What styles work well with rain water?

[philistine]

Hey all,
I'm not big on water chemistry when it comes to brewing. In fact, I actually have no f*ing idea and so I filter my tap water and consider that whole issue "sorted".
Anyway, without going too far into the whole thing, just wondering if there's a bit of a consensus regarding beer styles that suit brewing with un-adulterated rain water better than others?

 

[manticle]

Czech pilsner is probably a good bet. Most clean euro style lagers. Is your water pretty clean? No zinc works or nuclear reactors nearby? No bubonically infected frogs in the tank?

 

[rude]

Kolsch ?
Anything with soft water profile
Still need calcium & ph correction
I use R/O water so add yeast nutrient also
Read up phil Brun water is good , go to the knowledge page

 

[TwoCrows]

Google your local water profile. If you have hard water, using rain water would help you , by blending your tap water with clean rain water is the way forward.

 

[philistine]

We've got a galv rainwater tank that collects water running off an old shed, so there's probably a bit of zinc from the tank and then whatever else leaches out of old the old colourbond roof... probably a small portion of possum and pigeon shit in there as well, so yeah its pretty clean compared to town water

 

[TwoCrows]

Sounds good, full bodied beer.

 

[Grott]

Would be no problems if boiled but I'd stick to your filtered tap water. Would be ok for cleaning those items you then sanitise.

 

[fungrel]

Brewing water with low or no calcium content can be OK for Lagers. I have made some outstanding lagers with mineral additions in the single digits using RO water and acid adjustments for pH.

 

[MHB]

Seriously worth doing some basic water chemistry, just 100-150ppm of Calcium, its not hard and will make your beer taste better.
Mark

 

[abyss]

All of my kit beers are made with rainwater collected off a colourbond roof and stored in a concrete tank.
I mostly pre boil and cool then store in cubes ready for brew day however I've just finished a lager which had raw rain water and it was unreal tasting and crystal clear.
Looking at getting my water checked to see what it may need but for some reason I can't remember why I normally ad a pinch of Epsom salt.

 

[MHB]

Calcium has a lot of benefits, but most of them relate to mashing and wort boiling, so who ever made the kit will have taken care of the water chemistry to a fair extent.
As this thread was started in an All Grain brewing sub what works best for kit brewers is a different question...
Mark

 

[manticle]

50 ppm would do for most beers surely?

Bit of acid for pale beers and sparge

 

[abyss]

Calcium has a lot of benefits, but most of them relate to mashing and wort boiling, so who ever made the kit will have taken care of the water chemistry to a fair extent.
As this thread was started in an All Grain brewing sub what works best for kit brewers is a different question...
Mark

Apologies for infecting your thread with a kit.

 

[Rocker1986]

Water with possum and pigeon shit in it cleaner than town water... fuckin lol.

 

[abyss]

Water with possum and pigeon shit in it cleaner than town water... fuckin lol.

Your on the money there I'm now thinking both my beer and water are fucked. I'm fucked if I know why I even drink the shit.

 

[philistine]

Water with possum and pigeon shit in it cleaner than town water... fuckin lol.

Dude, the crap in tap water is WAYYYYYYYYYY worse than a touch of animal shit.
Chloroacetic acid
Dichloroacetic acid
Trichloroactic acid
Bromate
Formaldehyde
Trihalomethanes
Aluminium
Fluoride
Chlorine
Chloramine

And thats just the stuff thats tested for on our local water analyisis reports to maek sure they're at "acceptable" levels

Im no conspiracy theory, tin foil hat, fluoride chem trail mind control type - but id drink rain water with a bit of organic matter in it any day

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

E.Coli
Salmonella spp
Enterococcus spp
Campylobacter spp
Clostridium spp
Giardia spp
Cryptosporidium spp

The list goes on: Health risk assessment of roof captured rainwater.

 

[Zorco]

The brewing process inactivates these

 

[evoo4u]

E.Coli
Salmonella spp
Enterococcus spp
Campylobacter spp
Clostridium spp
Giardia spp
Cryptosporidium spp

The list goes on: Health risk assessment of roof captured rainwater.

Faaark - I'm surprised I'm still alive! All you pussy's on town water must have deprived immune systems...

 

[goatchop41]

Dude, the crap in tap water is WAYYYYYYYYYY worse than a touch of animal shit.
Chloroacetic acid
Dichloroacetic acid
Trichloroactic acid
Bromate
Formaldehyde
Trihalomethanes
Aluminium
Fluoride
Chlorine
Chloramine

And thats just the stuff thats tested for on our local water analyisis reports to maek sure they're at "acceptable" levels

Im no conspiracy theory, tin foil hat, fluoride chem trail mind control type - but id drink rain water with a bit of organic matter in it any day

You do sound like you're wearing a tin foil hat.....
You're falling foul of the exact same fallacy that makes people think that vaccines are unsafe - they see some chemicals in there, read on google that they are bad and thereby assume that they must be harmful, but don't understand/research enough to realise that they serve a purpose in the water (or vaccine) and are administered in completely safe amounts