TOP 10 REASONS

FOR FERMENTATION FAILURE

Reason #9

Using Distilled Water:

Using bottled water when making your wine is fine, and in some
cases preferred, depending upon what's in your tap water. But,
not all bottled waters are the same. Some bottled waters have
been distilled and that's a bad thing for winemakers. When
choosing bottled water for wine making be sure that it is labeled
as spring water, mineral water or some kind of drinking water and
not labeled as distilled water.

Using distilled water can cause big problems for the unsuspecting
winemaker. There are two reasons for this. The first being
distilled water has had all of the excess or "free" oxygen
removed from it. The second reason is that distilled water has no
minerals either. Both of these conditions are direct results of
the distilling process and both conditions have inhibiting
effects on a fermentation.

During the primary fermentation the yeast need an ample supply of
oxygen in the must to allow them to freely reproduce themselves.
The yeast have the monumental task of multiplying themselves to
around 100 to 150 times during the primary fermentation. If the
yeast are not given enough oxygen to multiply successfully, then
the result will be a sluggish fermentation that can drag out for
several additional weeks.

Having no minerals in the water affects the fermentation in a
negative way as well. Minerals are a significant portion of the
nutritional meal the is required by the yeast to perform at their
best. Different minerals effect the yeast in different ways, but
in general, minerals increase the yeast's ability to metabolize
or consume sugar. Without a supply of minerals you have yeast
that consume sugar at a slower pace.

 

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