Brewing with rain water

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Brewpastor

Beer, not rocket chemistry
Joined
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Location
Corrales, New Mexico
We have been getting hammered lately with rain and I am in the process of putting together a rain catchment set-up. Which has me thinking about using that nice soft rain water for brewing. I have never done it before and don't remember reading anything about it, so I thought, "Why not post it to the forum?"

I believe rain water is close to distilled water, if not the same, but who can fill in the blanks? It would be very nuetral I would guess, but I am looking for insight here. I should add that I am aware of the problems of brewing with distilled water and fear rain water might be chasing down that same alley.
 
I have heard negitive things on brewing with distilled H2O because it dosent have the nessessary minerals needed to assist in things like hop saturation and starch conversion. I personally wouldnt try it because I like alot of calcium in my beers. calcium is one of the biggest factors when concidering hop additions.
Just a thought.
JJ
 
I would never use rain water, but then again, I'm in Los Angeles. I wouldn't want smog as an ingredient. Plus, except for the record rain last year, I'd need an area the size of a football field to collect enough water.

Brewpastor, I know you're out in God's country, so I would think the quality of your rain water is better. I say try it. It would be a good experiment. Maybe in what not to do, but who knows.
 
uwmgdman said:

Thanks. From this article I take it that rain water isn't nuetral in the same way distilled water is. What I was thinking of was brewing an Oktoberfest with some. I know Munich has soft water, but I am weighing the pros and cons before I commit.
 
Brewsmith said:
I would never use rain water, but then again, I'm in Los Angeles. I wouldn't want smog as an ingredient. Plus, except for the record rain last year, I'd need an area the size of a football field to collect enough water.

Brewpastor, I know you're out in God's country, so I would think the quality of your rain water is better. I say try it. It would be a good experiment. Maybe in what not to do, but who knows.

I am finding myself in agreement with the "go for it and see what happens" camp. But I haven't fired up the kettles, so, keep up with the input.

The air is really pretty clean out here in New Mexico and we are over a mile high. It can't be any more contaminated then my well.
 
Well being that your 5,000 ft. in elevation you might have some C02 problems. CO2 combines with H2O to make carbonic acid. I dont know if it's stable at boiling temps. or if it would denature. One other consideration is that rain water has a ton of dust and crap in it like pesticide when I lived in Ks. that would have been a huge inhibitor to me.
JUst the thought of Anhydrous ammonia makes my junk hurt definetly would not want that in my beer.
 
Easy way to tell put your car in the sun after a rain.. if the drops scar the winshield and you need sulfuric acid to get them off (like they do in Hawaii) bad.. if the spots rinse off you should be fine
 
Couldn't there be pollutants on the water even where you are located? Things like dust and ash from Forest fires?
It sounds like a hellava idea if your rain water is clean.

How about filtering it before you use it with one of those Pur carbon filters or something like it?
 
Folks around the world use rainwater for drinking and such. Australia comes to mind. Houses have collection tanks and either supplement the well water or use it. Folks around the world are now supplementing drinking water with fully processed sewage water. Folks around the world are also bathing in their own s**t and some drink it as well. Folks right here in this country dump raw sewage in a river only to have it pumped out later on downstream to be filtered and drank...the Colorado river comes to mind.

Don't ever think the water coming out of the tap and the water you use to make beer is anywhere close to perfect. Boiling has to free up a lot of the contaminants...but I'm sure not all of them.

I say, boil the rainwater and see what happens! Fly me down for the taste-test!! I'd be interested in knowing the pH as well...
 
I think I will give it a try. I am sure it will have STUFF in it but so does beer (methane comes to mind). And if I die, well it will be in the name brewing knowledge!
 
I agree with D*Bo, you should definately have some tests run on the water first, and if you're not doing a full boil, I'd boil all the water you plan to use beforehand, to make sure you kill off any bacteria/wild yeast the rain happened to pick up along the way.

Cheers!
-Rick

Primary: Honey Amber Ale
Secondary #1: Oatmeal Stout
Secondary #2: empty
Bottled/Aging: Octane IPA
Bottled/Drinking: American Amber Ale
 
How much rain water are you planing to use during brewing? It seems it would be difficult to collect 10+ gallons of rain water for brewing. I'm a self proclaimed treehugger, so I like the idea of conservation. I cringe when I watch gallons and gallons of water from my wort chiller run down the driveway.
 
Born Brewing Co. said:
I cringe when I watch gallons and gallons of water from my wort chiller run down the driveway.

I use the first 5 gallons to make a batch of iodophor to sanitize the fermenter, hoses, etc.

Then I direct the rest to the flower beds and other parts of the yard that the sprinklers don't reach.
 
I would use a full batch worth, which means I would collect 40 gallons or so. I have a sloped metal roof and when it rains I get gallons and gallons of water. And it will get boiled.
 
Brewpastor, go for it. I live out in Madrid, NM and I use rain water for brewing all the time without any problems.:mug:
 
Madrid? So are you enjoying the Hollywood invasion, going Hog Wild? I had some good friends who lived out on one of the mesa south of town (Frank and Joyce) but that has been some time ago. Come to think of it, pretty much all the water we drank out there was rain water.

Do you have any observations about brewing with rain water. I was specifically thinking of brewing lagers with it.
 
Brewpastor said:
I think I will give it a try. I am sure it will have STUFF in it but so does beer (methane comes to mind). And if I die, well it will be in the name brewing knowledge!
I can see it now! You are going to produce a whole category of beer and people all over the world will be trying to duplicate your water!
 
BP -

I'd collect the water and (if you have the time and patience) run it all through a Brita filter prior to boiling. That'll at least get the dirt out of it and mellow out some of the flavors.
 
Might want to try a batch filtered and unfilterd of the same recipe/mash schedual.
Maybe those flavors of the unfiltered might be something desirable and unique.
Taste the water before brewing, and possibly after testing.

I think it would be cool to have a unique soruce that would impart a very distinct taste to your brew.
 
Brewpastor said:
Madrid? So are you enjoying the Hollywood invasion, going Hog Wild? I had some good friends who lived out on one of the mesa south of town (Frank and Joyce) but that has been some time ago. Come to think of it, pretty much all the water we drank out there was rain water.

Do you have any observations about brewing with rain water. I was specifically thinking of brewing lagers with it.

Holly weird has left town, it was definitely an experience while it lasted. Most of the time it was fun but they really F#*ked up the traffic for about two months.

The only way that I modify rain water is to add a tsp of gypsum for stouts and porters. I can’t help much for lagers because all I brew are ales. Hope your brew comes out great.
 
Born Brewing Co. said:
How much rain water are you planing to use during brewing? It seems it would be difficult to collect 10+ gallons of rain water for brewing. I'm a self proclaimed treehugger, so I like the idea of conservation. I cringe when I watch gallons and gallons of water from my wort chiller run down the driveway.

You'ld be shocked how much water you get pouring off your roof for even something as little as .5 inchesof rain, IIRC it's like 100 gallons off of a 1500sqft area
 
Brewpastor, did you ever brew with your rainwater? I have been back and forth debating if I should or not. Anyways, just wondered about you.
 
cweston said:
I use the first 5 gallons to make a batch of iodophor to sanitize the fermenter, hoses, etc.

Then I direct the rest to the flower beds and other parts of the yard that the sprinklers don't reach.

+1, collect it in the pot you use for heating sparge water, and you've got preheated water for cleanup.
 
Just the other day I was thinking about a rain water catch basin, that would feed a solar hot water heater. Then you would have on demand hot water for a HLT, with no electricity used to heat it. Sounded worth researching to me!
 
I think Edwort made a Rainwater Kolsch that he mentioned last summer when I was thinking about collecting some. He said it turned out well, but maybe he could chime in on this one.

I really wanted to do this, but realized collecting rainwater would be difficult without some equipment I don't have. But I would definitely filter the water and obviously boil all of it.
 
MTpilot said:
I think Edwort made a Rainwater Kolsch that he mentioned last summer when I was thinking about collecting some. He said it turned out well, but maybe he could chime in on this one.

Yeah, I brewed my Koslch recipe with rainwater from a neighbor who uses it 100% for their water supply. They have a 8,000 gallon collection tank from a metal roof.

Anyway, I used their water, same Kolsch recipe and pitched on a Kolsch cake. Fermented out fine.

The main difference was the hops utilization. The Rainwater Kolsch was very light on hops bitterness, but aroma was there where as the Tap water Kolsch had a pilsner like flavor & body to it.

It was a very quaffable session beer and I'll do it again when I can round up some water from the neighbor. They enjoyed it immensely and help float the keg.
 
Born Brewing Co. said:
I'm a self proclaimed treehugger, so I like the idea of conservation. I cringe when I watch gallons and gallons of water from my wort chiller run down the driveway.

my first 5g goes into a bucket for sanitizing, then the next 14 goes in to the HLT for the next batch, after that i let it run, but i save all that i can.
 
I reuse my heat exchanged water in my HLT for cleaning. Now that I insulated my HLT way better, it actually is still hot the next morning when I come in to clean.

I am glad to hear the rainwater Kolsch was a hit, as I am thinking all my planned lighter beers would benefit from a mixture of mostly rainwater and a little of my naturally hard city water. We have really tasty water here, just very hard in bicarbs. When I pre-boil and cool my brewing water I get about 2 cups of mineral deposit in the bottom of my keggle. I tried with and without pre-boil, and for my APA I didn't taste any difference. Now, I don't pre-boil anything and just clean my HLT every brew. Rainwater will be a nice addition I think. I will definitely filter, but not so worried about pre-boiling it.

Is there any problem with not boiling prior to mashing? I mean, I am obviously going to kill any bacteria or yeast picked up on it's fall to the planet by boiling 60-90 minutes. I am curious as to any volatile chemicals or something like that, but I have heard people just use a whole house filter for their rainwater and drink it. I would have already done this step prior to brewing so...?

I am on a huge environmental kick right now and would love to get more green than I am right now. This is why I am researching/fooling around with wood-gas stove burners for boiling wort and heating water.
 
Rain harvesting, kudos. Especially where you live, I think it's a grand idea. Pollutants could be the #1 problem though, but as mentioned here, a pH check is probably in order.
 
Yeah, forgot about the pH. That is easy enough to test, and I have been needing some strips for a while now just for curiosity sake. Oh another reason, Star-San. Now I would be able to see if the stuff I left out overnight (or half a week) is still viable as a bug slayer.

I like the solar idea of pre-heating water also, but researching these wood-gas stoves has really opened my eyes to higher heating capacity and low fuel consumption. It is possible I could heat or boil all I need during a session for less than a few pounds of scrap wood laying around my yard. Just thinking out loud, this combined with a my brewing equipment I could also make a water distiller without the need for fuel cost worries. I still think a solar water distiller would be better though for brewing or drinking, as distilling in a metal container with direct fire causes a metallic/stale taste in most distilled water I have tasted. They are so slow that it would have to be one huge solar distiller to collect enough water fast enough for brew day. So many ways to go on this that I haven't really ironed anything out yet. Although, when I build a house it will have very soft water before it enters my pipes. I hate the crud that builds on the pipes here. It makes the shower/tub nasty, but you do "feel" cleaner and not slimey, lol. I know, I know, soft water cleans hard!
 
WortMonger said:
... They are so slow that it would have to be one huge solar distiller to collect enough water fast enough for brew day. ...

I think you would just always want to have it collecting. Rain water could fill a solar distiller, the distilled water could feed a reservoir, that could pump up to a solar heater on a roof. Then just open the valve on the heater to feed the HLT when you need it..

I like the idea of wood fired too. Lots of great and interesting stuff to ponder! I think this is a great hobby in the sense that there are ALWAYS ways to tinker with your set up.
 
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