Rainwater (tank water)

[Ward Chillington]

I live in the Burra Valley, NSW. South East of Canberra. We have a small truffle farm also.

Cool...on the east coast....do oak trees grow there or do truffles grow under some other tree in Australia ?

 

[parrankin]

Cool...on the east coast....do oak trees grow there or do truffles grow under some other tree in Australia ?

Hi Ward, it is a rather long process of soil prep and planting of trees. We have oak trees and hazelnut trees, these are inoculated with the truffle fungus.

 

[Sechelter]

I have some problems getting my head around water chemistry when I live in a country area with reliance upon rainwater from tanks with no idea of the chemical makeup of the water. The water tastes fine and the ph is always around 7. Being in a country area it is an expensive process of buying RO water or distilled water, also getting a water test done is expensive. Does rainwater have chemical profile, or once filtered can it be a clean slate from a minerals perspective. I once had a discussion with people at a brewing shop and give them a sample of my water, they said the ph was 7 so just add a small amount of Calcium Sulphate and all will be good. I'm looking forward to using the calculator and looking into the finer details of profile to the style of beer. Sorry if there is possibly many discussions on this already.. very new to the site! Is it worthwhile investing in an RO filter?

 

[Sechelter]

I have some problems getting my head around water chemistry when I live in a country area with reliance upon rainwater from tanks with no idea of the chemical makeup of the water. The water tastes fine and the ph is always around 7. Being in a country area it is an expensive process of buying RO water or distilled water, also getting a water test done is expensive. Does rainwater have chemical profile, or once filtered can it be a clean slate from a minerals perspective. I once had a discussion with people at a brewing shop and give them a sample of my water, they said the ph was 7 so just add a small amount of Calcium Sulphate and all will be good. I'm looking forward to using the calculator and looking into the finer details of profile to the style of beer. Sorry if there is possibly many discussions on this already.. very new to the site! Is it worthwhile investing in an RO filter?

Your water is like mine, and essentially mineral-free. Is a blank canvas for brewing. You’ll want to add calcium chloride and gypsum at least, to land on your desired pH and sulfate-chloride balance.

 

[Mont Y. Märzen]

I use river water.
One day I will get around adding chemicals to it.
You can get a cheapish set with paper strips to test the water. Generally rain water should not contain much and I would just use it and consider it "nutrient less"

That is generally true, unless you live near the coast. I can smell the salt in the air when it rains at my Mom's house who lives just a few miles inland. (when the storms are moving in from off the water)
Also, everything metal at her place rusts. In those cases, it might be worth collecting a sample and doing a test at least once so you know how to filter it, or adjust if needed.

 

[Brewer #375872]

I have been using rainwater for years as most of rural New Zealand doesn’t have mains water and collect rainwater off the roof, it’s makes a difference what your tank is made from, if it’s concrete then your Ph will be quite high, plastic and it’s lower, at 7 I’m guessing your tank is plastic. Making 23 Ltr batches I only use a few grams of salts and everything turns out pretty good. You’ll be all good, go for it!