What's the deal with book recipes calling for gypsum and other minerals?

So what's the deal with recipes calling for things like gypsum, chalk, Irish moss and other weird minerals and what not?

Frankly I dont want to put chalk in my recipe. And I'm not too excited about gypsum or Irish moss either.

Why are these ingredients so prevalent?

irish moss is not a mineral its made from seaweed and it helps the beer clear before bottling. the minerals are for correcting deficiencies in your water or to adjust the Ph of the mash in all grain brewing.
If you brew extract batches odds are you dont have to worry about any of those things, the general rule is if your water is good for drinking its good for brewing. Irish moss will speed up the settling of proteins and yeast but isnt absolutely necessary either.
If you want to read about minerals and water chemistry this is good How to Brew - By John Palmer - Introduction

Frankly, most of those additions depend largely on your water supply. Gypsum, calcium, chalk, etc are used to harden and or soften the water and can effect alpha acid absorbtion from the hops and can effect the mouthfeel of your brew. None are absolutely neccessary, but all of them when used correctly, will very much enhance your brew. I wouldn't be afraid at all about using them. Homebrewers all over do so with zero problems - but if you're not comfortable, don't use 'em. Just know that certain beer styles won't be able to be emulated without them.

Irish moss... brother, if you haven't used it yet, you're in for a treat. If you make any type of beer that isn't totally black, Irish moss is your new best friend. Added to the boil, it attracts protein molecules that otherwise would cause your beer to not clear (or at least, not clear easily). If you make any lagers, pale ales, or brown ales, it's almost essential - that is, if you care about the look of your beer. If you're only concern is taste, don't bother. It won't change that either way!

Happy brewing to you!

Gypsum and chalk might sound weird because you are thinking chalk like a stick of chalk. Unless you are drinking RO water chances are you are already drinking chalk etc. There is not much of it in water, usually ppB or ppM. If you look at the chemecal compositions of chalk etc you will see it is all stuff you consume regularly on a daily basis.

It is not going to make a good beer bad with a diferent water profile but your water might not accentuate hop profile or might not accentuate malt profile like your beer style would call for.

Minerals change extraction profiles and can be very important for certain styles.

If you are trying to be a purest, Irish moss is a process material and is not considered to be part of the final product.

Call them "brewing salts" and it might make more sense. You wouldn't make a very good chicken soup without salt! If you've ever tasted distilled water, you know that it tastes like wet freakin' air, in contrast to a crisp, refreshing mineral water.

Calcium is necessary for yeast health. Brewers add calcium sulfate to hoppy beers, calcium chloride to malty beers, and calcium carbonate to dark beers.

How to Brew - By John Palmer - Using Salts for Brewing Water Adjustment

Also, gypsum, chalk, acids and alkalies etc are present in the ground in varying degrees in the location that a style of beer originates from. To properly emulate a particular style of beer, you need to replicate, to a degree the type of water for that style. Most English ales, for instance call for gypsum to make it more Burton-on-Trent. If you are not fussed about accuracy though, it's no biggie.

But if it comes done to water profile how do I know if I'm putting the proper amount of "brewing salts" in my water? It seems to me unless the recipe maker is brewing in Reno the amount he calls from will be of base. Or am I totaly misunderstanding?

No, you're understanding it right. Anybody who writes a recipe calling for certain amounts of water salts without knowing the makeup of the water being used, either doesn't know what they are doing, or is just documenting what they used. However, it is probably OK to say things like add a little gypsum if you have very soft water.

-a

mcjake said:

But if it comes done to water profile how do I know if I'm putting the proper amount of "brewing salts" in my water? It seems to me unless the recipe maker is brewing in Reno the amount he calls from will be of base. Or am I totaly misunderstanding?

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If we are talking about kits, then it is just an educated guess on the part of the suppliers. As a noob myself, learning water profile management is way down my list of priorities compared to getting my system down to consistency, hop and barley knowledge.

I really wouldn't worry too much about it right now. If it makes you uncomfortable, then just leave it out for now.

Water profile was the last thing on my list and I only started really dialing in my water for the last five brews or so. The only thing I wish I would have done sooner was learn to eliminate the chloramines from my water using Campden or a chloramine filter. It's more important to master pitching rates, temp control, and sanitation...

ajf said:

No, you're understanding it right. Anybody who writes a recipe calling for certain amounts of water salts without knowing the makeup of the water being used, either doesn't know what they are doing, or is just documenting what they used.

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Or they're assuming that you adjust your water to baseline (which requires knowledge of your water chemistry) for all beers, and specifying that this beer has a non-standard water profile. e.g. British IPAs usually want harder-than-usual water, while Czech pilsners usually want pretty soft water. It makes sense to give adjustments away from the norm in recipes that need non-standard mineral profiles.

That could be true if there were such a thing as a "norm", but there isn't. If they want to draw attention to the water profile, they can state what the desired profile is rather than blindly stating how much of what salts to add without any idea about the starting water profile.

-a.