Palmer's Water Calculation Spreadsheet

Lifetime Member

Hey, does anyone know which calculation of color (SRM) is used in Palmer's RO spreadsheet? There are three offered in the Recipe Builder and sometimes the numbers vary wildly.

Ozarks Mountain Brewery

Moderator

Lifetime Member

Staff member Established Member Joined Nov 20, 2012 Messages 8,748 Reaction score 6,844 Points 113

just reading through a couple of post, some people are saying its pretty out dated as of today, they keep talking about RA and beer SRM so your guess is as good as mine

Nosybear

Well-Known Member

Lifetime Member

Joined Jul 16, 2012 Messages 10,254 Reaction score 8,365 Points 113

I read through a few myself before posting. I'm guessing it's the Morey calculation Palmer built the spreadsheet around. The three calculation options in the Recipe Builder are pretty close for the beer I'm currently brewing but for some, the three are way off each otehr. The advanced water calculator determines the RA but does not give the target range for the beer being brewed - that's why I use the spreadsheet (hint, developers, perhaps a target RA range and option to use RA to calculate salt and acid effects. ).

Thanks for the answer!

Ozarks Mountain Brewery

Moderator

Lifetime Member

Staff member Established Member Joined Nov 20, 2012 Messages 8,748 Reaction score 6,844 Points 113

have you read this

Nosybear

Well-Known Member

Lifetime Member

Joined Jul 16, 2012 Messages 10,254 Reaction score 8,365 Points 113

Yes, and it doesn't address the issue of adjusting water to ensure proper mash pH. I can attempt to duplicate a water profile using it or I can adjust water pH but to adjust mash pH, residual alkalinity is the factor I need to control. To do that, the calculator would have to calculate the range of residual alkalinity that will result in an acceptable mash pH (5.2-5.5) and display the value. It should then allow me to enter my target or default to the midrange so I can see what effect salt or acid additions are having. It already takes acidulated malt into account.

Reproducing Munich's water supply may be interesting but I'm concerned with controlling my mash pH and RA is the best predictor of it.