25 replies to this topic

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

Are Palmers numbers accurate? My digital scale seems to be on the fritz so I don't trust it right now and I'm brewing in a couple of hours!Chalk: 1.8g per tspGypsum: 4.0g per tsp

[Big Nake]

Do you want me to measure out a tsp of gypsum on my digital gram scale? I don't know if I have any chalk though. LMK.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

Do you want me to measure out a tsp of gypsum on my digital gram scale? I don't know if I have any chalk though. LMK.

The gypsum I'm not as worried about actually b/c it's only a tiny amount that I added and it's not for mash pH. You don't have calcium carbonate ken? How do you raise your mash pH?

[3rd party JKor]

Probably best to go by Palmer's numbers. Either way, measuring by volume is not very accurate. It's probably +/- 20% by mass if you add by volume.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

Probably best to go by Palmer's numbers. Either way, measuring by volume is not very accurate. It's probably +/- 20% by mass if you add by volume.

Guess I'll just hope for the best! My pH strips kind of suck so I'm not sure what kind of adjustment I'll be able to make.

[Big Nake]

The gypsum I'm not as worried about actually b/c it's only a tiny amount that I added and it's not for mash pH. You don't have calcium carbonate ken? How do you raise your mash pH?

Seems like I never have to raise my mash pH... only lower it. It probably comes from making a lot of pale beers. What are you brewing today?

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

Seems like I never have to raise my mash pH... only lower it. It probably comes from making a lot of pale beers. What are you brewing today?

Rare Vos clone. The SRM is around 10.5 so not super dark. I pretty much have to raise the pH for anything with an SRM over 9.ETA: so my pH pretty much always reads low even after adding a pretty good amount of chalk. If I went off the high end of pH would my pH strip show the high end of what it's capable of or could it possibly wrap back around???

[Big Nake]

Rare Vos clone. The SRM is around 10.5 so not super dark. I pretty much have to raise the pH for anything with an SRM over 9.ETA: so my pH pretty much always reads low even after adding a pretty good amount of chalk. If I went off the high end of pH would my pH strip show the high end of what it's capable of or could it possibly wrap back around???

Good question. I bought the cheapie LHBS strips years ago and they appeared to be completely useless. I recently got some colorpHast strips that seem pretty good. The range is 4.0 to 7.0 and since I am low on calcium I will add some calcium chloride or gypsum to the mash to help raise the calcium and lower the pH. For the past 4-5 batches where I have been using the colorpHast strips, I seem to be right in the 5.0 to 5.4 zip code and I'm plenty fine with that. I was also just talking to one of my local homebrew buds who told me that has has 2 pH meters and that I am welcome to test drive one of them and compare the pH of the meter with that of the colorpHast strips. Could be a good experiment. Cheers.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

Good question. I bought the cheapie LHBS strips years ago and they appeared to be completely useless. I recently got some colorpHast strips that seem pretty good. The range is 4.0 to 7.0 and since I am low on calcium I will add some calcium chloride or gypsum to the mash to help raise the calcium and lower the pH. For the past 4-5 batches where I have been using the colorpHast strips, I seem to be right in the 5.0 to 5.4 zip code and I'm plenty fine with that. I was also just talking to one of my local homebrew buds who told me that has has 2 pH meters and that I am welcome to test drive one of them and compare the pH of the meter with that of the colorpHast strips. Could be a good experiment. Cheers.

yeah - I should probably invest in some of the higher quality strips.

[Big Nake]

A little less than $20 for a box of 100 at THIS place. They're not cheap, but they seem to be a little more reliable. Cheers.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

A little less than $20 for a box of 100 at THIS place. They're not cheap, but they seem to be a little more reliable. Cheers.

That's a pretty good price for those particular strips though.

[3rd party JKor]

If you bought the cheapo strips, just chuck 'em. They are 100% worthless. Mine did the same thing, they would ALWAYS read below the range now matter what I did. The ColorpHast strips inifinitely better. You can actually get a pH reading, then see it change when you add something that is supposed to change the pH.Check out Kai's page for his stuff on the ColorpHast strips. It seems they have about a 0.3 offset from the actual pH, but it's consistent enough that you can build it in to your process.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

If you bought the cheapo strips, just chuck 'em. They are 100% worthless. Mine did the same thing, they would ALWAYS read below the range now matter what I did. The ColorpHast strips inifinitely better. You can actually get a pH reading, then see it change when you add something that is supposed to change the pH.Check out Kai's page for his stuff on the ColorpHast strips. It seems they have about a 0.3 offset from the actual pH, but it's consistent enough that you can build it in to your process.

can the colorphast strips be cut so you get more than 100 uses out of one pack?edit: I ended up with about 80% efficiency so I don't think my pH could have been too far off

[MolBasser]

Isn't chalk gypsum?MolBasser

[Slainte]

Isn't chalk gypsum?MolBasser

No, chalk is calcium carbonate.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

Isn't chalk gypsum?MolBasser

big breweries don't adjust their water?

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

A little less than $20 for a box of 100 at THIS place. They're not cheap, but they seem to be a little more reliable. Cheers.

Okay - I bought the 4.0-7.0 ones. Thanks for the link, Ken

[3rd party JKor]

Yes, you can cut them in half. Many people do. I've heard some people cut them in thirds, but it gets a little tough to judge color when they're that small. I just use them as is, at $0.20 a pop it's not enough for me to worry about. I usually use two per batch, the $0.20/batch savings isn't enough for me justify more work.Although, I wonder if the ColorpHast strips are one of those things that we could get a group buy together for. I bet they're uber-cheap in bulk.

[3rd party JKor]

Isn't chalk gypsum?MolBasser

Maybe you can explain the difference in your next TToM.*ducks*