Which ph meter do you guys like? I have been looking around, most are a lot of maintenance but I guess that’s typical.
Depending on your budget and how serious you want to be about brewing. Like anything else you get what you pay for.
I personally like the Hanna products. IMO model HI98108 is a good one to start with for $50.
If you take care of the meter clean and calibrate, it will last a long while. As soon as I started using a pH meter and figured out how to adjust my water, my beers got 10x better.
Cheers.
Like everything else with brewing it’s all a matter of needs, wants, budget and preference. You can get a decent $30 meter or a $300 dollar bench top model…
I have been using a Hanna Checker for years. I’m on my 3rd one. You can find them on Amazon for around $30. They have replaceable probes for around $20.
As far as maintenance, keep them clean stored in a storage solution and calibrate the meter before use with 4 and 7 pH calibration fluid. Pretty easy and come in handy to have.
I got el cheapo on Amazon for less than $20. Works great. Looks similar to this but a different color.
If it fails in a year or two, I’ll buy a new one for just $14. No sense in getting anything more fancy than that – it would never ever pay for itself compared to these cheap things that work just friggin fine for far less cost. Calibrate upon every use and you’re fine. Don’t skip the calibration. That’s the real key.
As a rule I’m one who always tries to buy the best tools I can afford, but after my experience with the Milwaukee MW102 I bought, I’m tempted to follow Dave’s advice. The MW is a total POS, even new out of the box it took anywhere from 4 to 10 minutes to settle on a reading, and can’t be relied upon for consistent readings. I may have just gotten a lemon, but based on my experience I can’t recommend the Milwaukee meter.
Sounds like your probe was shot. Everytime this happens to me it has meant a new probe is needed. Get a new probe and calibration happens at a normal pace.
Once bitten, twice shy. If the brand new probe was shot, it makes me a bit leery about buying more product from the same manufacturer, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
I have an MW 101 and an Extech 110. I much prefer the Extech.
https://www.amazon.com/Extech-PH110-Waterproof-ExStik-Meter/dp/B004WN9QUG
I too have an Extech. There is a new meter that I’ve seen pushed on Facebook a lot lately.
Apera Instruments PH60 Premium Waterproof pH Pocket Tester, Replaceable Probe, ±0.01 pH Accuracy, -2.00-16.00 pH Range Amazon.com
My Milwaukee MW-101 has been solid for over 5 years. I can recommend it.
An even better unit is the Hanna Halo unit that pairs with your phone app. Hanna gave me one of those units about 6 months ago to evaluate and it has been a champ. The only thing I have a problem with for the Halo is its cost (~$250) and the fact that the entire unit has to be replaced when the probe fully wears out. The probe and the phone app work very well.
Thanks for the input guys. Very good advice from all of you.
I have the Apera PH60. It works great (once you read the instructions to calibrate it correctly). It was not cheap (about 80 bucks), but it seems to work good. I also use it to measure my swimming pool ph which further helped me rationalize the purchase…:). someday I will test it against a cheap one for the eventual day it craps out on me.
I have a Hanna HALO FC2022 that I dual purpose for cheese making and it has been great.
This thread has peeked my interest again in purchasing a meter. Leaning toward the Apera or the Extech.
I agree with Mr. dmTaylor on this one. I got a cheapo 15 dollar meter and it has been plenty sufficient. Honestly, I just needed to dial in the numbers that I was using to line up with whatever tool I was using, after that you don’t really need to check it so much. I still check it when I’m doing recipes that I don’t know but now that the system is dialed in things usually come in right where they should.
There is a thread about cheap meters here:
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=28462.msg372962#msg372962
Shame on us for saving money. ;D
Things to look out for and consider with a cheapo pH meter are the resolution and accuracy. Make sure that the model is accurate to the hundredths place, not the tenths. I also have a third buffer solution to check the accuracy of the meter beyond the two used for calibration.
Lastly, think of these as throw-away items. They rarely last beyond six months, let alone a year, though much better life can be had if you treat the probe end carefully. It is really not much different than replacing the probe on a higher end model such as the Hanna most people prefer.
I store mine in low pH solution, which should theoretically prolong the life. I don’t have the experience to know if it makes a difference, but figure it doesn’t hurt either.
I also keep mine in storage solution, and at 10 months old it is still working fine. It is true that the thing doesn’t hold calibration very well, but recalibrating it for each brew session takes all of 1 minutes. Just a data point for you.
Even a fancy meter should be calibrated for each and every use. Therefore the net time savings between fancy vs. cheapo = exactly zero.