English Ales - What's your favorite recipe?

[cire]

UPDATE.

An hour later there was a thick coating of yeast and another reading by refractometer showed the first to be suspect to say the least. Obviously another should have been taken at the time and I might then have considered cropping the yeast. Now it will be left peak, then crop the yeast later today leaving a thin covering to protect the beer. That will be 3 days from pitching and a gravity reading will determine when the beer will be left to cool and clarify, to be likely racked on Monday.

 

[DuncB]

@cire
Thanks for the info about the ongoing ferment even at cellar temps with the ale yeast. I couldn't understand how my Wyeast 1099 was reaching 1002 after a few weeks in the barrel. Though not tasting bone dry. Very reassuring.

 

[cire]

@cire
Thanks for the info about the ongoing ferment even at cellar temps with the ale yeast. I couldn't understand how my Wyeast 1099 was reaching 1002 after a few weeks in the barrel. Though not tasting bone dry. Very reassuring.

Quite, it is usual to talk in terms of racking gravity for cask conditioned ales than than final gravity, which is more suited to beers that are filtered, pasteurised or chilled to the point where yeast drops out. Further, for as long as the yeast is active, CO2 is produced to carbonate the beer, although it will be limited by both temperature and pressure as well as limited yeast activity.

Well, the second refractometer reading was 5.7 Bx, corrected implied a hydrometer reading around 1016, which was confirmed with a suitable sample. This was higher than I'd hoped for at 48 hours from pitching, but lots of yeast was again on top of the wort and it was decided to crop half of that yeast and gently spoon back all of the rest that would go under the surface. Below is the result.

Didn't put something in the picture to get the scale, so after cooling in the fridge a while, took another which shows the yeast compacting.

Meanwhile a full yeast cap reformed and was knocked back yet again and next time another reading will be taken with the refractometer with a target reading of 5 Bx. Then no further rousing, heating and insulation will be removed to allow cooling to cellar temperature. The current temperature in the garage is 11C, 52F.

 

[DuncB]

Great cellar temp, I recognise that brand, pickle jar I think. A bit of history in that tape measure as well.
I thought the coaster was a pretty good scale and was fairly sure it wasn't a square place mat.
Your comment about CO2 production also noted as kegs that I have racked into the cellar need spunding otherwise I come back and find it's at 20 psi after a couple of weeks and I then have to degas it carefully.

 

[Fuggledog]

Very interesting write up Cire. Can you tell us anything about the background of B14 from Brewlab or how you came to ask for it?

 

[cire]

Yes, it is, just pulled a pint through from a pin in the garage. A green hop beer with home grown hops. Unfortunately not all the hops were mine as they couldn't be relied upon as I live too far north to get a decent crop, even though the weather was kind to us this summer and autumn. Even so, they have added some freshness and a little bit of mint to the beer.

The pin was vented 14 days ago and the first pint pulled next evening. A flexible beer extractor is in current use, and with everything tight and closed, no oxygen can enter and while the yeast is active, CO2 produced both carbonates the beer and pressurizes the cask. The cask is vented by slackening the yellow valve seen In the picture., allowing air into the cask as beer is pulled. A check valve in the line to the beer engine stops cask pressure pushing beer through the pump. A good handful of hops were added to the cask before it was sealed and a hop filter is fitted inside the extractor.

B14 was that used by Vaux. I'm sure you know of them. They didn't have squares, but 2 massive shallow SS FVs as well as a row of very tall conicals in later times. Then they brewed each weekday except Thursday which was double brewday. I have no evidence they roused their ale yeast, but it does little work for me if it isn't. In earlier times some of their beers were brewed by Lorimer and Clark at the Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh who likely had their own yeast.

 

[kmarkstevens]

@cire You've opened up a whole new rabbit hole to go down. Thanks for sharing.

 

[cire]

@cire You've opened up a whole new rabbit hole to go down. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for that, and my thanks to all who have taken time to read these postings. Put in context, I've simply posted progress reports of my most recent brew. There is no claim intended or implied that this is how it must be done, but in hope to encourage open fermentation and potentially expose some myths for what they are. This is not an attempt to discourage LoDo for those who wish to practice that, but that traditional Yorkshire Square and similar beers were not made in that fashion.

Yesterday, after a refractometer reading of 5.2 Bx, the highly flocculated yeast cap was gently returned to the wort for a final time and when a solid covering reformed, the heating and insulation were removed. Today garage ambient is 14C so beer temperature is dropping slowly, but temperatures are forecast to drop overnight and it might be the end of tomorrow be at or slightly below cellar temperature.

This shows the cropped yeast settling with probably 70 to 80% of the yeast still in the FV.

 

[rmr9]

Quite, it is usual to talk in terms of racking gravity for cask conditioned ales than than final gravity, which is more suited to beers that are filtered, pasteurised or chilled to the point where yeast drops out. Further, for as long as the yeast is active, CO2 is produced to carbonate the beer, although it will be limited by both temperature and pressure as well as limited yeast activity.

Well, the second refractometer reading was 5.7 Bx, corrected implied a hydrometer reading around 1016, which was confirmed with a suitable sample. This was higher than I'd hoped for at 48 hours from pitching, but lots of yeast was again on top of the wort and it was decided to crop half of that yeast and gently spoon back all of the rest that would go under the surface. Below is the result.

View attachment 749270

Didn't put something in the picture to get the scale, so after cooling in the fridge a while, took another which shows the yeast compacting.

View attachment 749271

Meanwhile a full yeast cap reformed and was knocked back yet again and next time another reading will be taken with the refractometer with a target reading of 5 Bx. Then no further rousing, heating and insulation will be removed to allow cooling to cellar temperature. The current

Awesome posts, I’ve really enjoyed them! I’m curious now about rousing the yeast and modulating attenuation. Is the level of attenuation more a function of speed ie you’ve knocked more yeast back so they’ll chew up the wort to the final gravity faster making it seem more highly attenuated vs. low amounts of yeast in suspension munching away much more slowly at an almost unobservable rate?

Taking a crack at an English brown ale using wyeast West Yorkshire for the first time in many years and I’m pretty sure I won’t be allowed to brew anymore if my cask blows a keystone!

edited because I had a copy paste issue...

 

[rmr9]

Awesome posts, I’ve really enjoyed them! I’m curious now about rousing the yeast and modulating attenuation. Is the level of attenuation more a function of speed ie you’ve knocked more yeast back so they’ll chew up the wort to the final gravity faster making it seem more highly attenuated vs. low amounts of yeast in suspension munching away much more slowly at an almost unobservable rate?

Taking a crack at an English brown ale using wyeast West Yorkshire for the first time in many years and I’m pretty sure I won’t be allowed to brew anymore if my cask blows a keystone!

edited because I had a copy paste issue...sorry for muddling the thread with technical issues!

 

[cire]

Thank you, I'm just pleased to know there's interest or curiosity.

OK, I'm reasonably satisfied that each commercial brewery using Yorkshire type yeasts has their own procedure, but suspect they are similar in most respects and if any is fully automated, it will be set up the safer side of optimum with manual intervention available at the touch of a button.
So in other words it is quite reasonable to simply pitch a Yorkshire yeast and wait for 2 weeks before taking readings to see if the assumed FG is reached and gravity readings indicate virtually no further attenuation. But why would you if a more aggressive yeast would finish the same task in less time? The Yorkshire yeast will flocculate during possibly any stage of fermentation to leave little working yeast in the wort, meaning the brewer and not the yeast can be in control. You have to work as well, but you control the pace.

If you bottle condition with a Yorkshire yeast, you shouldn't just leave the bottle standing in a warm room and expect it to be fully carbonated in 2 weeks without every day or so upturning each bottle and giving it a good shake. On the good side, the beer in cask or bottle clears very quickly and if left undisturbed will keep being very gently carbonated for a significant period of time.

So I rouse the yeast at the first chance there is to have enough yeast to make the effort warranted. From then on I do it when I can and make sure there is plenty of head space and no lid if left for any period of time. At about the halfway point the yeast cap begins to subside in height but not in the quantity of yeast and if you were to continue rousing the fermentation would slow to near nil and the head would collapse into the wort. Therefore at this point it is necessary to monitor progress by measuring gravity in some way. In other words, you learn how to read the yeast. You've just got to try it.

Stand your untapped casks on their end with the keystone uppermost. Just make sure there is nothing above it that the keystone might break. Then you can wait in comfort and listen for the bang, then knock it back.


Forgot to make the point that as this yeast clears quickly, it needs much less intervention to have clear beer in a shorter period.

 

[shoreman]

Latest beer served from a Cubitainer- the temps are dropping here in New England, so my basement is primed for fermenting and serving these.

This is a 3.1% Bitter with Fuggles, EKG, Styrian Goldings (ala Timothy Taylor’s Landlord) - pale malt, dark crystal, touch of black.

First time using Verdant IPA dry yeast and I love it, great attenuation on this one (fg 1.008) and dropped clear as S04 only being a week in the Cubitainer priming. Nice flavor.

Cheers

 

[cire]

That's a perfect color match to bottled Landlord. Suggest next time you drop using black and if possible, use a Yorkshire yeast.

 

[shoreman]

Yeah I wasn’t exactly looking to brew Landlord, but I love that hop combo. Landlords a bit higher on the ABV.

I like to look to commercial Brewers hop and malt profiles and try to mash together a recipe. Lately I’ve been looking at St Austell's beers for my next one.

I’m too lazy these days to use liquid yeast, so it’s nice to find a decent dry outside of notty & so4.

 

[DuncB]

I think the TT is a little weaker now than it used to be, so in a few years time your recipe will be right on the money!
Any links to a good TT clone? Friend wants to brew it and I thought I'd have a go at the same time to see who could get closest.

 

[shoreman]

I haven’t had Landlord since the Shelton Brothers closed shop in the States a couple years ago.

I didn’t brew this recipe, but used the hop sequence.TT does use just Golden Promise but probably has more caramelization of the wort at their scale and probably a longer boil- that’s why I think a lot of people add crystal to their TT recipe.

https://byo.com/recipe/timothy-taylor-brewery-landlord-clone/

 

[schmurf]

I think the TT is a little weaker now than it used to be, so in a few years time your recipe will be right on the money!
Any links to a good TT clone? Friend wants to brew it and I thought I'd have a go at the same time to see who could get closest.

I did this one a while ago. It was tasty but it was too long ago I had the real thing I couldn't compare how accurate it was.

 

[DuncB]

Thanks I've got the ingredients except the yeast but can get that. I'll watch the brewery tour again, they certainly rouse the ferment from memory.

 

[DuncB]

@schmurf
Brewed another five points yesterday, used the hop missile for the flameout addition and as a wort filter. We'll see how it goes, fermenting away at 19.5 at the moment. Will update in a week or two.

 

[kmarkstevens]

I did this one a while ago. It was tasty but it was too long ago I had the real thing I couldn't compare how accurate it was.

@schmurf This looks awesome. The ingredient list I have and like, so doesn't matter if it's not accurate as long as it's tasty

 

[schmurf]

@schmurf
Brewed another five points yesterday, used the hop missile for the flameout addition and as a wort filter. We'll see how it goes, fermenting away at 19.5 at the moment. Will update in a week or two.

What's your procedure using the hop missile in this case? I've got one too but only used it twice so far and for american IPAs. The final product always turned out very hazy.

 

[McMullan]

@schmurf
Brewed another five points yesterday, used the hop missile for the flameout addition and as a wort filter. We'll see how it goes, fermenting away at 19.5 at the moment. Will update in a week or two.

I found the HopRocket too effective when I first used it for 30 minute steep (recirculated) at 80℃. It was a nice beer, but way too hoppy for a bitter.

 

[McMullan]

What's your procedure using the hop missile in this case? I've got one too but only used it twice so far and for american IPAs. The final product always turned out very hazy.

Are you using whole hops?

 

[schmurf]

No, I use pellets but put them in a fine bag first.

 

[McMullan]

No, I use pellets but put them in a fine bag first.

I'd say go with whole hops, if you can. Pretty much impossible to get them here in Norway. Petit Agentur used to do them but they seem to be struggling with stock generally these days. I've got more Admiral, Bramling Cross and Goldings than I'm going to use. If you want and you're happy to cover postage (shouldn't be that much to Sweden) you're welcome to some. They've been vacuum sealed (not nitrogen flushed) and stored @ -20 since I got them last year. I use them quite often and haven't noticed any deterioration yet.

 

[schmurf]

I'd say go with whole hops, if you can. Pretty much impossible to get them here in Norway. Petit Agentur used to do them but they seem to be struggling with stock generally these days. I've got more Admiral, Bramling Cross and Goldings than I'm going to use. If you want and you're happy to cover postage (shouldn't be that much to Sweden) you're welcome to some. They've been vacuum sealed (not nitrogen flushed) and stored @ -20 since I got them last year. I use them quite often and haven't noticed any deterioration yet.

Thank you, that would be very kind of you! I think I've only seen whole hops at humle.se lately, and only for a few varieties. I can't remember using Admiral before but I'm a frequent user of Bramling Cross.

 

[McMullan]

Thank you, that would be very kind of you! I think I've only seen whole hops at humle.se lately, and only for a few varieties. I can't remember using Admiral before but I'm a frequent user of Bramling Cross.

Yes, humle.se used to sell a lot more whole hops than they seem to now. PM me your details and I'll get some posted. I'll export as 'gift'.

 

[bwible]

I’m finally getting around to brewing a best bitter this week. I have this on deck, hope to brew on Tuesday:

3 Gallon batch (collect 4 gallons, boil down to 3.5, 3.5 into fermenter so that I actually get 3 gallons of finished beer)

OG: 1.045
FG: 1.011
%ABV: 4.39
IBU: 34
SRM: 11.8

2.8 lbs Fawcett Golden Promise
2 lbs Breiss Ashburne Mild Ale Malt
.5 lb Crystal 40L
5 oz Biscuit Malt

Boil Time 60 min

.6 oz Challenger 6.3% 60 min
.5 oz First Gold 6.8% 20 min
.5 oz First Gold 6.8% 5 min

Verdant IPA Yeast (first time use - never used it before)

For water adjustments, I come up with;

Ca Mg Na Cl So
102 12 21 57 131

I’m trying to use up some grains I have just a little left in a way that makes sense

 

[McMullan]

I’m finally getting around to brewing a best bitter this week. I have this on deck, hope to brew on Tuesday:

3 Gallon batch (collect 4 gallons, boil down to 3.5, 3.5 into fermenter so that I actually get 3 gallons of finished beer)

OG: 1.045
FG: 1.011
%ABV: 4.39
IBU: 34
SRM: 11.8

2.8 lbs Fawcett Golden Promise
2 lbs Breiss Ashburne Mild Ale Malt
.5 lb Crystal 40L
5 oz Biscuit Malt

Boil Time 60 min

.6 oz Challenger 6.3% 60 min
.5 oz First Gold 6.8% 20 min
.5 oz First Gold 6.8% 5 min

Verdant IPA Yeast (first time use - never used it before)

For water adjustments, I come up with;

Ca Mg Na Cl So
102 12 21 57 131

I’m trying to use up some grains I have just a little left in a way that makes sense

Are you being a bit reserved with the water treatment? For Bitters I use 150 (Ca), 10 (Mg), 40 (Na), 273 (SO4), 137 (Cl) and 15 (CO3), based on Graham Wheeler's calculator. Recipe looks nice, though. Based on what's been said about Verdant IPA so far it might be worth adding a little cane sugar, like demerara?

 

[bwible]

Are you being a bit reserved with the water treatment? For Bitters I use 150 (Ca), 10 (Mg), 40 (Na), 273 (SO4), 137 (Cl) and 15 (CO3), based on Graham Wheeler's calculator. Recipe looks nice, though. Based on what's been said about Verdant IPA so far it might be worth adding a little cane sugar, like demerara?

Thanks. I’ll go back and take a look at that again. That’s going to be a whole lot of gypsum to get to that.

 

[cire]

I’m finally getting around to brewing a best bitter this week. I have this on deck, hope to brew on Tuesday:

3 Gallon batch (collect 4 gallons, boil down to 3.5, 3.5 into fermenter so that I actually get 3 gallons of finished beer)

OG: 1.045
FG: 1.011
%ABV: 4.39
IBU: 34
SRM: 11.8

2.8 lbs Fawcett Golden Promise
2 lbs Breiss Ashburne Mild Ale Malt
.5 lb Crystal 40L
5 oz Biscuit Malt

Boil Time 60 min

.6 oz Challenger 6.3% 60 min
.5 oz First Gold 6.8% 20 min
.5 oz First Gold 6.8% 5 min

Verdant IPA Yeast (first time use - never used it before)

For water adjustments, I come up with;

Ca Mg Na Cl So
102 12 21 57 131

I’m trying to use up some grains I have just a little left in a way that makes sense

I can't get that water profile to balance except by including an excessive quantity of alkalinity, a bit more than 130 ppm as CaCO3, alternatively 160 ppm as HCO3. This would be far to much for a bitter.

Even one with a such significant proportion of crystal and roasted malts shouldn't need as much as 50 ppm alkalinity. Might you revisit that profile once more? I think an extra 2 gm of gypsum and 1 gm of calcium chloride flake would come closer to a typical water profile for an English Bitter.

 

[DuncB]

@McMullan
As usual with a new piece of kit a bit fiddly. I watched the review and use of it on the David Heath you tube, he said wort in through the top and out the bottom with the hop pellets in a bag with some rice hulls. It really struggled to flow and I had to take it apart twice. Afterwards I found very little liquid in the hop rocket ( due to it all being packed down tight) but the hops hadn't disintegrated and so I'm unsure on the utilisation. Next time I'll leave more space for expansion in the bag as well and have some camlocks coming which will make life easier.
Having watched several other videos it appears that I had the flow going the wrong way so that might explain my issues. I'll know in a week or so the effect of the hopping .
You live and learn I suppose. All was going so well up to the blocking issue and that made the day drag on. On a positive note the yeast starter was voracious and it's nearly finished fermenting in less than 72 hours which was a bit unexpected. Time will tell and I will sample for gravity and an early taste tonight.

 

[bwible]

I can't get that water profile to balance except by including an excessive quantity of alkalinity, a bit more than 130 ppm as CaCO3, alternatively 160 ppm as HCO3. This would be far to much for a bitter.

Even one with a such significant proportion of crystal and roasted malts shouldn't need as much as 50 ppm alkalinity. Might you revisit that profile once more? I think an extra 2 gm of gypsum and 1 gm of calcium chloride flake would come closer to a typical water profile for an English Bitter.

I don’t know what that means - can’t get a water profile to balance. I’m just putting numbers in a spreadsheet trying to get close to a given water profile. I had my water tested by Ward Labs. I entered those numbers and my grain bill. Then I dilute a percentage of my tap water with distilled water when I want to lower one of the numbers and I add salts back to raise the values I want raised.

I did go back and add more salts as suggested and got to a different set.

Ca Mg Na Cl So
142 11 45 119 240

Does that look better?

 

[schmurf]

@DuncB yes I think David Heath did it wrong way, I did go from bottom to top.

 

[Miraculix]

Thanks. I’ll go back and take a look at that again. That’s going to be a whole lot of gypsum to get to that.

I recommend doing a test before going that high with gypsum. You can do it in the glass with a finished beer, to get a general idea what it does to the beer. It is not 100% the same as adding it to the water before mashing, but it shows the general direction quite well imo.

I made some trials and I can say that every beer I split batched was not as good as the same beer with sulfate levels below 120 or so. It is something different what these high sulfate levels bring to the table and I personally don't like it and I'm pretty sure that a lot of people also actually don't really like it but never made the experiment to get an idea about it. So better check for yourself.

 

[McMullan]

@McMullan
As usual with a new piece of kit a bit fiddly. I watched the review and use of it on the David Heath you tube, he said wort in through the top and out the bottom with the hop pellets in a bag with some rice hulls. It really struggled to flow and I had to take it apart twice. Afterwards I found very little liquid in the hop rocket ( due to it all being packed down tight) but the hops hadn't disintegrated and so I'm unsure on the utilisation. Next time I'll leave more space for expansion in the bag as well and have some camlocks coming which will make life easier.
Having watched several other videos it appears that I had the flow going the wrong way so that might explain my issues. I'll know in a week or so the effect of the hopping .
You live and learn I suppose. All was going so well up to the blocking issue and that made the day drag on. On a positive note the yeast starter was voracious and it's nearly finished fermenting in less than 72 hours which was a bit unexpected. Time will tell and I will sample for gravity and an early taste tonight.

The infamous Mr Heath strikes again. Last time I heard he was recommending home brewers ‘thaw out’ hops in a fridge for a couple days before dry hopping, to avoid shocking the yeast; even though the very low moisture content of dried hops prevents them from actually freezing. Out of the freezer they come up to room temperature in no time. The idea finely pulverised hop matter can be made sufficiently permeable to wort by adding rice hulls is flawed. When you think about it, a HopRocket full of hop pellets is much worse than the stickiest of mashes. It must put an awful lot of pressure on the pump. With whole hops packed into my HR I still manage to get a decent whirlpool effect going in the kettle. From the YouTube video you’ll note Heath’s method struggles desperately to dribble out wort. Based on the contrasting flow rates I’m willing to guess better hop extraction occurs with whole hops. I think at best you could get away with adding a small proportion of pellet hops, but they’re probably better added to the kettle directly then filtered by the whole hops in the HR. In terms of English ales, except for IPAs I’ve found the HR’s effectiveness throws recipes too much. I’m not sure if adding small hop quantities warrants use of a HR. I’m planning to pack it with a cheesecloth to reduce the available volume. A cheesecloth being sterilisable (e.g. in a pressure cooker) and about the best and cheapest filtering material generally available to home brewers. It might even work with hop pellets, if they are randomly filled as the cloth is wrapped and layered in a HR? I only use pellets for occasional lagers so that’s an experiment someone else will have to try.

 

[DuncB]

@McMullan
Yes feel I was a bit hobbled with my wrong setup of the hop missile. The HM does seem to have a cone bit that " allegedly " increases flow area which is in the outflow end compared to the videos I've seen of the hop rocket. But I'm less trusting of videos now.
Whole hops are difficult to get here in NZ which is odd given there are tonnes of hops grown here. I will seek some out to use in this and also see how things go on my next brew of that beer with hop missile set up differently. I'll keep plugging away to get it to perform, obviously my boil and late addition went free into the kettle and were well caught by the trubtrapper and whirlpool.
I'm hoping my EKG and Tangerine dream hop plants can produce some cones this year if they don't get blown out of the ground. They are suffering a bit at the moment with the northerly gales and lashing rain.
I'm wondering whether a plastic mesh coffee filter would jam into the hop missile to use as a filter or perhaps just a load of the spent grains at the end of the mash, they'd be nice and pasteurised at 77 celsius.

 

[McMullan]

I recommend doing a test before going that high with gypsum. You can do it in the glass with a finished beer, to get a general idea what it does to the beer. It is not 100% the same as adding it to the water before mashing, but it shows the general direction quite well imo.

I made some trials and I can say that every beer I split batched was not as good as the same beer with sulfate levels below 120 or so. It is something different what these high sulfate levels bring to the table and I personally don't like it and I'm pretty sure that a lot of people also actually don't really like it but never made the experiment to get an idea about it. So better check for yourself.

That's not something I've tried. Have you compared higher vs lower gypsum levels in the mash or have you added more to finished beer mashed with a lower level? I'm not sure if the latter is comparable with more in the mash, assuming water chemistry changes quite a bit throughout the process. I really don't know. Tinkering with water treatment isn't something I've done much of since getting my tap water analysed and following water calculator recommendations. With a noticeable improvement over a tsp of both CaCl and CaSO4 I've been reluctant to 'fix' what doesn't seem to be broken. What am I missing?

 

[Miraculix]

That's not something I've tried. Have you compared higher vs lower gypsum levels in the mash or have you added more to finished beer mashed with a lower level? I'm not sure if the latter is comparable with more in the mash, assuming water chemistry changes quite a bit throughout the process. I really don't know. Tinkering with water treatment isn't something I've done much of since getting my tap water analysed and following water calculator recommendations. With a noticeable improvement over a tsp of both CaCl and CaSO4 I've been reluctant to 'fix' what doesn't seem to be broken. What am I missing?

I did both. I first split a batch completely, two separate mashes, one with 300ppm gypsum and one with 100ppm. I tried the resulting beers, the high gypsum beer had something in the hop presence that wasn't nice at all. I recognised that from some original Burton ales that I knew, they also had that. I cannot really describe it well, it's like a more pronounced bitterness without actually being more bitter. Not a major show stopper, beer was still good but the one without it was better.

Afterwards I was curious if I could get the same taste when adding the gypsum into the beer in the glass and it was very similar.

For me 100ppm chloride 100Ppm sulfate is the best ratio and amount. Or maybe 120/80, but this does the job for me.

 

[cire]

I don’t know what that means - can’t get a water profile to balance. I’m just putting numbers in a spreadsheet trying to get close to a given water profile. I had my water tested by Ward Labs. I entered those numbers and my grain bill. Then I dilute a percentage of my tap water with distilled water when I want to lower one of the numbers and I add salts back to raise the values I want raised.

I did go back and add more salts as suggested and got to a different set.

Ca Mg Na Cl So
142 11 45 119 240

Does that look better?

In Basic terms, calcium, magnesium, sodium, sulfate and chloride cannot be added individually to water, those come from compounds we might call salts, acids and bases and there is a fixed and simple numeric ratio of the ions in such compounds. In chemistry the individual ions are electrically charged and know as cations (CA, Mg, Na) and anions (SO4, chloride and carbonate or bicarbonate) and they should balance. A water that does not have equivalence of cations and anions cannot exist and is impossible. The first water profile consisted of 6.99 milliequivalents of cations, with only 4.34 for anions, a significant imbalance. As no amount was given for alkalinity, I assumed this was omitted, but balancing the profile required a substantial quantity of alkalinity, totally unsuited to a Bitter beer or the grist of your recipe.

Now the alternative profile looks better, but again doesn't balance suggesting it would balance if alkalinity was around 80 ppm measured as CaCO3 and while this is less than the first, it is still too much to achieve a reasonable pH in the mash. I know it is common practice in some parts of the globe to mash in, measure pH and throw an acid or a base until the target pH is obtained, but that isn't English brewing practice, where the profile, including alkalinity, is determined beforehand to balance with the chosen grist.

I hope this helps.

Do not add gypsum to a finished beer to assume had gypsum been added before the mash, boil, fermentation the result would be exactly the same. You cannot alter the result of a football game after the final whistle has blown and the same applies to beer. Gypsum and calcium chloride spend several hours then days in chemical and biological reactions resulting in most of the calcium being replaced by potassium and deposited with phosphates and this type of substitution is perhaps the greatest reason for homebrewers the world over misinterpreting the taste of British Cask Ale.