[quote=“Ken Lenard”]I do plan to do this. Take a spoon and get some of the mash liquid into a small bowl, let it cool and take the pH of that.[/quote]I have a couple of small, ceramic “sherbert” bowls that are taller than their diameter and I put two in the freezer at the start of the brew day. It only takes a couple of oz of wort to get enough liquid height in the bowl to submerse the meter probe and the ice-cold bowl quickly drops the temp to 20C. Having two cold bowls makes it easier to read successive samples if I’m adjusting the pH.
I do almost the same thing, excepting with shot glasses. The probe of the MW-101 will easily fit in the small confines of the shot glass. The freezing cold mass of glass and the very small volume of wort I put in there make chilling the sample quick.
Hooray! Shotglasses in the freezer it is! Thanks gang.
I do almost the same thing, excepting with shot glasses. The probe of the MW-101 will easily fit in the small confines of the shot glass. The freezing cold mass of glass and the very small volume of wort I put in there make chilling the sample quick.[/quote]
I use SS condiment cups.
Okay, peeps… my meter arrived today. I just read the very short manual and looked at an online vid as well. It says that the probe always needs to be stored wet and can be stored in bottled drinking water, 4.01 calibration solution or MA9015 storage solution. It says to never store the meter dry and never to store it in distilled or deionized water. Okay, got it. So does anyone suggest storing it in bottled water as it suggests? This is clearly the easiest and cheapest way to store it. Also, my meter came with one packet of 4.01 calibration solution and one 7.01 calibration solution. You pour these solutions into a cup, shotglass, whatever and use them to calibrate the meter. Are these solutions for one-time use? If so, do meter-owners have to continuously buy these solutions? Can you use the solution and then store it for X amount of time in a sealed container? The packs do not mention that they are single-use or can be used multiple times.
A bit more: How do you meter owners decide when it’s time to calibrate? Every time? Just when you’re in the mood or what? It does appear that you’re supposed to use “new” calibration solution each time and they sell it in larger bottles. It’s not terribly expensive and it’s often associated with gardening… just a warning. I was reading a post by someone and I thought it was all about brewing until one of the responses was, “make sure you calibrate often… you don’t want to dump lime into a plant that doesn’t need it!”… I realized I wasn’t on a homebrewing site.
I have the MW-101 and calibrate before each use. I brew 2-3 times a month.
[quote=“Ken Lenard”]How do you meter owners decide when it’s time to calibrate? Every time? Just when you’re in the mood or what?[/quote]Would depend on the meter and after a couple of uses you’ll get a feel for the calibration requirements - I checked mine before and after each brewday (and keep it stored wet in 4.01 buffer between uses), then just before use the next few times, and based on the fact that it didn’t shift much at all over this period have gone to checking it maybe every third or fourth time (and it’s still not shifting). As the probe ages I’m guessing that I’ll need to calibrate more often again, though.
I calibrated every brew. 3 way/points. I did keep the solutions in small tupperware type cups and they did last a while but it made me nervous. Even then I was rinsing between solutions during calibration with distilled.
While we’re talking pH meters, would you guys agree a meter does not perform like you would first expect and takes some time to stabilize? Especially a mash sample. Not sure if it is due to mash solids or what. I am not talking like 15 minutes but it is not BAM instant read. Seems like it slowly trickles downward then stabilizes after a bit. I stir it around to assist.
I learned a lot about meters from meeting the muni water dept. Real cool guys. They baby their meter. Electrode gets replaced regularly, calibrate every day, stays in storage solution, etc. Another thing, everything they tested went into a sir plate setup. Even then their meter took time to stabilize albeit quicker than mine. They would probably freak out at the thought of putting the electrode is a mash sample…
I used to dream of owning a high end meter but that will wait if I ever go pro. With tools like Bru’nwater, it’s hard to justify it. That said, learning the craft with a meter guiding you each step of the way is invaluable.
My Hanna stabilizes within 12-15 seconds.
Thanks for the responses guys. I plan to handle the meter & probe the way the manufacturer suggests. I picked up the large bottles of 4.0, 7.0 and storage solution and I will keep an eye on the storage solution level to make sure it doesn’t dry out. At some point I will make a decision about which is better… the meter or the strips. If the meter makes the angels sing for some reason, I’ll keep up with it. But if it turns out that the strips were working just fine for me, I’ll probably box up the meter and put it away or sell it to another brewer who is interested. I will definitely take a small amount of the mash liquid and place it in a small bowl/glass and take the pH reading at room temp. I’ll update this thread after I have used it a few times. Cheers Beerheads.
That has been my experience as well.
Thanks. For giggles I googled it and found a post from AJ confirming this. He mentions that it takes several minutes to stabilize.
Looking forward to your posts Ken.
[quote=“zwiller”]Thanks. For giggles I googled it and found a post from AJ confirming this. He mentions that it takes several minutes to stabilize.
Looking forward to your posts Ken.[/quote]
I have a pH56 unit and I swirl to mix the solution & accelerate the reading. It still takes me 1-2 minutes.
[quote=“Silentknyght”]I have a pH56 unit and I swirl to mix the solution & accelerate the reading. It still takes me 1-2 minutes.[/quote]Do you store it wet and keep it wet during the brew day? My pH56 takes maybe 15-30 seconds for a reading.
That has been my experience as well.[/quote]
I have the Milwaukee pH56 and found that after about 10 batches the response had slowed considerably. Readings would drift so slowly it was pointless to wait. It turns out the glass frit was clogged probably with sugars and such from the mash. I do clean the electrode carefully after each measurement but this still happens. I soaked the electrode in 0.5N HCL for about an hour, maybe 2 and the response time improved to nearly immediate. I try to clean the electrode now 2 or 3 times a year.
All of my calibration solutions arrived today… 4.01, 7.0, storage. I have some older 6-ounce beer glasses that are tapered and small so I am using these for the solutions. I placed the meter into the storage solution glass for 3 hours (directions say 2-4 hours is good). Then I walked through the calibration process with the small directions page that came with the meter. There is also a good video for it HERE
. Not sure where that guy is from but somewhere “south” and he’s got some golden pipes. I went through the routine and when I got the meter into the 4.01 solution, the screen said “WRNG” and I assumed I did something … uh… wrong. So I started over. When I got to the 4.01 solution, it said WRNG again but then it went past that and got to OK2 which means it’s done and calibrated. In the video where he says that it takes a little longer for the 4.01 part of the process… that took about 30 seconds for mine where it only took about 5 seconds for him. Anyway, good timing on the arrival of the meter and solutions because I plan to brew tomorrow and I’ll compare the results of the meter with that of the strips to see how close they are. Cheers Beerheads.
Update: I looked up the “WRNG” message and found an online Milwaukee PDF that said that the message means the solution is no good. This was the Milwaukee 4.01 solution that came in the mustard packet with the meter. I poured it out and used some new 4.01 from the larger bottle I ordered. That time the calibration process went through with no trouble. I can already tell that this is going to be one of those, “It’s always something!” tools. No wonder people hate them. Cheers.
That has been my experience as well.[/quote]
I have the Milwaukee pH56 and found that after about 10 batches the response had slowed considerably. Readings would drift so slowly it was pointless to wait. It turns out the glass frit was clogged probably with sugars and such from the mash. I do clean the electrode carefully after each measurement but this still happens. I soaked the electrode in 0.5N HCL for about an hour, maybe 2 and the response time improved to nearly immediate. I try to clean the electrode now 2 or 3 times a year.[/quote]
I can’t remember what meter I have, as it hasn’t been out of it’s box in at least a year, but I remember it taking at least 4-5 minutes to stabilize when it was new. The good thing is it never got worse than that, which probably means my “rinse immediately after use” habit I have with all my equipment kept it from getting worse. In reality, that was by far the biggest pain I had with the unit. If the reading said there was an adjustment needed, by the time the mash stabilized enough to allow a new test, and the time it took to cool the sample then allow the meter to stabilize, I was almost past the time point of where it mattered.
Okay, here’s an update. I just got my mash started about 15 mins ago. I got a small sample of my wort into a frozen shotglass so it could cool down and while I waited for that, I took the pH of the wort in the MT with a ColorpHast strip. It read about 5.0 which is what I ordinarily shoot for (the correction factor of -0.3 would put it at 5.3). My beer color is SRM 13 and the grains plus my additions (calcium chloride and gypsum) all come to an ideal SRM of 7 to 12 so my thought was that my pH might be a little low. I calibrated the pH meter and took the sample of the wort and it came to about 5.8. I calibrated it again (this is like the 10th time I have calibrated it) and it came to about 5.8 again. Not wanting to believe it’s off, I decided to take the pH of my tap water. I have gotten Ward samples back twice and it was 6.6 both times. Many other Lake Michigan water brewers have posted their numbers and it’s also 6.6. I was at a local brewpub a couple of years ago working with a guy in the brewery who was over his head… he asked me what the pH of Chicago water was and I told him 6.6. He whipped out a pH meter (one that looked quite impressive) and took a sample of tap water. 6.6. He looked at me like I was crazy. When I just checked mine, it showed about 7.2 - 7.3. About .6 higher than I would expect. It also seems like my wort sample should be around 5.2 - 5.3 and the meter read 5.8. Who do I believe? Is my tap water test enough to tell me that this meter is either inaccurate or I’m just doing something wrong? I did not adjust the mash downward. I had lactic acid in my hand and was about to lower it but then I did the tap water test. Thoughts?
What pH does Martin’s (or Kai’s) spreadsheet predict?
