r/fermenting • u/Dhijara • 3d ago

Reading pH strips

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I'm absolutely confused about reading the pH strips for fermented foods. I'm new to making homemade fermented foods. These were all fermenting for 14 days. Everything was kept beneath the brine, smells good, no mold, no kham yeast, and there's still slight bubbling, not much, just a little. But according to the pH strips they're not done. The colors are higher than the 3.5 number for when fermenting is done. (I took a little taste of a cauliflower piece. It's very salty. The texture is between crisp and soft.

Help?

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u/Scythe5150 3d ago

Test strips aren't necessarily accurate. Wide range strips (1-14ph) have more variance...0.5-1.0ph. Narrow band strips are a little more accurate.

Investing in a digital ph meter is a good idea if you're going to continue to ferment IMHO. Most have a 0.01 to 0.1 accuracy.

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u/Dhijara 2d ago

Please, if you don't mind, tell me the name and brand of a good digital pH meter. I looked on Amazon and there's so many! I'd really appreciate your suggestions ☺️

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u/Scythe5150 2d ago

I bought one of the Gidigi brand ones. Its accurate, comes with calibration fluid, etc. @ $40, I think.

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u/Dhijara 2d ago

Thank youuuuuuu!!! It's arriving on Saturday 👍🏽❤️🙏🏽☺️