Rainwater? Good or bad

[rockeye84]

I used to use rain water, but then bought an RO unit.

When I dismantled the rain water butt and saw the crap in the bottom I was pleased that I'd switched.

And I live out in the sticks and have gutter guard fitted.

But to be fair the beer made with rain water was always very good...............

Did you notice any improvement switching from rainwater to RO water? Just made the switch my self. Yet to taste my brew, RO water def has less taste than rainwater.

 

[Aces High]

Your tap water goes through old crappy pipes for hundreds of kms. How could you think that was cleaner than tank water. Tank water is great to brew with, tastes so clean compared to fluoridated tap water

 

[Midnight Brew]

I'm all for rainwater brewing and used it for a while now with salt additions to suit the profile of the beer. When it comes from your roof you do need to be aware if the roof has any lead flashings, as this renders the water undrinkable.

 

[spog]

Tell that to the population of Port Pirie.
The way the media was beating it up years back they were dropping dead in the street.
I've a relo over there who is rail thin but weighs 160 kg.

 

[Spohaw]

Check your ph and use salt additions

I've been using rain water and my beers have been coming out astringent and acidic , entered beers in the wa state beer comp and "check your water" was the main comment I got back

My rain water turned out to be a bit acidic .... Lower than the ph strips and a water hardness test kit that I was given could read

Done two brews since with salt additions and 5.2ph stabiliser , I got a better mash efficiency for the last two brews ...... Hope this fixes the problems I've had

I boil all the water I use as well

I'm hoping these next two beers will be light years on previous ones ..... Not so acidic

 

[MHB]

Same answer as you would get to the question "Tapwater? Good or bad"
Short answer is maybe - it will depend on whether or not the water is good!
Mark

 

[Mozz]

Jokes aside and getting off topic. Sorry couldn't resist. Tank water would be great. It's going to be very soft requiring salt additions if you're mashing as said above but that is controllable, and then it's boiled anyway. If you're adding it straight to the fermenter without boiling? Experiment I guess. Even though it's not disinfected the microbial flora might be fine. Tap water is not sterile anyway and kit brewers add that straight to fermenters. Who cares about a few extra organics. Darwin has great water and comes with special saltwater croc additions.

 

[RdeVjun]

Fellas, putting all the hilarity and OT aside, being the wet blanket, this would be AHB's Kits & Extract board, so presume that the OP is not mashing with his rainwater but most likely diluting tins of goop with it.
I would urge caution using rainwater in a kit scenario as the microbiology may be unkind. IIRC its been done to death here before, but the take home message is that some treatment (eg. boiling it, Campden tabs etc.) may be worthwhile but many brewers use it straight from the tap without any problems.
A simple experimental batch without any rainwater treatment would be a pragmatic way to find out- if it's satisfactory and not infected then there's the answer, if not then it is time to work out if the infection is from the rainwater or something else perhaps (ie. a process of elimination).

 

[Bribie G]

New place has a handy sized tank, I'll be boiling mine first ... not a biggie, just let it cool in urn to 68 then away we go.

 

[Spohaw]

I'd still be looking at the ph with K&k brews , acidic water would still lead to acidic brews I think

Even though my gutters have been cleaned a few times living on a rural style block we get a lot of leaves and stuff in the gutters which have leeched into our tank

The water has turned a noticeable yellow colour , I'm thinking that's what has changed my water ph to 6 down to round 4

 

[real_beer]

Chaps, I now pose this question:

How many Australians living on properties that rely solely on tank water actually have rainwater in them? Most people I know have to regularly buy in water and who knows where that comes from?

A lot of water quality also relies on the volume of the water storage provided. A merchant seaman mate of mine had a party and one of his mates told me a ship he was on stopped for maintenance in the Middle East (cheaper labour costs). Two days out to sea an emergency crew was flow out by helicopter to lock down, and bring it back to port under quarantine as every member of the crew suddenly became violently ill,

So they wouldn't loose their job maintenance workers would sleep on the deck of the ship at night so head counts weren't very accurate. One of the poor devils had died while cleaning the inside of the main drinking water tank without being noticed. If the same thing happened in a huge city water storage tank you'd be okay because of the sheer volume of water surrounding the putrefying mushy rotting corpse. Everything's relative of course but maybe it explains why some beers you brew mysteriously seem to have much more body than usual :lol:

Yuk: http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/weird-news/strange-taste-water-supply-caused-corpse-supply-to/njngx/

 

[Cervantes]

Did you notice any improvement switching from rainwater to RO water? Just made the switch my self. Yet to taste my brew, RO water def has less taste than rainwater.

Not really.

I really did the switch as I only had a small rainwater tank, which was fine for the winter, but soon ran out of the water when brewing in the summer, so I purchased a small RO unit to give me consistent water quality all year round.

Both require mineral additions.

 

[droid]

yep must hit up some friends with tanks for future lagers, lovely chubbly soft water

 

[Ghizo]

So I guess I chuck one down and see?
Do I add anything to the water?

 

[Benn]

Earlier this week I listened to a beersmith podcast which discussed water, they mentioned that minerals etc are generally added to the wort when making tins of extract at the factory, so extract brewers should be more or less ok if that info is correct.
I don't add anything to the tank water that I use and when I brew to a standard formula/recipe good beer comes out the other side.
I do however live close the the surf and salt gets onto everything, including our roof & gutters.

 

[drsmurto]

I've been using rainwater for brewing for several years. It is carbon filtered prior to use although i don't find it necessary. The water tastes good unfiltered, a slight smokey taste in winter from the wood fires but the filter strips that out. I do live in the country and have no overhanging trees and the resident possums have enough trees to destroy without the need to spend time on the roof.

You will need to adjust your water with brewing salts though and how much depends on what you are brewing. Ideally you'd get your water analysed too to know what your starting point is.

The pH of your water is largely irrelevant, the pH of your mash is what needs to be within a set range. I'd only be adjusting water pH if and only if my mash pH was out based on a measurement, not a theoretical calculation.

 

[pcmfisher]

All tank rainwater I have ever tasted tastes horrible, even compared to Adelaide tap water. I know that is a large statement.

I would brew with rainwater if I really had to but would make sure it was boiled/sanitised/filtered somewhere along the line.

 

[Curly79]

All tank rainwater I have ever tasted tastes horrible, even compared to Adelaide tap water. I know that is a large statement.

I would brew with rainwater if I really had to but would make sure it was boiled/sanitised/filtered somewhere along the line.

Does it really taste horrible? Or does it just not taste like drinking out of a swimming pool that has just been dosed with chlorine.... Like your obviously used to living in the city?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I'd still be looking at the ph with K&k brews , acidic water would still lead to acidic brews I think

Even though my gutters have been cleaned a few times living on a rural style block we get a lot of leaves and stuff in the gutters which have leeched into our tank

The water has turned a noticeable yellow colour , I'm thinking that's what has changed my water ph to 6 down to round 4

http://www.extension.org/pages/32302/drinking-water-treatment-ph-adjustment#.VjFp4dIrIsY

I was going to suggest potassium carbonate, its what I use to lift my pH for my hydroponics but I thought it may be to dangerous but apparently they use it to adjust the pH of mead.

 

[seamad]

All tank rainwater I have ever tasted tastes horrible, even compared to Adelaide tap water. I know that is a large statement.

I would brew with rainwater if I really had to but would make sure it was boiled/sanitised/filtered somewhere along the line.

the rainwater in Qld tastes bloody good :lol: .
If it tastes bad it's probably coming from a dirty tank. No town water where I live, just keep your gutters clean and have a floating pickup in the tank, give the tank a clean out as required.