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lye makes my base solution more acidic!?!?!? IM GOING INSANE!

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sirMcKenna

Rising Star
Hey, noob here. SWIM's going through Vovin's Tek for the first time and everything is going well UNTIL step 5: Basification.

SWIM's supposed to achieve a pH level of 12-13. SWIM starts adding lye to 200 mL of warm distilled water and the @%$&%^@& pH approaches 11.8 and then starts to become more acidic as SWIM adds more lye. WTF!?!?! What is SWIM doing wrong? SWIM even ran out and got new buffer solutions to recalibrate SWIM's pH meter (which is brand new) in case SWIM contaminated them, but SWIM still gets the same result after recalibration.

SWIM's Lye base solution is only 11.5 and decreasing. Is there a threshold for lye absorption in water? SWIM has no idea.
A little help here, SWIM's stuck :(

EDIT: SWIM is using Roebic Drain Opener 100% lye and a cheap Hannah pH meter.
 
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Sounds like your pH meter really doens't work at high pHs, just get some strips, for the NaOH solution they are fine, for the wine, not so much.
pH stips are dirt cheap.

I always take drops and put on to pH strips instead of sticking strip into solution.

When you say pH is dropping, how much do you mean.

Your correct though if your NaOH is pure then there is no way pH can go down, only up.
You probably are at a fine pH after you added more NaOH after 11.5.
 
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Yeup!
My first Ph Meter was a $30 Cheapie and it did the same thing.

I have a new one now, much better but much, much more expensive!! ($120!!f'n!!)
Its totally stable up to 16PH!!

In the mean time, what I did was get some buffer solution with 10Ph, that way, at least your closer to where you need to be with the calibration. I worked better for me for quite a number of extracts!! If you can find higher Ph buffer solution get it!!

Hope that helps!

WS
 
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Many pH meters do not account for temperature and will give an inaccurate reading for a hot lye solution.

Remember that when you add lye to water this causes the release of heat and can cause the water to boil (this is one reason why lye is so dangerous, it can boil and splatter all over you and give you very serious chemical burns that are extremely painful and will scar you for life). Unless you have a pH meter that corrects for heat changes you will get completely inaccurate readings as you add more lye because the water gets hotter and the pH is likely to drop falsely according to the meter. Wait until the water cools to room temperature and then test it, or buy a $100 or more pH meter that gives accurate readings at both elevated and lowered temperatures. The cheaper ones only give accurate readings at room temperature.
 
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What the hell did you put into solution to get pH all the way up to 16?
I understand its possible to get superacidic negative pH solutions but I have never seen anything pH 16.
Click to expand...
Oh, Shit, I've never had it up that freakin high!!
It just makes that claim in the manual.

I do test steadily at 13 to 14pH though.

My new meter is a digital pH meter & thermometer in one unit, so when I calibrate it, I heat the buffer solution in a heat bath, to around 130-140 degrees. That way the pH meter is calibrated closer to where it will be used.
I still use the 10pH buffer solution for calibration. The bottle has the decimal point differences in the buffer solution at different temp's printed on the side too.
BTW, sense I'm heating it, I pour just enough solution for the calibration, from the large bottle I have, into a small 50ml flask. I only heat & use that. When I'm finished it gets disposed of.

It did cost way too mush $$ but I figured I was not going to stop doing these extractions anytime soon, so it was worth spending the extra money.
Thats how I rationalized it to myself anyway!

Worth every penny!!

WS
 
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