Melted Snow

[urbanmyth]

We are in the middle of a moderate snowfall here in Southeastern Wisconsin. Has anybody ever used freshly fallen snow as the water for a brew? I know it would take a hell of a lot of snow to make a gallon of water, but as long as it was clean, I think it would be an interesting little nuance to add to a brew.

 

[djfriesen]

Will the water chemistry be conducive to brewing? Or are you going to build it with additives? Maybe it won't matter enough, but I would think it would lack the chemical composition that goes with good beer water.

 

[day_trippr]

Good grief, with all the crap that snow would drag out of the air, I wouldn't even think about brewing with it...

 

[joshstokes122]

I thought about doing a Gumball Head clone with snow and call it Snowball Head, but it hasn't snowed enough to that here in Indy.... and I'm too lazy to do it how I would want to. I figured I would have to distill the snow water to get some clean stuff to start with. Too much work for me.

 

[psymonkey]

I can think of no better way to impart greenhouse gasses into your fermenter

 

[urbanmyth]

Hm. I just did a little more research, as well. It takes about ten gallons of snow to make one gallon of water, depending on the density. I knew it would take a lot, but that is a LOT. A trashcan and a half full just for a full boil. Jeez. And, yeah, I would have figured out some sort of purification system. Maybe run it through a Brita pitcher a gallon at a time, etc.

 

[psymonkey]

On the other hand, even knowing that it isn't as pure as it looks, I always used to pick up a handful of fresh powder when I lived in the mountains of Colorado and eat it...as long as it was fresh. I can't imagine too much of concern would survive the boil..maybe just put an honorary shovel full in the brewpot

EDIT: You could then honestly say it was "Brewed with real snow"

 

[urbanmyth]

On the other hand, even knowing that it isn't as pure as it looks, I always used to pick up a handful of fresh powder when I lived in the mountains of Colorado and eat it...as long as it was fresh. I can't imagine too much of concern would survive the boil..

This is what I was thinking. I recently moved out into the county, and the snow here seems to taste...fresher? than the stuff back in town.

maybe just put an honorary shovel full in the brewpot

I might just do that. Still a cool concept, I think. Perhaps somebody should come up with a "Snowed-in Ale" or the like that uses exclusively snow melt.

 

[Airborneguy]

I did this last year during our monster storm. Probably around 1/3 of my water came from snow. The beer tasted great.

 

[CoalCreekBeer]

It has snowed in the brew pot while brewing...does that count?

 

[onthekeg]

I have made light beers with freshly fallen snow many times. Nothing to worry about, just plan on using many shovels full. Beer is delicious. I use rain water in the summer too. I'm weird where I plan my brewdays around the weather forecast, and have taken vacation for good downpour water.

 

[ReDim]

It also depends where you live !

I would not do that! I would use water that is considered safe to drink and then filter it further.
Agree with what people are saying that snow takes in some pollutants and emissions.

 

[urbanmyth]

I have made light beers with freshly fallen snow many times. Nothing to worry about, just plan on using many shovels full. Beer is delicious. I use rain water in the summer too. I'm weird where I plan my brewdays around the weather forecast, and have taken vacation for good downpour water.

Where do you live? I would love to try this sometime, but I lack a good collection system.

 

[onthekeg]

Where do you live? I would love to try this sometime, but I lack a good collection system.

I'm in MN. I have a gutter that I will clean out and have ready that fills a 55 gal barrel before we are supposed to have a storm. If I need to brew and its even an inch or so, I will hose out the gutter and have the barrel ready. Not much work really. I use a pump through a charcoal filter then to the HLT.

 

[onthekeg]

It also depends where you live !

I would not do that! I would use water that is considered safe to drink and then filter it further.
Agree with what people are saying that snow takes in some pollutants and emissions.

I wouldn't do that in New York, New York.
On the plains of MN, I have no issues with that. I bet you would drink rain on the ocean as well if you were dying of thirst.

 

[urbanmyth]

That is a great idea. I'm all for sustainability, so this may be something I look into.

 

[onthekeg]

I have a conductivity meter and rain water is quite close to distilled, and its free. That works for me.

 

[TyTanium]

I remember looking this up a few months ago - there's a few threads with some very good information on it - search brewing with rain water / brewing with snow. Definitely some legitimate concerns, especially for city folks - microbes aren't the problem (boiled dead), but chemicals & pollutants. It's sad, but that's the world we live in. A filter is a good idea, at a minimum. I have multiple rain barrels and means of collecting snow, and I'm all for conservation, but I wouldn't brew with it. But I'm close to Chicago. I do use collected water for rinsing/cleaning, etc.

 

[onthekeg]

Everyone is free to test their own water for contamination as well. Or take the word of the internet.
I believe Abe Lincoln once said: "You can't believe everything you read on the internet."

 

[Airborneguy]

Everyone is free to test their own water for contamination as well. Or take the word of the internet.
I believe Abe Lincoln once said: "You can't believe everything you read on the internet."

Agreed.

I've brewed with the snow that's fallen over NYC a few times. I've never seen a weather forecast show a storm form directly over the city... To add to that, I haven't seen a pollution spewing factory in the city in years either.

 

[djfriesen]

Besides those yellow ones with the wheels.

 

[sudsmcgee]

Or the bags of garbage sitting on the sidewalks in Manhattan.

 

[Airborneguy]

Or the bags of garbage sitting on the sidewalks in Manhattan.

I've never lived in Manhattan, so it would be a big surprise if snow from the sidewalks of Manhattan ended up in my brew pot.

Smog is also not a problem here. We have prevailing winds from the ocean. I lived in Colorado for 4 years. The smog in Denver puts NY to shame.

 

[onthekeg]

Do what you want people. There isn't anything in the rain or freshly fallen snow to worry about. I'm not here to teach 3rd grade science, nor am I here to talk about political issues you seem to have lurking.

 

[Airborneguy]

Do what you want people. There isn't anything in the rain or freshly fallen snow to worry about. I'm not here to teach 3rd grade science, nor am I here to talk about political issues you seem to have lurking.

I was waiting for someone to say this! Snow is almost 100% pure water. Better than what comes out of most taps.

 

[TyTanium]

One other thing - when melting, be sure to put some water in the bottom of the kettle. Scalded snow tastes terrible. No idea why, it just does. Learned that from camping in winter.

And I'm not convinced snow is almost 100% pure water. Only evidence I have is collected ~5g of snow in a big bucket and let it melt...there was a layer of sediment at the bottom and it tasted terrible. I think someone said that snow forms around dust particles in the air. I guess if it drops out...I don't know, onthekeg is right - do what you want, boiling will kill everything. There's just way too much junk in the Chicago air for me to be comfortable with it, but that's just me. I'm sure you'll make awesome beer and it sure is a fun nuance to share with people.

 

[onthekeg]

One other thing - when melting, be sure to put some water in the bottom of the kettle. Scalded snow tastes terrible. No idea why, it just does. Learned that from camping in winter.

Its from your pot. Even my sister that can't cook knows you can't burn water.






But she asked me once.

 

[urbanmyth]

One other thing - when melting, be sure to put some water in the bottom of the kettle. Scalded snow tastes terrible. No idea why, it just does. Learned that from camping in winter.

Could be some mineral content in the snow hitting the hot metal without water to act as a temp buffer...

 

[TyTanium]

Its from your pot. Even my sister that can't cook knows you can't burn water.


But she asked me once.

I didn't say it burns the water, just anecdotal evidence that snow + hot pan tastes bad. Add water and you don't have this problem.

Could be some mineral content in the snow hitting the hot metal without water to act as a temp buffer...

Very well could be the case. Interesting.

 

[NTexBrewer]

Reviving old thread to say I'm working on a Mexican Vienna Lager that will be using snow melt.

I'm in Dallas and we are having the very rare true snow storm. Usually we just get ice or sleet.

I know, I know our 3" inches of snow does not compare to all of the snow the northeast has gotten. Just remember we will have about 30 days above 100 in the summer when you typically have nice temps in the 80's.

Anyway, I have had cabin fever and figured a good Mexican Vienna Lager to make now would be great by the pool when it finally warms up. It will taste even better knowing the water came from snow.

Melting the snow now for my brew day tomorrow.

Here is an interesting link about a brewery in Rhode Island that made a snow melt beer.

http://www.newportstorm.com/beers.php