Image: Testing Sour Beer Wort with a pH Meter
Published: October 12, 2026 at 4:32:58 PM UTC
A brewer tests amber sour beer wort with a digital pH meter in an open stainless-steel vessel, with brewing equipment and a troubleshooting checklist nearby.
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Image description
Landscape-oriented photograph inside a small brewery or brewing workspace. On the right, a bearded adult man wearing a dark baseball cap, clear safety glasses, a dark short-sleeved shirt, and a brown or tan apron leans toward a large open stainless-steel brewing vessel. Only his upper body and right arm are visible. A dark tattoo is visible on his forearm. He holds a handheld digital meter vertically over the vessel, with its probe extending into the amber-gold liquid. The meter's display appears to show a reading of approximately 3.5, although the final digit is partly obscured by his thumb and cannot be determined with certainty. The liquid in the vessel is cloudy amber to golden brown, with patches of pale foam and bubbles across the surface. The vessel is cylindrical, made of reflective stainless steel, and has an open hinged lid visible at the upper left. Moisture droplets and residue are visible on the inside of the lid and around parts of the vessel, giving the equipment a recently used appearance. A black-handled fitting or valve projects diagonally from the front-right side of the vessel. At the lower right, a clipboard rests at an angle beside the vessel. The paper on it has the handwritten heading "Sour Beer - Troubleshooting." Beneath the heading is a checklist containing "pH," "Temperature," "Gravity," and "Sourness (sensory)." The checkbox next to "pH" is marked, while the other visible checkboxes are unmarked. A section labeled "Next steps:" appears below, followed by handwritten notes reading approximately "Adjust culture?", "Check sanitation", and "Monitor in 12 hr." The brewery background contains multiple stainless-steel tanks, vertical and horizontal metal pipes, joints, valves, and fittings. Several small red, blue, green, and yellow components provide isolated areas of color among the predominantly silver equipment. A wall-mounted control or instrument panel is visible but out of focus toward the upper left-center. Large windows in the upper-right background admit daylight, with blurred green vegetation visible outside. The composition places the open vessel and its liquid across most of the left and lower portions of the frame, the person on the right, and the pH meter near the center, making the measurement process the visual focal point. The foreground is relatively sharp while much of the industrial background is softly blurred. The scene is dominated by silver stainless steel, warm amber liquid, dark clothing, and neutral gray and brown tones. No clearly identifiable commercial brand or logo is visible.
The image is related to: Fermenting Beer with White Labs WLP672 Lactobacillus Brevis