Im looking at possibly getting a Ph meter after my pack of strips run out. Recommendations? Any to avoid? Is the maintence as bad as it sounds?
Not trying to talk you out of it because the more brew toys the better. I used to check my PH with the old fashion strips. I found that when using the same water and basically the same mash routine the PH was always the same so I just quit bothering to check it. YMMV
The meters would certainly be more accurate of course.
[quote=“HD4Mark”]Not trying to talk you out of it because the more brew toys the better. I used to check my PH with the old fashion strips. I found that when using the same water and basically the same mash routine the PH was always the same so I just quit bothering to check it. YMMV
The meters would certainly be more accurate of course.[/quote]
I’m content with strips when it comes to mash ph. I’ve been using colorpHast strips for years and with bru’n water the two always match. The meter would be to be able to check and adjust post fermentation, look at the ph of commercial beers stuff like that but it’s hard not to find something better to spend 100 bucks on
Paper pH strips are nice in beer brewing since they always read the same value, no matter the grist.
In other words, they don’t work at all.
You can read my thoughts on what to look for in a pH meter on the Bru’n Water Facebook page.
[quote=“mabrungard”]Paper pH strips are nice in beer brewing since they always read the same value, no matter the grist.
In other words, they don’t work at all.
You can read my thoughts on what to look for in a pH meter on the Bru’n Water Facebook page.[/quote]
I thought the colorpHast strips were decent?
ColorpHast are plastic strips. They are reasonably decent when you include the correction between their reading and actual room temperature pH (strips read about 0.3 units too low).
I’ve got a Hanna meter that I like. I always do a 2 point calibration when I use it since a brew about once a month. It works well. I think it was around 80 bucks. I agree that I don’t have to adjust very often when using Brunwater, but sometimes I do.
Good to know ColorpHast strips are decent. I might grab a pack to do quick checks like to see if my sanitizer is still good. Usually I just use my uncalibrated meter (which is probably also close enough anyway) because I don’t want to waste the calibration sachets for little things like that.
I got a calibration kit from amazon. Comes with 3 decent sized bottles of standards.
The problem with the bottles is once they are open they start to degrade. Not sure how fast, and I hate not being able to be certain if they are still good or not.
The problem with the bottles is once they are open they start to degrade. Not sure how fast, and I hate not being able to be certain if they are still good or not.[/quote]
They definitely do have a shelf life. It should be stated on the bottle, or in the company literature how long they will last once opened. I don’t have my buffer solutions handy right now, or I would check…
