Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Here's a couple of Ebay Idea's that could help

The PH meter is for taking PH level when im doing generations only $8 (sick and tired of guessing)

1x 50W aquarium heater is to keep my ferments going during the winter

please add any other good idea's

I think aqua heater is brilliant idea but how to seal cable through fermenter lid ???

tkwasik wrote:I think aqua heater is brilliant idea but how to seal cable through fermenter lid ???

Cable gland?

I just use glad wrap and rubber bands

Just use a grommet on your lid or if you glad wrap, put the cord under your rubber seal

Rossi plasma Cutter, tig mig arc Welder all in one. Going to get one soon.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... 0861426342

tkwasik wrote:I think aqua heater is brilliant idea but how to seal cable through fermenter lid ???

I used a drilled bung. Cut the cord end off, feed through and attached replacement cable end from bunnings.

Just make sure the bung (and hole) are big enough to fit the heater through.

You'll want some un-drilled bungs the same size for warm weather use as well.

Got that PH meter, batts last fuck all, but other than that seems to be as accurate as the strips, but near isntant digital reading :handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Aqua heaters are the go mate faw shiz

Yeah my PH reader rocked up today :handgestures-thumbupleft: , now i just need to calibrate it ... jumped on Hunter water website as of May this year it says it should be PH 7.5, mine reads 8. i tired to cal it with the buffers that came with it ,,, but i cant see how that works If your base (ie. water is higher that 7.0 , which it usually is)... how do you reckon i CAL it ? buy some PH strips ? and compare

Urrazeb wrote:Got that PH meter, batts last fuck all, but other than that seems to be as accurate as the strips, but near isntant digital reading :handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Aqua heaters are the go mate faw shiz

Google the batterys on ebay you need I got 50 for about $10.00

Linny wrote:Yeah my PH reader rocked up today :handgestures-thumbupleft: , now i just need to calibrate it ... jumped on Hunter water website as of May this year it says it should be PH 7.5, mine reads 8. i tired to cal it with the buffers that came with it ,,, but i cant see how that works If your base (ie. water is higher that 7.0 , which it usually is)... how do you reckon i CAL it ? buy some PH strips ? and compare

What buffers came with it?

When I did mine, I calibrated it with the buffers which came with it. I then took a reading from my tap water and it showed 7.4.(which is normal
I now use the tapwater as my buffer to recalibrate.
Tap water can vary a lot, I find that if my wash is showing something abnormal, I check my calibration under the tap.
:twocents-mytwocents:

Changes in the amount of acid present in a solution can have a massive effect on pH if the solution was originally around pH 7. This is because pH is not a linear scale. I'm not familiar with these pH meters but I'm assuming you are only able to perform a single point calibration, in which case you would always be best off using the buffer solution and not tap water for the calibration. If you performed the calibration using a single point calibration using tap water and it's actual pH was out by a little bit, then this could have a massive impact on the pH that you read on your wash.

That sounds logial, where's the best place to get more buffers?

I've got that Ph meter too, accuracy was OK when new but then went south after battery change. I checked it against an aquarium test kit, to find it was useless. I ended up spending the coin and getting the one from Jaycar. Hope this helps somebody.

Kimbo wrote:That sounds logial, where's the best place to get more buffers?

Never bought them myself, always had a lab assistant or on site supplier who took care of all that but http://www.perthscientific.com.au claims on their website that they sell buffers and they make big claims about their service so could be a good place to try. Don't know Perth at all so no idea if they are handy to you. Good luck.

In order to get the best mileage out of your buffer solution, use the smallest container possible to pour the buffer into and discard the used buffer. Buffer should also be kept in the fridge.

Are there any requirements for storing your pH meter? As far as I know, pH meters should be stored in a solution and not allowed to dry out. I'm no expert on the solutions inside pH electrodes but I think they usually have a pretty concentrated potassium chloride solution inside the glass membrane and this is what they should be stored in (up to a depth to cover the glass membrane). They should also be stored vertically to aid in keeping the membrane from drying. Anybody, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Nope I agree . . . I heard that it has to be kept wet

Dunno mate, the instructions which came with mine said nothing like that :think:
Mine came with a cap, dunno if that makes a difference?

The cap would keep the membrane wet for a little while but if not looked after properly I wouldn't expect them to last too long. If you didn't pay much for it then it won't be a massive loss if it gives up the ghost.

The pH probes at my current school are not stored in potassium chloride and are stored horizontally on a shelf when not in use. The labbie soaks them in potassium chloride before they are needed (I think overnight) and she claims this works well. So maybe they are pretty robust. Having some potassium chloride might be a good thing but then how much money do you want to spend on pH probes? There's a few ads on ebay selling potassium chloride.