Tap water vs bottled

[jgnin]

I was thinking of using bottled water, one of those big jugs from the grocery store instead of tap water, good idea of waste of time?????

 

[Johnd]

I was thinking of using bottled water, one of those big jugs from the grocery store instead of tap water, good idea of waste of time?????

Good idea, not a waste of time or money, in my opinion.

 

[bkisel]

Yes, IMHO, bottled spring water over regular tap water.

 

[dralarms]

I use filtered water. I have 2 of those bottles and keep them full from my filtered water system

 

[Floandgary]

Bottled/spring/xtra filtered is the ticket to great tasting ,,, anything!!!! In whiskey, Bourbon, or straight up. I've tried it and I like it!!

 

[Spikedlemon]

I have a whole-home filter for sediment and secondary (for chloromine) filter for my drinking water tap. My drinking water tastes pretty decent and I've no reason to use spring water.

 

[tjgaul]

I'm lucky enough to have really nice well water. No chlorine worries and the slight minerality comes through in the Rieslings and Gewurztraminers. If you have a friend who has quality well water you might try filling a few jugs at their house.

 

[DoctorCAD]

If your tap water tastes good, your wine will not benefit from bottled water.

 

[wineforfun]

I only use tap water.

 

[joeswine]

Only bottle filter water for me ,cheap enough.

 

[Rocky]

Here is your friendly salmon, swimming upstream, but I use distilled water. :< I know this is not the popular choice and the thought is that some of the "minerals" found in bottled water would be missing from the wine. My thinking on this is (and we are talking about kits because that is normally the only time water is added) the producers of the kits remove just water from the grape in order to produce the concentrated product we buy. In removing water (H2O), they do not remove minerals or anything else. All I am doing with distilled water is adding back H2O and nothing else. I would add further that in doing so I have never had a problem.

 

[ceeaton]

I use tap water that has been boiled and cooled. Habit from my beer making days.

 

[dcbrown73]

I use filtered / bottled water also. It's cheap enough and helps mitigate any added risks. Many people use tap without issue, but I suppose the water in your area matters too.

Ever so often, my town flushes their pipes and when they do that, for a bit the water can turn hints of brown though they say it's safe.

I have a filter in my fridge, but I keep excess gallon jugs of water in the same closet I bulk age is for emergency purposes. It's generally easier to just use the jugs of water and replace them the next time I go to the grocery store.

 

[dcbrown73]

Here is your friendly salmon, swimming upstream, but I use distilled water. :< I know this is not the popular choice and the thought is that some of the "minerals" found in bottled water would be missing from the wine. My thinking on this is (and we are talking about kits because that is normally the only time water is added) the producers of the kits remove just water from the grape in order to produce the concentrated product we buy. In removing water (H2O), they do not remove minerals or anything else. All I am doing with distilled water is adding back H2O and nothing else. I would add further that in doing so I have never had a problem.

The minerals in the water also help the yeast.

I keep at least a gallon or two of distilled water on hand also though.

The most consistent use of it though is with my Vinmetrica so2 analyzer kit

 

[hounddawg]

AS TIQUAL
I WAS RAISED ON DEEP WELL WATER, where i live now is a little shallow only 149 feet to the water, where i live people call it sweet water, as it runs through lime stone, and some mighty fine sweet cool and great tasting water, wonder what kind of water for their wines 300 years ago, even 2000 years ago. i will stick with my drinking water and water making wine filtered by mother earth... to each their own. but i go with mother earth, then using father time to bring it all together,,,
Dawg

I'm lucky enough to have really nice well water. No chlorine worries and the slight minerality comes through in the Rieslings and Gewurztraminers. If you have a friend who has quality well water you might try filling a few jugs at their house.

 

[StBlGT]

I only use bottled. Tap will probably be okay, but for the price a gallon or two costs....it's not a big deal.

 

[jgnin]

started a kit this evening, was $5 for a big bottle of water, I have another kit that was tap water so I'll be able to compare in a few months

 

[drainsurgeon]

Tap water is fine as long as you know whats in it. I really doesn't matter if it is from a municipal well or a private well. City water will have chlorine it which will evaporate if left on the counter overnight. There are over 600 potential contaminates that can be in water. Our city tests the water you say? Most municipalities only test for about 6 or 8 things, bacteria being one. I live out in the country and have a well. I could have my well tested for a bunch of bad things but 6 months from now I would have to test it again. Aquifers underground are like rivers, not lakes, and is constantly moving. Water is considered a universal solvent and dissolves a little bit of whatever it comes in contact with. Distilled or osmosis water is the safest and best tasting water out there. Osmosis removes up to 98% of whatever is in your water. The machines you see in grocery stores that dispense water into gallon jugs are osmosis machines. Many people that buy bottled water drink Aquafina, and that, is osmosis water. If you like your water and it tastes good, go ahead and use it. If you want water that has been purified and have a little peace of mind about what you are drinking, buy osmosis water from the store or get your own machine for at home. They are really not that expensive. My osmosis machine will make up to 20 gallons of drinking water a day which is more than I need. I drink and cook with nothing else. Oh, and I make wine with it also!

PS Water is my passion.....can ya tell?

 

[Spikedlemon]

Tap water is fine as long as you know whats in it. I really doesn't matter if it is from a municipal well or a private well. City water will have chlorine it which will evaporate if left on the counter overnight. There are over 600 potential contaminates that can be in water. Our city tests the water you say?

That's the scarier thing about spring water... It isn't required to meet the same testing level as our city water.

I've picked up bottles of "spring" water that had sediment in them (kirkland brand is bad for this).

 

[rustbucket]

My practice is to use bottled spring water. I buy it at Walmart for 68 cents a gallon. At that price, it's probably the cheapest component that goes into my wine and gives me piece of mind that I've done everything possible to make a good wine.