NEED FAST HELP: Add additional gypsum to London water profile for Special Bitter?

[chally]

Hi All,

I'm brewing a special bitter this morning and see that my generic recipe calls for 1.5 tsp gypsum addition (in 9.4 gallons). I've already calculated the additions needed to mimick London water (which includes 2g gypsum).

Should I add additional gypsum to my London water as part of the "recipe," or is the gypsum addition likely there for those who aren't otherwise messing with their water profile?

I should note that the expected mash pH is already a little on the high side (5.6), so the gypsum could help. But I don't want to overdo it and kill the beer.

Thoughts?

 

[nufad]

Depends on your profile's sulfate concentration. Palmer recommends keeping sulfate below 400ppm, otherwise your beer will begin tasting astringent. Calculate the sulfate after a 1.5tsp addition, and see where you're at.

Personally, I would ignore the generic recipe's call for 1.5tsp of gypsum since the recipe's author wouldn't know how much SO4 is in your starting water, and stick with your london water profile.

 

[ajdelange]

I always recommend that people starting out do not try to mimic a given water profile. There are several reasons for this. Instead I recommend following the Primer using RO water and the reason for that is that it is proven and absolutely predictable. You could brew your first bitter with 1 tsp calcium chloride and no gypsum. This would be very non traditional but will give a good ale. Next time try 1/2 tsp of calcium chloride and 1/2 tsp of gypsum. What you are doing here is gradually introducing sulfate to see if you think the sulfate leads to better or worse beer. Many will say 'worse' and some will say 'better' but you won't know which group you fall in until you experiment. BTW you can take your 0 sulfate bitter and add some gypsum directly to a glass of the beer. This will give you a quick idea as to whether you like or dislike sulfate.

Once you have an idea as to what combination of chloride and sulfate you like you can then turn to the Corps' water profile to see about getting the ions you want with salt additions and/or blending rather than using all RO. Or you can continue to use RO.

 

[chally]

Thanks, both.

For what it's worth, I was trying to use tap water, since distilled water would add at least $15 to a $30 brew (and, in the short term, possibly twice that, as I have no local source of calcium chloride). My tap water is not really ideal, but I knew I could get close to London water with small amounts of salts I had on hand and figured that would be better than my unmodified tap water. The question, then, was whether a Special Bitter is intentionally more gypsum-y than other brews made with the same water (e.g. a mild or porter), or whether the gypsum addition in a generic recipe is more typically used as a shortcut to help beginning brewers approximate London water from their taps (such that adding it to London-esque water would mean entirely too many sulfates for the style).

I appreciate the input, though. If I can find a cheaper, more environmentally friendly source of distilled or RO water I'd like to move away from tap water (keeping in mind that I live in the heart of a city, don't own a car, don't know anyone who owns a car, don't have any space in my apartment for long-term storage of bulk containers, and don't own a container that can hold 10 gallons of water other than my brew pot).

 

[mabrungard]

Providing brewers with better ability to use their tap water is one of the goals of Bru'n Water. As AJ mentions, starting with RO water is a great way to brew since its fairly easy to add most mineral additions to water. The problem with some tap water is that there is too much mineralization and its very hard to take that out. In Bru'n Water, I've provided guidance to help the brewer decipher if they can use their tap water and what they might do to make it better for their current brew. For those without good water or a RO machine, this can be a big cost savings, as pointed out above.

Calcium chloride is easy to obtain from most homebrewing shops. If your local HBS doesn't stock it, order it from an online retailer. By the way, you may be able to find a product called Pickle Crisp in local grocery shops since it is a home canning supply. That product is calcium chloride.

 

[ajdelange]

The question, then, was whether a Special Bitter is intentionally more gypsum-y than other brews made with the same water (e.g. a mild or porter), or whether the gypsum addition in a generic recipe is more typically used as a shortcut to help beginning brewers approximate London water from their taps (such that adding it to London-esque water would mean entirely too many sulfates for the style).

Sulfate is referred to as a 'stylistic' ion as it has influence over the stylistic aspects of a beer as opposed to over mash pH for example. Thus the answer to your question really depends on your interpretation of the style. Some will tell you that you need a minimum of x mg/L sulfate and other will tell you that the best bitters are made with much lower sulfate. The COE water doesn't contain a whole lot so if you are going to use that I guess I'd start with little or no sulfate addition for the first shot at this and then use more in a subsequent brew to see if you like the beer better with or without.

If you want to start out being traditional I'd use perhaps a tsp of gypsum with the COE water. Again, I recommend not worrying about mimicking London water. The COE water is pretty decent as is.