Hard of soft water?

[Ericphotoart]

I use my well water for all purposes including of course wine making, however my water is very hard and next week I will be installing water softener. I wonder how this may influance the fermentation, taste etc. Of course I will be able to use hard water if I want to, before the water softener, but it will be an inconvenience. I'm not fermenting anything now. I will be making some Chilean wines around April but this is a slight change in chemistry so I started to investigate.

 

[Rice_Guy]

I would not use soft water for cooking or for making wine.

Well I actually do use soft water in cooking where salt would be included in the recipe. Soft water replaces divalent calcium and magnesium with sodium. Excess sodium is a health risk. ,,, But in the scheme of things formulated US foods ALL are high sodium, it tastes good.

 

[DrGriz]

I would not use soft water for cooking or for making wine.

Well I actually do use soft water in cooking where salt would be included in the recipe. Soft water replaces divalent calcium and magnesium with sodium. Excess sodium is a health risk. ,,, But in the scheme of things formulated US foods ALL are high sodium, it tastes good.

Precisely why I use potassium salt in my water softener. Yes, it is more expensive.

Potassium chloride treated hard water is better for growing plants. It is better for yeast as well, as they require potassium to grow and function.

 

[ibglowin]

The usual theory is that if your water looks good, taste good and has no off odors it will be fine for making wine. Using filtered water or bottled will remove chlorine which has some benefits.

 

[BPL]

I use my well water for all purposes including of course wine making, however my water is very hard and next week I will be installing water softener. I wonder how this may influance the fermentation, taste etc. Of course I will be able to use hard water if I want to, before the water softener, but it will be an inconvenience. I'm not fermenting anything now. I will be making some Chilean wines around April but this is a slight change in chemistry so I started to investigate.

I have read reports on Face Book that water with high mineral content (well water) appears to promote yeast activity. I understand how and why that happens, but FWIW, using anything besides RO water or distilled water can deliver unexpected results.

For example, if using well water from a location works 1,000 times and happens to be the cause of 1 failure, would the water be considered as OK for making wine?

I dumped a couple of batches years ago that were traced back to questionable tap water. I don't take chances anymore. I use RO drinking water or distilled water PERIOD.

DISCLAIMER: My comment about the FB post is sorta like an "I heard".... which promotes rumors and not facts! So be aware.

 

[Rocky]

Just as BPL does, I use distilled water exclusively for wine making kits and I have never had an issue. My rationale is that when the kits are manufactured, water (H2O) is removed from the grapes by various processes and I am merely adding back pure water. It is a bit more expensive and I think it is well worth it. If anyone sees a flaw in this reasoning, please correct me.

 

[BPL]

I use distilled water exclusively for wine making kits

Finer Wine Kits recommend using distilled water because of impacting flavors and/or issues with fermenting. I had discussions with Matteo about using various types of water. To my knowledge no other wine kit makes this distinction. Can't say about the H20 removed from the grapes rationale.

 

[winemaker81]

There's no simple answer to the question of what water to use. It all depends on what ya got.

I'm on a well, which is hard, slightly acidic water. I've been making wine with this water for 3 decades and have no problems with it.

My younger son lives in south Georgia (US state not the country) and his municipal water is treated, but the shower smells of sulfur. He installed a filter in his kitchen -- I'd use the kitchen sink water but not from any other tap in the house.

I've lived in places where the water smelled of chlorine. I'd not use that water.

If the local water is questionable, use commercial.

 

[mikewatkins727]

I'm on a well. I have a water softener plus another system to treat for sulfur. Distilled water is relegated to the wife's CPAP machine and the final rinse of my labware. I've never had a problem with soft water when cooking, drinking or making wine. Distilled water has had vital minerals removed needed for life.

 

[Raptor99]

The usual theory is that if your water looks good, taste good and has no off odors it will be fine for making wine.

This is the key. What does your well water taste like? Good tasting water will make better tasting wine. I did a blind taste test with my family using softened well water, unsoftened well water, and bottled water from the grocery store. We liked our well water better than the bottled water.

I use well water. We use softened water in the kitchen for cooking and drinking, and it tastes fine. Our water directly from the well is good tasting, and not excessively hard, so the softener does not have to do as much work. I have tasted soften water in other locations that has a terrible, salty flavor. I would not use that to make wine.

When I built my wine room, I brought in a cold water line that is sourced from before the water softener. My theory is that for wine and mead, I want a certain amount of minerals in the water to add to the flavor profile. I added a filter in the wine room, including a carbon filter. The water there is the best tasting water in the house.

 

[Ericphotoart]

My main concern was if I can use softened water for wine making. I've been using my hard water (after sediment/carbon/iron filters) without any problems and the water tastes great. I will be installing water softener only because of problems with water heater, plumbing, toilet bowl stains etc and the whole house will have softened water, except outdoor faucet (I think). If the right size of the water softener is installed I don't think I will have problems with water being salty. My water was tested and the right size of the softener was purchased. I think this is the key. A friend of mine installed a water softener and in spite of adjusting it by professionals his water was just so soft that it was to slippery to stand under the shower. They decided to disconnect it.

 

[Raptor99]

My main concern was if I can use softened water for wine making.

Taste it and then decide. If you think it might be a problem, run an unsoftened cold water line to the kitchen faucet

A friend of mine installed a water softener and in spite of adjusting it by professionals his water was just so soft that it was to slippery to stand under the shower. They decided to disconnect it.

My softener has a water hardness setting that controls how much it will soften the water. I'm not sure if they all have a setting like that, but if so, you should be able to control the amount of softening.

 

[Rice_Guy]

. A friend of mine installed a water softener and in spite of adjusting it by professionals his water was just so soft that it was to slippery to stand under the shower.

Your friend must be related to my wife. , , , It is normal to have a clock on old models. By decreasing how often it cycles one can get reasonable water. Modern models also should regulate via a sensor (? Conductivity?)

 

[Obbnw]

I use my well water for all purposes including of course wine making, however my water is very hard and next week I will be installing water softener. I wonder how this may influance the fermentation, taste etc. Of course I will be able to use hard water if I want to, before the water softener, but it will be an inconvenience. I'm not fermenting anything now. I will be making some Chilean wines around April but this is a slight change in chemistry so I started to investigate.

When I added a water softener I split the supply line so I get unsoftened cold water at the kitchen sink.

My wife grew in up on a farm with well water and they had a separate unsoftened water faucet for drinking water.

Splitting the line was pretty easy but I have easy access to all the lines from an unfinished basement.

I also rigged up a valve system so all lines could be softened or I can completely take the water softener offline by flipping a few valves.

The water softener definitely reduced hard water deposits in the bathrooms.

 

[Mekpdue]

FWIW, we have hard water in our home. On the hardness scale it is an 8 and is 5ppm iron. Straight from the well, the water has a sulphur smell and leaves rust stains on everything. Our 22-year-old water softener died a month ago and the job it did in eliminating rust stains and smell was pretty good. We still got some minimal rust stains, but not much (you could really tell on the shower curtains). For me and my family the taste is horrible without the softener, and bad with the softener (hello 5 gallon RO water jugs for drinking). I just replaced the softener 5 days ago and the difference is immense. We use our 'softened' water for everything except drinking as we like the RO water for that. I've never really tasted 'salt' in the water excepting for a handful of times.

With that said, I would not use our unfiltered water for kit wine making. Taste (and iron) is the concern. I do not use 'softened' water for kit wine making as I've read that there are adverse effects on the wine using well treated water. I use store bought spring water. Now that I type this, I may just try an experiment with Vintners best or a WE Classic comparing softened water to store bought spring water, just to find if I can detect a difference, but my head says to just stick with spring water as I have had success with it. Maybe someday I will play around with it. Now, municipal treated water (city water) is something I've used too, but only on a couple of batches and I've not detected anything really strange about it...other than everyone saying not to use it, and I don't have it anyway.

 

[Brant]

My main concern was if I can use softened water for wine making. I've been using my hard water (after sediment/carbon/iron filters) without any problems and the water tastes great. I will be installing water softener only because of problems with water heater, plumbing, toilet bowl stains etc and the whole house will have softened water, except outdoor faucet (I think). If the right size of the water softener is installed I don't think I will have problems with water being salty. My water was tested and the right size of the softener was purchased. I think this is the key. A friend of mine installed a water softener and in spite of adjusting it by professionals his water was just so soft that it was to slippery to stand under the shower. They decided to disconnect it.

This is key. Not all softener systems are the same. If correctly sized and good quality brand, they do a good job of adding only what is necessary. I have felt and tasted water from poor systems and it's not good.

My well has super hard water that tastes horrible. It has a lot of iron, sulfer and dissolved and undisolved minerals (we have actual limestone sediment that comes up with the water). Our custom built softener does an amazing job dealing with these issues. The softened water doesn't taste bad but I installed an RO for drinking water anyway. ROs are inexpensive and do amazingly well at removing salt. If you have a place to put it, you can purchase an oversized tank and have a good amount of water on hand at anytime. I have an 11 gallon tank so I never run out of water unless I'm trying to make multiple batches of wine. I think my RO will filter around 50 to 100 gals per day. If I didn't have the RO, I would probably used distilled.

If you want to have minerals in your wine water, you can purchase trace minerals in a liquid form and add them to the water during ferment. I have considered doing this as an experiment the next time I make similar batches.

 

[bstnh1]

I have well water and a water softener. Rather than take a risk, I use bottled spring water for wine making. 15 years and no problems at all.