I’m going to purchase a new pH meter. The last one I had was just a cheap one and I’d like to have a good one. Any suggestions for a decent pH meter without breaking the bank?
I use Apera Instruments PH60, now on sale for $70 ( Apera Instruments AI311 Premium Series PH60 Waterproof pH Pocket Tester Kit, Replaceable Probe, ±0.01 pH Accuracy, Lcd display: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific )
Milwaukee Instruments makes good ones, and MoreBeer is selling one for $40 ( https://www.morebeer.com/products/digital-ph-meter-ph600-014-range.html?variant=MT603&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAzPy8BhBoEiwAbnM9O8aIA6Eyds60YUOr4Zryt1yYGB330WZ_xyzKxnkMjja5hc0l1nK_fRoCnP8QAvD_BwE ). I can’t comment on how good this low-end model is, but their higher-end instruments are very good. More expensive ones have replaceable probes, cheaper ones don’t.
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Thanks for the reply, I see the PH60 is what amazon has as their choice. I may give that one a try. Is is hard to calibrate?
I use pH 7.0 and pH 4.0 calibration solutions from either Atlas Scientific or Apera. It is easy to do. If I am lazy I will stick the probe in some white vinegar. If the pH is close to 2.5 I won’t bother to calibrate, but if it is more than 0.1 off I will go through the 2-point calibration.
I have a older Milwaukee SM-102 pH meter and love it. They are a bit pricey (around $150) but very reliable. I also do the two point calibration with 7.0 and 4.0 buffers and do it about once a month. The replacement probes are between $50 and $60 but last a couple years with good care (mine is now about 3 years old and still calibrates easily but it is time to replace it and I have a replacement probe that I bought a while ago).
Also make sure to store the probe in storage solution rather than water. The storage solution contains Potassium Chloride (the same stuff that in the glass probe) and will extend the probe’s life significantly
I like the cheap ones, because (1) they’re functional, (2) they’re cheap, and (3) all probes will fail over time, even fancy expensive ones, so… might as well replace cheap with cheap. Will cost me a grand total of about $30-$35 (in today’s dollars) every 10 years, oh no! Save your money. We’re not scientists… unless we are, in which case, I don’t care to spend more anyway.
I have an analog Milwaukee that has stood the test of time but admittedly I rarely use it. If I were to replace it I’d probably get a multi parameter meter for pH, TDS, dissolved O2, etc. …but they’re expensive so I won’t. 
my 2cents - i got the apera 60h. i always had an awful and long time calibrating it, so wasn’t ever totally trusting of it. but i got pHs in the ballpark of reasonableness for the worts and beers i trusted. lol, i felt like i didnt learn much from it and have not used it in several months now.
if i had some issue where i thought pH was the culprit i guess i’d probably use it.
I’ve been trying to get the hang of water adjustments. Seems like the pH of the mash is about as important as anything. I have never adjusted my pH. Had a cheap one and couldn’t calibrate it. Thanks for all the input. that’s what makes the forum a good source of information.
My issue with the cheap ones is not their longevity but their accuracy and repeatability. I started with a cheap one but quickly decided that I couldn’t trust its readings. It doesn’t make any sense to me to make inaccurate and/or unrepeatable measurements so I decided to go with a good quality meter that I can trust.
I gave up on a pen style that was $60-70 because it never gave the same measurement twice even when using 2 point calibration. I didn’t trust it to make adjustments based on its reading.
Now I just use software to guess how much acid to add and do that without any PH measurement.
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I also have the Apera PH60 and use the 4.0 and 7.0 ph calibrators. Works well for me, seems repeatable. I calibrate every brew day and it is always within 0.03 for the calibrators, so it seems plenty accurate for my use. I’m generally a once a month brewer, that doesn’t seem like a lot of drift for a month but I am not a trained professional 
I found that once I discovered how accurate Bru’nwater is, I seldom used my meter. Seldom as in I can’t recall the last time.
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Here are some popular ones from Zym 2024 N/D issue.
[Editor’s note: These are some of the most widely used pH meters by both amateur and professional brewers according to various forum posts, and they are available for a range of prices, but Zymurgy does not necessarily endorse any one device over another. While all are touted to be accurate within a 0.01 resolution, storage, calibration, ease of upkeep, and longevity all vary.]
$122
Milwaukee mw102
$306
Hach Pocket Pro +
$157
Omega PHH-7011
$36
Kegland Pen-Style pH Meter
$66
Apera PH20
$140
Hanna pHep5
I don’t know why I can’t get my results to match Bru’n water, but consistently I find that for dark beers it is quite accurate, and for light (colored) beers not that accurate. I find I’m always adding acid during the mash for lighter beers. Martin believes it is alkalinity, and I absolutely acquiesce to his expertise, but my alkalinity is in line with the profile I have in the software. I have to be doing something wrong because so many experienced brewers swear by the accuracy.
But how did you come to decide that Bru’nwater is accurate? You must have compared it to measured values over an extended period of time. I agree that once you have the experience and knowledge to make good predictions, the measurement becomes less important, but you need to make a lot of measurements to get to that point. I would never recommend that a brewer new to water adjustments just rely on Bru’nwater without any measurements.
Thanks for all these responses. Some good suggestions of which to meter to use. The one I had was probably less than 15.00. I’m leaning towards the PH60. This is less than 100.00 but it should be a lot better than the one I had.
Maybe this should be asked in another forum…but here goes…
How do you know how much to add of whatever is needed to adjust the pH?
I haven’t seen this information anywhere. Are there calculators for this?
Bru’nwater: https://www.brunwater.com/
BeerSmith also has a tool for this, but Bru’nwater is more complete.
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A one poin calibration is only good for that one point. y=mx+B where B would represent the 7.0 pH point. The gain is adjusted to set m so that it matches the 4.0 pH point.
I used to calibrate my transducers daily when a young engineer.
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I have two of the Apera’s. I have the PH60 for brewing and the PH60S-Z for sourdough. Both are outstanding and I like that they have replaceable tips (although I’ve never had to replace one).
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