PH Test Strips

I bought some test strips, the kind available at most LHBS, and they don't do a damn thing! I used on 2 previous batches, and when they didn't change color I thought it must be the wort. I even tested on vinegar and got no change.

How could I be doing this wrong?? I understand that the strips may be a little "off" in their measurements, but to see absolutely ZERO change??

I've not really fretted about my PH before, but in trying to uderstand the whole water chemistry thing, I thought it was important to know exactly what is going on, and a huge part of that is knowing what my PH is.

Anyone?

Had the same problem with our strips....tested it on a bunch of stuff and still no change. Glad to hear it's not just us.

I bought some ColorpHast strips from an online HBS and they didn't work. I took them to work and had them tested in the lab. They were defective or damaged. I've bought them from SanitationTools.com since then and they worked fine and were half the cost from the online HBS.

So I pulled them out of my brewer's toolbox to try again. I see I spent nearly $6 on them and if they work as well as before, it's $6 for nothing.

That's 3 decent beer's worth of money wasted! (Or 9 decent homebrews!)

Just dabbed some fresh vinegar onto 6 strips and NOTHING. Maybe I should take them back to the LHBS and let them know of my troubles. It's way past time to get a refund, but if they know people have problems, they might be interested in finding a better product.

I had the same thing happen to me. Bought a digital. Hydro store sells them.

I have beer and wine-range Precision Labs strips. They work pretty well within their respective ranges (tested them on StarSan, a mash and a finished beer). Keep in mind that they won't change color if the pH is less than 4.6 for the beer strips or more than 4.4 for the wine strips. So using vinegar on beer strips would result in no change.

Argh. You are right. I had it backwards again. So something that acidic won't register, but something a bit less should. Time to go find something less acidic.

Baking soda and water turned it purple, so they do SOMETHING. Now to figure out how to see if they are anywhere near accurate. Need to find something that is proper PH, or at least very close.

I think the strips are for getting a rough estimate on PH. For $6 you get what you pay for.

shutupjojo said:

I think the strips are for getting a rough estimate on PH. For $6 you get what you pay for.

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True. But a rough estimate was I was looking for from them. Honestly, they claim to be able to read between 4.6 and 6.2 PH. A beer's PH should be between between those numbers, and therefore you really ought to get some sort of response on the strip when you put some wort on it. I wasn't looking for a real precise number, just curious how water adjustments affected the PH.

Company rep claims the strips have a 2 year shelf life. I may just buy another brand and see what they do.

I bought strips as well from LHBS to check mash ph. Both times I tried them they just turned the color of my wort. Didn't appear to register any reading on the color scale......... useless.

They have been sitting on my shelf for 6 months since I last tried using them.

I have strips made by Precision Labs 1-800-733-0266 and they work okay. I have tested wort after adding 5.2 stabilizer and the color matches the example color pretty close.

I found out that the strips will change color if you leave the pack in your pocket and put them through the wash.