Kettle PH

[cyanmonkey]

How important is kettle pH, anyways? And second of all, how are you checking it? Do I just stick my meter into a boiling kettle or is there some kind of temperature conversion that I can do?

 

[BowAholic]

How important is kettle pH, anyways? And second of all, how are you checking it? Do I just stick my meter into a boiling kettle or is there some kind of temperature conversion that I can do?

If you stick the pH meter in a boiling kettle it will likely die or not live much longer. Even the meters that are rated at fairly high temps are made to use at room temperature. There are several threads on pH meters with lots of suggestions on how to take a reading...my favorite might be putting a shot glass in the freezer the night before, and then putting the wort sample in the frozen glass to cool it down quickly...

 

[mabrungard]

kettle pH is fairly important since it sets a number of conditions. I prefer to get my mash pH correct and sparge with low alkalinity water and then the kettle pH tends to be in the proper range already.

As mentioned, don't stick a pH probe in hot liquid or you will end up destroying or shortening the life of the probe. The thermal shock of going from room temperature to hot wort temp and back, places a lot of shock on that thin glass membrane. Collecting a wort sample and cooling it to room temperature is the way to go.

 

[cyanmonkey]

Sorry, I meant that with sarcasm. I wouldn't even stick my hand near a kettle with boiling wort. Thanks.