Waterproof Digital pH Meter

[Funky Skunk Brewing]

Thanks Eddie! I've been following your posts on your nano-brewery start up too. Here in NJ we're currently looking into getting the process started for the Screwy Brewing Company. I was down to Naples Beach Brewery in FL a few months ago and I liked what I saw and the the NJ laws are pretty similar. Now we're following along with the progress of "Little Dog Brewing Company" starting up in Neptune City NJ. Currently we're still trying to find a good location to have a tap room/brewery tour on premise with take out food from a nearby restaurant. A 1,200 square foot commercial property is plenty big to house a 1 barrel system, cooling room, office, bathroom and taproom. Having water included with the rent is a huge plus too, but the demand for a quality beer will quickly outpace the output of a 1 barrel system.

Tomorrow we're brewing our first Cascadian Dark Ale using a modified water profile, so for the next installment I post we should have half a dozen beer styles to pick from. If I hadn't done the proof of concept brews using modified water profiles myself, I would have missed out on a huge opportunity to take my beers to a professional level. I have to thank John Palmer's book 'Water' for providing a dizzying amount of information because once my head stopped spinning with all the information I realized just how much I had to learn. The book didn't provide any specific brewing examples but it did spike my interest and got me motivated to find answers. This morning I'm putting the finishing touches on the recipe and the water profile over my morning coffee, I'll be checking on your progress too it'll be great to compare notes on your future brewery plans!

That's awesome to hear!!!! We had also found a few spaces that the water was included in the lease, and to your point that is HUGE for a brewery. You'll find as I'm sure you have already, the TTB has some catch 22 items when starting this venture. Like you can't get certain licenses without a building but you can't get a building without those certain licenses. Then, if they (TTB) don't approve the building you're up a creek with no paddle as you've signed a lease, setup the equipment, etc. all for not. All so Uncle Sam can get his cut in the end. A vicious cycle it becomes.

I also believe it's a good move to partner with a take out food service instead of diving into a completely different and new set of applications, licenses and red tape to have the ability to prepare and serve food at the brewery. I know of breweries that started that path and quickly 86'ed it for that reason alone. There's enough to go through just for the brewery, why drag it out it even more if you don't have to.

If I can be of any service as far as information, situations I found or anything just let me know. Fire me off an email at eddie@funkyskunkbrewing.com and I would be more than happy to help or aid your process in any way.

Sorry for the hijacking of the thread .... Now back to water discussion at it's regularly scheduled time

[Brewbirds]

Hadn't been on much lately and got behind on this thread and I'm glad to see that it is both appreciated and improving with age.

Great stuff guys and thanks so much for taking the time to post and keep this thread rolling.

Screwy - glad to see how happy you are with your first water modified brew, it looks awesome.

[ScrewyBrewer]

Thanks Brewbirds. Tomorrow we'll be brewing our 4th recipe using modified water profiles, its already become part of the typical brewday. 10 gallons of distilled water, some Epsom salt, calcium chloride, gypsum and lactic acid and off we go. Four beers four slightly different water profiles, this is more fun than a barrel of monkeys at this point. Tomorrow we'll be packaging our California Steamin' beer, cold crashing our Cascadian Dark Ale and brewing a new batch of Screwer In The Rye.

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[Brewbirds]

Thanks for the pic Screwy; I love looking at hydro samples in the morning.

[ScrewyBrewer]

This beer is so fresh you'd want to slap it! Rich with a delicious balance of malt and caramel flavors and loaded with health inducing antioxidants. The beer is crisp and clean with a great warm color and just the right amount of bittering. I found it interesting how well the fruity, earthy woodland flavors of Northern Brewer hops blended with the grapefruit aromas of Cascade hops too.

cali-steamin-1sml.jpg (49.2 KiB) Viewed 1319 times

[ScrewyBrewer]

I did my first monthly maintenance on my digital pH meter this week. I haven't brewed in about three weeks and the pH meter should be calibrated at least once a month to keep the probe in top condition. My meter has a small reservoir in the cap that I fill with 7.01 pH buffer to keep the bulb wet before storing it away, it was still wet when I opened it so that was good. Calibration with the model I have is simple just turn it on and once it's booted up press the 'Off' button and hold it until 'CAL' displays.

The meter then prompts you to 'USE 7.01' that's when you dip the probe into 7.01 buffer solution until the display reads 'REC', after several seconds 'USE 4.01' will display and you dip the probe into 4.01 buffer solution until 'REC' displays. After several more seconds the meter is calibrated and ready for use. I repeated these calibration steps three times before refilling the reservoir with 7.01 solution and storing it away again.

In between calibration steps I put the end of the meter housing on a piece of dry paper towel to absorb excess liquid before taking the next reading. I don't let anything touch the bulb though as this is not recommended according to the manufacturer. In between each calibration I test the pH meter by taking reading in 10.01, 7.01 and 4.01 buffer solution to make sure it reads accurately between samplings. On brewday I'll keep the three buffer solutions handy so I can easily recalibrate the meter before taking each reading, it's really not too much extra work to make sure you get the best results possible.

[bucknut]

I did my first monthly maintenance on my digital pH meter this week. I haven't brewed in about three weeks and the pH meter should be calibrated at least once a month to keep the probe in top condition. My meter has a small reservoir in the cap that I fill with 7.01 pH buffer to keep the bulb wet before storing it away, it was still wet when I opened it so that was good. Calibration with the model I have is simple just turn it on and once it's booted up press the 'Off' button and hold it until 'CAL' displays.

The meter then prompts you to 'USE 7.01' that's when you dip the probe into 7.01 buffer solution until the display reads 'REC', after several seconds 'USE 4.01' will display and you dip the probe into 4.01 buffer solution until 'REC' displays. After several more seconds the meter is calibrated and ready for use. I repeated these calibration steps three times before refilling the reservoir with 7.01 solution and storing it away again.

In between calibration steps I put the end of the meter housing on a piece of dry paper towel to absorb excess liquid before taking the next reading. I don't let anything touch the bulb though as this is not recommended according to the manufacturer. In between each calibration I test the pH meter by taking reading in 10.01, 7.01 and 4.01 buffer solution to make sure it reads accurately between samplings. On brewday I'll keep the three buffer solutions handy so I can easily recalibrate the meter before taking each reading, it's really not too much extra work to make sure you get the best results possible.

Screwy, which Hanna meter are you using? I noticed the pic you showed earlier in the thread was of a Hanna HI 98121, but in the description you mention it was a Hanna HI 98120. The diff in the two was that the Hanna HI 98121 does "ORP (Oxidation Reduction Potential) readings". I'm going to get a better meter and yours sounds like it's working out good for you.

[ScrewyBrewer]

Screwy, which Hanna meter are you using? I noticed the pic you showed earlier in the thread was of a Hanna HI 98121, but in the description you mention it was a Hanna HI 98120. The diff in the two was that the Hanna HI 98121 does "ORP (Oxidation Reduction Potential) readings". I'm going to get a better meter and yours sounds like it's working out good for you.

I just double checked I have the HI 98121, I must have fat fingered the model in the description.

[ScrewyBrewer]

It has been easy to remember to recalibrate my pH meter once a month while its stored away and hasn't been used for brewing. I found it interesting that after four weeks in storage the two point and single point calibrations took less and less time the more the meter was calibrated. This model is easy to calibrate, once it's turned on just turn it off and hold the button in. The display goes from OFF to CAL and then prompts for a 7.01 sample which it senses and then RECords, next it prompts for a 4.01 sample and senses then RECords it.

I repeated the calibration a number of times before storing the meter away again, with each successive calibration the meter was able to sense and REC the samples quicker. For the single point calibration I just sampled the 10.01 solution within three seconds of turning the meter on and it sensed the value and RECorded it too. The instructions recommend doing a two point calibration for better accuracy but I like to include a one point calibration too.

[Beer-lord]

Vince, can you recommend a less expensive meter? Maybe one someone you brew with purchased? I'm not wanting to spend $140....hey, I just bought a Blichman burner and am short of cash.

[MadBrewer]

I don't know what Screwy will recommend but I have this one. I've had 2 of them over the years. The probes are replaceable and I have found it easy to use, easy to calibrate and accurate when taken care of. They do require care and maintenance just like any other precision tool.

I would look at the Hanna Checker, for the money it will do you good. Other than that, any ph meter sold from an online Brewing supply like Northern Brewer...etc would be a good bet. They don't have to be expensive.

http://www.amazon.com/Hanna-Instruments ... B0080GRIJC