Scales

I'm heading out today to pick up a digital scale. Anything I should be looking for? I'm assuming it should be able to weigh at least 5lbs and weigh in both pounds and ounces.

I've had several, but still not satisfied (must be my feminine side coming out...just BSing you).

The first one just died. Cause of death unknown...probably corporate profit...

The second is an Escali. $29.95 at the local HBS (cheapest place I've found this scale). Weighs up to 11 lbs., oz and grams. Perfect except, I would like a scale with back lighting so I could see the numbers better AND one that does not automatically turn off in 1 minute.

What a PITA!!!

I like my digital postal scale - it measures up to 5 lbs with accuracy down to the 10th of an ounce. I wish it measured up to 10 or even 25 lbs, though. We have a good digital bathroom scale that I've taken to using for big AG batches.

Might want to make sure it carries ounces out one decimal place or better yet two. Mine only does ounces and sometimes for hops it's not enough ....
Jimi

I have one scale that will do a 1/2 oz ok, but is more geared to pounds - It will do 8.

Seems to me that you REALLY need two scales - one bulk and one fine.

I have a small digital scale I bought at Target ($30, I think), that measures down to 0.05 oz. I love this for small flavor hops additions. I'm not sure how much it will weight up to, I've done five pounds of grain but that gets to be a lot of bulk for the size of the scale. Anything more than that, I'll split up for measurement.

Thank you all for getting back to me so quick.

My daughter is waking up, which means its time for lunch and then brew supply shopping.

I'll try Target first. Its the closest store, only a 6 mile drive. But I think I'll end up going downtown to a kitchen supply store.

A good feature to look for is being able to re-zero with a container on the scale. That way, you don't have to worry about adjusting your numbers by hand.

It's Friday, so I'm throwing caution to the wind and getting this one.
It's at Amazon or Target.com

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I9N4MY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Accutrate to 7 lbs. and displays weight in 0.125-oz. increments .

I bought this one (got for x-mas 1 1/2 years ago). 8.80 lb capacaty. Still works fine. Accurate enough to use for hops (so I don't use triple beam balance scale any more - major PIA)

http://www.saveonscales.com/product_jscale_cj4000_digital_scale.html

I ended up getting a stainless steel Saltar scale at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for $50. Its got all the features everyone recommended except the back lighting.

I have an Acculab VI-400. It has a 400 gram capacity and a tare feature. It measures in grams, ounces, troy ounces, and pennyweights with two decimal positions on the display, and accurate to a tenth of a gram.

I have a couple of kitchen scales with capacities from 8 to 15 pounds that would be sufficiently accurate for grain, but up to now, I've only needed to weigh out fractional ounces of hops

As many people have said and I'd like to reiterate, one of the most important features is the precision of the scale or what granularity it measures to. My digital scale which I like a lot measures in 2g increments which is just barely adequate in my opinion. I'd prefer 1g (or better). +/- a gram can make a difference when using high AA hops for bittering in terms of IBU's (though I'm not convinced I can taste that), and also in terms of the salts introduced if you're trying to add fine amounts of gypsum, etc.

Baron von BeeGee said:

+/- a gram can make a difference when using high AA hops for bittering in terms of IBU's (though I'm not convinced I can taste that),

Click to expand...

The minimum taste threshold most people can differentiate between is 5 IBUs.

I bought one of these scales

It has a 15 pound capacity, 0.1 oz / 1gram / 0.002lb / 0.001kg increments and comes with a plastic bowl for measuring. The bowl will hold about 2.5lbs of grain, but is great for measuring DME and hops. I use a 2 gallon plastic bucket to weigh out larger amounts of grain. I can fit around 10 pounds in the bucket. It also has a tare feature to reset the weight to 0 when using a container to weigh ingredients.

The shipping was a little much, but it didn't end up being any more expensive than other scales on the market, around $30 total if I remember correctly.

Here it is in action. Click the thumbnail.

I've got a digital salter scale that I picked up at London Drugs (I'm pretty sure they don't have these in the US...). Looking back, I wish I'd have gotten something with a little more capacity, but you can also do your measurements in more than one step to get around this.

I picked up one of these yesterday for hops weighing, and I love it. It zeroes automatically, and rezeroes at the push of a button for additional ingredients. It's perfect for hops. The lid flips over as a tray but I put a small plastic bowl on it. Great item - Salter 1250 $29.95