Gypsum Additions

[PhilBrew]

Hi @terrym
I think I'd agree with Sadfield, since it's not intended for consumption they don't need to label all the additives they may have added, either

Hi @Drunkula

For calcium chloride I use an Aqua-Pak from B&M because it's pure anhydrous calcium chloride and you get a kilo for something like £1.79.

... since that stuff is hygroscopic ... so even though it may be (nominally) 100% anhydrous calcium chloride when you buy it, it'll be slowly (but surely) turning itself to calcium chloride hydrate/dihydrate as you store it ... this begs the question, how do you decide how much to add to get the correct calcium and chloride additions?

Cheers, PhilB

 

[Leon103]

OK.
Well in spite of me often reading on here there is 'no such thing as a silly question', which is sometimes fiercely defended by the Forum mods, I am disappointed to find that all I have received back are mostly silly answers to what was, in my view, a serious question. One of you even thought that it was the craziest post he had seen, and a few more apparently agreed.
So to give you all a little background it will cost me upwards of £5 to buy a small pot of brewing gypsum inc p&p since I don't want to buy any more brewing supplies at present and don't have a LHBS close by, whereas I have access to free finishing plaster which as far as I am concerned is the same stuff, a hydrate of calcium sulphate, and even if it wasn't free I can buy the same stuff from Wilko for £2.50 for 1.5kg.
So I'm none the wiser really, I'll just have to make my own mind up what to do, although when it comes to crazy I have my own opinions when I read of people making beer from bird food, or putting peanut butter into beer. But hey ho we are all different.

Second most craziest post on the forum

 

[strange-steve]

Second most craziest post on the forum

Emojis from Leon Have you been day drinking again?

 

[Leon103]

Emojis from Leon Have you been day drinking again?

The selection of emojis is poor on the site but thought I better use them incase people thought I was serious.

 

[The Baron]

What your not serious are there's me thinking you were

 

[Drunkula]

this begs the question, how do you decide how much to add to get the correct calcium and chloride additions?

When you buy it it's sealed. You can lay it out on a baking tray and bake it to make sure it's fully dry and then put it into small containers with a silica gel pack. Learned this from the Bru n Water fella Martin.

Then you can make a solution up with it and you can work out the ppm on that and dose by volume.

 

[An Ankoù]

It is not pure calcium sulphate, it has additives for bonding and strength plus I believe it has more sulphate.

More sulphate?
Over here in waterlogged Brittany, we can buy bags of plaster of Paris off the shelf in the DIY section of the supermarket. Never really bothered to look at whether it contained any additives as a bag of gypsum from the Malt Miller is cheap enough and lasts for ages.

 

[johncrobinson]

Yes dont use building supplies stuff.

 

[PhilBrew]

When you buy it it's sealed. You can lay it out on a baking tray and bake it to make sure it's fully dry and then put it into small containers with a silica gel pack. Learned this from the Bru n Water fella Martin.

Then you can make a solution up with it and you can work out the ppm on that and dose by volume.

... fair enough, and thanks for responding ... each to his own, as they say, but all that baking (you need to get the stuff up to 260C for monohydrate to decompose to anhydrous, according to there (link)) and bags and silica gel packs, must add a fair bit to that £1.79 a kilo

Cheers, PhilB

 

[Drunkula]

It's anhydrous when you buy it. Does the stuff from homebrew shops stay dry on its own?

 

[strange-steve]

On the HBC website gypsum and calcium chloride are £1.29 per 100g which (depending on your usage obviously) will last maybe 10 - 20 batches. Is it really worth looking for an alternative source for the sake of a few pence per batch?

 

[Drunkula]

Is it really worth looking for an alternative source for the sake of a few pence per batch?

If you've got no homebrew shop and don't want to do an online order then yes. Definitely.

Plus you get to post on forums about it and see loads of mewling and shrieking, which is where the real value lies.

 

[PhilBrew]

It's anhydrous when you buy it.

... it's hygroscopic ... at standard (room) temperatures and humidity, anhydrous becomes monohydrate, and dihydrate and tetrahydrate pretty quickly ... the baking and silica gel pack treatments are presumably all about arresting/reversing that process

It's anhydrous when you buy it. Does the stuff from homebrew shops stay dry on its own?

... the stuff sold in homebrew shops is nominally dihydrate ... though in practice it'll be a blend of mono-, di-, tetra- and hexa- hydrates, constantly shifting according to the temperature and humidity it finds itself in ... though, also in practice and at "normal" (storage) temperatures and humidities AFAIUI, that constant shifting is all around a (relatively stable) mean of something like 77% water (making it the more readily usable format for additives, again AIUI) {Later Edit: that should read "something like 77% Calcium Chloride (and the rest water)" rather than "77% water", of course }

Plus you get to post on forums about it and see loads of mewling and shrieking, which is where the real value lies.

... point taken, I'll save my mewling and shrieking for those who aren't just fishing for it

Cheers, PhilB

 

[strange-steve]

If you've got no homebrew shop and don't want to do an online order then yes. Definitely.

Ah so that's why you make beer from bird seed and Haribo

Plus you get to post on forums about it and see loads of mewling and shrieking, which iswhere the real value lies

Now this I totally agree with :hat: