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Sulfur in RO Water

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Prymal

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Messages
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Location
Colorado Springs
I have pretty hard water in my area so I installed an RO system for brewing water about a month ago and this week both the filtered and unfiltered water started smelling like sulfur which is common in my area when the city starts pulling from a well source. I did a TDS check and was at 3 so I know the filter is working. My question is should i worry about the sulfur small effecting my beer? From the little research I have done the issue is most likely hydrogen sulfide gas dissolved into the h20.
 
Rotten eggs sulfur or burnt match sulfur? If the latter it's definitely a no worry situation. If the former it's probably the same as the fact that you smell it means that it is volatile and will be driven off by boiling and/or scrubbing with CO2 or another gas (air). The first thing I'd try is pouring some of the water back and forth between two containers to see if that lets it escape. If it does then you might want to try aeration with an aquarium pump and stone.

If this doesn't work then the situation becomes a bit more complex and it will probably be necessary to have a water treatment supplier come in, assess the situation and make a recommendation. At best an upstream carbon filter may get it all if it is low enough in concentration. But your RO unit contains an activated carbon filter and that's apparently not doing the job. Of course it could be exhausted so if the RO unit is not new you might try replacing that. Beyond simple GAC filtration would come a permanently installed aerator, greensand filter or hypochorite or permanganate injector. Which is most effective (both in terms of removing H2S and in terms of cost) will depend on a number of factors. It becomes a systems engineering problem.
 
Rotten eggs sulfer, and if I pour the water back and forth the smell goes away. Thanks for all of the tips, an aquarium pump aeration system has been on my list of items to buy so I think it just made it higher on the list.
 

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