Distilled or deionised?

[ethanol]

First time I diluted the finished product I used tap water which as a novice I learnt not to.

I'm now distilling water for diluting with but which is best and why. Distilled or deionised? Does it matter?

[MuleKicker]

honestly I think they are basically the same thing. Just done by different methods. Distilled water is.....well you know that. Deionized water is water with all the minerals removed, electrically. From what i understand anyway.

[leiothrix]

deionized is passed through a pair of resin beads (ionic & anionic) to remove various minerals. nothing to do with electricity at all.

rob.

[Mud Mechanik]

First time I diluted the finished product I used tap water which as a novice I learnt not to.

I'm now distilling water for diluting with but which is best and why. Distilled or deionised? Does it matter?

Use which ever one tastes better, I use Aquafina bottled water. MM

[Ayay]

First I used bottled water but found it had too much calcium because of lime deposits on the glass storage containers. Then went to mountain runoff. Then found my tap water is equal in taste and completely free for the time being except for the new tasteless chlorine. I'm using the tap for now.

[MuleKicker]

deionized is passed through a pair of resin beads (ionic & anionic) to remove various minerals. nothing to do with electricity at all.

rob.

Deionization can be done continuously and inexpensively using electrodeionization.An electrode in an electrochemical cell is referred to as either an anode or a cathode, terms that were coined by Michael Faraday. The anode is defined as the electrode at which electrons leave the cell and oxidation occurs, and the cathode as the electrode at which electrons enter the cell and reduction occurs. Each electrode may become either the anode or the cathode depending on the voltage applied to the cell. A bipolar electrode is an electrode that functions as the anode of one cell and the cathode of another cell.

Each cell consists of an electrode and an electrolyte with ions that undergo either oxidation or reduction. An electrolyte is a substance containing free ions that behaves as an electrically conductive medium. Because they generally consist of ions in solution, electrolytes are also known as ionic solutions, but molten electrolytes and solid electrolytes are also possible. They are sometimes referred to in abbreviated jargon as lytes.

Water is passed between an anode (positive electrode) and a cathode (negative electrode). Ion-selective membranes allow the positive ions to separate from the water toward the negative electrode and the negative ions toward the positive electrode. High purity deionized water results.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrodeionization

[Mr.Spooky]

First time I diluted the finished product I used tap water which as a novice I learnt not to.

I'm now distilling water for diluting with but which is best and why. Distilled or deionised? Does it matter?

Use which ever one tastes better, I use Aquafina bottled water. MM

me too.
spooky

[leiothrix]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purified_w ... ionization

Deionized water, also known as demineralized water[2] (DI water, DIW or de-ionized water; can also be spelled deionised water), is water that has had its mineral ions removed, such as cations from sodium, calcium, iron, copper and anions such as chloride and bromide. Deionization is a physical process which uses specially-manufactured ion exchange resins which bind to and filter out the mineral salts from water. Because the majority of water impurities are dissolved salts, deionization produces a high purity water that is generally similar to distilled water, and this process is quick and without scale buildup. However, deionization does not significantly remove uncharged organic molecules, viruses or bacteria, except by incidental trapping in the resin. Specially made strong base anion resins can remove Gram-negative bacteria. Deionization can be done continuously and inexpensively using electrodeionization.

Deionization does not remove the hydroxide or hydronium ions from water. These are the products of the self-ionization of water to equilibrium and therefore are impossible to remove.

Generally you'd run the H2O through a reverse osmosis membrane first, then through a pair of DI resin cartridges.

Rob.

[Ayay]

Sounds like what the kidney and livver does.

[leiothrix]

well, the kidney does the RO part, I'm not sure where the DI resins get put though

[Liquidfunk]

What about using DI resins to purify the spirits?

[junkyard dawg]

The still does a great job of purifying the spirits...

The DI resins are meant for purifying water. Running ethanol in there would not be advised...

[rtalbigr]

I've always used RO water to dilute my spirits, well I use it for drinkin water too.

Big R

[MitchyBourbon]

Never had a problem with my tap water. I use it in my entire process. My mashes, ferments and diluting my finished product all work just fine. My SS boiler never gets any calcium build up either.

[Ayay]

Hehe, livver or kidney, are you TAS by any chance? Here the water is pure but the greedy bastards have made it a money machine.

[astronomical]

The parent site says "ideally distilled water should be used", however, I read someowhere that distilled water has a flat taste and to use R/O. I wish I could remember the source. I use RODI.

Edit:

Also from parent site:

"The water used to dilute the rectified spirit must be not only completely colourless and without any foreign taste or odour, but also demineralized. Otherwise it will cloud the liquor and precipitate, and the precipitates are difficult to remove. Water is demineralized through the removal of iron and manganese compounds by aeration and filtering and also through softening (removal of lime and magnesium) in ion exchangers. A still more effective method is the now-widespread method of reverse osmosis. In the past, water was demineralized by distillation; today this has been abandoned because of its energy-intensiveness and the fact that it leaves a not-too- pleasant odour and a flat aftertaste. Demineralized water must be used for production within 24 hours after the process is completed. Some the important elements of vodka production are these: The way the spirit is mixed with the water - mechanically or using air (the latter seems to give better results)"