Gypsum Overload?

Today I brewed the recipe for Ballentine's IPA found in Mitch Steele's IPA book. The recipe calls for .2oz of gypsum per gallon. This seems like 5x the amount of gypsum ohers are using for their IPA's.

Any thoughts on this? The full recipe is posted on anoher forum:

http://www.albanybrewcrafters.com/forum/index.php?topic=488.0

maltoftheearth said:

Today I brewed the recipe for Ballentine's IPA found in Mitch Steele's IPA book. The recipe calls for .2oz of gypsum per gallon. This seems like 5x the amount of gypsum ohers are using for their IPA's.

Any thoughts on this? The full recipe is posted on anoher forum:

http://www.albanybrewcrafters.com/forum/index.php?topic=488.0

Click to expand...

That link also says .008oz/gal and for a 5 gal batch that's 1.12 grams, which isn't a whole lot. This is a few lines below where it says .2oz/gal. I don't know why they put both .2oz/gal and .008oz/gal but .2oz/gal is way too much. Either way, mineral additions should be based on an individuals water report. If your sulfate to chloride ratio is already super high on the sulfate side then you might not need any gypsum additions for this purpose.

If you added .2oz per gallon for a 5 gallon batch then you've just added 28 grams of gypsum which is probably disastrous. According to Palmers water spreadsheet, 28 grams of gypsum will put you over 800ppm which would mean that you might have a dumper. Here is a quote from Palmers "How to Brew":

Sulfate (SO4-2)
Molecular Weight = 96.0
Equivalent Weight = 48.0
Brewing Range = 50-150 ppm for normally bitter beers, 150-350 ppm for very bitter beers
The sulfate ion also combines with Ca and Mg to contribute to permanent hardness. It accentuates hop bitterness, making the bitterness seem drier, more crisp. At concentrations over 400 ppm however, the resulting bitterness can become astringent and unpleasant, and at concentrations over 750 ppm, it can cause diarrhea. Sulfate is only weakly alkaline and does not contribute to the overall alkalinity of water.

Wow, literal crap beer. I know he listed two amounts there but I thought one might be an adition for the mash then another for the boil. I skipped the boil addition thinking I wanted to be conservative. Worse yet, I added .2oz per gallon of preboil wort of 7.5 gallons. Why would Steele's book make such a recommendation?

Been brewing for 5 years and I have never had to dump a batch. Am dumping four this summer. Incredible.

You caused me to pull out my IPA book and review that recipe. Sure enough, 0.2 oz/gal gypsum is recommended. That is at least 836 ppm sulfate and that is higher than most drinkers will enjoy. On top of that, the recipe mentions it should be added to the tap water. If the tap water has any sulfate content at all, the resulting content after mineral addition is surely too high.

I see the mention of the 0.008 oz/gal gypsum, but the description of that addition is nebulus. Kind of a shame that there are errors in any book. But having participated in a book effort, I can tell you that they can still creep into the text. Hopefully they can be corrected in an errata sheet from the publisher.

To reiterate the comments of others, the 800+ ppm sulfate is excessive and a brewer would be wise to use less than half that amount in creating an enjoyable beer.

IMO and experience, even though a recipe includes a water additive doesn't mean you need it. It's more important to know your water chemistry first and make the necessary adjustment to achieve the desired profile

It is too bad the editors missed the misinformation but if the brewer is experienced in modifying water then it would be noted during process

Send an email to Mitch Steele.

Jeez... that's a pretty major typo. The publishers may have liability on their hands if people get sick.

In my defense re: water profile, I have tried to get our local water authority to share a water report but it doesn't reveal much. Have not sent to Ward labs yet for analysis. What I do know is that my IPA's routinely suffer from lack of "bite" to the bitterness (regardless of hop varietal and recipe), our sulfate level is listed as <15 so it sounds like that's low but I have no reading on chlorate levels to tell the ratio.

If anyone knows Mitch Steele's email address then yes, I'll send him a note. I looked in the book for some contact info but no dice.

Also, thank you all for the responses ... This is exactly why I love this community, you all have saved me from myself on way too many occasions.

He has a Twitter account.

https://twitter.com/mitchatstone

One thought about this gypsum overload beer ... Any thoughts about taking a quart of that and adding it to 5 gallons of underhopped beer? I imagine it will dilute enough to have a positive impact. And of course recognizing that I am also adding the flavor of one beer to another, unlike beer.

Another thought, will gelatin drop any of the gypsum ou of solution?

maltoftheearth said:

One thought about this gypsum overload beer ... Any thoughts about taking a quart of that and adding it to 5 gallons of underhopped beer? I imagine it will dilute enough to have a positive impact. And of course recognizing that I am also adding the flavor of one beer to another, unlike beer.

Another thought, will gelatin drop any of the gypsum ou of solution?

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The sulfate and calcium levels may not be your only problem. The effect of that much gypsum on your mash PH probably screwed your beer as well.

maltoftheearth said:

In my defense re: water profile, I have tried to get our local water authority to share a water report but it doesn't reveal much. Have not sent to Ward labs yet for analysis. What I do know is that my IPA's routinely suffer from lack of "bite" to the bitterness (regardless of hop varietal and recipe), our sulfate level is listed as <15 so it sounds like that's low but I have no reading on chlorate levels to tell the ratio.

If anyone knows Mitch Steele's email address then yes, I'll send him a note. I looked in the book for some contact info but no dice.

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The chloride/sulfate ratio doesn't matter anyway, although it would be helpful to know your chloride level.

For most beers, I keep the sulfate level low but in IPAs and hoppy APAs, I've gone up to nearly 300 ppm.

You can use a spreadsheet to guestimate the sulfate levels, based on your additions and knowing that your sulfate level is insignificant.

IL1kebeer said:

The sulfate and calcium levels may not be your only problem. The effect of that much gypsum on your mash PH probably screwed your beer as well.

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I added it post mash. I will find that water calculator and check it before I wreck it.