Hello,

I'm about ready to start my first batch, but was concerned about the
quality of my tap water. I will be using spring water in the wine
itself, so that isn't the concern. I was wondering, however, if it
was even safe to use my tap water for cleaning the equipment and
bottles etc. I have a pretty bad sulfur problem. It has a very bad
rotten egg smell. I'm working on finding a solution for this, but
wondered what you guys thought.

Thanks,

Ryan

On Sun, 31 Jan 2010 06:52:54 -0800 (PST), Ryan G
> wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I'm about ready to start my first batch, but was concerned about the
>quality of my tap water. I will be using spring water in the wine
>itself, so that isn't the concern. I was wondering, however, if it
>was even safe to use my tap water for cleaning the equipment and
>bottles etc. I have a pretty bad sulfur problem. It has a very bad
>rotten egg smell. I'm working on finding a solution for this, but
>wondered what you guys thought.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Ryan

Your rotten egg smell is hydrogen sulphide (H2S), caused by the action
of sulfate-reducing bacteria.
Now, I can't answer your question directly but, I do have a couple
more questions:
1) Are you on a well?
2) Do you get H2S from all tap water or just the hot water?
If it's just the hot water, we had the same problem which originated
in the water heater. That problem was fairly simple to cure, take a
look at http://www.prairiewaternews.ca/back/...2/v42_st3.html
If the H2S in all your water, it can get more expensive to eliminate
the source.
To your original question, I'd guess that since H2S is a gas, it would
all dissipate during your cleaning operations and leave nothing
harmful on your equipment.
However, I'll leave that to someone with more chemical knowledge to
either confirm or refute.

Ross.

Hi Ryan,

I also have sulfur in my water. There are a couple of possibilities:
your well goes throu coal or there is a volatile sulfur releasing
bacteria that 'flavors' the water. If this is the case, you can pour
the water into jugs and allow them to sit overnight or for 24 hours
(cover with a cotton cloth) to offgas the volatile sulfur. You'll
know after doing that if it has been released. A solid carbon filter
will remove the sulfur to make your water drinkable.

Anine Grumbles
Natural-Winemaking.com

"Gammagal" > wrote in message
...
> Hi Ryan,
>
> I also have sulfur in my water. There are a couple of possibilities:
> your well goes throu coal or there is a volatile sulfur releasing
> bacteria that 'flavors' the water. If this is the case, you can pour
> the water into jugs and allow them to sit overnight or for 24 hours
> (cover with a cotton cloth) to offgas the volatile sulfur. You'll
> know after doing that if it has been released. A solid carbon filter
> will remove the sulfur to make your water drinkable.
>
> Anine Grumbles
> Natural-Winemaking.com



I always draw off the tap water and let it stand, loosely covered for 24
hours or more, sometimes 2 days, before using for wine. Here in the UK the
chlorine smell is noticeable when running it off, and I've had much better
results after standing it. I suppose the same thing applies to sulphur
etc..

(As an aside: It's interesting that I tried using bottled spring water a
couple of times, thinking the purer the water, the better - and they really
didn't work at all - the result tasted flat and "dead" somehow. I think
some of the minerals in good tap water are actually beneficial to the
taste.)

Barb UK

In article
>,
Gammagal > wrote:

> Hi Ryan,
>
> I also have sulfur in my water. There are a couple of possibilities:
> your well goes throu coal or there is a volatile sulfur releasing
> bacteria that 'flavors' the water. If this is the case, you can pour
> the water into jugs and allow them to sit overnight or for 24 hours
> (cover with a cotton cloth) to offgas the volatile sulfur. You'll
> know after doing that if it has been released. A solid carbon filter
> will remove the sulfur to make your water drinkable.
>
> Anine Grumbles
> Natural-Winemaking.com

H2S in the water is no problem on the equipment, but I'd worry about
rinsing bottles with it.
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

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