pH question

[Squatchy]

I have yet to purchase a meter and have been using strips instead. Have any of you guys who have a meter checked to see if the strips are close to the meter? I'm in the middle of Wraithwildes Chocolate Aphrodesiac Acerglen (sp)? I followed his recipie to the letter except I used Cocao nibs instead of the powder. And, I kept step feeding honey to it. It stopped at 1011. I didn't know if had finally reached Alcohol limits and the yeast died. I added just 1 TSP of Fermaid-O to see if they would finish it dry and nothing happened. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner, but I just checked my pH. I don't have a meter so I used my strips. My test strip is a different color than what I have on the bottle to guage it against. The guage colors are very pale olive green at 2.8 and graduates to 4.4 pH and it is very dark green. My strip is purple. ...................... I just went and tried a second strip to double check,,, it is the same color. I did notice that the untested strips in the pill bottle type container are all off color, leaning towards a light pale bluish grey. I have been storing then in a Plastic Tupperware type container with an air tight snap tight lid in the fridge with the other powder stuffs that I use to make Mead.

If I disgarded the off color, it looks as if my color changed two stages compared to the increments on the bottle guage. I don't know what to think. My Mead taste good, keeping in mind it's only a month or so old. It has a bit of a bite on the end but I think it's the nibs along with the higher alcohol levels. If I have drifted one way or the other outside of the yeasts tolorences how would it taste?

How would it taste if to acidic?
How would it taste if to alkaline?

 

[Masbustelo]

Last week I tested some Cabernet Sauvignon with the strips and it also turned purple. I didn't know what to make of it.

 

[curgoth]

As a comparison, maybe try your warped test strips on coca-cola? That's standardized at 2.5, IIRC, so that may give you a baseline for comparison.

 

[Squatchy]

Thanks for the idea. My strips only go down to 2.8

 

[Medsen Fey]

The pH strips do go bad after a while so you might need some new ones. If you use something that is below a pH of 2.8, it should register as 2.8 on your strip. That way you can know they are working. A little lemon juice works well. A pH meter is a great investment for a serious mead crafter.

Sent from my THINGAMAJIG with WHATCHAMACALLIT

 

[GntlKnigt1]

I made a batch of that Squatchy, using cocoa powder. At that SG, you will probably want to backsweeten it anyway. On the pH, $10 for el cheapo meter from amazon is well worth the investment.

 

[ScottBehrens]

A beer guy (great) did a pH strip evaluation here. He says you need to use a correction factor...for beer anyway. Funny how that .3 offset keeps reappearing

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.ph...st_strips_for_pH_measurements_in_home_brewing

 

[Squatchy]

I made a batch of that Squatchy, using cocoa powder. At that SG, you will probably want to backsweeten it anyway. On the pH, $10 for el cheapo meter from amazon is well worth the investment.

I just stablized it yesterday. I plan on back sweetening it with maple syrup. I used the first half gallon in primary and I lost most of the flavor. I also tossed in a pound of nibs. I didn't know that they needed to be roasted. I have some nice nutty flavor but not much chocolate. I just roasted a new pound and am tossing half in the carboy and the other half in Vodka to make a tincture. This is waaaayyyyy exspensive 6 gallons of Mead.