Rain Water Ph 4.7

[peterregan892]

First time poster so pls be gentle…

Another SE Qld brewer here (Beechmont). We’re on tank water and until we fitted a calcite filter, our water was at pH 4.2-4.5 - sufficiently acidic that it was stripping copper out of the shower breech and leaving blue/green stains on the shower tiles. We have a large tank with relatively little turnover (only 2 of us) so the water has plenty of opportunity to absorb more CO2 and reduce pH beyond normal rainwater pH. The calcite filter leaves the pH at around 8.5

All that said, I’ve just moved over to brewing with Coles/Woollies spring water as I‘ve been having terrible problems with a very strong bitter, back-of the-throat aftertaste since I started. I’m an extract brewer and have found the same problem with different styles - stout, red ales, Helles, wheat and euro lager. It’s the same story with all of them - swallow the beer, count to 3 and there it is - a horrible, lingering bitter, harsh aftertaste in the upper throat. I’ve tried a number of experiments with split batches - boiling the tank water, drawing it off before the calcite filter, different fermenters, etc without success, apart from an experiment with spring water which was OK. To endorse this, I’ve just finished a Bavarian Hefeweizen clone from AHB made with spring water and it tastes wonderful.

At least I have a way to make good beer now, but I’d love to know what the problem is with our tank water. The tank is really clean (I can see the bottom of the tank through the inspection hatch), water tastes great and we have a floating draw off pipe so we always get the freshest water. A local lab tested a sample and it passed with flying colours (no ion values reported unfortunately). The only thing I can think of is that a couple of years ago (before we had the calcite filter) I tried correcting the pH with sodium bicarbonate (I’m a retired chemist so reasonably confident the quantity was correct) so there may be residual Na+ there (I’m assuming all the bicarbonate will have dissipated by now). That said, we‘ve had so much rain since then, it must be diluted by now.

Sorry for the windy post and hope I haven’t hijacked the thread. Any enlightenment gratefull received

Just to clarify about the cleanliness of the tank, I meant I can see the shiny metal base of the tank - no sludge

 

[Rastas]

First time poster so pls be gentle…

Another SE Qld brewer here (Beechmont). We’re on tank water and until we fitted a calcite filter, our water was at pH 4.2-4.5 - sufficiently acidic that it was stripping copper out of the shower breech and leaving blue/green stains on the shower tiles. We have a large tank with relatively little turnover (only 2 of us) so the water has plenty of opportunity to absorb more CO2 and reduce pH beyond normal rainwater pH. The calcite filter leaves the pH at around 8.5

All that said, I’ve just moved over to brewing with Coles/Woollies spring water as I‘ve been having terrible problems with a very strong bitter, back-of the-throat aftertaste since I started. I’m an extract brewer and have found the same problem with different styles - stout, red ales, Helles, wheat and euro lager. It’s the same story with all of them - swallow the beer, count to 3 and there it is - a horrible, lingering bitter, harsh aftertaste in the upper throat. I’ve tried a number of experiments with split batches - boiling the tank water, drawing it off before the calcite filter, different fermenters, etc without success, apart from an experiment with spring water which was OK. To endorse this, I’ve just finished a Bavarian Hefeweizen clone from AHB made with spring water and it tastes wonderful.

At least I have a way to make good beer now, but I’d love to know what the problem is with our tank water. The tank is really clean (I can see the bottom of the tank through the inspection hatch), water tastes great and we have a floating draw off pipe so we always get the freshest water. A local lab tested a sample and it passed with flying colours (no ion values reported unfortunately). The only thing I can think of is that a couple of years ago (before we had the calcite filter) I tried correcting the pH with sodium bicarbonate (I’m a retired chemist so reasonably confident the quantity was correct) so there may be residual Na+ there (I’m assuming all the bicarbonate will have dissipated by now). That said, we‘ve had so much rain since then, it must be diluted by now.

Sorry for the windy post and hope I haven’t hijacked the thread. Any enlightenment gratefull received

Hello Peter,
Just came across this thread from doing a search about rain water ph.
I assume by "extract brewer" you mean such as Coopers, Black Rock, etc ?
If that is true, then I also am the same. My favorite is Coopers Mexican Cerveza to which I add 200mg of light dry malt and 20g of Citra hops (in a bag that has sat in boiled water overnight) with all dumped in when making up the brew.
I have been using Mountain Water for about 2 years (Coles/Woolworths/Aldi) and would never use any other water again.
Sometimes I go half and half with Citra and Galaxy hops.

Cheers,
Peter (also)

 

[An Ankoù]

For what it's worth, I used to use rain water regularly when making Pilsen type lagers. The water in Pilsn is very, very soft and is about as close to pure water as you can get. I think that's one of the reasons they have to use a double or triple decoction mash. Pure rainwater will always be slightly acidic since it dissolves carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and will, at best, be around pH 5.

 

[peterregan892]

Hello Peter,
Just came across this thread from doing a search about rain water ph.
I assume by "extract brewer" you mean such as Coopers, Black Rock, etc ?
If that is true, then I also am the same. My favorite is Coopers Mexican Cerveza to which I add 200mg of light dry malt and 20g of Citra hops (in a bag that has sat in boiled water overnight) with all dumped in when making up the brew.
I have been using Mountain Water for about 2 years (Coles/Woolworths/Aldi) and would never use any other water again.
Sometimes I go half and half with Citra and Galaxy hops.

Cheers,
Peter (also)

Hi Peter - yes that’s right, by extract I mean tins of LME (and sometimes packs of DME) combined wth steeped grains and hops to give an approximation of a particular style or brand. Interestingly, although most of the bad batches I mentioned have been thrown away, I had kept a few bottles of one batch (actually this one was just a Coopers Euro lager kit) and the bitterness/harshness does seem to have softened. It’s still there but not as bad.

Also of note, I’ve just moved to all-grain and decided on another experiment. I brewed the same English bitter twice - once with tap/tank water with pH adjusted to 7 and one batch with spring/mineral water. I’ve only fermented the tap water version so far and it tastes great with no hint of the harshness I had before. That suggests some interaction between our tank water and the extract as the cause of the harshness I had before

HTH

P

 

[Paddy]

I also have just moved to AG and using my rainwater in Griffin close to the coast, the local pool shop has offered to test my water in their spinny centrifuge doinz for salts/PH will post the results once I get them. I have brewed a few IPAs, a Pils and Irish Red all are good to my taste so far.

 

[yankinoz]

Rainwater with a pH of 4.5 probably contains traces of sulphuric acid (from sulphur-dioxide emissions), nitric acid (from nitric oxide emissions), or both. It can go below 4.0 in the most acidic rain.

If so, it's not as bad as it sounds for the beer. You end up with a slight addition of sulphates or nitrates. The grain pH will move only a little.