Where to find good equipment?

[acr4]

I'm interested in acquiring the following items, and will entertain any leads/information you may provide in finding high-quality (i.e. usable, accurate, safe) products:

- Stir plate
- pH meter
- refractometer

Thanks!

[dresselbrew]

There are many tips on making a stir plate in the brewing forums.
Not sure about the PH meter.
Refractometers are cheap on ebay.

[bub]

1. Stir Plate
a. Make it (google it or some other asshat will post a link)
b. Ebay
2. pH Meter
a. Don't... they are a fucking pain in the ass... use strips you will thank me
3. Refract
a. Choose one of the sponsors (morebeer.com northernbrewer.com diybrewing.com)
b. E-Bay BUT MAKE SURE THE SCALE IS BRIX OR PLATO, there are other scales out there that will fuck you up bad.
BUB

[acr4]

Thank you for the quick reply.

I have two major E-bay concerns.
1. Shady people. (They just suck.)
2. Shady items. (Extremely low quality items are usually hard to use and inaccurate, which hinders use and causes new adopters to dislike the equipment/approach/hobby.)

pH meters are that bad? I suppose I can pick up some strips until I decide if I want to fork money for a quality digital meter. (I have used some very nice hand-held digital meters in the past, but I bet they were rather pricey.)

I've seen the stir-plate tutorials, and have a freshly broken hard-drive at work I suppose I could salvage. I bet I have a 12V fan with at least one broken blade I could use too - just dremel off the remaining blades to re-balance/reduce drag...

[Thirsty Mallard]

If you really want a digital pH meter I have one I am willing to sell. PM me if you want it.

[BrewTa2]

Pay attention to buyer feedback. I've bought everything from batteries to a car on eBay and haven't had a problem.

The quality of what's for sale is another matter. You have to know what you're looking at and know the questions to ask before hand.For instance, don't buy a used pH meter. Chances are the probe has dried out and is trash. Strips are better for brewing. Meters need to be stored and calibrated properly. The heat of what you are measuring has to be dealt with as well. I have two pH meters, neither is used for brewing. Don't buy one of the cheap hand-held things, they don't hold calibration worth a JP.

Stir bars are on eBay too.

[Brew-boy]

Bought a lot on ebay and never had a problem ethier. My ph meter is great and I love it would not go without it.

[Steelers&Beer]

ebay is great. you can find a deal but there us usually no recourse if something is fucked up. b3 has great customer support as does northern brewer. i have to agree with bub on the pH meter, use the papers. good luck, drew