Common Uses Of Rainwater

[Midnight Brew]

hey hey

I have two general questions about using rainwater to be a bit greener and cost effective for my brews as I have a 3000L rainwater tank in which I feel free water is sitting there waiting to be used. My roof is generally pretty average with average rainfall and some leaves and plant debris in the gutters, they do however get sepearated from the rainwater tank through the catcher on the top of the tank.

1) Is it safe to use rainwater (not boiled) mixed with sanatiser to sanatise my equipment and fermenter?
2) If I boil some water and let it cool, would it be safe to use for brewing? If not could I perhaps use half tap water and half boiled rainwater?
3) Has anyone successfully used any of the above methods before?

No bird crap and theres a gum tree a few meters away but only get a few leaves here and there that fall onto the roof.

Cheers

Cam

 

[drsmurto]

What does it taste like?

Do you have any over hanging trees?

Bird crap on the roof?

 

[hayden]

im interested on this as well. tap water doesnt really bother me too much but i have access to rainwater as well.

 

[pokolbinguy]

Poor city people who have to basically live with "town water", i feel sorry for you..you however cam have atleast been graced with access to REAL water...the type from the sky...

1) Is it safe to use rainwater (not boiled) mixed with sanatiser to sanatise my equipment and fermenter?

If it wasn't safe I would have been dead many years ago....along with a lot of other people in this country. Aslong as you don't have some strange bunch of chemicals on your roof (e.g. maybe you live near some funky chemical factory) or in the tank then should be ok

2) If I boil some water and let it cool, would it be safe to use for brewing? If not could I perhaps use half tap water and half boiled rainwater?

This will be safer than not boiling it....but really unless you are suspicious of something strange being in it then you really wont need to. Water your garden with it and see what happens...if your plants don't like it then chances are you wont either.

3) Has anyone successfully used any of the above methods before?

I live on a farm and have always drank rain water.....and thank god for that, "town" water tastes like crap.

I would suggest getting on your roof and just see whats up there...if it looks relatively clean then go for it....if not give it a wash....e.g with a broom and water...

If you really want to stick a filter on the outlet of the tank.

But all in all...rain water is good for you

Pok

 

[Mantis]

We use tank/rain water for drinking and brewing because the tap water is foul.
If the tank water tastes good then it is fine for brewing IMHO

 

[Supra-Jim]

Taste test is a good indication to start with. If your brewing with it, i would suggest boiling it, just in case, to kill any nasties

Also you've got a nice volume there for chilling/cooling your wort post boil.

Cheers SJ

 

[johnno]

I brewed with tank water last Sunday. The water was a bit of color because it was raining at the time and water was being dumped into the tank but I figure it will just add to the taste.

cheers
johnno

 

[RdeVjun]

hey hey

I have two general questions about using rainwater to be a bit greener and cost effective for my brews as I have a 3000L rainwater tank in which I feel free water is sitting there waiting to be used. My roof is generally pretty average with average rainfall and some leaves and plant debris in the gutters, they do however get sepearated from the rainwater tank through the catcher on the top of the tank.

1) Is it safe to use rainwater (not boiled) mixed with sanatiser to sanatise my equipment and fermenter?
2) If I boil some water and let it cool, would it be safe to use for brewing? If not could I perhaps use half tap water and half boiled rainwater?
3) Has anyone successfully used any of the above methods before?

Cheers

Cam

G'day Cam & welcome!

1) Yep, 2) yep * 2 and 3) yep!

I do most the above, except sometimes I sanitise with just town water and sanitiser. My gutters and tank are a bit naff though and the town water is variable, usually fairly poor but always changing, I presume due to different blends of dam and groundwater. I bypass all that variability and use my tankwater, but definitely do boil it to be sure boita- wise. Its a bit energy intensive (i.e. a green minus) but I plan ahead and usually utilise solar heating, by leaving stockpots full of cool water in the sun on a concrete slab to warm up a bit for free before boiling it, and likewise before putting it in the fridge to chill, I let it air cool first (I use it chilled when I do an extract boil & hit 20C nearly every time).

Folks without a reticulated town supply would be doing this sort of thing a lot, and I do recall that some have mentioned using straight untreated tank water. If you like, blend with tap water, the chlorine in it would possibly help tidy it up to some extent. If you do boil your rainwater, if you're doing kits or extracts, when you pour it into the fermenter, just do it from height and the frothing will help reoxygenate it- boiling it will deplete the dissolved oxygen that yeast really do need. Keep it all clean though, watch for drips and so on, it has to remain as sterile or sanitary as you can possibly keep it.

Also, if you're using a wort chiller of some kind, your tank makes and excellent free and green source of cool water to pump through your chiller and then recirculate it back to the tank. Cheers!

Ps. Beaten... Jeez you guys are quick...

 

[Airgead]

I do all my brewing with tank water. I run it through a charcoal filter but mostly because my neighbours have a &%#$*| tree fern that overhangs the tank and I end up with $#@(|%^ fern spore in it all the time...

I haven't used town water at all in my brewing since the tank went in.

If you want to be really green run the output hose from your chiller back into the top of the tank. Use no water at all for chilling.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I only have rain water, and it runs thru a 1 micron filter attached to the pump...sometimes it has a bit of colour, but I dont worry about it. As polkolbin guy says " I aint dead yet "

I only to AG so infection from water is not an issue

Many have used it in kits with out issue

 

[j1gsaw]

I use rainwater with all my brews, its never boiled, i just have a 20l container i fill directly from the tank, straight into carboy.. never had a problem.. THough if i had big overhanging trees i would probably filter, incase of nasties floating around.

 

[Ross]

I use rainwater with all my brews, its never boiled, i just have a 20l container i fill directly from the tank, straight into carboy.. never had a problem.. THough if i had big overhanging trees i would probably filter, incase of nasties floating around.

J1G,

Real bad practise mate... It's a numbers game & you may be winning, but you'll inevitably end up losing brews this way.
There again, I've tasted brews made this way that were definately infected, but the brewer reckoned they were great

In answer to the original questions - Straight yes's from me

Cheers Ross

 

[Midnight Brew]

Thank you for all the advice on using rainwater for brewing, it sounds like it's pretty safe and as a safety net if you boil it nothing can really go wrong. I boiled some water from the tank earlier today, cooled it then put it in a bottle in the fridge and I cant really taste the difference between the rainwater and the tap water so as the saying goes 'she'll be right'.

When I brew my next batch I'm going to use rainwater that has been boiled and cooled down and when I sanatise my bottles I think I will use a mixture of 2L of hot water and the rest rainwater straight from the tank.

Thanks again for the helpful advice and drink hard!

 

[Bizier]

I come from the country, now in Sydney. Give me tank or spring, or even good dam water any day of the week over the stuff I get here, and it is even pretty good by Australian town water standards.

 

[Batz]

Poor city people who have to basically live with "town water", i feel sorry for you..you however cam have atleast been graced with access to REAL water...the type from the sky...



If it wasn't safe I would have been dead many years ago....along with a lot of other people in this country. Aslong as you don't have some strange bunch of chemicals on your roof (e.g. maybe you live near some funky chemical factory) or in the tank then should be ok



This will be safer than not boiling it....but really unless you are suspicious of something strange being in it then you really wont need to. Water your garden with it and see what happens...if your plants don't like it then chances are you wont either.



I live on a farm and have always drank rain water.....and thank god for that, "town" water tastes like crap.

I would suggest getting on your roof and just see whats up there...if it looks relatively clean then go for it....if not give it a wash....e.g with a broom and water...

If you really want to stick a filter on the outlet of the tank.

But all in all...rain water is good for you

Pok

+1 You city slickers :lol: If I don't drink rainwater I'll get bloody thirsty. I brew with it as well.possum,bird and snake poo included. What do you think is in your dam water? Ever seen inside a cities water mains?

Batz

 

[The Big Burper]

Yep, rainwater good.

Rainwater is soft water, ideal for lagers and pilsners. For ales you may need to harden it up, called Burtonising, named after Burton-on-Trent in the UK, famous for its nice hard
groundwater that makes fabulous ales.

So when you add your sugars/malts, add 1 tablespoon of gypsum, 5g magnesium sulphate,
pinch salt, and a bit of citric acid. It has now been "Burtonised". There are a couple of other mineral salts that Burton water contains, but are not easy to come by.

cheers,
Dave

 

[RdeVjun]

Excellent point Dave and thanks for the recipe- rainwater would probably be more effective in lager and pilsner types while Burtonising should give good results for ales. I know the few ales I've done with town water or blends haven't had obvious problems, and I know our dam/groundwater town supply here would probably be ok for ales, its just so variable, or at least appears to be- I haven't tested it. With yours truly actually being in the surface and ground water quality game for a crust, this would be a mistake on my part! [Kicks own backside...]

 

[mash head]

Poor city folk who think that rainwater is only good for flushing tiolets watering the garden and washing with. In the bush we have no other option if you dont catch rain water you dont have any water (might not have the dental benefits of added fluride but tastes alot better). My point is that there are thousands of people around the country with no other supply and they are fine, the only time Ive had a problem with it is when Ive had dead creatures in the tank which is from poor maintanance on my part than any thing else. My mum and dad who live in the city not to far from castaloys (big factory) do have issues.
Cheers Greg