Version 2.0 of Palmer's Residual Alkalinity Spreadsheets

[jmsullivan73]

Hey John, If I wanted to start with RO water would I just use zero for all the mineral values and a pH of 7? I am guessing that there must be an alkalinity, but I really am not sure.
Thanks for the new spreadsheet.

[boobookittyfuk]

Remember, this spreadsheet is all about arm waving. You use the Color of the final beer to estimate how much alkalinity is required for the mash pH. Stronger beers of the same color would have more aciidity and therefore coul tolerate a higher RA, than a weaker beer.
I use the Morey calculation for color btw.
Using the weighted average of Lovibond of the malts is not recommended because of the way that SRM is actually measured. Dark beers have to be heavily diluted to allow light to pass thru them for the spectrophotometric test. Again, I use the Morey method. I guess I should have mentioned that in the Instructions...
John

while one day drinking beer in the lab i thought.....hey, lets see what this beer looks like in the "spec". It was a pilsner and had to be diluted 1:100 or else it was maxed out in both UV and visible spectrums.

[Reposado]

Version 2.2 is now up!
Fixed a couple cell references in the sparge water acidification that I had previously missed, but I think this is truly correct now.
Thanks Everyone for finding these.
Good Brewing,
John

Just FYI, I just tried downloading the US version 2.3 of this spreadsheet at http://howtobrew.com/section3/Palmers_Mash_RA_ver2c.xls, and it seems to be offline. The metric version works ok. Any word on when it will be available?

[coonass]

I use 5.2, but am really interested in nailing mash pH naturally for some reason. Seems like a cool thing. Anyways, I've got these notes on a good standard Pale Ale water:
Ca: 110
Mg: 18
Na: 17
Cl: 30
SO4: 350
HCO3: 50
When I plug that into the RA calcs is says I've got a RA of -48 & an SRM range of 1 to 6.
However this beer (Hazed & Infused clone) has an SRM of 12.3 but the Palmer spreadsheet suggested RA for the above water is in the range of 28-87.
In order to get the natural RA to work out & nail my mash pH I'd have to get the carbonates up above 150 or drop the calcium a lot, which just doesn't "feel" right.
Are my Pale Ale water specs off?
Too much Calcium? Is 150+ HCO3 ok for pale ale?
Palmer, you out there?
Gracias.

[TimCA]

Hay there Palmer,
Thanks for the updates. I am, over the last 5 beers, starting to tweek my water. You had sent me an e-mail to help out before I could open the excell program so thanks for that. Any how now I am playing around with the program and need to know what am I targeting? Is there a place that has a general tutorial for target water values? IE I know that hop flavor is afected be sulfate but what do the othere things affect? Will this be a "brew strong" show soon (mabey 2 !!!)

Thanks
Tim

[TimCA]

No realy thats all/.......... no replys......

[DannyW]

FWIW I target the following when using Palmer's spreadsheet, :

In the mash:
Ca 50-150
RA appropriate for color in mash

In the kettle:
Ca 50-150
Mg 10-30
Na 70-150 but lower is OK (I'm often <10)
Cl 0-250
SO4 50-150 for normal beers, 150-350 for very bitter beers

[TimCA]

Cool thanks
Tim