pickling keeps raising

[shawn77]

im using a preasure tannery. i use a digital ph tester , i mix the pickling using saftee acid, accordingly i get it to 1.00ph. and check it 2 hours later and its raised to 3.00 with nothing in it , any ideas.

[oldshaver]

You probablly have hard water. It will take more acid to over power the carbonates in the water, and bring the ph down. Just a guess.

[bloomfiield]

yes i , do im checking it every 4 hours to see if it has raised , it was .24 then .48 and four hours later its. horlding steady. does that mean i should start he ph. about .76 to get it to 1.0ph

[bill@hogheaven]

You will have to experiment woth your water, we have to add 40% more acid than called for.

[James Parrish]

Me too.  I usually send my hides out, but when I tan one in shop, I have to add way more acid than what's called for.  Are you adding salt to your pickle?

[EJ]

How much pickle are you mixing at a time? The more you mix the more stable it will be.(example) 10 gallons will last longer then 3 gallons.

[shawn77]

i mix about 2gal .at a time. i just checked the pickle and it raised to .62 in 11hrs. and yes i use noniodized salt

[jrosbor]

Try adding 0.75 fl oz of saftee acid per gal of pickle.  This helps with some of the thicker parts of the skin sucking up some of the acid.  I also use the folowing formula as a "general" rule.  For each salt dried pound of skin weight add 1gal of water, 16oz salt and 0.75 fl oz (45 ml) of saftee acid.  This generally makes a 4gal pickle per cape.  The pH starts at about 0.8 and will climb up to about 1.5-1.8 when the skins are ready to be pulled from the pickle.

[J. Randall]

Shawn
If your ph has drifted that much I would use  bottled distiled water, I have well water that is very alkine. I tried using several different acids but none kept the ph stable.
I would have to adjust (add more acid several times a day) to me it's worth the three dollars to buy two or three gallons of distiled water, set the ph once and forget it.
Think how much water you could buy for the cost of one cape.   

[oldshaver]

EJ, that little video you got there is funny as hec!

[Dean]

The water makes a difference in tanning. You can use one tanning formula in one place and do the exact same thing at another with different results. You need to adjust your formula and/or type of chemicals and amounts used to work for the location where you are.