sulphur blues

[grego]

I've recently moved from a big city to the country and now have my own well water. But my all grain batches of IPA using White Labs Burton Ale Yeast come out laced with sulphur that takes weeks to dissapate in the keg. What did I do
differently? Being a creature of habit I think nothing that I'm aware of, so do I need a Yeast Nutrient? - Batches attenuate fine. Any Ideas?

 

[disaffected]

Welcome to the forum.

I don't think I can help you because I haven't heard of this problem before. But I wonder how do you know it is sulphur?

 

[homebrewer_99]

A lot of yeasts produce a sulphur odor while fermenting.

WLP351 Weizen is particularly odiferous. PWHEW!!

The smell should dissipate prior to bottling/kegging. Mine always has.

Just let it do its stuff. Don't rush to bottle.

 

[david_42]

Next time ferment a portion of the batch with a neutral yeast, like cooper's or nottingham. If the smell is still there, you will probably want to install an activated charcoal filter.

Well water can have problems and only having it analysed professionally will tell you what you have in it.

 

[Rocket]

There's a good chance that the well water has a higher sulfur content than processed and treated (city) water. I've seen well water with enough sulfur that you can actually smell it.

If you poked around some on the ol' intertron, I'm sure you could find a sulfur test to test your water. How much is too much probably depends somewhat on the other mineral content of the water.

 

[feedthebear]

I agree with Rocket. I was part of a design team for a highway rest stop. The well we drilled had such high sulfur content that we had to install a reverse-osmosis system for the drinking fountain and post signs all over the place saying not to drink water from the taps.

If your problem is sulfur in your water, an easy solution would be to pick up bottled water when you are in town.

 

[grego]

Thanks one and all for the thoughts and suggestions. I will get my water ananyzed, try some bottled water (that's going to be a tough one 'cause the well water tastes so good and is sweet). The other thing is that the White Labs california ale yeast that I split the batch with has a strong sulphur taste and a very yeasty taste. This one attenuated at 1008 and the IPA at 1005. (OG 1050)These are already kegged and the off flavors fade every week but last year I made an OG 1070 IPA that did not exhibit any of these flavors. It could be that they were a lot sweeter (finishing around 1018) so that my problem may have always been there. I brew again in a couple of weeks so I'll post the results. Grego

 

[Rocket]

A reason the sulfur taste might fluctuate batch to batch is that the sulfur content of the water can fluctuate depending on how high or low the watertable is, which depends on recent rainfall.

If the water tastes good, it doesn't seem like there should be much sulfur in it. The water might be too soft, that is, there are not enough of the right minerals to balance out the sulfates. I would read up some on brewing water chemistry. (I would try to find out myself but unfortunately I don't have time right now).

 

[grego]

Thanks for everyone's input. Over the past year the sulfur problem has come and gone. Batches of porter and Belgian ale have come out fine. Then a batch of wheat ale had to be thrown out. The results of water analysis are as follows: PH 7.8. Ferric Iron: 1ppm. Hardness: 1gpg. Chlorides: 100 MG/L. Nothing else noted from this report from McLean gineering in Richmond, VA. I agree that the level of the water table may be the cause, so I bought 15 gallons of reverse osmosis filtered water from a supermarket and brewed a pale ale with White Labs Chico and Brittish Ale yeast splitting the fermentations of 5 gallons each. The sulphure is still there. Further notes. I mash in an aluminum pot using primarily infusions at 148 to 152 degrees for 90 minutes, boiling for 90 minutes using a stainless steel pot (60 qt.), and imersion wort chiller is added 15-20 minutes before knockout to sterilize and glass fermenters are cleaned with hot soap an water followed with idophor and rinsed well. Same goes for the cornelius kegs. Hops are usually pellet and placed in a hop bag to minimize wort loss and mess. This is the most frustrating year with 40 gallons tossed out and 20 gallons blissfully enjoyed. Anyone got a clue?

 

[drummstikk]

Hi Grego,
If you can confidently eliminate water as the source of sulphur odor, then it's got to be one of the other ingredients. Yeast contamination can produce sulphur odor. It sounds like you rinse your fermenter after sanitizing? I assume you're rinsing it with well water, which is decidedly not sanitized.

Why not try going "no rinse" after sanitizing? This is what you're supposed to do anyway.