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Measuring salts in tenths of a gram

Northern Brewer General
#1

Today, I had to add .4g of a salt and discovered the scale we have only goes down to 1 gram and it’s not very good at doing that. I ended up putting a dish on the scale to get it to register a weight, then added a little salts. It makes me uneasy to use it now.

I see 2 scales from our sponsor and the reviews are positive but they to only go down to 1 gram.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/ultr ... scale.html http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/esca ... hrome.html

What does anyone use to measure salts in tenths of a gram? Does anyone use the scales above and have created a method to achieve tenths of a gram? Are there some other methods used?

#2

There’s enough error in all the other measurements in a brew session that 1g increments should be good enough. But you can get decently close to 0.5g if you slowly add the salt until the scale says 1g - it’s rounding up the weight from just slightly more than 0.5g to 1.

#3

.4g is almost nothing. It’s .014 ounces or .00088 pounds

#4

Or .00000044 tons! :stuck_out_tongue:

#5

Thanks Shadetree, you’re right, I’m dwelling to much on parts per million.

#6

Measure a gram or two, then separate it in halves/quarters by eyeball and call it good at 0.5g. OR measure two grams and put it in a teaspoon/tablespoon and estimate what fraction of that would be by volume.

#7

I’ve got the Escali Primo Scale and think it is awsome. I use it for weighing out grains and hops. But it isn’t precise enough for weighing salts or the additives you would use in wine making. So I got an Escali PR500, which is accurate to 0.1g. Can’t say I’m 100% happy with it though. Yes it’s accurate, but it has an anoying habit of auto shut off after it has been on for a couple minutes - even if it is being used. I’ll be slowly spooning bits of salts into a dish and it turns off in the middle. The Primo only shuts off if the weight on it doesn’t change for a time, which is what I’d expect with a scale.

If you are weighing tiny amounts alot, it is worth getting a scale for it, but if only for beer salts, I got by using measuring spoons for a long time.

Grams per level teaspoon:
Chalk: 1.8, Gypsum: 4.0, Calcium Chloride: 3.4, Epsom Salt: 4.5, Baking Soda: 4.4, Table Salt: 4.75

#8

I use a reloading scale. It weighs in grains. 15.4 grains to the gram.

#9

I use an Acculab Pocket Pro 250-B scale, no problems weighing a tenth of a gram.

#10
http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Bl ... 068&sr=8-1
#11

Thanks, some good ideas there. :cheers:

#12

Seriously, “coning and quartering” is a perfectly acceptable way of accurately apportioning a material in a laboratory.

#13

Be sure to close the curtains when you’re chopping out lines of brewers salts, someone might get the wrong idea and turn ya in. :mrgreen:

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