Making beer from snow

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Thegreatestgray

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I have an idea so I figured who better to ask if it would work other then the great hbt peeps. It just snowed about two feet and I was wondering if I could make beer from the snow? What I figured to do was put the snow in two 5 gallon buckets that were clean and sanitized and in my kettle and make beer normally. If I use the snow to cool the boiling wort would I have any issues of infections
 
IMO, you are boiling the water anyways so if there were contaminants in it they would get killed off in the boil. Unless of course you actually get any dirt/debris in the snow. As for cooling, if you are talking about setting the kettle in the snow then yes, but if you are talking about actually adding snow to the wort then IMO, no
 
lol @ yellow snow.

I like this idea. I love snow ice cream (not that I ever get to make it in Alabama). Snow beer would be neat.

I guess this would really upset the hardcore water chemistry guys, but other than that, seems like a fun idea to me.
 
Careful, I tried to use snow to cool my lager this weekend. Thanks to my neighbor's inability to control his dogs I had a few 'surprises' in the bucket.
 
Atmospheric Ale
Stratosphere Stout
Pollution Porter
The Skies the Limit Lager
Snowed-in Saison
:D
 
All joking aside.. I would think the lack of minerals in snow as opposed to spring or tap water would make for a "flat" flavor.

I mention this because I have heard of mountain climbers making tea with clean snow and adding a little bit of salt to avoid a "flat" flavor...

Can anyone speak to this?
 
Creamy or anyone, is there such a thing as a quick water tester, rather than sending a sample to ward labs? Is there something besides ph strips that can give a rough idea of what is present in water, that he could figure that out on the fly and add stuff accordingly?
 
I just did this last weekend, as we were snowed in from about 28" of snow in southern CT and looking for things to do (we also made an igloo). Brewed a Rye IPA - our water is very soft here and I assumed the snowfall would if anything be softer, so I added a good amount of gypsum to the mash, as well as a touch of epsom salt and kosher salt. It's about ready to transfer to secondary, but already tastes fabulous.

One word of warning though - it's going to take a lot more snow than you think to get 10 gallons of brew water. Snow to liquid ratio (unless the snow is very wet) is 10:1 or higher. Took me quite awhile to melt 10 gallons worth, so give yourself some extra time!
 
If you thawed snow and drank it, it probably wouldn't taste as good as your tap water. Snow is basically distilled water, since there are no minerals in it. I would use it to cool my wort, but that's it.

NRS
 
Revvy said:
Creamy or anyone, is there such a thing as a quick water tester, rather than sending a sample to ward labs? Is there something besides ph strips that can give a rough idea of what is present in water, that he could figure that out on the fly and add stuff accordingly?

I was in Lowes the other day and saw they had water testing kits that said it could give you alkalinity, iron, etc. I couldn't tell you if they work or not though.
 
Just a note on chilling with snow. Just setting the pot in the snow doesnt work very well. The snow melts around it you dont really get the cooling you want. Ive put the pot in the sink with a mix of water and snow and it works great. I keep draining a litle water and adding more snow. Free ice..woohoo.
 
mlyday said:
Just a note on chilling with snow. Just setting the pot in the snow doesnt work very well. The snow melts around it you dont really get the cooling you want. Ive put the pot in the sink with a mix of water and snow and it works great. I keep draining a litle water and adding more snow. Free ice..woohoo.

Yeah I learned that the hard way last night when I made a batch of beer but finally gave up on just using snow to cool and went to my tried and true bath tub haha. Anyway I don't have anyway to test the water so I just went with we will see what happens
 
I know "acid rain" is old news, but it is my understanding that rain and snow do take on a lot of impurities from pollution in the skies. That said, who knows what the hell is in tap water?

I say swing away.
 
Just a note on chilling with snow. Just setting the pot in the snow doesnt work very well. The snow melts around it you dont really get the cooling you want. Ive put the pot in the sink with a mix of water and snow and it works great. I keep draining a litle water and adding more snow. Free ice..woohoo.

Lots of people discover this. Snow cn actually be a nice insulator, which is not what you want when chilling.
 
I know "acid rain" is old news, but it is my understanding that rain and snow do take on a lot of impurities from pollution in the skies. That said, who knows what the hell is in tap water?

I say swing away.

Just wanted to say, love the new av, Cheesy. You fat, bloated idiot.
 
I know "acid rain" is old news, but it is my understanding that rain and snow do take on a lot of impurities from pollution in the skies. That said, who knows what the hell is in tap water?

I say swing away.

Hopefully, your water company knows what is in your tap water. That information should be available.
 
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