So I've completed my first batch of mead and it came out pretty good. I have a question on water. I happen to have occasional access to natural spring water, from the source. Is it OK to use this for brewing OR is it better to use properly filtered water, "clean" water? I was thinking this may make a better base, but I'm unfamiliar with the complexities or problems this may cause (minerals or other things in the water that I may be unaware of). TIA!
Water to use?
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pvtpublic
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How does the spring water taste on its own? If it's good, chances are that it will turn out some good mead. The minerals will help add nutritional content for the yeast in an otherwise nutrient deficient environment. Honey isn't the most nutritional snack for yeast, that's why we need to add something to the must, like fruits, or yeast nutrient powder and energizer.
The taste is great. It was piped into our summer home back in the day, but I can access the source and bottle it. Some of the best tasting water I've ever had.
pvtpublic
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Use it for everything you make if you can! Real spring water, as opposed to the stuff labeled as spring water from the store, is the best to use. That is, if it tastes good, and it doesn't have too high of iron content, or overly hard.
A big variable for water is its alkalinity and that can have pretty significant effect on the finished mead. High alkalinity is likely to result in a duller, less crisp mead since the yeast only make so much acid during their ferment. It's not really a big deal, since a good mead maker is likely to adjust the post-ferment Total Acidity any how.
If you're starting with a really pure water like RO or distilled, then you'll want to be sure to add a small concentration of a magnesium salt to the water since magnesium is a critically-needed ion in mead fermentation (say 5 to 10 ppm). You'll also want a small amount of calcium salt in there too since that helps with the mead clarification via yeast flocculation.
If you're starting with a really pure water like RO or distilled, then you'll want to be sure to add a small concentration of a magnesium salt to the water since magnesium is a critically-needed ion in mead fermentation (say 5 to 10 ppm). You'll also want a small amount of calcium salt in there too since that helps with the mead clarification via yeast flocculation.
