Burton-on-Trent's well known export - India Pale Ale (real IPA, not the modern day stuff which can't be anything like it, or, God forbid, the 1950/70 keg or bottled stuff) was comparatively low-gravity for beer at the time - 19th century - at about OG1.060-66.Ī lot of Sulphite (and Calcium) works fine for some modern style Burton bitters (i.e.

It was a light-bulb moment for me though: Explained why bottled Pedigree was so naff. I described it like sticking your tongue on a well used blackboard! A character that might of worked with high gravity beers?* When it 'transformed' all the distinctive rounded malt forward (and sulphurous, but I think that's action of yeast not gypsum) 'Pedigree' character disappeared and was replaced with everything you read about gypsum emphasises dry, hop bitterness, so on. And I had about three weeks to drink it before it 'transformed', pretty impossible when at the time 45L was my smallest batch size. Serving in a 'cask' style too (very low carbonation, out of handpump usually). I brew in a similar way to breweries, and have many of my beers casked and serving in about ten days. I was playing with it in large amounts to get a Marsden's Pedigree clone. It's peculiar as salts go 'cos it really does affect the taste. before any other salts, especially other calcium salts.

Remember, gypsum dissolves best in cool water - don't heat it! Also dissolve it first, i.e. The new gypsum I got is very finely milled, and a heck of a lot easier to dissolve.

Beersmith 3 water profiles