Using Diistilled Water

dyerwolf · Post by **dyerwolf** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:39 pm

Is it important to use distilled water when cutting whiskey? I live in Bend Oregon, we have fantastic municipal water.

Post by **HookLine** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:43 pm

We have excellent tasting town water in my area, (rain water from a large dam), and I have never used anything else. Tastes fine to me.

modul8 · Post by **modul8** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:51 pm

I cant find the link at the moment but I am sure it was somewhere on here, stating that distilled water should never be used for cutting alcohol.
Something to do with the lack of salts in the water leeching salt out of your body, if I remember correctly.

tracker0945 · Post by **tracker0945** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:28 pm

homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6723943&sid=e54eb0f865a954851ebd1f987782f7d3 -
This may be the link you are referring to.
I use Brita filtered rain water.

The Chemist · Post by **The Chemist** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:40 am

If your water tastes good, it's probably fine. We can't all live on top of limestone aquifers...

goose eye · Post by **goose eye** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 12:02 pm

if you wantin it clear in the end id test that well water on a pint full an
let it set awhile fore id start putin in the likker barel. it mite have you runin it again.
so im tole

Himbeergeist · Post by **Himbeergeist** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 10:29 am

modul8 wrote:I cant find the link at the moment but I am sure it was somewhere on here, stating that distilled water should never be used for cutting alcohol.
Something to do with the lack of salts in the water leeching salt out of your body, if I remember correctly.

For cutting alcohol of any kind, distilled water is actually a good choice. While a very low salt liquid (like distilled water) may actually leech some salt out of its surroundings (your body), you would have to drink huge amounts before you did any damage to your body.

Actually, you would probably die from alcohol poisoning long before you had to worry about the amount of distilled water you ingested.

The only problem with clean, good tasting water of any kind would be a high Calcium content, also known as hardness. If the water is too hard, your whiskey would get cloudy. Just try with a small amount if in doubt. If no clouding occurs within a few hours, you should be fine.

punkin · Post by **punkin** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 10:38 am

I'll just cut and paste my reply from the mistakes thread, as i believe it's relevant here. Sorry to those reading it twice.

"I used rainwater from my new tank in the backyard for fermenting and cutting spirits. I figured it'd be the cleanest, purest water i had access to.

About two months into my rum ageing i noticed strands of algae coming off a bottle i was about to give a friend, so i went and checked the aging flagons with oak sticks in em, and sure enough, two inch long strands of seaweed.

We'd been drinking it for over a month.....

I still use the tank water for my ferments, but never cut with anything but boiled town water anymore. I never woulda thought that green algae could grow in 65% alchohol, but there ya go...tougher than you think.

The upside is that my rum wasn't much good, too much mandarin taste and possibly poor cuts, once i put it back in and redistilled it all, did my cuts, aged it for a few weeks, it's turned out a far superior product.
I had put rum on the backburner for a while because of the quality, but now i'll putting some down as soon as i have a spare fermenter, and double distilling. "

Post by **Husker** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 11:01 am

I find it hard to believe that anything could survive in 65%, but since you found out, I do not have to test it myself

I cut using mostly distilled water. The water here is very hard. It is a sand or sandstone aquifer, but there is so much dissolved lime and calcium (and nitrates) that I simply distill off and mix about 3/4 distilled water with 1/4 tap water, and cut with that. Having a "little" hardness seems to make the cut better, but if it is too hard, cloudiness happens, and after a bottle sits for a while (yes, a "few" of my bottles do survive full for a while), I end up with a precipitate in the bottom. I have not liked cutting with 100% distilled water (the end drink just seems "too" washed out). But getting a little of the hardness there (but not too much), does seem to work for me.

When I do a 4L distilled water run (easy still), there are about a tablespoon full of very stinky (slightly wet) solids left when done. I do not want to add that to my drink.

People here talk of "good" tap water. Well, simply distill this all the way out (simply put 4L or so into a SS pot, and boil it dry. Just see what is left. It is possible that many people have very good water. It is also possible that many people think their water is better than it is. I knew my city tap is not "bad" water, it is simply way too hard. However, actually "seeing" what was there (left after a full boil off), allowed me to determine just how hard it was.

H.

punkin · Post by **punkin** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 11:15 am

Yep, still gotta litre bottle out in the shed i got back of a friend after i'd run the rum a second time. If i thought i was good enough to photograph it i would, but i don't think it'd come up any good in a photo...

Post by **HookLine** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 11:21 am

Punkin, I don't know what is in your booze, but I doubt very much it is algae. Nothing lives in 40% alcohol. It is possible you are getting some kind of precipitate out of the water. (I know it is rain water, but it might be picking up something from your roof, tanks or lines.)

Post by **bronzdragon** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:17 pm

I've just been using bottled water from the market. I buy the local kind that come from springs. Never had a problem with it. For brewing my wash/mashes ... I use city water that's been filtered, then I boil it before adding it to my bucket.

cheers
~r~

CoopsOz · Post by **CoopsOz** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:28 pm

I use tap water for fermenting and cut with the spring water from the supermarket. I get the 15l drums for about $5 or $6, there is a marked improvement in the end result.

modul8 · Post by **modul8** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 2:02 pm

CoopsOz wrote:I use tap water for fermenting and cut with the spring water from the supermarket. I get the 15l drums for about $5 or $6, there is a marked improvement in the end result.

Same. Seems to work for me.
Quite funny seeing the other half struggle down the driveway with 2 x 15l water drums and a couple bags of shopping

Post by **blanikdog** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 3:06 pm

I've always used tank water with no problems. The alternative is river water and we all know what fish do in that.

blanik

tracker0945 · Post by **tracker0945** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 3:36 pm

blanikdog wrote:I've always used tank water with no problems. The alternative is river water and we all know what fish do in that.

blanik

And the fish are not the only ones

Post by **blanikdog** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 3:52 pm

You beast, tracker.

blanik