pH meter question

[soccerdad]

My prob was always that the storage solution would evaporate and the unit would ask to go live in a landfill. I am intrigued by the unit Minbari posted. I suppose if it was a few weeks between brews I could just going around testing things to keep it active .. Milk, half and half, the morning coffee, toilet water with and without urine, rainwater ...
I'm assuming y'all don't need me to report back on the ph of these things

 

[Blackmuse]

Yeah I've got 7 & 4.1 ph
That's the other PITA you've gotta calibrate them regularly

Yup - this is one of those things that led me to shelfing the unit - should probably just throw it away! lol -
The other reason it sits on the shelf is: The couple times I used it I just got anxious - "My pH isn't where it was predicted! Seems too high/low!" - and I'd have to talk myself into relaxing and just moving forward.
In the end, I have made great beer with BF pH predications and water adjustment system! Why bother changing my process?

Now, I'm not saying folks shouldn't check their pH!

Just, for me, it is a more relaxing brew day if I trust Brewer's Friend and my established process!

(Then again, I have two pH meters and have only ever just capped them. The instructions never mentioned keeping them wet. This is the first I'm hearing of it! So, either, my meters are different OR I need to work on my reading skills - or possibly read it without any beer in the system )

 

[GFHomebrew]

My prob was always that the storage solution would evaporate and the unit would ask to go live in a landfill. I am intrigued by the unit Minbari posted. I suppose if it was a few weeks between brews I could just going around testing things to keep it active .. Milk, half and half, the morning coffee, toilet water with and without urine, rainwater ...
I'm assuming y'all don't need me to report back on the ph of these things

Aye you gotta make sure Wee Wees are a constant PH especially after a night on the brewskies!

See there's more than meets the eye with the old PH meter...

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

I have an Apera PH60 I got cheap that I ordered a new probe for yesterday cause everything I stuck it in read around 7PH. I don't think I'm going to actually use it much but if I have it I should take care of it. I'm going to be a bit pissed if the new one does the same readings.

Did you soak the probe in 4 Molar Potassium Chloride solution for 24 hours before first using it? Don't forget to store the probe immersed in 4M KCl full time when not in use. Change out the KCl storage solution occasionally (if/when you begin to see salt crystals). If stored dry, the probe dries out and dies.

Plus pH meters require two point calibration before (and sometimes even during) each use....

Edit: See below!

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

74.6 grams of KCl made up to a total volume of 250 mL with distilled water = 250 mL of 4M KCl.

Edit #1: Some meters reference a 3 Molar KCl storage solution. For 3M KCl, make up 55.9 grams of KCl to a total volume of 250 mL with distilled water.

Edit #2: What is actually required whereby to make a proper pH probe "Storage Solution" is to mix 50:50 by volume one of the above KCl solutions with pH 4 buffer Solution.

 

[soccerdad]

Great! Science! This is why I use programs like yours to estimate ph. The science is done by pros.

 

[Donoroto]

74.6 grams of KCl made up to a total volume of 250 mL with distilled water = 250 mL of 4M KCl.

Edit #1: Some meters reference a 3 Molar KCl storage solution. For 3M KCl, make up 55.9 grams of KCl to a total volume of 250 mL with distilled water.

Edit #2: What is actually required whereby to make a proper pH probe "Storage Solution" is to mix 50:50 by volume one of the above KCl solutions with pH 4 buffer Solution.

My meter makes no such request. Just 'keep the probe wet'.

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

Milwaukee probes come dry. You soak them in storage solution to activate.

I started out with a pen type, but I rarely got the probe to last more than a year. It really sucked. I since have got a Milwaukee MW102. It’s an older design, but the probe is very good. It has to be stored in storage solution, but doesn’t really need calibration as often as the pens. So far the original probe has lasted nearly 2 years without showing signs of going bad.

pH meters have single and dual junction probes, the cheap ones are single junction. Dual junction probes are more robust and last longer. They don’t seem to drift off calibration as easily.

The calculators work decent for mash predictions, but pH is important to keep in line all the way to the finished beer. Without a pH meter, there’s no way to know what the pH is throughout the process. It may or may not matter to everyone, but I watch it closely from start to finish.

 

[Hawkbox]

It has a thing of 3 kcl in the kit and I bought a bottle of storage solution. I won it in an auction cheap so god knows if it worked in the first place. I'll plan to take better care of the next probe when I get it.

 

[Sunfire96]

6th 01. 2 b. In

 

[Hawkbox]

The replacement probe end looks to work properly so I'll be for sure using it a couple times before I get tired of calibrating it.