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Tap water that has been left to sit out slowly begins to acquire an off taste. Many assume that this is because of micro-organisms. Treated water's added chlorine will take care of small communities of these little guys, but at room temperature they begin to multiply rapidly and can really get the party started. Even with clean water and a clean glass; one sip introduces a host of germs to the mix, in addition to whatever the water may have picked up by ambient dust.
But that's not what makes old water taste stale. For that we can thank carbon dioxide. After about 12 hours tap water starts to go flat as carbon dioxide in the air starts to mix with the water in the glass, lowering its pH and giving it an off taste. But it's most-likely safe to drink.
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As for plastic water bottles that have been left out in the sun or the car, step away from the bottle, warns Dr. Kellogg Schwab, director of the Johns Hopkins University Water Institute. "A chemical called bisphenol-A, or BPA, along with other things used to manufacture plastic can leach into your water if the bottle heats up or sits in the sun," he explains. BPA, as you likely know, is a hormone disruptor has tentatively been linked to everything from heart disease to cancer. Schwab also says that plastic used for bottled water isn't meant to be washed or refilled, so use only one time and recycle. Or way better, don't buy them at all; use a refillable water bottle instead.
I like to let mine sit out until it acquires malarial mosquito larvae.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by TrumpetPower! on Friday July 24 2015, @12:40AM
Several months back, I experimented with making coffee with distilled water instead of tap water, and the improvement was significant. After going through a few plastic gallon jugs, I researched, found, and bought a countertop still that takes a few hours to make a one-gallon batch. The original plan was just to use it for coffee...but I've taken to using it for all drinking, cooking, whatever; I simply prefer the taste. And the solar panels on my roof generate more electricity than I use, so it's free to run the machine. I'm going through about a gallon a day now.
Lots of other benefits...I can use it to wipe down a computer display and it cleans it perfectly without leaving any streaks or spots. The electric water kettle doesn't collect a layer of crud at the bottom that I have to frequently remove by boiling vinegar. And, obviously, I don't have to go out of my way to get distilled water for any sort of device that needs it -- car batteries, iron, whatever.
Tap water left out for a day or so has a slightly different taste, but distilled water tastes the same even after sitting out for a few days. Make of that what you will.
Cheers,
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 3, Disagree) by SuperCharlie on Friday July 24 2015, @12:49AM
It is my understanding that distilled water will leech minerals from you like calcium, etc since it is so pure. Read up on it some before you, are a permanent lifestyle of it.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by TrumpetPower! on Friday July 24 2015, @01:01AM
I am unaware of anything other than old wives's tales to support that claim -- no empirical evidence, no physiological nor chemical mechanism, nothing. This is especially the case since rainwater, save for rare cases of modern contamination, is distilled water -- and the old wives typically have a quite favorable opinion of rainwater. Basically, the claim is equivalent to those made by homeopaths.
Besides which, a single serving of pretty much anything is going to have more minerals in it than you're going to get out of even many, many gallons of tap water. If you're relying on your water for your source of minerals, ur doin it rong.
If you can offer up some solid evidence or theory, I'd be happy to consider it, of course.
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by N3Roaster on Friday July 24 2015, @02:05AM
In the case of coffee there's quite a bit of research on water quality and brewed coffee quality which goes back several decades but is also ongoing with the current UK barista champion and his chemist putting out a new book on the topic soon. I'm fortunate enough to live in a place where the city tap water is almost ideal for coffee brewing so distilled water produces a noticeably inferior brew, but the water spec at http://scaa.org/?page=resources&d=water-standards [scaa.org] does have good science behind it. Of course, most places are not so fortunate so I can easily believe that you're getting better tasting results compared with tap, but it's probably not as good as what you'd get from a good set of filters appropriate to your location and it's not as good as you'd get from water that's been engineered to spec. As an aside, using straight RO water without reintroducing some mineral content quickly destroys brewing equipment. Not an issue if you're doing a Chemex, but it's terrible for espresso machines.
Typica - Free software for coffee roasting professionals. [typica.us]
(Score: 2) by TrumpetPower! on Friday July 24 2015, @02:55AM
Thanks for that -- I had no clue.
It almost looks like one could add measured trace amounts of sodium and calcium chloride to make distilled water meet that spec. Is that correct? Might you have any further resources or information -- ideally, even, a recipe?
I'm using a French Press, but through experimentation I've come to a non-standard mode of operation. I sift grinds from a Lido 3, which probably isn't unusual. Immediately after adding the water, I very slowly plunge just enough so the bloom is immersed an inch or so. After several minutes of brewing, a very slow lifting of the plunger is enough to cause the grounds to rapidly settle, and I then immediately decant into a thermos. Other methods seem to cause excessive agitation which doesn't seem to do the coffee any good, and typically result in excessively high acidity in the brew.
The pot goes in the dishwasher every night, so I'm sure the mineral content of the water is irrelevant to its long-term function.
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 2) by N3Roaster on Friday July 24 2015, @03:54AM
You don't have anything to worry about with the press so long as it's one that you can get spare parts for. The filter will eventually fray or you'll break the glass but that's nothing to do with the water. A few brands are part compatible with each other but if you've got something that you can't get parts for it was probably cheap enough that you won't care too much when it breaks. The method is a bit non-standard but I don't see anything wrong with it and if you like how the coffee tastes, that's what's important.
Unfortunately I haven't done a lot of work with water myself (minimal filtering gets me to spec and when I'm teaching there's usually an event sponsor taking care of the water) and I'm not sure where I left most of the literature I have to provide some good citations. It's not where it should be on my shelves so it's probably either back at work or lent to an employee, but stripping down the water and adding back into it is exactly how the water I use at events is produced, though at much larger scale than you'd do at home.
Typica - Free software for coffee roasting professionals. [typica.us]
(Score: 2) by TrumpetPower! on Friday July 24 2015, @02:58PM
If you do come across it, perhaps you could submit it as a story? Seems to me "Engineer your water for optimum taste" would be be far more deserving of attention than speculation about the safety of day-old water.
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 2) by N3Roaster on Friday July 24 2015, @03:13PM
The next time I run across something new on the topic (should be soon) I'll keep that in mind. No sense submitting research from the 50s as news, I think.
Typica - Free software for coffee roasting professionals. [typica.us]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Friday July 24 2015, @01:55AM
It is my understanding that distilled water will leech minerals from you like calcium, etc since it is so pure. Read up on it some before you, are a permanent lifestyle of it.
That's why most people eat food too.
(Score: 1) by SiriusStarr on Friday July 24 2015, @02:50AM
Out of personal curiosity, would you mind sharing the still you use? I go through a fair amount of distilled water (e.g. for homebrewing) and I'm curious about getting one.
(Score: 3, Informative) by TrumpetPower! on Friday July 24 2015, @03:04AM
It's one of the Megahome models on Amazon. There're several different variations that all seem to be the same save for materials and cosmetics. And there're other very similar ones with different brand names that likely come from the same factory. The one I settled on had the highest ratio of good ratings.
I have no complaints about the unit. You should be aware that it's a bit noisy and produces a fair amount of heat and steam. I keep it in the utility sink in the laundry room; as such, the noise and heat don't bother me. It'd be a disaster to try to use it in the kitchen here in Tempe, Arizona, this time of year, though.
One note: before filling, I wipe the inside down with a towel. By doing so, it takes a long time for the deposits to build up to the point that it's worth running a cycle with citric acid to clean the unit...I've had it a few months and only done the cleaning thing twice, both times after I got lazy for a few days and didn't bother wiping it down. With religious wiping, I won't be surprised if it takes a few months before it gets to the point that I feel like cleaning it again.
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 24 2015, @09:00AM
I have a desktop water distiller, it also sits in the laundry. Mine's 10-14 years old. It's due for the trash heap sometime (the fan now goes off balance, the unit is rusting, the plugs have all cracked and broken, the plastic cap that holds the carbon filter long ago disintegrated) although with a bit of work and some new sockets I could probably resurrect it for a few more years.
I never thought about wiping it out with a towel, our water leaves a lot of crap in the bottom of the distiller, I'm having to wash it out a few times a month. To clean it, I use straight white vinegar, just enough to cover the crap on the bottom, run the distiller until the crap has come loose.
One of "those" anti-distiller stories I've heard is that, if you drink only distilled water your kidneys shut down because you don't use them.
(Score: 1) by SiriusStarr on Friday July 24 2015, @11:43AM
Thanks!
Cheers, mate.