Alkalinity meter

[guypettigrew]

Having expanded my understanding of liquor treatment (thanks Eric and Wallybrew) I'm looking for a way of accurately measuring alkalinity.

The Salifert kit is OK, but it's a bit of a faff and a bit vague.

Anyone know of anything which works like a pH meter--waggle it in the liquid and an alkalinity reading in ppm shows up.

I know it's not critical to get all this right. Since using the Salifert kit and manipulating my calcium levels and SO4:Cl ratios my beer has really improved. But you know how it is, numbers are numbers and I like to get them exactly right!

Thanks.

Guy

[FUBAR]

http://www.hannainstruments.co.uk/alkal ... water.html

[Aleman]

An exact number is not important ... As Iron Maiden put it so eloquently "I AM NOT A NUMBER! I AM A FREE MAN!!"

As far as it goes the Hanna meter works OK, but make sure you take a look at the cost of replacement reagets (~£35 the last time I heard it quoted from someone who has one!)

A 10% error in alkalinity is not going to kill a beer ... unless you are working from/to a "Spreadsheet"

[MTW]

A fellow brewer I know has a Hanna thing. We compared readings on a brewday from the Salifert and his meter, and they were within inches of each other. Coupled with the fact that I once tested a sample I sent to Wallybrew too, which also put the Salifert within a whisker of a lab reading, I would save the money myself. But if you just can't resist a gadget...