Ph meter advice

[JasonWB]

What PH meters are you guys using? Is it worth spending the extra cash for the fancy ones or will the $15ish ones on Amazon work fine?

 

[Nagorg]

Dont waste your money on a $15 cheapo. The general consensus here is the Hatch Pocket Pro+ or Milwaukee MW101/MW102 are the ones in a decent price range worth investing in. The Milwaukee uses a "standard" probe that can be cheaper to replace when that time comes.

 

[jekeane]

The question are ph meters worth an investment at any price point is an interesting one. I use Brun Water and my hach pocket pro+ has confirmed the estimated ph of the Brun everytime so that I rarely use it except on specific styles and out of curiosity

I do use it for sours so it is not entirely collecting dust.

 

[dmtaylor]

I have a cheap $20 model from Amazon and it works great. If it ever fails (been working fine for a couple years already), I'll replace it with the same kind again. Expensive does NOT equate to quality. Expensive is just expensive!

 

[Dcpcooks]

Used a cheap unit for a bit till it failed, probably a year or so.

Then I got a Milwaukee 102 and I love it.

Here’s the cool part it’s validated the data provided in the water primer in the brew science section. So if you can’t afford the good ones I’d suggest you save up and wait till you can. If you follow the general advice in the primer you’ll be in the ball park if your using RO water.

 

[LarMoeCur]

The cheap meter vs expensive meter has been discussed here at length. A quick search and you can read about it for days. Simple post to Albert Einstein level discussions with graphs and pictures. The take is: a lot of brewers say they have gotten many of years of great readings from them. And, a lot of brewers say they break rapidly and are a waist of money.

I think you can make great beer using just your local water report and Bru'n Water spread sheet. I have an Hatch Pro+ meter and I still work my water profile up in Bru'n Water. It always ends up with .1 to .2 of what the spread sheet says.

 

[SEndorf]

Interesting viewpoints.
Several of the above posts suggest Bru'n water can replace your Ph meter if your inputs are correct.
I've used Bru'n water for a long time and can attest to it's accuracy.
On a recent brew session Bru'n water "told" me my MW102 probe was bad.
But I'm not ready to skip the meter.

 

[LarMoeCur]

Interesting viewpoints.
Several of the above posts suggest Bru'n water can replace your Ph meter if your inputs are correct.
I've used Bru'n water for a long time and can attest to it's accuracy.
On a recent brew session Bru'n water "told" me my MW102 probe was bad.
But I'm not ready to skip the meter.

I've been accused of having trust issues! Bru'n Water has never let me down but I'm not sure I trust my local water report. I really just want to know exactly what my pH is. In the Navy we call this "Trust but Verify!"

 

[mabrungard]

On a recent brew session Bru'n water "told" me my MW102 probe was bad.

I'm assuming you are kidding here, but remember that there are a lot of variables that go into the prediction and any one of those variables can actually 'vary' from what the program assumes. Bru'n Water should get you into the ballpark every time, but monitoring with a calibrated meter is a valuable double-check.

Was your probe really going bad? An inability to calibrate the probe and meter is the real indicator that the probe is going bad.

 

[SEndorf]

I'm assuming you are kidding here, but remember that there are a lot of variables that go into the prediction and any one of those variables can actually 'vary' from what the program assumes. Bru'n Water should get you into the ballpark every time, but monitoring with a calibrated meter is a valuable double-check.

Was your probe really going bad? An inability to calibrate the probe and meter is the real indicator that the probe is going bad.

Actually not joking Martin.
I had calibrated the meter with good 4.01 / 7.0 solution. Thought all was well until making a blond. Bru'n water projected at 5.32.
Mash Ph measured at 5.68. I have enough confidence in Bru'n water to know this is impossible. Recalibrated again and found drift all over the place. All is working well with the new probe, and that blond tastes great.