pH of Halifax Water, anyone check it lately?

[chalmers]

We are brewing a APA this morning, and while checking the performance of a standard phosphoric acid addition to the strike water, we noticed that it was quite low, around 3.9! Then tested the tap water, before and after charcoal filter, and it measured 5.4. Much lower than the 7-8 we've been seeing previously.

Clearly Halifax Water has done something lately, or something else has changed in the supply.

So, this is an enquiry (and a warning) to see if anyone has been measuring their strike/mash pH and noticed the same thing? Or maybe it's just in our area (Sprybeeria)?

ps. Baking soda to the rescue, got the pH up from 4.2 to 5.4.

[AllanMar]

Didn't notice anything last week, but I'm on the Dartmouth supply.

I can't imagine that's intentional as it's outside of the standards for Canadian drinking water (6.5-8.5).
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/wa ... ex-eng.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mikeorr]

Could it be somehow related to the recent strike?

[chalmers]

Well, I re-re-calibrated it, and checked different feeds, including another house, and now the damn water is reading 7. Measured the mash pH at the end of it (and cooler), and it was 5.5, so we're in the right ballpark.

I hate to blame it on the meter, but it has got me thinking about my cal procedure. It is being stored in the proper solution. I might have screwed up the initial reading, which is embarrassing for this chemist!

[CorneliusAlphonse]

pH meter calibration is the worst

Halifax drinking water comes from a surface supply (pockwock lake). I can't imagine it changing that dramatically. But water treatment was probably the part of civil engineering I was least interested in

[John G]

I hate pH probes and meters - they are so finicky and I always double check a reading to make sure it's correct, especially if it seems odd for no apparent reason like what you experienced. However, you may want to clean your pH probe. The high salt / starch / sugar / mineral content of the mash or wort may clog the reference junction over time.

To Clean:
Soak it in full strength lemon juice or white vinegar for 5-10 mins and carefully rinse off with distilled, ultra pure or RO water and then let soak in pH 4 or 7 buffer for a few hours to rehydrate the glass pH sensing membrane.

Store the probe fitted with a cap that contains a pH 7 dampened sponge / cotton ball / facial tissue. If it dries out, soak it for a few hours in pH 4 or 7 before trying to calibrate to rehydrate the glass membrane again.

You should probably do the cleaning on a schedule dependant on your brewing frequency. Figure out how many batches you've used it already that got you to this point and then maybe clean it in half those number of batches to keep you from getting to a point where the meter is off that much. Not sure if it will help but it should extend the life of your probe.

[chalmers]

Thanks for the great suggestions. We do use storage solution, but it definitely could have dried out during the weeks between usage.

After rehydrating in the sample, standards, and just sitting around for an hour while we did the mash, that would explain why the readings were good at the end of the mash...

Cheers!