Rain Water ?

[ianfuture]

Hi guys,

I'm still earning all about AG brewing. Particularly the bits of equipment I'll need and the jargon and abbreviations used. I'm sure it'll come with time.

Anyway I was wondering what was stopping anyone from brewing using collected rainwater? If it can be treated to remove bacteria, and adjusted to the right PH level, and the hardness also adjusted.

Would save a fortune on water bills as I'm on a water meter, and it's "eco - friendly" ! Get some solar panels and batteries and I can power my kit in an "eco-friendly" manner too.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance
Ian

 

[tubby_shaw]

The main reason for not using rainwater is that a lot of pollutants and particulate are collected as the water passes through the air
I for one would not like to ingest them :sick:

 

[ianfuture]

That's what I thought, but if it was possible to set up a filtering system to remove these, similar to what is done in travellers clean drinking water kits, surely it must be a consideration...asuming it doesn't become ridiculously expensive....

hmmm :hmm:

 

[russt1969]

Try it with a small batch. One or two gallon.....
What you got to lose. I mean its boiled anyway :pray:

 

[falafael]

Why the hell would you even consider this one???? :wha: :wha: :wha:

 

[ano]

Free water seems reason enough for me. In terms of ecologically friendly brewing. If you're into that sort of thing.

Can't help but remember primary school science where they told us the evils of acid rain and showed us these melted faces (of stone statues). Is sulphuric acid driven off in the boil?

 

[falafael]

keep the rain water for the garden in a butt, me, well i pay enough for my water, so i use as much as i can, even leaving the sprinkler on.....as for your water, why not buy tesco value water, thats really cheap!!
In the end, why make a decent brew and then potentially ruin it, cause you used rain water!!, It don't make sense.

 

[ianfuture]

i like the idea of using "free" water.

Will have to boil some up and see what sediments etc are left. Will have to try and remember my old chemistry lessons now


Ta..
Ian

 

[warra48]

I normally use tap water for all my brews.

However, for the occasional lager I brew I use 80% rainwater, and 20% tap water.
In the town where I live we don't have any heavy or manufacturing industry, so we don't get the industrial deposits in the water you might get elsewhere.

We also use rainwater for making our tea, and we never have an issue with off tastes etc. It is boiled, of course.