philistine
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I think you're reading too far into it.
Im just saying I prefer to drink rain water.
Im just saying I prefer to drink rain water.
What styles work well with rain water?
- Thread starter philistine
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TwoCrows
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Drinking rain water from a glass is different to drinking from a puddle..
manticle
Standing up for the Aussie Bottler
How did this go from 'styles matched to tankwater' to 'zomg ur a tin foil antivaxxer'?
Not really any need, stay on topic.
Not really any need, stay on topic.
evoo4u
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I think it's generally accepted that starting with clean rainwater (away from sources of pollution) is really starting with a "blank canvas", after which additives can be introduced to create the water profile you want for a particular style. But sure, good soft water is the go for the likes of pilsner.
Danscraftbeer
Well-Known Member
Pollution is the question. How much do you get, and what is in industrial fallout. Heavy metals? Live near an aluminum smelter?
I wont drink my rainwater. One thing that annoys me is Crows. The amount of dog bones and probably road kill that they drop on my roof that roll into the gutters etc. Possums galore pissing and shitting up there.
I wont drink my rainwater. One thing that annoys me is Crows. The amount of dog bones and probably road kill that they drop on my roof that roll into the gutters etc. Possums galore pissing and shitting up there.
drsmurto
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A good carbon filter will remove all the organic impurities in water. Combined with a 0.5 micron particulate filter, will remove just about all microbial impurities as well.Pollution is the question. How much do you get, and what is in industrial fallout. Heavy metals? Live near an aluminum smelter?
I wont drink my rainwater. One thing that annoys me is Crows. The amount of dog bones and probably road kill that they drop on my roof that roll into the gutters etc. Possums galore pissing and shitting up there.
Edit - then add some calcium salts as MHB pointed out and your set for brewing.
Rocker1986
Well-Known Member
You do realize that these exist in trace amounts in town water supplies and do precisely nothing to harm anyone right? Sure, brewing may indeed kill bugs that exist in animal shit but saying water containing it is cleaner than water containing 4 fifths of **** all of other chemicals is a bit of a laugh. Personally I'll take my water without poo in it.
philistine
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cool dude!
Pretty sure animals poo and die in catchment areas too.... and humans... But yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night I guess....
(and as a side note, I used to work in a de-sal plant on an island on the reef, so I know what goes into tap water to make it potable
)
To put it into context though, our tap water smells like swimming pool and our tank is a fairly well set up system that may or may not pick up a pea sized nugget of poo now and then.
I was just making a point of exaggerating to make the story better
anyway, so yeah - pale euro lagers, ideally with a calcium addition - cheers!
Pretty sure animals poo and die in catchment areas too.... and humans... But yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night I guess....
(and as a side note, I used to work in a de-sal plant on an island on the reef, so I know what goes into tap water to make it potable
)
To put it into context though, our tap water smells like swimming pool and our tank is a fairly well set up system that may or may not pick up a pea sized nugget of poo now and then.
I was just making a point of exaggerating to make the story better
anyway, so yeah - pale euro lagers, ideally with a calcium addition - cheers!
Last edited:
Danscraftbeer
Well-Known Member
^ Or enjoyable conversation. 
I can take comfort. Melbourne water post filter. From the tap is good enough but they do dose it with chlorine every now and then not enough to go on the stats but you can easily smell it on random occasions.
A bonus for brewing (interesting to me) is that the tap water is at ~pH7.3. Filtered its around pH6. Which means minimal dosage of additional water chemistries .
I can take comfort. Melbourne water post filter. From the tap is good enough but they do dose it with chlorine every now and then not enough to go on the stats but you can easily smell it on random occasions.
A bonus for brewing (interesting to me) is that the tap water is at ~pH7.3. Filtered its around pH6. Which means minimal dosage of additional water chemistries .
Brewsta
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Just a thought, but wouldn't the fact that we boil our wort for 60-90 mins kill most bugs and possibly drive off some of those chemicals from either source anyway?
I prefer carbon filtered rain water from a clean source myself, but i add brewing salts & acid to improve my water profile. Can't say i've nailed it yet but have seen remarkable improvements in my APA's Philistine. I was getting quite astringent flavours from the grain & very harsh bitterness from my hops when i first went AG. But all nice and smooth now my pH is in the right range for both sparge & mash. (Thanks to the more knowledgeable brewers on this site, you know who you are, cheers!!!)
Take their advice & read Bru'n'water as already suggested, i've read it about a dozen times & still won't say i understand it, but I have picked up some valuable info from doing so.
https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/water-knowledge
Manticle also wrote a great article on the subject, well worth reading & referring back to.
https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/ahb-articles-water-chemistry.46120/
But to offer an answer to your question, with plain rain water and no mineral or acid additions, dark beers like American Brown Ale, Irish Red & English Porter worked a treat for me. My softer water with a pH of around 7.0 seems more suited to the darker beer styles, all great beers with the Porter probably being my best brew yet.
hope that helps.
I prefer carbon filtered rain water from a clean source myself, but i add brewing salts & acid to improve my water profile. Can't say i've nailed it yet but have seen remarkable improvements in my APA's Philistine. I was getting quite astringent flavours from the grain & very harsh bitterness from my hops when i first went AG. But all nice and smooth now my pH is in the right range for both sparge & mash. (Thanks to the more knowledgeable brewers on this site, you know who you are, cheers!!!)
Take their advice & read Bru'n'water as already suggested, i've read it about a dozen times & still won't say i understand it, but I have picked up some valuable info from doing so.
https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/water-knowledge
Manticle also wrote a great article on the subject, well worth reading & referring back to.
https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/ahb-articles-water-chemistry.46120/
But to offer an answer to your question, with plain rain water and no mineral or acid additions, dark beers like American Brown Ale, Irish Red & English Porter worked a treat for me. My softer water with a pH of around 7.0 seems more suited to the darker beer styles, all great beers with the Porter probably being my best brew yet.
hope that helps.
good4whatAlesU
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Rainwater can already have a fair bit of salt in it, depends how far you are from the sea and which way the prevailing winds come from...
Rocker1986
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Soft, neutral water is best suited to pilsners. Dark beers like porters and stouts are usually brewed with moderately hard water, with a fair amount of bicarbonate in it.
I used to use RO water. I now use rain water as I moved to a place with a tank and RO takes ages to produce. They're both super soft(I measured) near 0ppm, so i treat them the same.
I highly recommend you learn basic water chemistry. It's very easy and it will improve your beer.
As a minimum use the metric EZ water spreadsheet and use Calcium chloride to 50 ppm and <insert favourite acid here> to get the right ph. I use lactic if needed. I don't even measure anymore because when i did it was always in range, i use a hanna ph meter, like the one on electricbrewery.com
Or keep being lazy, i don't care either way, but i can tell you from experience that it will improve your beer.
I highly recommend you learn basic water chemistry. It's very easy and it will improve your beer.
As a minimum use the metric EZ water spreadsheet and use Calcium chloride to 50 ppm and <insert favourite acid here> to get the right ph. I use lactic if needed. I don't even measure anymore because when i did it was always in range, i use a hanna ph meter, like the one on electricbrewery.com
Or keep being lazy, i don't care either way, but i can tell you from experience that it will improve your beer.
But i wouldn't use water that you don't know how hard it is and then once you've confirmed that its devoid of minerals, i wouldn't use it without adjustment.
Once again, I'm not ordering you to do it. It just depends on the quality of beer you want to produce.
Once again, I'm not ordering you to do it. It just depends on the quality of beer you want to produce.
SnailAle
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Don't be so sure of that. I work in the water industry and in my first week I got my socks blown off when my boss told me that any water treated becomes carcinogenic and the trick is to minimise this risk as best as possible. So my wife and I No longer drink town water.
Don't assume because something is common practice that it's safe, when it's between health and money the government will always choose money. asbestos, DDT, shit we're still allowed to smoke.
You should see the chemicals the old man is still allowed to use on the farm, no wonder farmers around the cereal belts are riddled with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
Don't worry too much, Oxygen is really dangerous and we cant really do without it either.
People seem to acquire an almost religious fervor when they get onto tank water (might be the reduced trace elements) truth is there is some very good tank water and some real shit to.
Its going to depend on where you live and what's around you, how well the tank and downpipes/plumbing is maintained. A power plant, open cut coal mine, Al refinery, major road (most carcinogenic substance known come from diesel exhaust, and will settle on roofs...)... and its an even money chance your water is worse than a municipal supply, in any case there will always be more microbes in tank water (during my plumbing apprenticeship I had to climb into tanks and make repairs, big green frogs, mosquito lava and a layer of thick black ooze were the least you can expect) people drink it and say "best water in the world..." even after I'd been swimming in it!
Ok the microbes will be killed during the brewing process, but make sure your cleaning and rinsing water is properly sterilised and it will be in your interest to make some very basic Calcium additions even if you don't do anything else. Personally I would regard a particulate followed by a carbon filter as a bare minimum, for brewing I would want a UV steriliser to, about what I do to town water, but for different if related reasons.
Like so often in brewing, it isn't a ON/Off, Right/Wrong, either/or choice. Both options have advantages and drawbacks, think through the implications and work with what you have to make the best beer you can - but for Gods sake it isn't a belief system its brewing science.
Mark
People seem to acquire an almost religious fervor when they get onto tank water (might be the reduced trace elements
) truth is there is some very good tank water and some real shit to.Its going to depend on where you live and what's around you, how well the tank and downpipes/plumbing is maintained. A power plant, open cut coal mine, Al refinery, major road (most carcinogenic substance known come from diesel exhaust, and will settle on roofs...)... and its an even money chance your water is worse than a municipal supply, in any case there will always be more microbes in tank water (during my plumbing apprenticeship I had to climb into tanks and make repairs, big green frogs, mosquito lava and a layer of thick black ooze were the least you can expect) people drink it and say "best water in the world..." even after I'd been swimming in it!
Ok the microbes will be killed during the brewing process, but make sure your cleaning and rinsing water is properly sterilised and it will be in your interest to make some very basic Calcium additions even if you don't do anything else. Personally I would regard a particulate followed by a carbon filter as a bare minimum, for brewing I would want a UV steriliser to, about what I do to town water, but for different if related reasons.
Like so often in brewing, it isn't a ON/Off, Right/Wrong, either/or choice. Both options have advantages and drawbacks, think through the implications and work with what you have to make the best beer you can - but for Gods sake it isn't a belief system its brewing science.
Mark
I have a small tank and live in a rural area so apart from the batshit etc it's good water, or will be when it rains again. I cleaned out mine last year.
Whilst I don't drink it without either putting it through the kettle or filtering through a brita jug, most of it goes into brewing and of course the whole thing gets at least an hour's boil at a tad over 100 degrees.
With the mashing, and calcium, while I use either Burton salts or a touch of Calcium Chloride when doing various UK brews, for most beers like APAs I took a hint from MHB and use Calcium Lactate buffered with Lactic Acid per the Brewman recommended dosage.
For rinsing and washing purposes I use town water - ours is well dosed with swimming pool chlorine.
Whilst I don't drink it without either putting it through the kettle or filtering through a brita jug, most of it goes into brewing and of course the whole thing gets at least an hour's boil at a tad over 100 degrees.
With the mashing, and calcium, while I use either Burton salts or a touch of Calcium Chloride when doing various UK brews, for most beers like APAs I took a hint from MHB and use Calcium Lactate buffered with Lactic Acid per the Brewman recommended dosage.
For rinsing and washing purposes I use town water - ours is well dosed with swimming pool chlorine.
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