How many gallons an hour RO did you get. If it was stored in a preservative, you need to run a soap wash then a cold permeate rinse for the same amount as the RO does in an hour. If it is a 250 GPH, use 250 gal of permeate. When you have no permeate yet, use soft well water or municipal water, but let it set vented for 2-3 days to vapor off the chlorine.
If it was not stored in a preservative it may have funky all thru it, you might need a new membrane.
An RO if run according to manufactures instructions an cleaned properly will not change the taste.
What make RO is it? What size?
Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.