Add gypsum to finished beer?

[Jgrundstad]

I recently did a clone of Bell's Two Hearted Ale, and although mine was delicious, I noticed a distinct hop difference when comparing it side-by-side to a bottle of Two Hearted. Bell's hop character was much (much) brighter than mine, and I'm wondering if the difference is largely due to water profile. I've been using Jewel's bottled spring water, and admit I don't know its mineral content.

My question is, I'm about to keg up a batch of an APA and I want to know if there is any benefit to adding gypsum to the finished beer. Does it need to be present in the boil to produce the desired results?

Thanks!
Jason

[Afterlab]

Without the actual water profile on Jewel's Bottled Spring Water it may difficult to advise you on adjusting the water chemistry, but here is an idea. Colin Kaminski has recommended splitting one of your finished bottles of beer into 2 glasses. Make sure your beer is carbonated and not still green. In one glass just pour the beer and in the other glass sprinkle one of your salts depending on what you are trying to modify in your water profile (Gypsum, Epsom, Salt, Baking Soda, Calcium Chloride, Chalk, etc...), then pour the other half of your beer into that glass. Make sure the salt fully dissolves into the beer. Then taste the beer and ask yourself what has changed? Is there more hop aroma, hop bitterness, smoother mouthfeel, crisper finish, etc. Be careful when adding Sulfates and Sodium to your beer, add very little. You can easily turn a good beer into a salty and astringent bitter beer. For example in my water profile, I adjust it by only adding 1tsp of NaCl per 6.5 gallons of water, so you can really overdue it if you add too much. Once you figure out an acceptable ratio of salts to bottle, you will have a decent idea of what to do next. This is by no means exact so I would recommend finding out the mineral content of your bottled water and adjusting from there.

I would also recommend looking at your hop addition schedule. When you say their hop character was brighter, do you mean the actual bitterness, flavor, or aroma of it. The fix could be as easy as adjusting when you add your hops into the mix.

[ilikeminis]

Another factor that hasn't been considered is the yeast. Yeast has a huge impact on hop perception. Are you sure you are using the same yeast (or as near as you can get) as the original? I would obviously try the side-by-side salt tests mentioned above first, but if that and a different hopping schedule don't give you the brighter hops you are after, consider a different yeast strain. I have found Wyeast's Kolsch to produce very bright hoppiness in beers, but that may also alter the rest of the flavor profile you are seeking. It's also very dusty and doesn't like to floc.

[Jgrundstad]

I used Northern Brewer's Dead Ringer kit. I was short on time, so I did extract. I'm sure that has something to do with it. I did a late-extract edition and ......dammit. I lied. I used Jewel's distilled water since it was an extract batch, not the spring water.

I made a starter for the 1056 yeast, but pitching rate and temps may have made a difference.

Again, I'm sure all these factors (and more) can compound to affect the aroma and mouthfeel. Overall my beer had a much more round mouthfeel and although they provided the perfect bitterness and a nice aroma, the hops were not as bright and alive as the Two Hearted.

I will try to find a reasonable way to adjust the salt in a single glass and see how that affects things. That's a great suggestion.

Thanks,
Jason

[Afterlab]

According to the recipe here was the hop schedule
1 oz Centennial (60 min)
1 oz Centennial (20 min)
2 oz Centennial (5 min)
1 oz Centennial (Dry hop

Here are a few more things potentially worth looking into.

1. Evaluate the Sulfate PPM to Chloride PPM ratio in your water. For a drier, crisper more hop forward beer look for a 7:1 to 9:1 Sulfate to Chloride ratio. For a fuller, softer taste use a ratio that favors chlorides.

2. To increase the actual flavor extractions of your hops, increase your 30 minute additions. You are able to extract more Terpenes from your hops at this point, which gives you more aroma and flavor. However this doesn't mean to skimp on your 60 min bittering and 5 min aroma hop levels.

3. How early/late into fermentation did you dry hop? If you dry hop too early, most of that aroma will be carried off by the CO2. Also if you dry hopped at a warmer temp when the yeast is still sending out esters, the hop oils are going to grab some of those yeast esters and mask some of the aroma of the hops. If you don't want those ester flavors, let your yeast fully attenuate and then dry hop.

4. How long and at what temp did you dry hop? Colin had mentioned that for one of his IPA's he dry hopped in secondary with 100% Centennial at 68F. I don't recall what it was in particular about it, I'm assuming it had to do something with a certain level of an alpha or beta acid, but he found that the beer extracted a lot of tannins from the Centennial dry hopping. He was able to remedy this by using Polyclar to drop out the tannins. This in turn gave a fresher hop flavor.

5. Did you clarify your beer at all? To add on to what ilikeminis was saying, the 1056 yeast has medium low flocculation. If the beer wasn't clarified or cold crashed then the yeast and the proteins that are still left in suspension may be muting some of the hop flavors. The description on Wyeast's site mentions "Normally requires filtration for bright beers.""

I would recommend listening to The Sunday Session 05-31-09 Live at Downtown Joes. Doc and Colin go into a lot of details about basic water chemistry, hop bitterness, aroma and flavor. Hopefully this helps.