably makes a difference.


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## oldwhiskers

I have used straight tap water and filtered water that takes out the chlorine, can't say I could tell the difference so I have been just using straight tap water since.


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## ColdClimateWines

Just a note on chlorine which is in many systems - it is not a good mix with wine. Bad chemistry! One of the reasons for using a bisulfite or Pbw, sterox or iodophor for cleaning and sanitizing. They are non- chlorinated. A charcoal filter should remove the 0.2-0.4 most public systems contain on a residual basis.


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## roger80465

I have an Instapure water filter on my tap in my winemaking area. It may not help much but I feel better about it. I can taste the difference with and without filtering but the difference in the wine may be subtle. It is far less expensive than buying bottled water, which is often filtered city water anyway.

Roger


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## GreginND

We are fortunate that our water is sanitized with ozone so chlorine levels are undetectable. Other than being a bit alkaline it is really good.


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## SpoiledRotten

I just flush three time to clear it, then dip it out to fill the bucket. Works fine!







Okay j/k, but I do use tap water for mine and it tastes fine. I bought a whole house filter that I'm planning on mounting under the mud sink in the "lab", so I hope that will provide even better water for the future batches.


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## Dugger

I recall an article by Tim V about chlorinated water - apparently when sulphites are present the chloride ions bind instantly with the sulphites to form something else that is not a problem (a salt, I think). Since sulphites are naturally present with grapes and juices the chlorine in the water is not a problem. I use chlorinated tap water and have no problems.


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## GreginND

Sorry but chlorine is always a risk for producing TCA(cork taint).


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## Dugger

Hadn't thought of that -I use synthetics so don't even think about cork taint, but that could be a concern.


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## bstnh1

I don't know of any respectable winemaking site that recommends using tap water for your wine. Chlorine, bacteria, etc. can be huge problems. Chlorine, in particular, can result in TCA infecting your entire work area area and end your winemaking for good. From all the research I've done, bottled spring water is the top recommendation with well water being the biggest no-no. With a gallon of spring water going for 50 - 75 cents, why take a chance on ruining a $100+ batch of wine?

The link below has a good discussion of the various types of water:

http://www.grapestompers.com/articles/winemaking_water.htm


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## Ernest T Bass

I have well water and have always used it with no known problems. I have recently started filtering it thru a 1 micron filter. Am I wasting my time?
Thanks & Semper Fi


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## wineforfun

I think it depends on what you are trying to achieve. If you are shooting for a world class NAPA Valley wine, then maybe you should be concerned with the type of water, equipment used, brand/grade of chemicals, etc. I know for most of us, tap water is just fine and I haven't had any complaints on the product I am making. When the wine only lasts 2-6 months before being consumed, I don't believe cork taint is an issue.


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## jswordy

I just use the well water right out of my tap, which just so happens to be out of the same aquifer that feeds a lil spring 35 miles up the road that they use to produce a product called Jack Daniel's.

If Mr. Jack was so dumb he used that bad water to start a product now distributed globally out of the same exact spring today, I reckon I'll disregard all the wine experts and foller his lead. 

Oh by the way, do you know what making wine produces? Alky-haul! And whut is alky-haul good fer? Why, it's one of the finest disinfectants known! This is why everyone drank wine in Jesus' time. The water was bad, and the wine purified it. Shore nuff.  NEVER - I repeat, NEVER worry about illness-causing bacterial contamination in any wine above 10% ABV. Ain't gonna happen.


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## jswordy

Ernest T Bass said:


> I have well water and have always used it with no known problems. I have recently started filtering it thru a 1 micron filter. Am I wasting my time?
> Thanks & Semper Fi



Yes, unless you are trying to remove particulates because it has a problem with those. The largest contaminant of wells is fecal coliform bacteria. Those bad boys will all be dead as doornails after primary fermentation due to alcohol poisoning (provided the wine is 10% or more ABV).

You have more chance of contaminating your wine with bad bugs by not sanitizing your hands than you do from water out of your tap.


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## TonyP

Ernest and D.J, my view on using well or tap water is it depends. If your well or tap water doesn't contain significant levels of contaminants such as microbes, chlorine, or iron, you'll be fine. However, some well or tap water does contain these things and for those wine makers bottled spring water should be used.

For me, I'm willing to waste $3.00 or less to avoid the problem.


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## ibglowin

I believe in the old adage that if it smells good and taste good its good enough to use in winemaking. However, if you can smell the chlorine like in most municipal water these days I would personally use the bottled stuff. Its worth it to get rid of the chlorine alone. I use the vending machine ($0.40/G) We use it in our Jura expresso machine on a daily basis as we have a heavy load of silica in our water supply system that can coat any glass or porcelain surface in no time.


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## jswordy

ibglowin said:


> I believe in the old adage that if it smells good and taste good its good enough to use in winemaking. However, if you can smell the chlorine like in most municipal water these days I would personally use the bottled stuff. Its worth it to get rid of the chlorine alone. I use the vending machine ($0.40/G) We use it in our Jura expresso machine on a daily basis as we have a heavy load of silica in our water supply system that can coat any glass or porcelain surface in no time.



Yep, I know about that NM water from Albuquerque. The city had to treat theirs to precipitate out the arsenic in it, too. In SD, I once was handed a glass of muni water from a small Indian reservation-owned system that had so much alkali and who knows what floating on top of it that it looked like a rainbow when the sun hit it. Later had it tested and found it was radioactive, to boot.

My well water tests good, it tastes good, and it has been filtered through limestone, which is what Mr. Jack and his customers found to be so attractive.

For people who have good tasting city water but have chlorine in it, draw your bucket two days before you use it and cover with a towel. The chlorine evaporates from the water. It's what I used to do when I had an aquarium and lived in the city.

There's some pretty good inline filters out there now. PUR makes some excellent ones that get everything out.


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## ttimmer

I have officially switched to bottled spring water -- mainly because my water is very hard with a high level of particulates and I battled getting clear wine the first few batches. I have noticed a distinct difference since I switched to spring water. I drink the water all time out of the tap, but prefer spring water for wine-making.


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## ibglowin

jswordy said:


> There's some pretty good inline filters out there now. PUR makes some excellent ones that get everything out.




Totally agree with that! I purchased a Pur 18 Cup Dispenser last year and love it. Its 2 stage so it removes almost everything you would ever find in a muni water system. 1 filter treats 60 gallons so I only have to replace every 6 months. I use this for drinking water at work........


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## Bartman

bstnh1 said:


> I don't know of any respectable winemaking site that recommends using tap water for your wine. Chlorine, bacteria, etc. can be huge problems. Chlorine, in particular, can result in TCA infecting your entire work area area and end your winemaking for good. From all the research I've done, bottled spring water is the top recommendation with well water being the biggest no-no. With a gallon of spring water going for 50 - 75 cents, why take a chance on ruining a $100+ batch of wine?
> 
> The link below has a good discussion of the various types of water:
> 
> http://www.grapestompers.com/articles/winemaking_water.htm



Why use city-purified tap water? Because it requires no time or effort to transport from Wal-mart or wherever, it's readily available where I make my wine and clean my equipment, and it's about 1/100 the price of bottled spring water (which is often city tap water, with some reverse osmosis or other purifying technique used on it). I don't like how the City of Dallas water utilities runs its business (that's another long story), but the water it distributes is pretty darn good. If that were not the case, I would use bottled spring water.


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## Carter1932

I'm fairly new to winemaking, but a long time brewer. For my past two wine kits I used charcoal filtered tap water. However, my water company uses Chloromine as a disinfectant, so if possible I'd like to avoid it on my next batch.

In brewing it's common to treat tap water by charcoal filter and then adding a small amount of crushed Camden to drive Chloromine off over the next 24 hours. 

My question is whether it would be safe to use this same technique for wine making, or do you think it would risk the yeast production. 

Keep in mind that the amount of Camden to be used would be a very tiny fraction of one tablet (1/2 tablet is enough to treat 20 gallons of water).

BTW, my first 2 wines with only charcoal filtration taste great.


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## jamesngalveston

I have a whole house water filter, works for me..


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## Bovillia

I read somewhere in a book...or on here...or both, who knows, that tap water is fine because the yeast you buy is made to working it and the nutrients in the yeast are there to make sure its ok, no matter what kind of water you put it in. Just my $.02


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## GaDawg

Carter1932 said:


> BTW, my first 2 wines with only charcoal filtration taste great.



If what you did with your first 2 wines worked, don't change it


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## bstnh1

I use store brand bottled spring water. At 50 cents a gallon I don't want to take a chance on tap water or spend even more money on trying to remove chlorine, iron and other junk. I've never had a problem with the spring water.


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## bstnh1

TonyP said:


> Ernest and D.J, my view on using well or tap water is it depends. If your well or tap water doesn't contain significant levels of contaminants such as microbes, chlorine, or iron, you'll be fine. However, some well or tap water does contain these things and for those wine makers bottled spring water should be used.
> 
> For me, I'm willing to waste $3.00 or less to avoid the problem.




Agreed! Iron in the well water will really mess things up. And most of the time you can't see it, smell it or taste it unless there's a huge amount. For the sake of $2 or $3 I'll stick with good old bottled spring water.


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## richmke

Although I would much prefer the gallon jugs for convenience, i noticed that the 1/2 liter bottles at Sams Club are the cheapest per gallon.


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## vernsgal

on all my kits I have used tap water filtered through a Brita (charcoal) and they have all turned out fine. It depends on where you live and how much chlorine they use. Now when we move, the water there has been under a boil water advisory for 7 years so I doubt I'll be using that


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## olusteebus

I feel like I am cheating if I use tap water here in Alabama. After all, the water tastes like wine here!


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## Geronimo

You should know your water profile. Chlorine/chloramines can be mitigated pretty easily. Otherwise you want neutral (pH 7) without a lot of hardness. 

Bottled water would be great, but distilled water is a mistake. 

Just like with cooking, better ingredients help make a tastier product.


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## Johngottshall

The 2 grocery stores near me sell bring your own jug water for .25 cents a gallon I bought A 4 gallon jug of water from Sam's club for 4 bucks and use that jug my tap water smells terrible and taste just as bad so I use bottle water I like my wines and to ruin with that american water service would be a crime.


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## Geronimo

We used to have brewery water from artesian wells for free! They tore down the old brewery last year 

Our tap water is excellent though, so I don't hesitate to use it. I won a couple blue ribbons for my Pilsners using it, and that's saying a lot!


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## GaDawg

Don't ya'll think it's a personal chose? I think if you use your tap water to cook with and you drink it, it's probably OK to make wine with. If you will not drink it, I wouldn't make my wine out of it.


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## Bartman

GaDawg said:


> Don't ya'll think it's a personal chose? I think if you use your tap water to cook with and you drink it, it's probably OK to make wine with. If you will not drink it, I wouldn't make my wine out of it.


I totally agree with this. We have had the discussion before about whether to use well/tap/bottled water, and it all depends on what each of those is like/which is available to the winemaker. Some favor their tap water (like me), while others can't stand it; the same is true or well water - some well water has contaminants in it that makes unacceptable for winemaking (or drinking generally). 

As long as you aren't using distilled water, use what you like and have readily available (at the right price); you might even want to experiment with different waters to see how it changes the wine.


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## Geronimo

Yep, just like cooking with wine. Some people save the nastiest crap you ever tasted for cooking. Like that's going to fix it? What did that chicken ever do to you?


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## dburling

I purchased a water filter called Zero Water for home use. I recently made a batch of Dragons Blood using the filtered water an it came out great. The cook thing about this filter is that it comes with a meter which reads total dissolvable solids in your water. My filtered water still reads Zero (hence the name) after almost 3 months of use. We were averaging about 2 cases of water per week to give you a reference of how much water we have sent through it to date. 

My tap water tests out at 150+. So I feel confident that using this filter has to be helping out.


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## Geronimo

When you're talking about brewing beer, water is a MAJOR factor no doubt. But with wine, you really aren't supposed to need to add water, so no one knows for sure what it means. It can effect the pH a little (for those 10L kits it could be significant). Save it to say that with 16L and 18L kits it won't matter nearly as much.


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## bstnh1

Use water with a high iron content and you'll wonder what happened. I stick with bottled spring water. Better to spend $2.50 than to toss out $100 worth of ruined wine.


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## Norske

bstnh1 said:


> Use water with a high iron content and you'll wonder what happened. I stick with bottled spring water. Better to spend $2.50 than to toss out $100 worth of ruined wine.



Can you expand on this more? What does happen with a high iron content?


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## bstnh1

Norske said:


> Can you expand on this more? What does happen with a high iron content?



Using water with a high iron content can leave you with weird flavors and a permanent haze - not good!:


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## Carter1932

I stumbled on this information from Tim Vandergrift, Technical Services Manager for Winexpert. It pretty much answers this thread's question in full.



> Since kit wines are almost all intended to make 23L and they start off at between 7.5L to 16L depending on the type of kit, they require the addition of 7.5L to 15L of water. Since the water was originally remove from the grape juice by some method of distillation it would follow logically that the only thing that should be added back would be a variant of distilled water – as pure as chemically possible. After all, no minerals or trace elements were removed, so water with minerals and such would alter the character of the wine.
> 
> This turns outs to be one of those things that while technically true, it’s also completely unimportant. It turns out that unless your water tastes or smells absolutely horrible or is contaminated with bacteria or high mineral counts, it’s just fine to use in making up wine kits.
> 
> Two of the most common concerns about water:
> 
> 1. Chlorine added to disinfect municipal (city) water is a sterilant. It kills yeast and smells like a pool – icky.
> 
> It’s natural to assume that because you can smell chlorine or chloramines in your water supply (the additive is essentially the same as household bleach) that it’s going to affect the wine. What actually happens is this: all juices used in winemaking, be they kits or even fresh grapes, contain sulfite compounds. They’re present on all grapes. When added to a solution containing chloride ions (the form the chlorine takes in water) sulfites bind to the ions instantly, forming stable chloride salts such as potassium chloride or sodium chloride.
> 
> If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s common table salt. If you bind out 100% of the chlorine in municipal tap water with sulfite, you’ll wind up with about two grains of table salt per 23L carboy. That teensy amount won’t have much effect, especially when it’s mixed into a wine with a Brix of 25 and a whole lot of acid, sugars and solid material. So, there are no worries from municipal water treatment.
> 
> 2. The pH of water varies a lot, so it’s better to add distilled water (with a pH of 7.0) to make sure the pH of the kit isn’t thrown off.
> 
> pH is a numerical scale running from 1 to 14. Right in the middle, 7 is considered neutral, neither acidic nor alkaline: pure water at 25°C is pH 7.0. Above 7 is alkaline; below 7 is acidic. Because wine contains a lot of acid, it generally has a low-ish pH, somewhere above 3 but below 4. A ph of 3.4 is a pretty sweet spot for most wines.
> 
> In a solution containing other ions (like a kit wine), activity and concentration will not generally be the same. Activity is a measure of the effective concentration of hydrogen ions, rather than the actual concentration; it includes the fact that other ions surrounding hydrogen ions will shield them and affect their ability to participate in chemical reactions.
> 
> So it’s not just the amount of acid in the wine kit that affects the pH, it’s a bunch of other junk in solution as well. This is sometimes referred to as buffering. Kit wines tend to be heavily buffered, partly because they contain very high levels of solid material and partly because the effects of concentration and pasteurization include some bonding of acids and sugars and some release of ions.
> 
> And water isn’t. And that’s why the pH of tap water is pretty much inconsequential – there’s almost nothing there to release hydrogen ions. When chemists calculate the pH of a weakly acidic solution, they usually assume that the water does not provide any hydrogen ions. Add the wimpy tap water to highly acidic, heavily buffered kit wine and POWIE! the water will meekly do as it’s told, and get swamped in a tsunami of acids and dissolved solids from the kit.
> 
> In the thirty years I’ve been making wine from kits I’ve never used anything but the water that came from the tap, and never given it a second thought. If it’s good enough to drink, it’s good enough for winemaking. But if you’re unsure go ahead and use bottled or filtered water: it can’t hurt your finished wine and will give you good exercise lugging around water bottles – always good for building up a thirst!


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## Norske

Thanks Carter for this info. What are the opinions on using well water that goes thru a water softener?


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## sour_grapes

bstnh1 said:


> Using water with a high iron content can leave you with weird flavors and a permanent haze - not good!:



According to a recent article I read, iron in your wine promotes faster oxidation upon exposure to air:




> Iron serves as a catalyst for chemical interplay between various wine compounds and oxygen - "oxidative" reactions that can cause an open bottle of wine to develop unwanted odors and flavors after a day or two.


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## dcdrive05

Our town is known for its excellent water supply, it is chlorinated however for safeties sake. I have found the wine tastes excellent either way but I have taken lately to dechlorinating it by filling my primary fermenter with the right amount of water and letting it sit overnight lightly covered (with the lid raised a bit) to let the chlorine evaporate overnight then make my wine the same as always. Might be psychological but I find it tastes better. We also are firm believers in filtering. Happy winemaking!


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## bstnh1

I have well water with a high iron and manganese content. A water softener and filters take care of that issue, but you do wind up with a higher level of sodium in the water and a reduction of the mineral content. To avoid any problems, I use store bought natural spring water for all wine making activities except cleaning. I use it for the wine, for making sanitizer, for rinsing when necessary, etc. At 50-75 cents a gallon, it 's pretty cheap insurance.


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## Rocky

Going way back to 2012, I see I was using bottle spring water. I have since changed my process to distilled water in my kits. My thinking, as I have stated elsewhere on this forum, is that when wine is "concentrated" water (H2O) is removed. Adding back distilled water is merely returning the juice to its pre-concentration state without the added minerals in spring water.


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## Chillywack

When I used the homebrew beer way back when and not that i switched to wine, I have always used store bough spring water. Tried tap water everytime I moved to a new house and it never tastes as good as using store bought spring water. Don't use wine kits much anymore as I switched to all juice but if I were to do a kit I would use spring water. (Actually, I live in the mountains now and there are natural springs I should try instead of store bought because stores these parts are rationing spring water).


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## bkisel

Most recently natural spring water as pictured here off Arnot Road in Bloss, PA


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## Ted Brumleve

A gallon of spring water is $0.80. Ozonated to disinfect, not chlorinated. Use this for kit wine dilution, or post additions, and diluting wort for beermaking. Actually helps the beer fermentation IMO and for the cost, why risk your batch with chlorinated tap water? The EPA required municipalities to switch from chlorine to chloramines more than a decade ago because the chloramines last much longer, even though they have lesser efficacy in killing bacteria. They are harder to remove from the water than chlorine.


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## Wayne Freeman

I used to use spring water, but installed a RO system under the kitchen sink a few years ago. That's what I use now. I figure next to distilled, that's the closest I can come to what fills those little grape skins before we (or our kit makers) crush 'em. I should add that our water here along the Puget Sound north of Seattle is snow melt from the Cascades, so it's really good-tasting water to begin with.


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## hounddawg

i live in N.E. Arkansas ozark foothills,, ground is limestone well 243 deep well water flowing thru limestone is called sweetwater, never gave it much thought, i use well water . but after reading this post it make me think, how lucky i am.


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## Scooter68

Whenever I hear talk about some wonderful spring water, I remember an episode of Doc Martin on PBS. A plan/idea for a quick buck (or British Pound) went bad because the "spring" had water from a pasture with lambs during their 'kidding' time and the result was a large increase in a parsitic disease common in lambs. _This it whart happens when you are retired and have too much free time._


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## hounddawg

Scooter68 said:


> Whenever I hear talk about some wonderful spring water, I remember an episode of Doc Martin on PBS. A plan/idea for a quick buck (or British Pound) went bad because the "spring" had water from a pasture with lambs during their 'kidding' time and the result was a large increase in a parsitic disease common in lambs. _This it whart happens when you are retired and have too much free time._



you got that right,,, i years ago had my well water tested, but t be honest i'd be scared to death to retest it, even at 243 feet down,,,
Dawg


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## Scooter68

Dawg unless you have a lot of cattle, sheep, goats or other stock around I think 243 down in limestone will keep you safe.


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## Scooter68

Hey at least you don't live in Coconino County Arizona. (Area around Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Eilliams. Possible to have to go down 2,000 - 3000 feet and still come up with water that is not usable. (Imagine the pump to pull up that water)


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## hounddawg

Scooter68 said:


> Hey at least you don't live in Coconino County Arizona. (Area around Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Eilliams. Possible to have to go down 2,000 - 3000 feet and still come up with water that is not usable. (Imagine the pump to pull up that water)



when i was much younger i stopped at a rest area, and on the water fountain there was a sign saying people like me , lives far away it said do not drink this water, unsafe unless boiled, near the cedar river and cedar creek area,, all around where you just mentioned was the first place in my life that i bought eveon bottled water, that shock me to my core , late 70's,
Dawg


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## reeflections

I have rural municipal well water here in a small Ozark (MO) town. I have been running my wine water thru the Brita pitcher with the long last filter. It is supposed to remove 97.4% of the chlorine. It tastes fine even before filtering and better afterward.


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## crushday

Until a few days ago, I exclusively used bottled spring water. However, the CoVid effect has left all shelves bare. I started six kits this past week and used my well water, for the first time. My well water is very drinkable. I don’t suspect a problem looming and the fermentations are all going according to schedule.


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## oppyland

bkisel said:


> Most recently natural spring water as pictured here off Arnot Road in Bloss, PA



We have an artesian water source at a nearby park in my rural county. There are actually quite a few artesian wells in the area. I haven't really noticed it tastes any better than my well water, which is what I have always used for beer and wine.


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## winemanden

Been making country wine since 57, always used tap water, which tastes fine except a few times when it's extra hot and they add more Chlorine. I wait till autumn and the taste goes back to normal (Elderberry time). I don't know, but maybe it's just getting used to the taste.
Regards to all, stay safe OK.


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## Blackberry Guy

I just use tap . Water in Seattle is excellent.


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## bstnh1

On well water with high iron and magnesium going through a softener. I use bottled spring water. At 50 to 75 cent a gallon, it's cheap.


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## JoP

bstnh1 said:


> On well water with high iron and magnesium going through a softener. I use bottled spring water. At 50 to 75 cent a gallon, it's cheap.


Natural spring water?
Do you really believe it?
It is a marketing terminology 
Do you believe that a mass produced bottled water can be sourced from mountain springs as shown on the bottles?
Regardless how your tap water tastes, it must contain chlorine, the best thing to do is to filter it.
I recently listened to a Professor of Enology from UC Davis where he was strongly recommending filtering the tap water with charcoal filters.


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## bstnh1

JoP said:


> Natural spring water?
> Do you really believe it?
> It is a marketing terminology
> Do you believe that a mass produced bottled water can be sourced from mountain springs as shown on the bottles?
> Regardless how your tap water tastes, it must contain chlorine, the best thing to do is to filter it.
> I recently listened to a Professor of Enology from UC Davis where he was strongly recommending filtering the tap water with charcoal filters.


The spring water sources in this area are legitimate. You can drive to them and see the facility in operation. I'm not talking about Dasani and other sellers of bottled municipal tap water.


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## Rice_Guy

bstnh1 said:


> On well water with high iron and magnesium going through a softener. I use bottled spring water. At 50 to 75 cent a gallon, it's cheap.


A normal home softener adds sodium (salt) as it removes minerals. For lab use I had disposable deionization cartridges which produced water almost as good as distilled.


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## G259

"If you won't drink the wine, don't cook with it"

I use water from my Brita pitcher.


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## hounddawg

JoP said:


> Natural spring water?
> Do you really believe it?
> It is a marketing terminology
> Do you believe that a mass produced bottled water can be sourced from mountain springs as shown on the bottles?
> Regardless how your tap water tastes, it must contain chlorine, the best thing to do is to filter it.
> I recently listened to a Professor of Enology from UC Davis where he was strongly recommending filtering the tap water with charcoal filters.


why yes i believe them, of course dad said i didn't know a mules tail from a pump handle, jeeze yeller water is just ripe water and it only happened a few times anyhow,,, lol
Dawg


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## flowerlab

I wouldn't use tap water at all. House pipes contain minerals and contaminants. I would use (and drink) filtered water through a pitcher or buy spring water in glass bottles. There also was a website I used to look at, Find A Spring - Home, where you can find places in your area where you can go fill up natural spring water.


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## Rice_Guy

If I carry this forward I would not consume any reconstitused beverage where the ingredient list says “filtered water”. The filters are fairly porous/ high volume. Turbidity in processing/ingredient water was worse when the city was pumping surface/reservoir water.


flowerlab said:


> I wouldn't use tap water at all. House pipes contain minerals and contaminants. I would use (and drink) filtered water through a pitcher or buy spring water in glass bottles. There also was a website I used to look at, Find A Spring - Home, where you can find places in your area where you can go fill up natural spring water.


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## hounddawg

flowerlab said:


> I wouldn't use tap water at all. House pipes contain minerals and contaminants. I would use (and drink) filtered water through a pitcher or buy spring water in glass bottles. There also was a website I used to look at, Find A Spring - Home, where you can find places in your area where you can go fill up natural spring water.


i use well water through 243 foot of lime stone,
Dawg


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## fermenter

I have used a 1 gallon distiller for all my cooking and drinking water for almost 40 years. So of course I use distilled water when necessary for wine too.


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## hounddawg

fermenter said:


> I have used a 1 gallon distiller for all my cooking and drinking water for almost 40 years. So of course I use distilled water when necessary for wine too.


what is your general area and do you use well water or city water or county rural water . water quality varies greatly. i am very blessed to have 243 feet deep limestone well water also known as sweetwater, not to mention that most of my fruits and berries comes from my land or my neighbors land, i supply my neighbors with free farm fresh eggs, and they help me out with free farm fresh wild berries and fruits,,,
Dawg,,,


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## bstnh1

fermenter said:


> I have used a 1 gallon distiller for all my cooking and drinking water for almost 40 years. So of course I use distilled water when necessary for wine too.



FROM HOMEBREWIT.COM:
Distilled water is the result of a process of removing all the minerals from the water solution; this can be done via distillation methods or reverse osmosis. We don’t recommend using distilled water during the kit winemaking process, there are key chemical elements that yeast uses in order to produce wine. The most important minerals are magnesium and potassium, which are important in the biochemical process of yeast converting sugars into alcohol, ethanol fermentation, and phosphate, which is necessary for yeast growth.

If distilled water is the only type of water you have available, then you will need to add yeast nutrient to ensure the necessary minerals are in the solution for the yeast to operate properly. This is an easily avoidable additional step, just use a different type of water.


Our Suggestion: Do not use distilled water for winemaking.


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## bstnh1

fermenter said:


> I have used a 1 gallon distiller for all my cooking and drinking water for almost 40 years. So of course I use distilled water when necessary for wine too.



From ECKRAUS.COM

I would like to mention again that using distilled water in your wine making does not mean you have ruined your wine, but what it does mean is that you need to take some simple actions to mitigate the effects of the distilled water. By adding yeast nutrient and magnesium sulfate you can go on to have a great tasting wine.


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## joeswine

For about $1.00 per gallon for filtered water it's a know brainer.


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## hounddawg

bstnh1 said:


> FROM HOMEBREWIT.COM:
> Distilled water is the result of a process of removing all the minerals from the water solution; this can be done via distillation methods or reverse osmosis. We don’t recommend using distilled water during the kit winemaking process, there are key chemical elements that yeast uses in order to produce wine. The most important minerals are magnesium and potassium, which are important in the biochemical process of yeast converting sugars into alcohol, ethanol fermentation, and phosphate, which is necessary for yeast growth.
> 
> If distilled water is the only type of water you have available, then you will need to add yeast nutrient to ensure the necessary minerals are in the solution for the yeast to operate properly. This is an easily avoidable additional step, just use a different type of water.
> 
> 
> Our Suggestion: Do not use distilled water for winemaking.


superb,,,,, that's new knowledge,


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## fermenter

hounddawg said:


> what is your general area and do you use well water or city water or county rural water . water quality varies greatly. i am very blessed to have 243 feet deep limestone well water also known as sweetwater, not to mention that most of my fruits and berries comes from my land or my neighbors land, i supply my neighbors with free farm fresh eggs, and they help me out with free farm fresh wild berries and fruits,,,
> Dawg,,,


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## fermenter

We have city water which has the maximum amount of all the 100's of chemicals allowed by law so I will start adding yeast nutrient.


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## joeswine

You asked we replied


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## GaDawg

Doesn‘t boiling drive the O2 out and the yeasties need the O2.


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## Rice_Guy

I am missing something here. When the plant team members operate a vacuum evaporator the condenser does not foul up with magnesium sulfate or any other minerals. We assume we are taking 99.99% water vapor out and 0.01% volatile aroma compounds.
When I use distilled in the lab I assume I have 100% water and the only thing different from what the factory evaporator removed is aroma compounds.


bstnh1 said:


> . . but what it does mean is that you need to take some simple actions to mitigate the effects of the distilled water. By adding yeast nutrient and magnesium sulfate you can go on to have a great tasting wine.


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## BABRU

My well water makes very good wine kits as well as fruit wines. The well is 60’ deep in a water producing seam of sand. Magnesium is high but most dissipates when it leaves the aerated tap. My feeling is if your tap water is drinkable, no serious off odor, color or taste, then there is no reason to purchase bottled water. My winemaking mentor is a city dweller so he purchases bottled water to avoid using chlorinated water.


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