Do you use tap water for wine making ?

[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.

 

[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

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[GreginND]

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

 

[Dugger]

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

 

[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

 

[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

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[jswordy]

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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[jswordy]

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.

 

[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.

 

[ibglowin]

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........

 

[Bartman]

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.

 

[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.

 

[jamesngalveston]

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