Quote Originally Posted by waterbear
Here is an easy way to tell the pH when using phenol red indicator (which is what is found in every test kit I have ever seen!)
If the color is red (actually more pinkish) or purple your pH is too high! 7.8 or higher
If the color is yellow to yellow orange your pH is too low 7.0 or lower
If the color is orange to orange red your pH is perfect 7.2-7.6

You are looking for the color of the indicator..not how deep or light the color is!

A good way to learn the colors is to put some water in a small vial with a cap,add some phenol red so you can see the color well but not so much that it's very deep. add a TINY pinch of borax, cap and shake to make the color purple, then add vinigar drop by drop and cap and shake after each drop and watch the colors change from purple to red to orange to yellow. Phenol red will test pH from 8.2 down to 6.8....purple means 8.2 or HIGHER, yellow means 6.8 or LOWER. An orange color is about 7.4-7.5 which is pretyy much perfect!

Waterbear- this should be a sticky so that all newbies can truly understand what they are looking at. THIS IS A GREAT DESCRIPTION- thank you