Anyone dealt with smelly well water?

[akthor]

So moved to Minnesota from Maine. There's lots of water issues here I have never dealt with. Hard water is pretty much universal here. But my big issue is our well water has that sulfur/rotten egg/sewer smell. Its been tested as part of the inspection when we bought the place and there is nothing harmful in it. But the smell is so strong we neither drink it or cook with it. I am certainly not going to brew with it. (It still smells after boiling)

Anyone dealt with the issue?

My plan is to put a whole house filter system on right after well, sediment filter then one with carbon core. Then after that a reverse osmosis filter system going to my brew station.

We are too far in the country to get the water guys out here to put systems in and I can't afford a reverse osmosis whole house system.

 

[JonM]

In the meantime, if you plan to brew, take your fermenters over to the grocery store where (hopefully) they have one if those RO machines, and fill em up for 29 cents/gallon.

 

[McKnuckle]

My well water doesn't smell, but it is extremely hard and can be discolored sometimes. We don't drink it, but we cook with it. I brewed with it at the very beginning before I had a clue about water, and suffered from bitter, astringent beers due to the water's very high bicarbonate content and alkalinity.

We have a water softener to save the plumbing, but that treatment makes the water unsuitable (or at best highly compromised) for brewing.

We purchase spring water for drinking, so I use that, building it up for brewing with salts. My next step is to one day install a site-specific RO unit near my brewing area.

 

[xpops]

My well water doesn't smell, but it is extremely hard and can be discolored sometimes. We don't drink it, but we cook with it. I brewed with it at the very beginning before I had a clue about water, and suffered from bitter, astringent beers due to the water's very high bicarbonate content and alkalinity.

We have a water softener to save the plumbing, but that treatment makes the water unsuitable (or at best highly compromised) for brewing.

We purchase spring water for drinking, so I use that, building it up for brewing with salts. My next step is to one day install a site-specific RO unit near my brewing area.

Do you still use the well water for cleaning/sanitizing solutions, or do you also use spring water for that?

 

[McKnuckle]

I do use it for cleaning and sanitizing. It is not "bad" - i.e. contaminated - it just isn't ideal for brewing due to its mineral content, either direct from the well or post-softening. It does have high total dissolved solids (TDS), but we have a UV zapper unit inline with the softener to deal with that. It can be consumed, we just don't like to do so.

 

[max384]

So moved to Minnesota from Maine. There's lots of water issues here I have never dealt with. Hard water is pretty much universal here. But my big issue is our well water has that sulfur/rotten egg/sewer smell. Its been tested as part of the inspection when we bought the place and there is nothing harmful in it. But the smell is so strong we neither drink it or cook with it. I am certainly not going to brew with it. (It still smells after boiling)

Anyone dealt with the issue?

My plan is to put a whole house filter system on right after well, sediment filter then one with carbon core. Then after that a reverse osmosis filter system going to my brew station.

We are too far in the country to get the water guys out here to put systems in and I can't afford a reverse osmosis whole house system.

My parents have the same problem. They got a filtration system, but the filters need changed VERY often, and even with these frequent filter changes, the water still has a sulfur smell to it. Years ago right after my divorce, I moved in for a few months. I just used bottled water for brewing. No way I was going to brew a rotten egg beer!

 

[Hamaki]

Sounds like iron bacteria. Fuzzy, slimy coating inside toilet tank? Can be tough to get rid of but you can probably manage it at least. Chlorinate your well and ALL piping, tankage, etc. Shoot for 50 - 100 ppm. Let sit 24 hours (if possible) then flush out somewhere you won't kill plants or wildlife. Repeat once a week for a total of 6 treatments. Works on a permanent basis in maybe 1/2 to 3/4 of the cases in my area. If not, the problem will return within a couple of months. If so, you can keep things more or less under control by repeat chlorination every couple of months or as often as needed.

 

[mabrungard]

You are best served with a RO machine and an open storage tank. At least some of the offensive constituents is hydrogen sulfide gas and gases pass fairly easily through an RO membrane. Putting the treated RO water into an open tank provides more opportunity for the water to dissipate that gas. You might still have the gas problem if you store the water in a pressure tank.

A big plastic trash can is an easily available option, but there are more stout plastic tanks available if you look. Placing a float valve on the RO discharge line avoids overflows. For something around $200, you could be set for brewing.

 

[PADave]

We don't drink our well water. I use bottled for drinking and brewing.

 

[joesmink]

My Mother has water like that and we recently tried a little experiment with the water because it smells bad too.

Put some water in a pitcher and leave it out overnight, the next day the water should be pleasant to drink. Don't know if thats going to work for you but it surprised us. I guess theres a lot of dissolved gas in her well water.
worth a try anyhow

 

[madscientist451]

Have the same problem with my well, but also have spring water available. I usually brew with 1/2 spring water 1/2 distilled from the store. The Culligan water softener technician showed me how/where to add bleach to the softener system, but said if I do that too much it will cause problems.

 

[johnhenryrolf]

I set my house up with a water system that comes from our pond. Bought my system from vitasalus, I have been very happy thus far. They sell units for all kinds of problems (sulfur smell included). You might give it a try, my water may be in question with people that visit, but hey, I make pretty decent beer with it! Good luck!

 

[specharka]

My apartment building (and surrounding water table) has this issue due to the high iron content in the soils here. Thankfully, my landlord installed a chemical filtration and RO system for the potable water side. Still have to deal with nasty poo water in my shower and toilet, but the potable water is good enough to brew with.

And honestly, RO systems aren't that expensive anymore...you can get one that's 125 GPD for less than $350.

 

[slym2none]

My brew-bro has well water. It isn't nice. I made him use spring water to brew with.

 

[Mismost]

My Mother has water like that and we recently tried a little experiment with the water because it smells bad too.

Put some water in a pitcher and leave it out overnight, the next day the water should be pleasant to drink. Don't know if thats going to work for you but it surprised us. I guess theres a lot of dissolved gas in her well water.
worth a try anyhow

Ditto....we had nasty well water at a place we used to live. We used a big five gallon crock with a spigot. You could fill it up at night and by morning the smell was gone and a lot of solids had settled out.....decent water. I always looked at it as the cost of country living and peace and quite!

 

[akthor]

My issue is my new brewery is 1bbl. Hauling 40+ gallons of water per batch that's 8 5 gallon jugs every time I brew is just gonna be tough. I like doing 3 batches in a day. I mean I'll do it if I got to but I'd rather not.

I can't chlorinate the well directly we looked at that first thing but the well head is down about 8 ft in a narrow manhole that we can't get into. The pump is in my basement though. Can I undo the water line coming from the well and pour bleach into the well that way? Or is there a valve or something preventing backflow?

In reading charcoal filters seem to help dispel gasses in the water.

So maybe the bleach, sediment filter then charcoal whole house filter, for the household water. Then the reverse osmosis filter system on my brew station.

AND I could fill my brew kettle with water from the system the night before to let it sit to vent gases as well.

I'm not sure if I buy all this snake oil about water I'm reading in HBT. I brewed before on well water in Maine and city water in Maine but both were neither hard, nor smelly. My beer was always great without adding anything to the water. BUT if I can cure the smell how do I test to be sure the water is OK?

 

[AkTom]

My well water doesn't stink. It smells a little minerally though. I have a water softener now. The first couple of brews I bypassed the softener. Now I don't... I brew some mighty fine to mediocre beer depending on the day/recipe. Hope you get it dialed in.

 

[akthor]

Aktom? Are you ak cuz of audiokarma?

That is quite the beard!

 

[PADave]

Aktom? Are you ak cuz of audiokarma?

That is quite the beard!

I'm going to go with Alaska.

 

[xpops]

I do use it for cleaning and sanitizing. It is not "bad" - i.e. contaminated - it just isn't ideal for brewing due to its mineral content, either direct from the well or post-softening. It does have high total dissolved solids (TDS), but we have a UV zapper unit inline with the softener to deal with that. It can be consumed, we just don't like to do so.

I just always wondered if mineral content can affect/hinder the performance of cleaners and sanitizers such as PBW and StarSan? I've never been able to find any information about it....maybe its because I'm worrying about nothing?

 

[Delirious187]

I would simply install a whole house carbon filter. Start there and see if it improves.

 

[Hamaki]

My issue is my new brewery is 1bbl. Hauling 40+ gallons of water per batch that's 8 5 gallon jugs every time I brew is just gonna be tough. I like doing 3 batches in a day. I mean I'll do it if I got to but I'd rather not.

I can't chlorinate the well directly we looked at that first thing but the well head is down about 8 ft in a narrow manhole that we can't get into. The pump is in my basement though. Can I undo the water line coming from the well and pour bleach into the well that way? Or is there a valve or something preventing backflow?

In reading charcoal filters seem to help dispel gasses in the water.

So maybe the bleach, sediment filter then charcoal whole house filter, for the household water. Then the reverse osmosis filter system on my brew station.

AND I could fill my brew kettle with water from the system the night before to let it sit to vent gases as well.

I'm not sure if I buy all this snake oil about water I'm reading in HBT. I brewed before on well water in Maine and city water in Maine but both were neither hard, nor smelly. My beer was always great without adding anything to the water. BUT if I can cure the smell how do I test to be sure the water is OK?

Is the pump in your basement (jet pump = shallow well)? Or is the pressure tank in your basement (submersible pump, possibly deeper well)? In either event there should be a check valve that would prevent bleach from flowing to the well via the water line. You want to introduce bleach via the vent pipe, assuming you have one.

If you have any treatment in place, check with the mfr to see if chlorine will damage it. Most RO membranes will not tolerate chlorine.

It's worth a try letting your water sit 12 - 24 hours to see if it off-gases to a point that it's useable.

 

[muels]

We are on a well. Are you sure the well head is down a manhole and the pump is in the basement? Normally the pump is in the well, about 6 ft down. It slides in a channel it hold it. It has a 1" thread on top so you can thread pipe in to pull out the pump. The switch and tank are usually in the basement.

Typed my response this morning and never posted it. Didn't see it was already noted!



There is usually a check valve in the system the would prevent you from pouring it in the water line

 

[akthor]

Yes for sure the pump is in the basement and the well head in down a narrow man hole.

 

[Chrisl77]

I do water filtration for a living. We install chlorine injection systems for Sulphur odors. Its not difficult to install if you can do basic plumbing all you would need are a flow switch, injection pump, at least a 15 gallon storage tank, and we put in static line mixers to thoroughly combine the chlorine and water. Google chlorine injection systems there are several different pumps you can get. You can also follow up the injection with a carbon filter if you are concerned about having chlorine remain in your water.

 

[AkTom]

@audiokarma, I'm not this cuz... At least as far as I know. I like the beard. It's a bit longer now. That pic was about 4 years ago.