Aliexpress pH meters

[Sadu]

Did a double brewday today, first one back in the new year. Juicy Simcoe/Amarillo pale ale and a German pilsner with Motueka and tett.

Bit of carnage though - while shaking the drips of my cheap pH meter I donged it against the side of the jar and smashed the bulb. Whoops.

Was thinking I might get a slightly better one to replace it. The old one was a $6 Aliexpress job with 0.1 precision and no auto calibration or any of that. Probably the crappiest pH meter available but it has been real handy in improving my beers.

ajdelange and mbrungard please stop reading now as you may find these links offensive....

Does anyone have an opinion on these -
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Fre...lt&btsid=f9e56a77-e105-4bea-a88d-82a0f3f2469f
still a cheapo Aliexpress job but has auto calibration.

Or maybe this one? https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Pro...lt&btsid=f9e56a77-e105-4bea-a88d-82a0f3f2469f

Note I'm in New Zealand and getting stuff shipped from the US is either expensive or they don't ship. So Aliexpress is as much about the free shipping as it is about the cheap prices.

Also dropped my brand new "waterproof" CDN thermometer into the strike water and discovered that it's not actually waterproof

 

[AF1HomeBrew]

Luckily you can step outside...take a deep breath and say I'm in New Zealand! A great country... been there; love to visit again soon.

 

[kh54s10]

IDK, but I have not heard much good in any source of "really cheap" items, no matter where they are manufactured. There is a reason that what should be a $50 - $100 item is sold at $6 -$10. Either they are inaccurate or s#!t the bed after just a couple of uses.

If I was to gamble on one of those I would go for the higher priced one and hope there was a good reason it cost more.

There must be a better option available that does not come from the US. Australia? Or is that out of the question for a Kiwi?

 

[Sadu]

Either they are inaccurate or s#!t the bed after just a couple of uses.

This one broke when I smashed the glass bulb against the side of a jar. Before that it's seen me through almost 20 brews that I have done water adjustments to and I'm starting to get a handle on how much sourmalz or baking soda is reasonable depending on the grain bill. None of the readings have been wildly out of whack from what I'm expecting. I'm actually pretty glad that I was using a $6 meter rather than a good one. So there is that.

I don't have a huge budget to work with but I'm thinking of getting a flash thermometer if CDN don't come to the party with a replacement, since that has always been a pain point. The cheap pH meter though, while not as good as a good one, has actually served very well.

 

[PGEduardo]

I've been testing a cheap meter with my mw102 and so far the cheap one is fairly close. If you have a quality water report or use RO water and have a handle on your water baselines, I'd say that's more important than a super accurate meter if you have to prioritize costs.

Good source water knowledge + verified water chemistry software + cheap meter = peace of mind. If numbers are way off, then maybe get a different meter after double checking calcs.

 

[kh54s10]

This one broke when I smashed the glass bulb against the side of a jar. Before that it's seen me through almost 20 brews that I have done water adjustments to and I'm starting to get a handle on how much sourmalz or baking soda is reasonable depending on the grain bill. None of the readings have been wildly out of whack from what I'm expecting. I'm actually pretty glad that I was using a $6 meter rather than a good one. So there is that.

I don't have a huge budget to work with but I'm thinking of getting a flash thermometer if CDN don't come to the party with a replacement, since that has always been a pain point. The cheap pH meter though, while not as good as a good one, has actually served very well.

But is this accurate???? How much different with a good one??

This from someone who has never taken a pH reading. My beers have been on par or better than commercial so I have not paid any attention to pH.

I don't know what a flash thermometer is but I have a Thermopen that I bought a few years ago. At the time there were not many reviews of anything cheaper that was accurate. Now it seems you can get good digital thermometer quite inexpensively.

 

[augiedoggy]

I bought this dual pack http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-Digital-...009328?hash=item35f0f75b70:g:aL0AAOSwrXdXKlXL 4 years ago and they both still work but I kept reading here about how higher resolution mattered vs just being in the 5.2 ballpark with my mash and could effect my beer so I bought the red version of this about 2.5 years ago...http://www.ebay.com/itm/Micro-Accur...838600?hash=item2ef7db4748:g:vqsAAOSwnHZYRM7m I like have 2 so I can use the second one from time to time to make sure they are not wandering and need calibration.

They both still work fine as well as my TDS meter (amazing how much total dissolved solids are in my tap water vs my RO water..) dispite all the assurances they would surely fail because they weren't expensive enough to somehow prove they were high quality. I use them on my salt water reef tank as well.

This is just my opinion and I dont really want to get into another argument with more people who have no first hand experience with these meters again. But I believe the reality is the less expensive name brand ph meters have the same $4 worth of parts inside or very close to it, but your mainly paying more thanks to marketing and packaging costs along with the fact that the higher they keep the lower pricepoint meters the more people decide to buy the more expensive versions if the difference isnt too great..

 

[augiedoggy]

If numbers are way off, then maybe get a different meter after double checking calcs.

this is what I did... still $20 for both meters combined is more cost effective than one more expensive "name brand" meter...

I have a brewing buddy with the red meter with the long black probe (its not a MW but the other popular brand here)... so far his readings right after he calibrated when he brought it over are damn close to my cheap meters that havent been calibrated in over 6 months....

I have read about a lot of folks here who spent a lot more on their meters only to get frustrated because the probes kept failing or they were way off each time they go to use them and I have to wonder how thats so much "more reliable"

maybe someday Ill have a lot of extra money or ill open my micro brewery and I will invest in something more robust but for home brewing these really work very well once you use them with an open mind and dont expect lab quality precision every time.