Ph meter maintenance/use

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

qyhcat

Junior Member
Joined
May 23, 2013
Messages
82
Reaction score
3
I am getting more involved into testing and begun with Ph but have some doubts after reading material available on Ph meter use and maintenance:
1. After using the Ph meter, do I just dip in the cleaning solution or does it need to stay there for a certain amount of time? Do I rinse with distilled afterwards?
2. I have a solution for storage. Do I just dip and let dry or do I need to store in a tight jar with the solution covering the electrode all the time?
3. When I am going to use again my Ph meter after storage, do I put it through the cleaning solution again and distilled water before moving into calibration?
4. On all these solutions: a)cleaning, b)storage, c)calibration 4 and 7, do I need to discard after use or is any of those good to return to bottle and reuse?

thanks
luis
 
1. I usually rinse with distilled water and then store in storage solution.
2. It needs to remain wet - your pH probe should have a cover for the end that can hold the storage solution.
3. I usually rinse, again, with distilled water first. I find it best to let it sit in pH 4 buffer solution for an hour or so before calibrating and/or using. You can always rinse with distilled water in-between moving the probe from one solution to the next - but do not store or let the probe sit in distilled water for any length of time. It can leach out the ions from the probe and cause it to fail.
4. Best not to mix dirty or contaminated solutions with your fresh bottles. I always discard.
 
First of all NEVER USE DISTILLED WATER. It will tell you in the directions.
Secondly there is a tutorial I wrote about calibrating your ph meter located in the Tutorial Section on this forum.

Get 2 small baby food containers. They are wide enough to insert the ph meter in yet not waste solution. Use fresh solution to calibrate. Short of you dropping or banging it around your meter should stay calibrated for a year. It will take several seconds to a minute to calibrate in each solution.

The reason for the two solutions is the meter needs an "A" and "B" point of reference. After calibrating you may use the one solution for the storage cap so you need not contaminate the original bottle of liquid. Replenish as needed.

The probe should remain wet. Mine has dried out from time to time. Simply clean any residue off and recalibrate. Store upright not laying down and in a cool area.

After inserting in the first solution you may blow off the probe before inserting into the second. Move it about a few times to get a good reading.

Your solutions are good for awhile but air will deteriorate them. You can always insert your probe into them to reference where they are from the last test. Honestly unless you are making a lot of wine from various fruits you can discard the one solution if you are not going to use it for awhile. Use the other to replenish the cap.

Again never use distilled water however regular tap water is fine, just blow or dry it off before placing into the cap.

Here is the link to understanding ph and calibrate your meter.
 
Last edited:
First of all NEVER USE DISTILLED WATER. It will tell you in the directions.


Again never use distilled water however regular tap water is fine, just blow or dry it off before placing into the cap.

A quick rinse with distilled water will not hurt the probe. What you don't want to do is let it sit in distilled water for any length of time. DO NOT store it in distilled water.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for your support.



Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making
 
Back
Top