Rain water ( good or bad)?

[azzwa]

Just wondering people's thoughts on using rain water to brew with. It prob has been a topic before but since I'm new to this site and brewing your thoughts would be a big help as rain water is all I have access to.

 

[razz]

I've been using it for ten years azzwa, I don't know if it's me or the water but I'd like to think my beers are getting better. I don't think you will have any issues, many brewers run their water through a filter to get out any dirt/crap, I always boil mine first. Good luck!

 

[yum beer]

I use tank water for my lighter beers, pilsners, lagers and use tap water for my ales, my local water is pretty soft.
Well worth looking into water chemistry with the rain water but must admit I dont do too much.
You can work into the water chemistry, as Razz says boil your water before using to kill any nasties living it.

 

[Hippy]

As said above rainwater is good for pilsners etc but you still need to add a percentage of tap water or otherwise do mineral additions as rainwater is lacking in essential ions.

 

[treefiddy]

Decomposing gumleaves and dead possum doesn't supply the water with enough ions?
What makes it so tasty then?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't labels use 100% RO water in his lagers, no additions?
There's anybody I'd trust on the specifics of lagers/pilsners it would be him.

 

[bignath]

I used rainwater once in a brew as an experiment and absolutely loved the resulting beer. Seemed to taste "fresher" initially, and throughout the couple of months that i was able to hold it for.

However, i put a couple of stubbies away to see how it would age, and it tasted them at maybe 12months old. They were still nice, but the hop presence had subsided much more than that same beer done with my local water source.

No additions.....straight out of the tank.

No idea at all of the chemical reaction side of things going on here, but the rainwater tank beer dropped off very quickly on the storage side of things.

 

[Bizier]

Aside from the mash and sparge pH not being buffered and mineral flavour considerations, you definitely want some calcium in there, it is beneficial to the mash, boil, ferment and conditioning.

 

[Nibbo]

Only use rainwater at home. Runs through a single filter at 25mic which services the property. We bath, shower, drink and cook with it without requiring hospital attention. Although over summer having no rain down here (SW VIC) for months we developed a good amount of H2S (hydrogen Sulphide) in there (due to not being stirred up which helps introduce oxygen to the water). Apparently the missus doesn't enjoy the taste and smell of rotten egg. Doesn't pose a risk unless i'm planning on entering the tank. Can kill you in a confined space if theres enough to displace the oxygen around you. Thinking of setting up a solar fountain pump in the tank to keep it aerated.

Other than the smell and odour issue, no problems with using rain water for brewing. Just add your calcium and salts as you desire.
I think you'll find prickly moses doesn't have a water main runing past their brewery and they seem to make beer thats a bit of alright.

 

[billygoat]

Rain water is all I have available where I live. I usually use EZ Water to check my additions which consist of Gypsum, CaCl2 and sometimes Epsom Salts. I put enough in to satisfy the ppm for Cacium, Sulphates, Magnesium etc and also pH.
I had my water analysed and it showed there was less than 1ppm of Calcium, Sulphates and just about everything else so it definetly needed additions. I alter the additions to suit which style of beer being brewed which is mainly ales.
Appears to work well.

 

[seamad]

We are on tank water, house runs through 10 micron and kitchen through a carbon filter, beers made from kitchen water, which has almost zero tds. I add calcium salts to all beers in different ratios. I have a pH meter that measures to 2 decimal places, used it all the time until I got to the point I can figure out what to add to get pH out of certain grain bills. Have assumed you are all grain brewing, if not, provided you are happy drinking your water then it should be fine for brewing kits.

 

[RdeVjun]

All good replies, but seeing as we're not in a specific kits or grain sub- forum, we've missed one crucial question- azzwa, are you brewing Kits or All Grain? Answering that question really will make a difference as to how you treat it, however regardless of that rainwater is great for brewing and in more ways than just one (eg. a great thermal mass to exploit for cooling).

Kits: Boil it first is my advice, unless you're quite sure it is sanitary. Anything that goes into the fermenter along with the tin of goop that is not the desired yeast should be dead, otherwise it will probably lead to infection.
It can be a PITA firstly boiling and then cooling all of the water required for kit brewing, you'll probably need a 19L stockpot to do it in one go and for lifting it around when full, muscles like Popeye won't hurt. Chemical treatment to sanitise is another possibility though, we just don't see it much. Kits seem to come with sufficient salts already dissolved for a healthy ferment, don't ever recall seeing treatment of water for that.

All Grain: Rain water is an excellent choice for flexibility, you can brew just about anything with it, basically its akin to starting with a blank canvas and you decide how it is filled in. You will probably have to manipulate the salts/ chemistry for best results with some styles, however you can brew with it as is.
With all grain brewing, adequate calcium is the main hurdle to overcome, salts commonly used to adjust the water profile are CaCl2, CaSO4, CaCO3 and MgSO4 (all from decent LHBS), some lactic, citric or phosphoric acid may be helpful as well, but don't get too carried away to begin with.

There are loads of web resources for water profiling, many of the common brewing applications also have a shot at it, some good, others are not quite as useful. Search should yield many useful hits, also this Water sub- forum has loads of reading.

 

[azzwa]

Hi all thanks for everyone's input I should have specified I'm just starting out with kit brewing and hope to progress from there once I master the kits.

 

[therook]

Been using rain water for over 100 brews of AG.

Never boil it pre mash either

Never a problem.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Dont worry about the water chemistry just yet. If you can drink it you can brew with it

 

[Britboozer]

I've done 10 AG brews using tankwater, making English bitter. Tastes pretty damn good to me, but now I'd like to try modifying my water.

I've looked through various water calculators, but they seem very complicated. Can anyone recommend a supplier of premixed salts to add to rainwater to make it suitable for brewing beers like Landlord, Hobgoblin, etc?

Otherwise I'm going to have do battle with all that chemistry and it makes my brain hurt.

Thanks guys

 

[felten]

I've done 10 AG brews using tankwater, making English bitter. Tastes pretty damn good to me, but now I'd like to try modifying my water.

I've looked through various water calculators, but they seem very complicated. Can anyone recommend a supplier of premixed salts to add to rainwater to make it suitable for brewing beers like Landlord, Hobgoblin, etc?

Otherwise I'm going to have do battle with all that chemistry and it makes my brain hurt.

Thanks guys

Try this as a starting point.
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/

Dead simple, and AJ deLange knows his stuff.

 

[nathan_madness]

I've been told that if you have a steel roof and tank it can be even better for brewing adding essential zinc for the yeast. Personally I brew with 100% R/O and just add a bit of gypsum and or salt.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Basically rain water is good. Used it for years. Did the whole gypsum thing but just stuck with straight rainwater.

It does make a great base line to work from

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Oh....and if you want to play water chem you are better off having a seperate small tank to add your salts to...let them sit for a while and do their thing.

 

[Britboozer]

Thanks, felten - that's a very interesting thread. Though I haven't read all 51 pages of it yet!! Also to Ducatiboy (I'm a Honda man myself) & Nathan for yours.

Ultimately I guess it's down to what your beer tastes like to you. So I'll try a few additions & do some tasting. No - LOTS of tasting.