Hi, I've been reading thru the direction on my winemaking kit and on
the last page they show a recipie form(i assume to help you keep
track)

on it they list the ingredients and on is water(hard,no clorine) I
knew about the no clorine, but did not know about the hard water. I
have a water softener that i can bypass. can someone explain to me the
why on the hard vs soft?

On Mar 17, 3:16 pm, "Tater" > wrote:
> Hi, I've been reading thru the direction on my winemaking kit and on
> the last page they show a recipie form(i assume to help you keep
> track)
>
> on it they list the ingredients and on is water(hard,no clorine) I
> knew about the no clorine, but did not know about the hard water. I
> have a water softener that i can bypass. can someone explain to me the
> why on the hard vs soft?

also, this is one of about four different set of instructions i'll
probably be reading. first was from "first steps to winemaking" book,
the above is from "wallys info packet" that was added to the
winemaking kit, I'll assume the wine kit will also have instructions
and the recipie for (the eventual) plum wine that i found online.

so far, no real contradictions, but it appears to be some ommisions,
like the hard vs soft, and upgrades from different types of sanitizers

Yeast require many trace elements and minerals to do well. These are found
in most hard water. But then there is HARD water. You can overdo anything.
I have been some places where you could not drink coffee made from the local
water. Be sensible about a rule like that.

Ray

"Tater" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi, I've been reading thru the direction on my winemaking kit and on
> the last page they show a recipie form(i assume to help you keep
> track)
>
> on it they list the ingredients and on is water(hard,no clorine) I
> knew about the no clorine, but did not know about the hard water. I
> have a water softener that i can bypass. can someone explain to me the
> why on the hard vs soft?
>

On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 10:00:56 -0600, Ray Calvert wrote:

> Yeast require many trace elements and minerals to do well. These are
> found in most hard water. But then there is HARD water. You can overdo
> anything. I have been some places where you could not drink coffee made
> from the local water. Be sensible about a rule like that.
>
> Ray
>
> "Tater" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>> Hi, I've been reading thru the direction on my winemaking kit and on
>> the last page they show a recipie form(i assume to help you keep track)
>>
>> on it they list the ingredients and on is water(hard,no clorine) I
>> knew about the no clorine, but did not know about the hard water. I
>> have a water softener that i can bypass. can someone explain to me the
>> why on the hard vs soft?


In addition to what Ray said, soft water contains sodium, which can stop
yeast dead in its tracks. There's probably not enough in softened water
to kill the yeast, but why take the chance?

I live in Pittsburgh and our water is hard and seriously chlorinated.
I have used plain tap water, filtered water and RO water to hydrate
yeast and all worked pretty much the same. I don't have a water
softener so can't speak to it. I would probably avoid using softened
water for making up the water in a kit though; I might just go buy a
few gallons of spring water at the grocery store.

Joe

On Mar 19, 11:00 am, "Ray Calvert" > wrote:
> Yeast require many trace elements and minerals to do well. These are found
> in most hard water. But then there is HARD water. You can overdo anything.
> I have been some places where you could not drink coffee made from the local
> water. Be sensible about a rule like that.
>
> Ray
>
> "Tater" > wrote in message
>
> oups.com...
>
>
>
> > Hi, I've been reading thru the direction on my winemaking kit and on
> > the last page they show a recipie form(i assume to help you keep
> > track)
>
> > on it they list the ingredients and on is water(hard,no clorine) I
> > knew about the no clorine, but did not know about the hard water. I
> > have a water softener that i can bypass. can someone explain to me the
> > why on the hard vs soft?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

for cleaning and sanitizing, should i use the softened water or not?

water tastes the same to me either way, enough that we are not sure if
the water softener is shot(just bought the house in july, softener
wasnt an issue)

Sure, if it's good enough to clean people it's good enough to clean
equipment.

Joe