High Cl to SO4 ratio... add gypsum for a stout?

I've been getting more and more into water lately and have been adding gypsum to my IPAs which seems to help. I'm thinking I should add a few grams to my stouts as well, as the calculator is coming out with VERY malty (5:1) for my ratio.

I read the primer (which is awesome), but I'm not completely sure how it applies to my water as it seems to be kind of all over the place and I'm pretty new to the water adjustment thing.

Here's my profile:

Ca: 21.04
Mg: 4.23
Na: 76.9
Cl: 133.7
SO4: 25.23
CaCO3: 32

If I add 3g of gypsum that puts my SO4 at 81 for a 1.51 ratio... that seems like it'd be tasty for a chocolate stout. I'd imagine that if I left the water untouched it'd be waaay too sweet and malty. It's also good to add gypsum to raise my Ca level to 44, if I'm thinking about this right.

Another question... for IPAs, instead of adding nearly 10g of gypsum, should I dilute my water first? Is it bad to have sulfates that high? I see that it's in an acceptable range but at that point both Cl and SO4 are pretty high.

Thanks so much

I can't answer the question about stouts because I've never had water with Cl levels that high, and I hardly ever brew stouts.

But for IPA's, I would definitely dilute the water first. See my response to https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/water-n00b-am-i-right-track-224805/ for a reference to information that I have found very useful.

-a.

Unless you have personal data suggesting the ratio of chloride to sulfate is important I would forget you ever heard about it. It is an idiosyncratic idea that appeared in some British books and which the US homebrewing community adopted uncritically. The notion that the ratio is important is discarded completely by the continental and US professional/academic brewing community.

remilard said:

Unless you have personal data suggesting the ratio of chloride to sulfate is important I would forget you ever heard about it. It is an idiosyncratic idea that appeared in some British books and which the US homebrewing community adopted uncritically. The notion that the ratio is important is discarded completely by the continental and US professional/academic brewing community.

Click to expand...

So what you're saying is that Cl emphasizes sweetness and maltiness regardless of SO4, and SO4 emphasizes bitterness regardless of Cl?

If this is the case, I can see why someone would refer to the "ratio", as those tastes do have an effect on each other in food... mainly I'm concerned that my Cl is really high to begin with.