volume vs. weight measurement

I have some wheat DME left over from my last brew and am considering using it for bottle priming. The guy at my LHBS said to use 8oz DME per 5 gallons but I don't have a scale to measure it. He also didn't recommend using volume measurement and I can understand why but I was curious as to how much 'fudge' room you have with priming sugars. I don't want to under carbonate and I don't want bottle bombs obviously.

Do you have a Wal Mart near you? I picked up a decent kitchen scale there for about $8, and that was at about 3 AM when I figured I was screwed for not having planned properly. Interesting side note: you get some funny looks when you ask for a kitchen scale capable of weighing out 1-16 ozs. at a Wal Mart at 3 AM.

Really, you need a scale. It's like a hydrometer... you just need one.

I have a scale, and use it. But I've also measure the DME for priming, and it was about 1.25 cups.

Llazy Llama that was my fear exactly, I was wondering if I could get away without buying one of those drug dealer scales. I guess as long as I'm not buying 20 boxes of Sudafed along with it I'll be ok

Seriously though, buying a scale makes sense, especially if they're not that expensive. Thanks for the responses, and thanks Yooper for the approx. DME priming measurement.

YooperBrew said:

I have a scale, and use it. But I've also measure the DME for priming, and it was about 1.25 cups.

Click to expand...

How to Brew - By John Palmer confirms your measurement, Yooper - 1 1/4 cups of dme per five gallon batch

Jim

Volume measurement works fine because there is a lot of "fudge" room to play with. I've been using it for years with no problems (bottle bombs) and getting very consistent results. I started out using the recommended 2/3 to 3/4 cup of corn sugar for 5 gallon batches but wanted more carbonation and now use 1 cup per 5 gallon batch. That's a 25% increase.

Try starting out with 1 1/4 cups of DME as suggested and see how it turns out. If you would like more carbonation, throw in another 1/4 cup.

Tom

I've had a pretty good sized scale for years in the garage. Never paid much attention to it. One time I needed to measure some ingredients for a kid's science project and lo and behold, it's marked in ounces! It only goes up to 2 lbs. It's great for brewing. I can measure to a 1/4 ounce and did so on my last brew (light beers with lights hops additions).

I wish I had a nice digital one though.

I started getting a lot better carbonation when I switched to a digital scale. Turns out that I wasn't using quite enough sugar. Beersmith gives me the measurement in weight. Switching that to volume is not very precise.

Plus, you can use a small scale for a variety of uses in the kitchen. Its great for baking since most recipes give weight measurement of ingredients.