Harbor Freight 70 Lb Scales

I got frustrated with dealing with the 7 pound capacity of my scale, so I decided to stop by our favorite Chinese importer. The only scale there with a capacity better than I already had was:

70 Lb/32 Kg Digital Postal Scale
Cen-Tech - Item#95069

After the coupon I had it rang up as $30 with tax.

Brought it home turned it on. Uh oh. Two modes: kilograms/grams and pound/ounces. Seriously? No decimal modes??

Decided to give it a go. On went the 5 gallon bucket. Pressed tarebutton. 0 pounds 0 oz is displayed. In goes the Maris Otter. 23 pounds. Ugh. Where are the specialty grain? 3 minutes later I return. Scales have powered off. I press the on/off button. With the grain and bucket still sitting there, "ERR" displays.

So basically you are screwed if it powers off in the middle of your weigh session. At bare minimum I would have expected it to power on and be zeroed. That's what my other cheapo scale does.

Today it went back to the store, and I return to looking for some sort of reasonably priced scales locally.

You should check out this scale, I use this at work and it's great, very accurate and doesn't shut off automatically. Little on the pricey side,I buy them at Johnstone supply for $99.00

http://www.tooltopia.com/tif-instruments-9010a.aspx check out this scale it would for you well. I use it for work its very accurate and reliable and won't shut off automatically.http://www.tooltopia.com/tif-instruments-9010a.aspx

This is my grain scale... You can get the AC adapter for it too, or just use C cell batteries. It does pounds/ounces with decimal ounce fractions (plus other units). I typically have my grain ready to be weighed before I go to use it. Basically gather up what I'm going to weigh, IF I'm going into a single bucket. Otherwise, it doesn't matter that much, does it now?

Oh, and the detachable face, makes it VERY easy to use. You can have the scale body on the floor, and the display on the table if you want.
I also got the stainless table cover for it, from William's Brewing. They list the 35 model, which is what I think they listed when I bought mine, but the 55 is what arrived. The stainless top fit it just fine.

If my batch sizes ever need more than a full sack of grain, I'll just have to get one like this...

Gunslinger said:

You should check out this scale, I use this at work and it's great, very accurate and doesn't shut off automatically. Little on the pricey side,I buy them at Johnstone supply for $99.00

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At work I use a refco and a JB ds-2000 charging scales. I really like the JB, but our local supply house wants ~$160 for it. I guess they are worth it with the 220 lb max capacity, but it out of my price range right now.

mschrock said:

At work I use a refco and a JB ds-2000 charging scales. I really like the JB, but our local supply house wants ~$160 for it. I guess they are worth it with the 220 lb max capacity, but it out of my price range right now.

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Do you really NEED to weigh 220lbs for brewing?

mschrock said:

3 minutes later I return. Scales have powered off. I press the on/off button. With the grain and bucket still sitting there, "ERR" displays.

So basically you are screwed if it powers off in the middle of your weigh session. At bare minimum I would have expected it to power on and be zeroed. That's what my other cheapo scale does.

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I know you have returned the scale, but for anyone else fighting with a time out issue, you just need an empty second bucket of the same type. Switch the buckets and Tare the scale again with the empty bucket. Then switch back to the full one for a fresh weighing.

reynolds5520 said:

I know you have returned the scale, but for anyone else fighting with a time out issue, you just need an empty second bucket of the same type. Switch the buckets and Tare the scale again with the empty bucket. Then switch back to the full one for a fresh weighing.

Click to expand...

Or just have your grains ready to be measured. OR use different containers to weigh them then mix them before running through the mill.. Either works just as well. If you have a lot more base malt than the others, it's easy. I've also found that if you don't start the UltraShip55 with something on it, you can place an item/container on it and hit the TARE and get it to 0 out. Then just add more grain on top. It can make it easier if you're going to add different amounts and don't want to keep track of where to stop the current grain amount.

Weighing them in different containers is a good way to do it. If you accidentally add too much it's easy to take some out, if you dump it on top of your base malt you have to be careful not to mix them.

My scale shuts off after a few minutes also but I keep an empty bucket around to tare it with.

reynolds5520 said:

I know you have returned the scale, but for anyone else fighting with a time out issue, you just need an empty second bucket of the same type. Switch the buckets and Tare the scale again with the empty bucket. Then switch back to the full one for a fresh weighing.

Click to expand...

I have no problem with the autopower off. I realize that I could have done the empty bucket trick. But I shouldn't have to jump through all those hoops for a scale being sold off the shelf for $39.99.

The deal breaker for me was the lack of decimal pound units.