how much is too much gypsum?

Hey. So I am working on a recipe right now for a barleywine.

I have pretty soft and neutral water and I am trying to bump it up mostly on the chloride and sulfate.

I am currently using bru n water and according to the calculators (amber bitter) if I want my sulfate levels to be about 100 ppm I will have to add about 8 grams of gypsum to my 7.5 gallon batch. Does this seem like a lot, I am thinking this is a lot and might give me a minerally taste. I was just curious what people have found with putting high amounts of gypsum in their brews.

seems like a lot

In a couple weeks I could tell you from personal experience. I live in Lake Tahoe and our water is very soft and neutral as well. Last week I made an American wheat where I had to add 6tsp of gypsum. I never had to add that much before. Normally, I only need about 1/2 -1tsp to get my ph steady at 5.3. I'm a bit worried about it as that's a lot of gypsum. Let us know your findings and ill report back once I taste it and transfer to secondary. I really hope this thread gets results as the post I made I made didn't produce much in the way of gypsum effects. Got great info on how the reduce my ph more effectively but not on the effects of lots of gypsum in the Mash.

That's not a lot and Martin the author of that spreadsheet has repeatedly stated that as a judge he prefers at least 300 ppm of sulphate in hoppy beers.

I agree with chumpsteak. I recently brewed a double IPA with a sulfate level of 300ppm. I think it's the best IPA I have brewed thus far. Now I would only use this water profile for really hoppy beers. You wouldn't want that much gypsum for something like a pilsner, helles, or malty beers, etc...

When I first started using bru n water I was getting a minerally taste. I think it was because I was using a lot of epsome salt which I have cut out now and it's gone away. However, when I cut it out I also started doing the less is more mentality so I was being very minimal on everything.

My first brew I did actually use about 6 grams per 5 gal and there was that mineral taste but it might have been from the epsome salts like I said.

It's going to be a pretty hoppy barleywine but it's also going to go into a barrel so I don't wanna mess it up...

I understand that 300ppm is a level that's acceptable for sulfates but it just seems like a lot of gypsum to get there...

Just an FYI is that my baseline sulfate level from my tap is like 6ppm which is why I have to add so many salts.

8 grams of gypsum isn't a lot- I've routinely used 5 grams for some beers, and still have a fairly modest sulfate level. I've used 10 grams for an IPA, and I don't recall the exact amount of sulfate in ppm, but it was still pretty modest- maybe 120 ppm? or so.

cool, thanks for the feedback.