Distilled v deionised water?

What is the difference? I actually want to use it with moonshine to bring the alcohol level back down to 40% from its condensed 80% but all the shop stuff seems to be deionised.

Yes I could send tap water through the condenser but buying in the water ready to use would speed things up.

TIA

Reply to
Old Geezer
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No great mystery, distilled is distilled as in spirits, de-ionised means it has been through a sort of "filter" containing ion exchange resins which swap the sodium and calcium ions for hydrogen, and the bicarbonate ions for hydroxyl ions. A bit like a water softener, only more so.

In the old days every chemistry lab from schools upwards had an automatic still. I believe they have been completely supplanted by ion exchange, which is likely to be significantly cheaper and, I suspect, may give better purity.

You *might* find that you get a better "flavour" with hard water (I recommend Malvern with high-proof malt whisky but YMMV). If you are just trying to avoid the smell of chlorine, you might find the cheapest supermarket bottled water works fine (and cheaper than deionised). And you would have the comfort of knowing it has been processed to reduce the chance of microbial contamination, either by filtration or by going through a bright UV source.

Reply to
newshound

If you have any single-glazed windows, then buy a Karcher window vac and save the condensate you collect. Make sure window vac has previously been cleaned and flushed. Also good for steam irons.

Reply to
Andrew

Or a "fridge" type dehumidifier. Same caveats apply over checking that condenser and container are clean.

Reply to
newshound

The evaporator is the cold bit where the water drops off, with plenty of general dust, skin fragments and a good place to find legionella too, yummy stuff to drink.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

I used to get pure water from a mate that worked in a tech college chem lab. Due to onerous Customs and Excise inspections to ensure a still wasn't used for alcohol they didn't use a still but had a natural gas burner and condenser. As it didn't boil water (or other substance) a condenser isn't a still.

100% reliable. No salts or other consumables.
Reply to
Peter Hill

Can you expand on that? I have a condenser.

Reply to
Norman Rowing

It was 20 years ago. It looked like a sink hot water gas boiler but had a water drain line into a 5 gall tank.

If you have a (domestic) condensing boiler you can't use its condensate. They produce nitric acid in the condensate.

Reply to
Peter Hill

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