Test strip advice

Get advice on making beer from raw ingredients (malt, hops, water and yeast)
Post Reply
Intothevoid
Tippler
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2018 9:41 pm

Test strip advice

Post by Intothevoid » Sat Apr 21, 2018 8:46 pm

Hello people

I've been looking on eBay and noticed a fair amount of cheap ph test strips but this site recommend s the Salifert
Do the others not do the same job?

I'm in hard water area so I'm planning on ordering some gypsum to get the alkaline down and will I also require anything else in my arsenal to achieve a better standard of beer without going too scientific and costly

I already have campden tablets so will still be treating any strike water over night for the brew the following day

Cheers

User avatar
Eric
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2873
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 1:18 am
Location: Sunderland.

Re: Test strip advice

Post by Eric » Sat Apr 21, 2018 9:30 pm

I advise you read the water treatment section on JBK found here.

A great many pH strips are not suitable for use in beer or sufficiently accurate for your purpose, but worse than this, they might indicate when pH is correct, when it's not they don't tell you exactly what to do to put it right. It's better to use a Salifert Alkalinity test kit by which you can determine by how much the alkalinity needs to be adjusted, when with a suitable amount of calcium in the liquor will produce a suitable pH.

To make any meaningful adjustments to your water it is first necessary to know what minerals it contains.
Without patience, life becomes difficult and the sooner it's finished, the better.

Intothevoid
Tippler
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2018 9:41 pm

Re: Test strip advice

Post by Intothevoid » Sun Apr 22, 2018 8:18 am

I see what you're saying
No point in buying something that doesn't give you enough information
Ok so I'm ordering the alkaline kit along with some gypsum

Cheers

sandimas
Steady Drinker
Posts: 52
Joined: Sat Oct 15, 2016 11:29 am
Location: Near Malvern

Re: Test strip advice

Post by sandimas » Sun Apr 22, 2018 9:10 am

I hope you get more success than me: I got the Salifert kit and used the calculators, for whatever reason I ended up over-compensating and with a mash pH way lower than intended. O Level Chemistry was never my strong point! I've read and read the advice on water treatment but I really struggle with it and I'm not stupid (I hope!), I have a 1st Class Honour Degree in Computer Science.

I went back to pH papers and adding a small amount of CRS/Gypsum at a time to get the mash down to 5.4pH.

User avatar
Eric
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2873
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 1:18 am
Location: Sunderland.

Re: Test strip advice

Post by Eric » Sun Apr 22, 2018 10:59 am

sandimas wrote:
Sun Apr 22, 2018 9:10 am
I hope you get more success than me: I got the Salifert kit and used the calculators, for whatever reason I ended up over-compensating and with a mash pH way lower than intended. O Level Chemistry was never my strong point! I've read and read the advice on water treatment but I really struggle with it and I'm not stupid (I hope!), I have a 1st Class Honour Degree in Computer Science.

I went back to pH papers and adding a small amount of CRS/Gypsum at a time to get the mash down to 5.4pH.
Well done, I chased my tail for years using pH strips until having the means to measure alkalinity. Do you check alkalinity after treatment with CRS? If you did I'd suspect the pH strips may possibly be reading low. An all pale grist with alkalinity down to 20 ppm even with a decent wack of calcium is in my experience unlikely to produce a too low mash pH. Crystal malts and dark grains reduce pH and in such beers more alkalinity needs to be retained, or added, for the mash.

Zero alkalinity with very low calcium levels can result in a too high mash pH with an all pale grist and if it is desired to restrict calcium level it will be necessary to acidify the liquor to get a low enough mash pH.

Inthevoid, if your water has a level of alkalinity much more than 50ppm as CaCO3 it will be difficult to get a suitable mash pH with gypsum alone and will need an acid, such as CRS, to reduce that alkalinity. Knowing the alkalinity level before and after treatment is vital for me.
Without patience, life becomes difficult and the sooner it's finished, the better.

Post Reply