Inexpensive pH Meter

[rodwha]

I’ve been using using my water report and using 1/3 RO water to formulate what salts and amount of acid to use looking to get close to 5.4 pH as I don’t have a meter. It’s worked rather well. Now I am using 100% RO water as the kitchen sink doesn’t have a way to attach the Pur filter. Google states neutral water is 7, but that it says that it can be as low as 5. I bought some plastic pH strips that test from 4.5 to 9 and work in 0.25 increments but I’m told these still are not accurate (which is fine as long as I’m close enough). I figure it’s best to just get the real deal, and would like to add it to my Christmas list.

Ultimately I want something that’s fairly accurate and durable, but don’t want an expensive model. What is there that I should direct SWMBO to look at (preferably on Amazon) that’s under $75?

 

[bracconiere]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MG5J41E/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

close to your price point, i got mine for 60 few years back, works great! manual cal is way better than auto IMHO....

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

+1^ Currently have a Milwaukee 102 (same as 101 but with temp, too) and it is great and very accurate. That said, I had an Oakton EcoTestr that was less expensive and still did fine for 3 years. It's not as accurate (+/- 0.1 instead of 0.01) but it was fine for brewing. If you can get the Milwaukee, go for it. Otherwise, the Oakton is a cheaper alternative.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I've used a Milwaukee MW102 for years. It's out of your listed budged slightly, but at $100 give or take (can get for less on sale sometimes) it's my vote as the best bang for the buck practical for homebrewers (there are other similarly priced options held the same by others who know their stuff that should be fine too but I have no direct experience with them). You do need to exercise care, have busted the probe connections a few times, but if you take care of it it'll work beautifully. With proper care (properly cleaned and stored in proper solution, and not reading hot samples) I've gotten a few years life out of the electrodes before I've gotten uncomfortable enough with the drift to replace them.

I use an Oakton bench meter at work and it works well enough. Not the same product as the Oakton pocket meter mentioned above obviously (far more robust and far more expensive), and the meter above has some shortcomings in accuracy and precision. But compared to strips, it's certainly an improvement.

 

[Jag75]

I just bought the beverage Dr. Its only 50 $ and had good reviews . I haven't used it yet but probably within the next week or 2 .

 

[RPh_Guy]

I use a hanna checker (HI98103 with 0.01 resolution and manual calibration). It works well.

They have a few different models available at moderate prices.

 

[OG-wan Kenobi]

I got my PH meter for under $10 on eBay, works fine I use it for multiple hobbies its a plain yellow unbranded one I have had it for 2 years now this is a pic of it I found online

 

[IslandLizard]

The Brew Science forum has a sticky on tested pH meters and recommendations. In the low to medium price range (under $150) the Hach Pocket Pro+ and (IIRC) the Milwaukee 102 have been found to be stable and accurate, and perform reliably for our needs. Pretty much any meter costing less than $50 is not up to the task, or are hit and miss without knowing which side they're on. YMMV.

Do a test mash with a pound or half pound of your exact grist mix, and measure results at the end of the mash. A reading at 30' is probably the earliest to have any merit, but best is to wait until the mash is pretty much done. You really can't change the pH reliably during the mash anyway.
Then use the result from the test mash to make educated changes to your main batch or do another test mash.

Aside from grain lot variations, there's a whole issue on grains' actual DI potentials... Some water calculators are much better at predicting mash pH than others.

My mash was always fine until I started measuring its pH...

 

[balrog]

What happened to you mash when you started measuring its pH?

 

[IslandLizard]

What happened to you mash when you started measuring its pH?

Ignorance can be bliss.

Now it's become (almost) an obsession to get it right. When I calculate the additions for my NEIPA mash to be at a pH of 5.35 (@ room temps) and it comes in at 5.19 I want to know the cause so I can tweak it on the next round. The beers themselves taste very fine though, whether the mash was 5.19 or 5.35.

I know there are many other process variations that are not as predictable or controllable which can cause much larger differences in the final outcome.

 

[myndflyte]

https://www.thermoworks.com/High-Accuracy-pH-Meter-8689. Brulosophy did a pretty good review of the 2 pH meters that thermoworks sells (http://brulosophy.com/2017/06/29/thermoworks-high-precision-ph-meters-product-review/) and this one is $79 right now. I own it and like it.