Ok I got my PH meter and have been testing the water again. I have found the PH to be about 8.0 and that is the same as the Ward Labs report. My guess is that the PH strips were only for range 4.6 to 6.4 and using the strip in a solution that was so far out of range caused it to become a color that actually matched the color chart. Does this make sense?
Yes, I'm sure that's it. Remember that I noted that the color of the strip was not actually between two colors on the legend (more blue than the legend patches).
However I don't know why the house test strips were so far off. I guess the strips are just not worth dealing with.
Yes, that's pretty much true from what I can tell.
Now, I got PH buffer solutions 4.0 and 7.0 and have been calibrating my PH meter. I am having problems with the PH meter being off when I return to the previous solution. I first calibrate it in the 7.0 solution, rinse it off then calibrate it in the 4.0 solution. When I recheck the 7.0 is is off by .5 PH reading about 7.5. It happens the exact opposite going the other way calibrating it using the 4.0 solution first. 7.0 is good and the 4.0 becomes about .5 off. Can one of the solutions be off? I hope its not the meter.
Something is not kosher here. It is characteristic of inexpensive meters that they drift but 0.05 is more reasonable than 0.5. I'd suggest carefully re-reading the instructions and going through the calibration again with fresh buffers. I've cut and pasted some detailed instructions below. Try to follow those as closely as you can consistent with the instructions furnished by your meter's manufacturer. Try to do everything at close to the same temperature.
1. Store the electrode in a storage solution recommended by the manufacturer. This will often be a saturated or nearly saturated solution of potassium chloride.
2. Prepare fresh 4 and 7 buffer solutions using deionized water. Several manufacturers sell capsules of powder which contain the buffers chemical components. These are simply added to a specified amount of DI water (50 or 100 mL) just before use. Premixed buffers are also sold in sealed packages (similar to the ketchup packages from fast food restaurants). These work as well as the buffers one mixes on the spot and are obviously more convenient but tend to be, because of the packaging, more expensive. Premixed buffers are also sold in bulk i.e. 1 L bottles or 4 L jugs or cubitainers. If buffers in this form are being used check that they are not beyond their expiration dates and pour small amounts of each into a clean beaker or preferrably, sealed container, at the beginning of each brew day. Do not return used buffer to the bulk storage.
3. Remove the storage cap from the electrode. If the electrode is the refillable type, insure that it contains adequate fill solution, top up if neecessary and, whether you top up or not open the fill hole so air can enter the electrode body allowing fill solution to freely flow out through the reference junction.
4. Rinse the electrode with a stream of DI water from a wash bottle. Blot dry with clean tissue or paper towel. Dont touch the actual electrode bulb when you do this. You dont need to get all the adhering water, just the bulk of it. Wicking of water into the paper is adequate.
5. Turn the meter on, allow it to stabilize for a few minutes, and then lower the electrode into the first buffer solution. With most modern meters it does not matter which one you go into first as these meters have automatic buffer recognition. Following the manufacturers instructions put the meter in calibration mode and initiate calibration if necessary (e.g. press the read or Cal button).Move the electrode around in the buffer a little to rinse any adhering DI water off the bulb and away from the reference junction.
Wait until the reading stabilizes. Modern instruments tend to have stability indicators which beep or otherwise alert the operator when the reading is stable (hasnt changed by more than a threshold amount in a given period of time). These often also instruct the operator to move on to the next buffer when stability is detected. In others you may have to determine when the reading is stable yourself and indicate this to the meter by pressing a button. Follow the manufacturers instructions and/or prompts on the meters display.
6. When instructed to move to the second buffer, remove the electrode from the first buffer, shake adhering buffer off and rinse with a stream DI water. Blot away as above and insert the electrode in the second buffer. Move electrode around in second buffer.
7. When the second reading is stable, take whatever action is necessary to complete the measurement as above. In some meters there will be an option for a third buffer. In those meters you will have to do something (e.g. press an exit button) to indicate to the meter that calibration is complete with 2 buffers.
8. The instrument will now calculate the calibration parameters (slope and offset) and, in some cases, display these to you in the case of slope either as a percentage (should be near 100) or a number like 57.3 which is the number of millivolts change per unit change in pH at some reference temperature. The offset will be a millivolt number which should be small i.e. a few millivolts (it can be negative). If the meter presents those numbers, write them in your log book. They represent a record of the rate at which your electrode is aging. Fancy meters will automatically store the calibration data, tagged with time and date, in the meters memory.
9. Take whatever action is necessary to indicate that the calibration to be accepted (e.g. press a store or other button).
10. Remove the electrode from the second buffer. Shake, rinse and blot as before.
11. Place in sample.