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How do most of you guys chech PH. I used to have a soil tester for my garden quite a few years back, Bought it for about 5 bucks at Wal mart. I think they are still around....Is this accurate enough?


pappy

I tried one of those a while back I could not get a good reading with it. I now use test strips like you use to test the PH in a swimming pool.

olddog wrote:I tried one of those a while back I could not get a good reading with it. I now use test strips like you use to test the PH in a swimming pool.

Same hear.

Will the strips work with a rum wash? That damn molasses stains hell out of everything it touches.

The single probe type of tester that is intended for soil pH testing won't give an accurate reading in liquids... Strips work better than the shaker bottle pool testers that use drops...

I use a soil pH test kit on dunder. The kit uses a liquid and a powder, together with a colour chart. I just wet the tip of a cotton bud and test that. Seems to work okay.

i read this thread and went down to check my pool strips, they only read between 6.5 & 8.5 so you want to find strips that read down to wash range of 4+. i checked online and most pool strips read between 6.5 & 8.5 . cob

Try the chemist for urine test stips. Or your garden centre for soil test strips.

You can get pen type or probe type digital testers as used for hydroponics liquid or swimming pools from about NZ$60.00. Try ebay etc. or a hydroponic/horticulture supply shop. Pool shops normally only sell the strips in limited values as allready pointed out.

They are pretty easy to use, just rinse them off before and after use. They generally come with a buffer to calibrate (the best ones have a auto calibrate button, the slightly more annoying ones have a miniature screw driver to calibrate - like the Dick Smith ones). Buffer solutions come in 3 main sorts Acid/Neutral and Alkali. When measuring acidic stuff use the lower pH buffer for greater accuracy, for higher pH use higher pH buffer or use a pH7 buffer for good enough general use. i.e. if the buffer is pH 7 buffer adjust probe back to 7, rinse and away you go. Just be carefull not to contaminate the buffer solution (a new bottle is only about NZ$5.-).

It is actually really easy to use and gives a simple LCD display value in real time and doesn't matter about molasses colour etc. No comparing to charts either which changes every second you wait. I use one, a good investment!

I picked up some good strips at a hobby shop.

I've been using wide range PH strips (1 -14) but I'm not happy with them & I swear they swapped the colour patches for 4 & 5 around too. There's narrow range paper available but it is much more expensive.

Santa is bringing me a little hand-held meter

I'll leave him some WD and cookies

sB

I get by without testing at all. I know how my first couple generations of wash(rum or whiskey, don't matter)) will ferment, and if she starts to slow down too much by the 3rd or 4th gen, I know I'm getting low, and will adjust a bit. Seems to be quite forgiving, as long as you can accept a slower ferment here and there. I'm rarely in a hurry. I have gone 5 generations of UJSM easily without adjusting anything, and I can take my rum washes to 5-6 generations before things get hinky, and I'm pretty generous with the dunder/backset, going well over 50% often(mmmmm, love da dunder!).

Yup, gotta admit I don't really measure pH any more for the dunder (or anything else), maybe only every 6 ferments just to be sure, and it seems to come out much the same each time. I just add a bit of food grade calcium carbonate to each new ferment, and it seems to do the trick and keep the pH in the right range and stable. Ferments are even probably finishing a little faster these days then when I first started. Clearly no problem with pH.

my PH test is in the "what the hell did I buy that for"cabanet

My tap water is usually around 8+ so I use test strips from http://www.indigo.com/test-strips/ph-test-strips.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
a pack of 50 strips for $7.25 and then I cut each strip in half, so I end up with a hundred strips.
myerfire

Broke down and ordered a PH pen and some calibration buffers....Told my wife I needed to check my saliva cause of my acid reflux

rumlover, that brings me full circle, with a double dose of deja vu. a couple years ago while researching acid reflux "GERD". i got on some valved reflux build site that sparked the old interest in stillin my own, that led through a number of other sites and thankfully here. the big "organic, natural" secret they try to sell you on the internet as a cure for GERD is apple cider vinegar and honey mix a small quantity 50/50 and use sparingly. i made an oz. 2 years ago and have used half. use apple cider vinegar there is supposed to be a difference. when i need some i use enough to wet the tip of my tongue. good luck. cob

The pH value is the measure of whether a certain substance or solution is acidic or basic. The pH scale is used on a wide variety of substances, from water to soil. Maintaining the pH balance in your swimming pool is necessary to keep it safe and clean for use. Test strips are small pieces of litmus paper that can be inserted into the pool water. Depending on how it changes color, it will specify the precise pH of the water.

I use to use a ph meter but got tired of calibrating and buying new probes. Now I just use 5.2 ph stabilizer and forget about it. Works like a charm, get it at homebrew stores.

Burbankbrewer wrote:I use to use a ph meter but got tired of calibrating and buying new probes. Now I just use 5.2 ph stabilizer and forget about it. Works like a charm, get it at homebrew stores.

+1 BB... I use it on my all-grain washes to get the water just right...

Works like a charm...

It helps not only the mash conversion but the ferment as well. Most people don't even think about the ferment ph.

+1 BB I use 5.2 for my beer brewing, never thought about useing it in my stilling operation. Thanks for the tip.
myerfire

Here's another tip. If you have a pool, use it for your cold liquor tank with your march pump instead of wasting water like I did.

This is an old post but I thought it would be appropriate to resurrect it and add some more info.
A friend of mine is using these pH test strips and they are much better than the ones I've been using.
http://www.amazon.com/ColorpHast-Test-S ... B00794A9QU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I have never tried checking or adjusting my ph, but with the bust I had this past mash I am looking to improve across the board. Are fish tank ph strips ok to use for our purposes? How about fish tank ph adjusters?

PH strips, no matter if they were intended for a aquarium, are ok.
I bought 5 packages containing a hundred each on E-bay.
Price..next to nothing. Tested against labgrade PH meter..they were accurate enough.
Never use any PH adjusting chemicals in your ferment, that originally was made for aquarium use.
There are so much other chemical stuff in there,that wouldn't be wise to have in your drink.
Stick with the natural stuff so many others use...citric acid, egg or oister shells etc..

So for those of you who do check Ph,
1. Do you check before bringing water to strike temp or after grain mash?
2. What is the ideal level (for the stage you're in)?
3. What is your method of adjusting?

My water is 4.6 or lower so need to bring it up according to Ian Smiley's book Making Pure Corn Whisky using calcium carbonate. If I can't get to a brew shop selling the 5.2 buffer, what other than Tums can be used? I couldn't find a non flavored Tums either. I know Oyster shells can be added to the fermenter but worried about infection since they are not pasteurized prior to the addition.

Shiny Coke wrote: I know Oyster shells can be added to the fermenter but worried about infection since they are not pasteurized prior to the addition.

I should think boiling them should fix any infection querries.

To pasteurizer my Rum /Dunder washes prior to fermenting I heat to 80-85 Deg C so I would think boiling shells in a pot of water 100 deg C should work

Yummyrum wrote:

Shiny Coke wrote: I know Oyster shells can be added to the fermenter but worried about infection since they are not pasteurized prior to the addition.

I should think boiling them should fix any infection querries.

To pasteurizer my Rum /Dunder washes prior to fermenting I heat to 80-85 Deg C so I would think boiling shells in a pot of water 100 deg C should work

Have to admit it did cross my mind but I got the shells from a feed store and they're ground fairly small so I'd have to cool the water and toss the lot in. That and was worried it could bugger a pot?

Shiny Coke wrote:....Have to admit it did cross my mind but I got the shells from a feed store and they're ground fairly small so I'd have to cool the water and toss the lot in. That and was worried it could bugger a pot?

Chicken feed?

You worry too much. Mix up your wash and pitch the yeast. And then add a handfull of the crushed oyster shells. They'll balance the dropping pH of the ferment.

If you need to worry about something, I'd focus on yeast health and the proper nutrients.
ss