Zymit Enzymatic Cleaner - Dilute w/ Tap Water?

[Jiffster]

Not sure if I should be diluting with tap or distilled water when cleaning pH meter (Hach Pocket Pro+)

 

[ajdelange]

I have actually never found it necessary to clean a pH electrode including some that I have used for 5 years and more and soaked in mash for hours and hours. This should not be interpreted to mean that there may not be circumstances where it is necessary and it is doubtless worth a shot if you have an electrode that is behaving erratically.

I do use Zymit to clean other instruments that come into contact with beer and wort and have always used warm tap water to dilute it but have always followed the cleaning by a thorough rinsing with first RO and then DI water. I would think that would work well with pH electrodes.

 

[Jiffster]

I had thought it was recommended to clean the electrode after each use.

This certainly makes maintenance much easier.

 

[ajdelange]

It is usually sufficient (and very important) that you thoroughly rinse off buffers while calibrating and sample when measuring so that one buffer doesn't contaminate the other, so that a buffer doesn't contaminate a sample, so that one sample does not contaminate another etc. A squirt of DI water from a wash bottle is sufficient for this. The theory is that with time protein from wort or beer will eventually build up on the sense bulb. That would be the time to call in Zymit.

 

[Jiffster]

Excellent info AJ, thank you.

 

[timsch]

Is there a downside to cleaning the probe after each brew session? I started doing this after having a Hach PocketPro+ probe go bad after one year with maybe 8 brews on it.