Do you use tap water for wine making ?

[sour_grapes]

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.

 

[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!

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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).

 

[bkisel]

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

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[user 32114]

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.

 

[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.

 

[user 32114]

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

 

[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.

 

[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)

 

[user 32114]

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

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[oppyland]

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.

 

[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.

 

[Blackberry Guy]

I just use tap . Water in Seattle is excellent.

 

[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.