another victum

[wrighty]

just put in first brew in ages.starting out simple at the moment . brought brewcraft kit came with a munich larger .boiled 12g goldings hops 30min added goo off boil put infermentor mixed 1kg body biulder #35 topped up with rainwater 22lt pitched saflager s23 yeast .put into modified fridge at15_16c to ferment.some questions 1is rain water ok 2 munich any good ? 3 have a50lt swan keg any idea where i can source a tap from and how do ya clean the bastard . wrighty .

[FazerPete]

I've brewed with untreated rainwater with no problems for the past 4-5 years until I had a couple of wild yeast infections which I think came from the water. I bought a load of town water for the tank and the chlorine in it seemed to fix the problem. Personally I think that if you can drink the water untreated and it tastes good then you should be able to brew with it.

BTW, if you can keep the S-23 between 11-15C you'll get a nicer beer.

[Jacko_NZ]

I don't use rain water so can't comment on that but I have recently bottled a Brewcraft Munich Lager. I added a KG of Brewcraft No#15 Lager enhancer and finishing hops (Hallateu) steeped for 10 mins and added into the fermenter. Also used SAF-23. Just starting to heat up over here in NZ so I struggled to keep it below 15, about 16 from memory.

I bottled this last week and got to say the smell coming off was fantastic. Most bottles have already firmed up so I should be good for a first tasting at 2 weeks

[wrighty]

Cheers fazer,jacko
Water seems fine to drink if it makes good beer will find out. let us know how your brew turns out jacko ,warm in N.Z eh? . I live nth west aus bloody hot here!! .will post the first taste test to compere brews
cheers Wrighty

[skurvy84]

i've read alot about people using rain water with no problems, my dad however tried it 2 on seperate occasions and never had any luck at all.

for my first mexican cerveza (coopers concentrate) i used almost 2 bags of purified natural spring water from the supermarket. depending on how this goes and what it taste/smells like i'll probably keep doing it.

[skurvy84]

i've read alot about people using rain water with no problems, my dad however tried it 2 on seperate occasions and never had any luck at all.

for my first mexican cerveza (coopers concentrate) i used almost 2 bags of purified natural spring water from the supermarket. depending on how this goes and what it taste/smells like i'll probably keep doing it.

further on about this,

we opened our mexican cerveza the other weekend and i usually don't like coronas (which i believe this kit is trying to copy) and i am so glad that we used purified spring water, it tastes so good i can't believe we made it ourselves. Our sister also made a cervaza (we both used coopers kits) and after the 2 weeks in the bottle it was not that nice to drink, but with the purified water its amazing the difference in tastes just by using a different water. needless to say it costed alittle more for the water (about $8 for 3x5ltr boxes) but i think it was very much worth it....i tried my first grolsch on the weekend too and i noticed brewcraft have a kit for a similar one can't wait to try that out.

[Longwood-65]

I use Filtered Tank water, all is good.
I would however suggest testing the water PH before using.

[Screamin TE]

I use Filtered Tank water, all is good.
I would however suggest testing the water PH before using.

what ph would you recommend for brewing??

[warra48]

I use Filtered Tank water, all is good.
I would however suggest testing the water PH before using.

what ph would you recommend for brewing??

The ph of the water doesn't really matter if you are putting down kit brews. The mashing has already been done, so the probably relatively soft rainwater will be fine. I'd be wary of brewing with rainwater unless it's all boiled first.

However, if you are brewing all grain, then ph becomes of some importance. However, it is not the ph of the water which is important, but the ph of the mash. The ph of the mash ultimately is influenced by the composition of the grain bill, eg the quantity of lighter versus darker grains etc.