I have one of those “Dr. Meter” ph pens you can get on Amazon that claims to be accurate to 0.01. I think I got it about 2 years ago. It seems to be pretty accurate, but the settling time is getting to be ridiculous. It takes it about 10 minutes to get through a 3-solution calibration. And when taking readings, it will keep dropping for about 5 minutes, many times shutting itself off before I even get a stable reading.
I feel like I've taken pretty good care of the probe. I always cool the wort to room temperature, rinse immediately after use, and store in KCl solution in the probe cap. In theory, the probe is replaceable, but I haven't seen them available anywhere.
Is there any way to fix this? Or is this just how it goes with Ph probes? Do the mid-range Ph meters from Apera or Milwaukee have faster settling times and/or more robust probes? What about the stuff from Hanna, Hach, or Thermo Fisher? I'd be willing to spend some coin on something that would work quickly and reliably, but if I'm going to have to replace probes all the time, it seems like it would be cheaper to just by a new generic pen meter every year or two.
I feel like I've taken pretty good care of the probe. I always cool the wort to room temperature, rinse immediately after use, and store in KCl solution in the probe cap. In theory, the probe is replaceable, but I haven't seen them available anywhere.
Is there any way to fix this? Or is this just how it goes with Ph probes? Do the mid-range Ph meters from Apera or Milwaukee have faster settling times and/or more robust probes? What about the stuff from Hanna, Hach, or Thermo Fisher? I'd be willing to spend some coin on something that would work quickly and reliably, but if I'm going to have to replace probes all the time, it seems like it would be cheaper to just by a new generic pen meter every year or two.