making beer with rainwater

[corks]

my first couple were boiled rainwater, leaf tannins and all. now i drive into town and find a tap, schools normally have easily accessible ones. my beers are much better for it.

[PaulSteele]

The creepy crawlies don't worry me as much as the pollution you might be drinking. There are good reasons why they recommend we don't drink rainwater in urban areas.

there are also good reasons not to drink tap water; Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face.

A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core Commie works.

it is for this reason that I only drink rainwater and grain alcohol.

[Kevnlis]

[earle]

Fluoridation aside there are other reasons to question tap water. We don't have town water at our place but the tap water up here sometimes has so much manganese oxide in it that it makes peoples laundry black, perhaps a useful addition to a dark ale or stout. I recall a few years ago people in Sydney getting very ill from the tap water, something to do with dead dogs putrifying the reservoirs.

[Biernut]

While I agree and disagree with some of whats been said on this topic, seems like it boils down to enviroment, if you live in an urban area and have neighbours who like breeding pidgeons or live by the sea and have seagulls crapping all over your roof then tank water is a bit of a handicap making beer. Also industrial areas belching out smoke laden with pollution that settles on your roof hardly contributes to a healthy water profile. When living in Sydney my neigbour and I were pretty full on making HB and we invested in a large aluminium copper with an element and used to boil hell out the local tap water to mainly get rid of the fluoride and any other nasties. However living in southern Tassie seems to be the right enviroment for tank water as the colourbond roofs seem to stay quite pristine and other than the odd dead bird getting stuck in the guttering no problems nor is eucalypt and wattle leaves steeped in rain water have any adverse effect on our HB. I believe that if you are boiling your water either in the brew process or before ensures a fairly sound brew although sterilizing and sanitizing equipment and kegs/bottles is mandatory .

[drsmurto]

Lets not forget those who live in flight paths. Dropout from planes is far nastier than bird shit.

[Tom Summers]

making beer with rainwater by Tom Summers on Wednesday Sep 03, 2008 5:23 pm
Finally got to drink the stuff and t was bloody beautifull and a mate agreed as well so its rainwater all the time from now.

[Kevnlis]

Perhaps this could be moved to the OP?

[gregb]

Perhaps this could be moved to the OP?

Agree and done.

Cheers,
Greg

[Biernut]

Have been experimenting with additives to tank water such as chalk, gypsum, epsom salts and the like to get as close as one can to the water profile of the style of beer of the place and country of origin. I am sure without a doubt these additives do enhance the flavours of the beer you are trying to emulate. Rainwater out of a tank IMHO is fairly benign and by paying more attention to water profile I have found does put the icing on the cake when one is looking for those extra subtleties in the on going quest to make brilliant beer.

[Kevnlis]

It will not matter so much for kit and extract brews. Water chemisty is mostly only useful for AG brewers.

[earle]

So what you mean by that Kev is that the chemicals affect the mash thereby indirectly affecting the flavour, and that chemicals in themselves don't affect the flavour. Am I getting it right?

[James L]

thats pretty much it Earle...

except for the minerals that can accentuate the hop flavour... such as sulphates...