sulphur water

[OHIOSTEVE]

I have a friend who came up and brewed a batch of beer with me a few weeks ago. This guy was my judo instructor( genuine bad ass BTW lol) and has been brewing longer than I have but has never done all grain brewing so he wanted walked through it. He always tells me that the beer I make is better than his, and to be honest I think for the most part it is, although he has given me some VERY good beers. .. ANYWAY I kegged the batch of beer we made in two kegs to let him have half of it. He came up today to get his keg and brought me a keg to swap out. The keg he brought was filled with Star san. After he left I opened the keg he brought and the smell almost made me gag.. EXTREME sulphur smell and i KNOW it is from his water at home. IF he is brewing with this stuff it HAS to be affecting the taste of the beers. I am a salesman that sells cookware for a living so I have been in thousands of homes and a lot with bad sulphur water.. this was the strongest sulphur stench I have ever smelled. My question I guess is will this affect the taste since it is being boiled and do I tell him his water STINKS?

 

[discooby]

I always make my star san with distilled water… and I have had that rotten egg smell with it. One day it will smell a little soapy / citrusy, and then a few days later will stink of rotten eggs… then, three days later it’s back to being soapy/citrusy. I don’t think it’s his water… could be the temp of the mixture…

 

[Meatyboy]

As a general rule of thumb, just to be on the safe side, just ask him if his home tap water smells like sulfur. If he tells you that it does he really has three options. One: Buy water at the local grocery store for his brew. Two: Have him set out the required water a few days before a brew to let evaporation do it's thing. Not sure if it works with sulfur water, but I know it works for cholorine taste. or 3: Set up a filtration system for his tap water to help extract all the off tastes in his water.

I use a britta water filtration system for my home (we have some really hard water, if it were any harder, my wife and I would have rocks thrown at us while we shower). But with the filtration system the water is the best I've ever had.