Something I've always wondered

[MoneyGuy]

We carefully sterilize everything that touches our wine, but many people use water directly from the tap. This water is running through pipes. Doesn't that introduce contaminants?

 

[Runningwolf]

I believe as long as your water does not have a strong oder or high in iron your ok. The alcohol will kill off some of the bacteria also. If you use a water softner you should also avoid using the water.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

I think where people get into trouble with unsanitary conditions is when they have equipment that they don't clean carefully after making a batch. The old wine, fruit, or juice attracts bacteria or molds that are attracted to wines. It's these nasties that can ruin your wine. Some of the average household germs that are just lying about aren't so much of a problem because they're not suited to living in a high acid environment, or the alcohol kills them off, or they don't eat fruit juices. Also think of all the germs you introduce with natural fruit. The peaches that the winemaker crushes aren't sterile on the outside; but most of the things on the outside face an uphill battle with the addition of K-meta, sugars, acids, and fermenting yeast. Keep your equipment clean from previous batches and you've won 90% of the battle.

 

[cpfan]

We carefully sterilize everything that touches our wine, but many people use water directly from the tap. This water is running through pipes. Doesn't that introduce contaminants?

If you're in a city, the water is tested regularly and may be chlorinated. This should ensure good quality water out of your tap.

If it's bad quality water out of the tap, then you shouldn't use it.

Some people (like me) use Reverse Osmosis (RO) water or natural spring water because they prefer that or aren't happy with the tap water.

Steve

 

[Wade E]

Agree with both posts. I have my well water tested about every 2 years, its pretty cheap and with kids I want to feel safe especially with all the contaminates hat leak into this Earth. So far my water tastes great and passes the tests with very good results but I also have whole house filters right where the water comes in and also have a PUR filter on my kitchen sink where we get all the water for drinking to be sure and thats what I use for my wine making.

 

[MoneyGuy]

I am in a city that uses cholorinated water of the best quality. Our water is some of the best municipal water anywhere so that's not an issue. It just struck me as odd that we sterilize everything so well (and I am very careful) but run tap water that comes from these old pipes. Thanks for the comments from everyone.

 

[Malkore]

since many cities use chloramine, not chlorine, you can run into issues with off flavors from the chloramine, which DOES NOT evaporate/gas out of solution.
So if you treat the water with campden to remove the chloramine you're also doing a bit to sulfite and 'sanitize' that water which is likely very clean.

I often buy spring water though, because campden won't touch the high alkalinity and carbonate hardness of my tap water, and I don't want 30 bottles of funky wine because of it.

For beer, I usually use campden'd tap water.

 

[Dufresne11]

I have a well and like Wade get it checked out regularly... water is excellent quality although a bit hard. I installed a water softener a couple of years ago with great results.

Why should I avoid using the water that has gone through the softener?