Water Hardness

[Wiley1]

I am looking for some info on how water hardness affects wine. Preferably some numbers showing the thresholds of how hard is too hard and how soft is too soft and the affects of each. I can't seem to find very much info on research into this topic. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Julie]

Hi Wiley1,

Welcome to winemakingtalk.

Good question about hard water, not sure if anyone else has ever inquired about that. Normally, the consensus is if you drink the water, you can make wine from the water. I am sure someone will come on with a much better answer that what I just gave you.

 

[gwm72513]

Well I work in a potash mine and make water softener as a side product. I'll have to take some home and do a little bit of testing.

 

[Runningwolf]

I agree with Julie, unless if you have a water softner. Then you want to use bottled water if your adding a lot like in a kit.

 

[Wiley1]

I mainly do fruit wines and use well water, but it is quite hard (TDS 405) with great sucess. But, on a recent batch of Blk Berry using Motrachet yeast, I used Ozarka brand bottled water, marketed as "narural spring water". I made the mistake of not tasting it first and turns out it is softened water. My wine ended up tasting horrible. I've made this same recipe many times without issue. I also picked all of the berries myself from the same source every year. My sanitation is meticulous. So the problem had to be from the water.

Surely there has to be someone who has researched this.

 

[rhoffart]

Well a few years back I did some research on this subject and I work for a company that sells water softeners. I live in the Texas Hill Country and have a well. Our water is some of the hardest in the country, it has 34 GPG. 1 is considered soft and 10 is considered very hard. You really need a Hard Water Test Kit to properly test the hardness. A TDS meter will tell you "total dissolved solids" which tells you how much crap you have in your water but not necessarily the hardness of the water.

A big misconception is that if you have a water softener that uses salt or potassium you will have a lot of salt or potassium in your water. This is not true at all. The salt/potassium is only used to clean the resin during the regeneration process. The resin actually traps the calcium and magnesium (hardness). There is a little salt/potassium released into the water but a quart of soft water will have the same salt content as a slice of bread (not much).

With that said, you probably don't want to use soft water or hard water in your wine. It was recommended to me to use "spring water" from your grocery store. It has a few minerals but is about the best balanced water you can get IMO.

 

[Wiley1]

I've had a lab analysis done for my well water and have a full break down. As mentioned before, it makes great wine.
PH-7.2
TDS-405
Na- 3
K-1
Ca-83
Mg- 49
Total Hardness (CaCO3)- 412
SO4-S- 2
CO3- 1
HCO3- 428
TA/CaCO3- 351

Here are the numbers from the Ozarka "Natural Spring Water"
Ca-2.2-3.4
Na-2.4-11.2
K-3.6
Mg-.93-1.4
HCO3-9.2
pH-5.6-6.3
SO4-S- 1.4-5.7
TDS- 36-99

Anyone know of any other sources I can contact to find the info I am looking for?

 

[vin_man]

Wiley,
When I made beer you needed the hard water to help clear it. I've never seen the data you are looking for...sorry.

 

[winemaker_3352]

I have a water softener and I still use the water with my wine - I have also used spring water before - IMO - i have noticed no difference in my wines.

 

[ibglowin]

Gotta love that Texas limestone!

Our problem is silica. Water taste great (can't even taste the plutonium or uranium!). The silica will leave a hard almost concrete ring at the water line that nothing in the world will remove except a pumice stone and a fair amount of elbow grease.... :>

Well a few years back I did some research on this subject and I work for a company that sells water softeners. I live in the Texas Hill Country and have a well. Our water is some of the hardest in the country, it has 34 GPG. 1 is considered soft and 10 is considered very hard. You really need a Hard Water Test Kit to properly test the hardness. A TDS meter will tell you "total dissolved solids" which tells you how much crap you have in your water but not necessarily the hardness of the water.

A big misconception is that if you have a water softener that uses salt or potassium you will have a lot of salt or potassium in your water. This is not true at all. The salt/potassium is only used to clean the resin during the regeneration process. The resin actually traps the calcium and magnesium (hardness). There is a little salt/potassium released into the water but a quart of soft water will have the same salt content as a slice of bread (not much).

With that said, you probably don't want to use soft water or hard water in your wine. It was recommended to me to use "spring water" from your grocery store. It has a few minerals but is about the best balanced water you can get IMO.