Milwaukee pH55 vs Beverage Doctor MT624 pH meters

[wsmith1625]

I'm struggling a bit with water chemistry and after my last batch with water treated with 6 or 7ml 88% lactic acid and having low attenuation with US-05, I'm finally looking to get a pH meter. The meters I have in mind are the Milwaukee pH55 and the Beverage Doctor MT624. They're in the same price range and have very similar reported accuracy and features. I would love feedback from someone who has used both meters, but if you have have worked with either of these I would like to know what you think of them.

By low attenuation I had an OG of 1.050 and a FG of 1.014. It was actually very close, but I never had trouble hitting 1.010 with US-05 before. The beer came out very good, but it's not as dry as I wanted it.

 

[wsmith1625]

Bump

 

[DuncB]

I haven't used either of them, I've got two cheap pH meters similar to the Milwaukee pH 600AQ, I was given one as a present hence having two.
I calibrate with the test medium before each brew day and make sure that the sensor is kept in the special medium for them between brews.
You must not let the bulbs dry out or keep them in tap water.
They both seem accurate when calibrated and measured against themselves but I find that the reading seems to match the prediction in brewfather or brewersfriend anyway.
I'm assuming your 6 or 7ml is a memory error rather than a measuring accuracy issue.
pH might not be the cause of your low attenuation could be other salts, nutrients or mash temperature. Along with a few other causes.

Not sure I can see much advantage of the pH 55 over the pH51 or pH54. I wouldn't use my pH probe to test the temperature. I take my sample of wort and put it into a coffee mug that has been in the freezer so the sample is at about room temp in no time at all. Using your pH meter in a hot liquid I believe shortens the life of the sensor so the ATC aspect not that useful to exploit either.

I have a milwaukee electronic refractometer and it's brilliant, good price, seems very accurate and uses a darn site less wort or beer for samples, easier to read and makes me take readings when I didn't bother before.

 

[wsmith1625]

I haven't used either of them, I've got two cheap pH meters similar to the Milwaukee pH 600AQ, I was given one as a present hence having two.
I calibrate with the test medium before each brew day and make sure that the sensor is kept in the special medium for them between brews.
You must not let the bulbs dry out or keep them in tap water.
They both seem accurate when calibrated and measured against themselves but I find that the reading seems to match the prediction in brewfather or brewersfriend anyway.
I'm assuming your 6 or 7ml is a memory error rather than a measuring accuracy issue.
pH might not be the cause of your low attenuation could be other salts, nutrients or mash temperature. Along with a few other causes.

Not sure I can see much advantage of the pH 55 over the pH51 or pH54. I wouldn't use my pH probe to test the temperature. I take my sample of wort and put it into a coffee mug that has been in the freezer so the sample is at about room temp in no time at all. Using your pH meter in a hot liquid I believe shortens the life of the sensor so the ATC aspect not that useful to exploit either.

I have a milwaukee electronic refractometer and it's brilliant, good price, seems very accurate and uses a darn site less wort or beer for samples, easier to read and makes me take readings when I didn't bother before.

Yeah, 6 or 7 was a memory issue. It wasn't too important to the post so I didn't get my recipe out to review the actual measurement. I know other factors could contribute to low attenuation, but I'm focusing on pH right now. I just started using Beersmith and need to check the accuracy of their predictions. I'm glad your cheap meters are working well, but I've heard on other threads that most of the cheap meters were garbage. I'm leaning towards the Milwaukee, but I could be convinced to get the KegLand if someone made a good case for it. I also like your method of cooling the sample with a coffee mug from the freezer. I'm definitely going to steal that idea from you. Thanks.

 

[DuncB]

I think that the 55 looks a good price, but the 51 or 54 would do the job just as well.
My cheap meter cost about as much as the 51 anyway.
I used to use brewersfreind for water but now moved to brewfather.

Don't forget to put the mug back in the freezer dry, or even better put two in there to start with so there's one available when you forget to put it back.

 

[wsmith1625]

I bit the bullet today and purchased the Milwaukee pH55. It was only $50 direct from Milwaukee. I basically decided on this one because I think that parts and support will be more available than the KegLand. I know I'll be needing replacement probes and don't want to struggle finding them.

 

[wsmith1625]

So ordering from Milwaukee turned out to be a mistake and I canceled my order yesterday. Everything started out fine, got the order confirmation and a friendly email from Jason thanking me for the purchase and offering to answer any questions. I let a few days go by and replied to his email asking for a tracking number since no email was received. Then he tells me the meter is on backorder for 7-10 days. Had I known that when ordering, I would not have purchased it. I had a brew session planned, but now I have to push it back because I want to have the meter for my brew day. I let a week go by and still the meter hasn't shipped, so I sent an email requesting to cancel the order, which no one replied to. Two days go by so I call them and speak with Jason directly. Not so friendly or helpful when I told him I want to cancel my order. He told that he needed an email request so he could process the cancelation. Okay, I send another email requesting that they cancel my order and still no reply. I call back and they tell me they're going to cancel it. I requested an email confirmation and they sent it to me later that same day. I still have not received credit for my purchase, but will give them some time to catch up before calling them again. Needless to say, I won't be ordering anything from them again. The Milwaukee name was a big reason I went with their meter, but their sales support was not impressive at all.

Also, after the fact I noticed that the resolution and accuracy of the pH55 PRO is .1, not .01 like the Beverage Doctor. Yesterday I ordered the Beverage Doctor meter from MoreBeer and it should be coming this weekend.

 

[DuncB]

Yes Milwaukee haphazard Comms. I ordered an 884 refractometer on 8th December, prompt confirm of order.
14th and 15th sent emails asking for status, no reply.
18th got reply on the chat service, Jason said awaiting delivery and hoped would arrive following week.
It was dispatched on 23rd december and did arrive promptly to NZ after that with tracking details.
I did point out on 18th about unanswered emails and poor communication, so I guess no lessons learnt there and indicates systemic problem. They have lost your sale and likely others now.
I prefer my pH meter that reads to one decimal place, it suits my margin of error better than the two decimal places one.

EDIT corrected my type that had slipped into italics.