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Boofer, are you checking whey coming off the cheese for PH while pressing? If so, is 5.3 the whey PH? I haven't invested in a meter yet... still learning what is involved in using one.

I press the meter tip (it's flat) to the flat face of the wheel. So, it is whey on the cheese...just not drained whey.

HTH...

-Boofer-

Quote from: awakephd on August 04, 2014, 12:14:21 PM
Boofer, are you checking whey coming off the cheese for PH while pressing? If so, is 5.3 the whey PH? I haven't invested in a meter yet... still learning what is involved in using one.

What Boofer said, but you have to consider that curd PH is not the same thing as whey PH. Curd PH is about 0.1-0.15 lower than whey PH.

The important point is that you shouldn't just pop the cheese into the press, go to bed, and then take it off the press in the morning. If you do, you may find that the cheese pH has dropped down into the 4.xx territory. Uh oh....    (Been there, done that. )

-Boofer-

What kind of meter are you using?

A lot of us are using the Extech PH100 Exstik. It's got a flat probe so you can measure the curd PH. It also has a 0.01 accuracy. Real easy to use. A little disclosure though, there's a bit of a learning curve on how to use it though. The instruction manual doesn't cover that very well.

Quote from: Spoons on August 05, 2014, 10:00:22 PM
A lot of us are using the Extech PH100 Exstik. It's got a flat probe so you can measure the curd PH. It also has a 0.01 accuracy. Real easy to use. A little disclosure though, there's a bit of a learning curve on how to use it though. The instruction manual doesn't cover that very well.

Hey...what he said.

It took me a few tries to settle in and be comfortable with my ExStik. It's hard to imagine making cheese without it (You purists can just stop right there! ). This technology can be compared to a microscope...enabling the user to get closer in their observations. Before that, who knew what was in that petri dish? Acquiring my meter has greatly improved my process. Yes, I still guess at a few things in life, but acidity/alkalinity in my cheesemaking has pretty much ceased to be an obstacle. I say that and think back to those makes where the pH is plummeting and I'm flailing away trying to curb that freefall (washing the curds, salting the curds, not putting blueberries in with the curds  ).

It's a good piece of equipment that helps to ease the job.

-Boofer-

Thanks! I am probably still a few months away from investing in a PH meter (maybe it will be a Christmas gift ... !), but it is great to have a specific recommendation.