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Distilled Water Question.
- Thread starter Fwee
- Start date
He Fwee,
Good to see you back and active on the boards.
Two schools of thought here.
1. I know a lot of people here who have used water bottles, 2 liter coke bottles, milk bottles etc. all plastic that have had great results and no problems with infection, off-flavors, etc. I have sampled several different meads that have gone through primary in this manner and have not been able to detect any flavor influence from the plastic container. I've also done blind-tastings plastic vs. glass vs. stainless and was unable to distinguish between the three, along with a panel of about four other meadmakers who all were not able call the plastic out. I say GFI (Go For It)
2. I've done the same taste test comparison with secondary aging in plastic water bottle jugs, PET bottles and glass. In this case three of the panel did pick out two of the plastic secondary vessels, and these were both the plastic water bottle jugs that are the typical kind that you find in a grocery store that are thin, opaque plastic and squarish with a handle and a colored snap on cap. Interestingly the one judge who swore up and down before the tasting that he would have no problem telling the difference called out one of the glass vessels as the plastic secondary.
Hope that helps,
Oskaar
Good to see you back and active on the boards.
Two schools of thought here.
1. I know a lot of people here who have used water bottles, 2 liter coke bottles, milk bottles etc. all plastic that have had great results and no problems with infection, off-flavors, etc. I have sampled several different meads that have gone through primary in this manner and have not been able to detect any flavor influence from the plastic container. I've also done blind-tastings plastic vs. glass vs. stainless and was unable to distinguish between the three, along with a panel of about four other meadmakers who all were not able call the plastic out. I say GFI (Go For It)
2. I've done the same taste test comparison with secondary aging in plastic water bottle jugs, PET bottles and glass. In this case three of the panel did pick out two of the plastic secondary vessels, and these were both the plastic water bottle jugs that are the typical kind that you find in a grocery store that are thin, opaque plastic and squarish with a handle and a colored snap on cap. Interestingly the one judge who swore up and down before the tasting that he would have no problem telling the difference called out one of the glass vessels as the plastic secondary.
Hope that helps,
Oskaar
I once bulk aged a strawberry mel in a 5-gallon plastic water jug for a almost a year, and it did leave a slight, though noticeable plastic flavor (no one but me seemed to be able to taste it, but it was there, trust me). I had used it for primary fermentation before that, and for temporary transfers after this batch, and I never noticed any off-flavors from these short contact times.
-David
-David
Fwee said:
For distilled I'd definitely follow the standard GoFerm, Fermaid K, DAP additions. The total amount of minerals in your must might be slightly lower, but you should be good to go. I personally have never liked the taste of water, but distilled falls among my least favorite drinking waters, right above boiled. I personally only use waters I enjoy drinking, and am lucky that my favorite water is available in 1 and 2.5 gallon jugs. Ice Mountain Spring Water. I am under no delusions of it being actual spring water, I just find it to be one of the few waters I can stand drinking. So that's my advise, stick to your usual Nutrient additions, but most importantly... use the best tasting water you can.
Wrathwilde
An old time rememdy for water that is too soft to sustain a fermentation is to add a pinch of Epsom salts. This is from Acton & Duncan's book on mead, published in 1965.
