water treatment for wine

[Dave S]

I'm pretty well exclusively a beer brewer and haven't made wine for years but I am thinking of trying a decent, (no added sugar)red wine kit. Does anyone know if water alkalinity should be adjusted for optimum results?

[Horden Hillbilly]

I filter all my wine making water using the Water Gem set up. I also make good quality wine kits, ie Selection Estate, & I'm more than happy with the way they turn out. I really haven't given alkaline levels a thought to be honest.

[Jim]

I'm no expert on winemaking by any means, but you could reason thus: -

1. The best feasible quality wine kit would be concentrated grape juice with no other additives (maybe just a yeast nutrient, but even that shouldn't be needed)

2. The raw grape juice would be concentrated in a vaccuum evaporator.

3. In the vaccuum evaporator only distilled water would be extracted.

4. Therefore use distilled water to reconstitute the original juice.

Obviously, cheap wine kits are anything but simple concentrated grape juice, and I'm not sure that even the best quality ones would be made as above.

Actually, when you think about it, the same reasoning would apply to beer kits, which are just concentrated wort. I've never thought of it before though.

[Dave S]

I'm no expert on winemaking by any means, but you could reason thus: -

1. The best feasible quality wine kit would be concentrated grape juice with no other additives (maybe just a yeast nutrient, but even that shouldn't be needed)

2. The raw grape juice would be concentrated in a vaccuum evaporator.

3. In the vaccuum evaporator only distilled water would be extracted.

4. Therefore use distilled water to reconstitute the original juice.

Obviously, cheap wine kits are anything but simple concentrated grape juice, and I'm not sure that even the best quality ones would be made as above.

Actually, when you think about it, the same reasoning would apply to beer kits, which are just concentrated wort. I've never thought of it before though.

Yes, I was planning only top quality kits such as California Connoisseurs collection? At least ones that don't require added sugar, or anything else apart from water. The thought of using distilled is interesting, though would push the price up quite a bit.

[Dave S]

I filter all my wine making water using the Water Gem set up. I also make good quality wine kits, ie Selection Estate, & I'm more than happy with the way they turn out. I really haven't given alkaline levels a thought to be honest.

What does the Water Gem system filter out? I suppose I could use something like Tesco Ashbeck as a happy medium.

[Horden Hillbilly]

Taken from here, For better results with wine or beer making (or even tea & coffee) use filtered water. Removes off-tastes, odours, rust particles, pesticides, organic compounds, as well as chlorine & Chlor-amines.

[mabrungard]

+1 for what Jim said. Distilled water was extracted from the grape concentrate and a water similar to that would be best to reconstitute it.

[Dave S]

+1 for what Jim said. Distilled water was extracted from the grape concentrate and a water similar to that would be best to reconstitute it.

I guess RO water would be a less costly option. I paid around £5, ($7.5) for 5 litres of distilled. I know others have paid more, so home made wine could work out mighty expensive.

[fatbloke]

+1 for what Jim said. Distilled water was extracted from the grape concentrate and a water similar to that would be best to reconstitute it.

I guess RO water would be a less costly option. I paid around £5, ($7.5) for 5 litres of distilled. I know others have paid more, so home made wine could work out mighty expensive.

I use almost exclusively RO water (about £3 for 25 litre from local aquarium shop.....no minerals), because being from a mead making background, I'm acutely aware of the downside of hard water/high calcium and its negative effect on ferments....

[Dave S]

+1 for what Jim said. Distilled water was extracted from the grape concentrate and a water similar to that would be best to reconstitute it.

I guess RO water would be a less costly option. I paid around £5, ($7.5) for 5 litres of distilled. I know others have paid more, so home made wine could work out mighty expensive.

I use almost exclusively RO water (about £3 for 25 litre from local aquarium shop.....no minerals), because being from a mead making background, I'm acutely aware of the downside of hard water/high calcium and its negative effect on ferments....

£3 for 25 litres sounds more like it. I have a large aquarium shop near by, so must nip along and see what they can do.

[fatbloke]

£3 for 25 litres sounds more like it. I have a large aquarium shop near by, so must nip along and see what they can do.

You have to get the can/drum yourself, that's just for the fill up (but I did get my 3 x 25 litre cans from them too - £3 each - YMMV)........