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pH pH Meter Reminder - Recalibrate

emanphoto

emanphoto

Just in case, I thought I'd remind those w/pH meters to recalibrate them now and then.  Just before hitting the food mill, I take a reading to see where I'm at after a 30 day ferment.  Today's reading had me saying wtf?  4.5???
 
My meter came with 2 powders, one to make a 4 pH solution and the other for 6 pH.  I needed them both today to recalibrate as 4.5 was waaaay off.  Smaller inaccuracies might go unnoticed so it's worth checking the meter from time to time.  Mine is fairly new and I have no idea why it was so out of whack today.  
 
Once I recalibrated the meter, the reading showed me all was well at pH 3.4. :) 
 
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A bit of advice: to get a more accurate reading, I'd blend up (or food mill or whatever) those sauces before you test the pH like that. The way it looks right now, you're just testing the "brine" (or vinegar or whatever), and there's still a lot of chunks floating around. Those chunks will probably raise the pH (even if it's just a little). 3.4 is low enough where I personally wouldn't worry about it, but the ingredients really should be "incorporated" more to get a more accurate measurement in the future :cheers:
 
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Good point.  To be honest I haven't seen much difference in the pH once milled.  I should try that next time I am at that stage which doesn't last too long as I'm busy figuring out how much vinegar to add.
When I add the vinegar, the ratio is 4:1 sauce to vinegar and that's when I see a change and of course it's lower at that point.
I do like to check on the pH while fermenting to make sure things are moving along as they should as I've seen posts where poor guys' ferments are in the 4-6 range and I don't want to see that happen.  :doh: Like you say, it won't change the reading that much, but it's good to catch things if they're going go south on ya!
 
MikeUSMC said:
A bit of advice: to get a more accurate reading, I'd blend up (or food mill or whatever) those sauces before you test the pH like that. The way it looks right now, you're just testing the "brine" (or vinegar or whatever), and there's still a lot of chunks floating around. Those chunks will probably raise the pH (even if it's just a little). 3.4 is low enough where I personally wouldn't worry about it, but the ingredients really should be "incorporated" more to get a more accurate measurement in the future :cheers:
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