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My pH strips were lying to me for months, here's what changed
I was testing my hot sauce ferments every few days with those cheap paper strips and everything looked fine, around 4.2 to 4.5. Then a buddy who runs a small batch operation in Austin told me to get a digital probe because paper strips get less accurate as they age. I grabbed one for $35 and tested the same jars that same afternoon. The readings were all over the place, one was at 5.1 which is way too high for safety. Turns out my strips had been sitting in a humid drawer for over 6 months and were useless. I threw all that sauce out and started over with a proper brine ratio and the probe. Now I check with the digital meter every other day and I wont touch a batch unless it reads below 4.0. Has anyone else trusted paper strips for too long and regretted it later?
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angelamurphy29d ago
Paper strips are a joke honestly. I had a batch of jalapeno mash that read 4.1 on strips and then 5.3 on a meter I borrowed from work. The strips had been in my garage all summer so the heat and damp killed them. Now I keep the probe in a ziplock with the little packets that soak up moisture and check the calibration once a week in the store bought solution. A $35 tool saved me from poisoning my whole family, easy call.
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