Recent content by CrazyP

$13 right now... For that price there isn't much to lose. Looks a lot like the pH meters I used in high school chemistry labs many moons ago. :)

It's worth a shot before I toss'em... The instructions actually say to dip for 1-2 seconds and then read after 15 seconds, waiting no longer than a minute to get a reading.

Thanks, looks like long leg Firestone poppets are what I need, although the universal ones are tempting to try. How much life can I expect out of a new poppet? Should I keep a stash of them around like I do I-rings?

They are plastic actually, and the packaging itself looks relatively new.

I wish it was that easy, but nope, I was using them the right way. :)

Wow! I never figured out how to pry those little buggers out until tonight. This thread gave some great info: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/cant-remove-poppet-valve-post-firestone-166944/ Basically by first pushing UP on the legs I was able to dislodge the legs from the walls and then pry...

I'm actually married to a chemist :) She spent some time last night doing calculations to figure out how to make a buffered solution in the 4.6 - 6.2 range... The trouble is that most household items like OJ, vinegar, and baking soda are either too acidic or too basic to be anywhere close to...

Wow, and I was even reading a website saying that the indicator chemicals used are very stable and that's why there is no special sealing or date codes on the package! Sounds like a con job.

I have a couple of Spartanburg kegs with pin lock posts that I'm looking to replace. The current posts have some kind of non-removeable poppet held in place by metal clips and I can't get in there to clean & sanitize and replace o-rings. One of them is leaking because the valve isn't making a...

I bought a vial of 4.6 - 6.2 range pH strips from my LHBS about a year ago but just got around to using them yesterday. I did an all-grain batch and wanted to test the pH of my mash, so I took out a test strip, dipped it for about a second, and then tried to take a reading... The trouble is...

I believe it is an RSG-100ATC, an eBay special I got a couple years ago for not much money. I think it shipped directly from China. It goes up to 32 Brix max. I made the 30 Brix test solution using 35g of distilled water and 15g of table sugar (i.e. a 30% by weight sugar solution). It measured...

I'm transitioning away from BIAB and moving to batch sparging in a cooler, but I don't think the crush was ever very fine. I can definitely see how a shop would tend to error on the side of coarse crush. I really think a mill should be next on my purchase list though... I always feel like...

Different mills, different homebrew shops: some online and some from my LHBS. My LHBS has two different hand cranked mills, one of which has given me good results and one that has given me bad results on two occasions. I do try to stir the mash well at the beginning, then leave it alone for...

Alright guys, thanks for the all the advice. Unfortunately I have to retract my original statement that my refractometer doesn't work well with wort. I did an all-grain batch this weekend and the pre-boil gravity once again came out ridiculously low on my refractometer. But I also cross checked...

I got a refractometer when I transitioned to all grain brewing, so I could make sure I was hitting my numbers post-mash but it seems to be giving me wildly inaccurate readings... but only for wort!!. The first time I tried it during an all-grain batch, it told me I was off by 15 points, which...