Brewing with rain water

[PearlJamNoCode]

I always use distilled water... never knew that wasn't a good idea.

 

[EdWort]

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.

 

[Desert_Sky]

i say go for it. i bet it makes a good blonde or kolsch

 

[SenorWanderer]

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.

 

[WortMonger]

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.

 

[zoebisch01]

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.

 

[olllllo]

I was thinking about using solar to kick start my HLT water.

Hmmm.

 

[zoebisch01]

I was thinking about using solar to kick start my HLT water.

Hmmm.

You could modify a solar cooker. At least that would be a leg up...

 

[WortMonger]

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!

 

[RegionalChaos]

... 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.

 

[zoebisch01]

My Uncle can heat his in-ground outdoor pool in Florida to 90 °F in the winter (it does get close to freezing in the winter where he is) with hot water solar. It's basically a black (sch90) PVC array behind a glass, with a send and return line to the pool. He actually blew the pipe once because he forgot to open the valve!

 

[WortMonger]

I think you would just always want to have it collecting.

It would always be collecting rainwater to distill. The problem/bottleneck in the system's speed would be the actual distillation. For a 10 sgft distiller condensing surface area you get 1.5 gallons per day in the summer time and half that in winter. At this rate, I would have to collect 17 gallons for brew day 11+ days before in summer time and just over 22.5 days before in the winter time. That is a large piece of equipment for such little production. If an entire roof was made for it then fine, but even then you would have to watch your water usage to not run out for a house and brewing. I only like the idea of solar distilling for the taste aspect. The actual logistics behind it being truly feasible on a size scale knock it out right now. I think solar heating would be a better use for solar and brewing water right now. I wonder if you can get a direct fired water still that wouldn't make the water taste like crap. I think that is more space efficient, but wouldn't do it if the water tasted anything like store bought distilled, yuck. My iron and steamer like it but I couldn't palate it unless I was dying of thirst.

 

[Bobby_M]

I would imagine that a simple black tank in the Arizona summer sun would get you well up to 140F in a day or two. You can put a small submersible powerhead in there to keep it circulating.

 

[olllllo]

Yeah Bobby, I'm going to put some old 5 gallon water bottles to use.
I have some flat black spray paint and a hot corner up against a cinder block wall.

 

[WortMonger]

I think I just found a better use for my new black rubber miller keg

 

[z987k]

At a minimum I would check the pH of the water and not use it if it is acidic.

Generally the pH of rainwater is about 5.5 to 6. Depending on where you live. On the east coast you can get closer to 5 usually. And anything below 5.6 is considered acid rain. Even if there is little SOx and NOx in your air where you live, there's plenty of CO2, and that will always make the rainwater less than 7.

Here's a graphic I found. Kind of disturbing:

 

[WortMonger]

OK, thought I'd post after watching the Modern Marvels on Copper this week. I wondered if copper plating the inside of a keg for rain water, or any water for that matter, storage would be a good idea due to its anti-microbial properties. I ask here because of the pH question. I wouldn't want an excessive copper taste in my brewing water or anything so I wonder about the water and the copper oxidation being stripped off. I am going under the same principle as the settlers used for milk containers with a silver dollar in the bottom to help it "last" longer. Any thoughts? Oh, and for all the "copper plating is expensive" comments, my retort to that is I accidentally found out how to cheaply plate stainless with copper, lol. I plated my brand new all-stainless Sanke tap by leaving it in a bucket with spilled beer. The tap had a penny as a stopper in one end and only half the tap was submerged, but when I discovered the bucket I had a pretty pink tap.

This is just one of those what-if types of questions, but I am a curious person so I have to ask, lol.

 

[z987k]

remember that only the outer coating of a penny is copper, and it's .02grams of copper per penny. At that rate you're probably spending $100 on penny's to plate something. I guess you could still use the penny's afterwards though...

 

[WortMonger]

Not pre-1982 pennies. Sorry, should have explained. For the keg project I might use copper tubing instead. All I know is it plated it in beer and now my new SS tap looks like crap unless I polish the copper, lol.

 

[WissahickonBrew]

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.

Make sure you are using food grade hose for your wort chiller if you are re-filling your HLT for the next batch!

 

[SuperCrossBun]

Make sure you are using food grade hose for your wort chiller if you are re-filling your HLT for the next batch!

I'm guessing it's a bit late!

 

[WissahickonBrew]

I'm guessing it's a bit late!

LOL - I think I brain farted on the date of the last post!

Still, there is good info in this thread, on a topic I just recently became interested in! Brewing with filtered, harvested rain sounds like a great idea, much has developed since this thread was started.