Submitted By: Michael Dawson (mdawson@gmail.com)
Most of us know the thrill of finding a new way to become sustainable, each step a small but significant step which makes us feel proud of our efforts. On one recent rainy day I decided to undertake an experiment which hopefully will reap even greater rewards of a different kind in exactly four weeks. I'm of course talking about beer.
Challenge
During the wet Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, I decided to start a five-gallon batch of Extra Special Bitter (ESB). I found the EBMUD website and started researching the chemical components of our water. While the results of the water quality tests seemed clear enough, the recommendations on how to improve the water for brewing wasn't. Chloride, magnesium, calcium are all desirable ions at certain levels, but not above certain levels . "Hard" water can aid fermentation for dark lagers, but didn't seem as desirable for others. Chemicals can be added to fix these issues, but then the thought of adding chemicals seemed counter to the idea of creating something fresher, cleaner, and frankly, greener. Beyond the chemicals in the water, beer making is also a water-intensive process since it takes nearly 40 gallons of water to create just 5 gallons of beer. Was there a solution to both of these problems?
Solution Details
Then I recalled an article I read recently about an Atlanta brewery which creates all of its beer with rainwater collected from its roof and filtered on site. The owner claimed the natural rain water resulted in a much smoother end result. I had prided myself on decreasing my carbon footprint by not buying beer transported across three states, but the idea of using "free" water -- without chemicals -- from my backyard seemed like the next logical extension to increasing the sustainability of my hobby. Beer is 90% water, after all.
Minor bud particles from a nearby tree and one lonely spider were easily scooped out with a fine-strained mesh, and then 4 gallons were carbon-filtered and heated in a large metal pot as part of the partial-grain brewing process. After a couple of hours, the pot is quickly cooked in the sink -- and surprise -- the left-over cold rainwater again was the perfect cooling agent as I took the beer from 170 degrees down to 80 degrees, suitable enough for pitching yeast. Did I mention the rainwater (with some bleach) also served as cleaning agent? For the first time, I used less than a gallon of tap water from beginning to end, with most of it for the final sanitation rinsing of the equipment.
Sustainable living means more than replacing light bulbs or growing herbs in the garden (although these are fun and helpful activities). It means rethinking our existing hobbies, habits, and lifestyles and questioning if there isn't a different way to do the same things. I find almost everything can be done with a nod toward nature and an understanding that sometimes solutions are literally at our feet, at least on a rainy day. And as we all know, a rainy day is the perfect time to sample some beer.
Informational Links
East Bay Water reports: http://www.ebmud.com/resource-center/publications/reports/annual-reports
