Add an acid to Palmer's water spreadsheet

[stoneBriar]

I did some googling and came up empty, but is there a way to add an acid to Palmer's water spreadsheet? Specifically I want to add 2N H2SO4 as an option (~10% wt/wt).

Thanks!

 

[Hermit]

Honestly, that is 'old foo' now.

'New Foo'
http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator

Kai posts here and if you have questions about any aspect of it you can ask him.

 

[stoneBriar]

Haha, probably right, but I can't figure out how to get that website to estimate additions for me, like Palmer's spreadsheet does. I've also tweeked a bunch of the "manual" fields in Palmers spreadsheet to calculate values based experience with previous additions. Not to mention I really like having How To Brew handy for reference when I'm working with the spreadsheet.

Honestly, that is 'old foo' now.

'New Foo'
http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator

Kai posts here and if you have questions about any aspect of it you can ask him.

 

[Kaiser]

I didn't post and mention the BF calculator since stoneBriar wanted to modify John's spreadsheet.

I took a quick look but would have to spend more time to take apart the formula. It's not complicated but takes time.

Kai

 

[Kaiser]

The function that John is using to estimate the amount of HCl is odd. It's this:

IF(    L19            actual RA
      >B23            target RA
    ,   3.785
       *C23           mash water volume
       *F23           additional effective hardness
       /50
       /(  (   13.927
              *C34    bottle conc
              *C34    bottle conc
           )
          +(   27.319
              *C34))  bottle conc
    ,0)

I formatted it for readability and commented on the referenced fields. The way the bottle concentration is factored in is odd. Maybe he is trying to account for nonlineariy between concentration and density.

I can ask him about this when he is not rushing to finish a book.

Kai

 

[mabrungard]

That old spreadsheet has more problems than needing another acid added to it. Moving on to tool like Kai's or Bru'n Water is quite a step up.

I purposely did not include a solver routine in Bru'n Water because that would have required an assumption of what minerals a brewer has access to. But dialing in water additions is not rocket science. A profile says you need X ppm more sulfate than your base water has...start increasing one of the minerals that supplies sulfate until the level is reached. Its not that hard.

 

[Kaiser]

Here is my suggestion for the changes you need to make. The formula is on the left and the right shows comments:

IF(    L19            actual RA
      >B23            target RA
    ,   3.785
       *C23           mash water volume
       *F23           additional effective hardness
       /50
       /4)            2N H2SO4 has ~4 mEq/ml
    ,0)
    
    
    sulfate from H2SO4 =   ml H2SO4   
                         * 2              there are 2 mmol SO4 in 1 ml 2N H2SO4
                         * 96             molar mass of SO4
                         / (   3.785
                             * mash water volume   (or change it to total volume depending on context)
                           )

You can check it against this: http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/

Kai