Sulfury Well Water

[gcdowd]

So just brewed and bottled first beer. Conditioned well and the beer tastes fine. However, I used my parents tap water (from their well) and it has always had a fairly strong sulfur smell and slight sulfur taste (I drank it all the time growing up and am used to it). Anyway, even though my beer tastes fine, was wondering if I'm doing it any harm by using their well water. There is no sulfur taste in the beer but I guess i'm just curious if the taste would improve if I did not use their water.

 

[Pooter]

I have sulphury well water too and have been afraid to try it. However, if it tastes good to you I wonder if most of the sulphur evaporates off during the boil.

 

[Clann]

Isnt bass pale ale "famous" for their sulphur water?

 

[gcdowd]

Isnt bass pale ale "famous" for their sulphur water?

hmmm, if that's true, I did not know it

 

[Pooter]

Well done, Clann. Did a search and British Bitters into ESB's are allowed low to high sulfate water.

 

[jasonsbeer]

Well done, Clann. Did a search and British Bitters into ESB's are allowed low to high sulfate water.

Someone may be able to confirm or refute this - I can't seem to find the source at the moment. I had come across some information that indicated waters in Belgium are a little higher in sulphur, so Belgian beers should be good for water like yours.

The old place in Illinois had hard well water with a noticeable sulphur smell. I made a Witbier with 50/50 well water/distilled. Turned out great.

 

[Kaz]

Sulfur and sulfate are 2 totally different beasts. First, what do you consider a 'sulfur taste/smell'? Rotten egg is the odor I think of, this is Hydrogen Sulfide and is usually the by product of a bacterium in the well or somewhere else in the plumbing system. The bacteria reduce the naturally occurring sulfates in ground water to produce the hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen sulfide should boil off. Sulfate is a oxygen/sulfur ion that is found naturally in ground water and comes from minerals. Elevated sulfate levels in brewing water have been shown to accentuate hop flavors in some beers. As far as I know, there is no smell associated with sulfate and it is a mild laxative (see Epsom salt)

 

[Beezy]

My parents have water like this. I can't even use their ice in a drink. So nasty. I wouldn't use it straight up. I am sure there must be a way to prepare this water. I am not the guy tho.

 

[Chrisl77]

You can run it through a carbon filter. I have A noticeable sulfur smell in my water. All the water for my house gets filtered through a softner, then peroxide injection that oxidizes things like bacteria, sulfur, and other organic materials, then a large carbon tank. If your just concerned with water for brewing a 10 inch carbon filter should be able to handle the job.

 

[gcdowd]

As it turns out, the water only smells like sulfur. My dad told me it was actually the iron in the water. Don't know if that is bad

 

[Homercidal]

Iron is not good in beer, generally. There is a method of removing it but I can't recall off the top of my head and I have to get back to work. Maybe google that?

Also, perhaps a wards lab report is in order?

 

[Chrisl77]

There are several types of iron that can be in water. The 2 most common are ferrous iron and organic iron which is iron that is bound to organic material. Ferrous iron can be removed by a water softner through ion exchange. Organic iron can be removed by a carbon filter that traps the organic material the iron is attached to. The best way is to inject an oxidizing agent in the water before the carbon filter to assist in removal. The most common oxidizer in my area is chlorine. I personally use hydrogen peroxide in my water filtration system.

 

[gcdowd]

Can either be boiled off?

 

[Chrisl77]

Defiantly not iron and i am pretty sure sulfur will not either. Do you know how much iron is in the water? You can fill a bottle up with water and let it sit in a dark place for a week. If you get orange stains/fine coating on the bottom of the bottle its probably ferrous iron, if you get a slimy orange growth that almost looks like algae its probably organic iron. Is there any type of filtration on the well? In NJ the dep requires well water to be treated if the iron is above a certain ppm. I would imagine NY has similar requirements.

 

[gcdowd]

Yeah I'm not sure. I'd have to look into it

 

[Heavywalker]

The sulfur smell is caused by bacteria that feeds off the iron in the water. They live in the water lines and tanks. The smell will go away if you let the water sit out for a while uncovered. You will still have the bacteria in the water that will die at temps above 120 degrees F. Then the only thing left is the iron.

Couple of things you can do to get rid of the smell are as follows.

First Drain the hot heater at least once a year. Kill the power to it and make sure you don't blow the element, and make sure the tank is completely full before switching the power back on.

Then turn the heat on your hot water heater up to above 120 degrees (I keep mine at 125 and regulate the temps at the tap as 125 will burn skin) this will kill the bacteria that is causing the smell and if your heater is below 120 then it is the perfect place for the bacteria to grow.

The Now that the heater is set properly go out to the well and take off the well head. treat the well with bleach or chlorine, ( if you have another method of introducing treatments to your water lines then that will work better than down the well itself) there should be enough to make a pronounced bleach or chlorine smell in the taps run all the faucets in the house so that the bleach or chlorine get into all the lines, run the water until the smell goes away before using it for drinking or cooking.

That is what I have done at my house to keep the sulfur smell away, going on 4 years now with no smell to speak of. I do this process regularly about every 10-12 months as preventative maintenance.

Now if the sulfur smell is in the ground water then there is not really anything you can do to get the smell out of the tap, however if the water is left out uncovered the smell will go away.

 

[Chrisl77]

If you have access to the well head the best way to sanitize it with bleach is to take the cap off and run a hose down the top. Add a cup of bleach down the well and let the water circulate for a while. You can smell the hose or use a pool chlorine test to check for chlorine. If you have any type of filtration you need to bypass it. Carbon will remove the chlorine and if you run to much chlorine through the resin in a water softner you can damage it.

 

[gcdowd]

Just learned that there is a filter on the well that is supposed to take the iron out. So only the smell remains...

 

[Heavywalker]

you should be able to add the bleach at the filter, I would take the filter out before adding though. Do that and follow the rest of the steps and the smell will be greatly diminished if not gone completely after the first treatment.

 

[Chrisl77]

What kind of filter a 10 or 20 inch canister filter, water softner, or a birm filter?

 

[gcdowd]

Not sure what kind of filter but I just decided to use spring water for my latest batch.