Are You An Anal Grain Measurer

[haro]

I'm so frickin lazy it's not funnt. My grain scoop picks up about 300 grams at a time, and i only have 2 kg scales, with a 1 kilo bowl. I'm happy if each kilo gets with in 20 grams. i prob end up with shiteloads more grain than i should.. ah well

who cares more grain = more alcohol = more pissed

who can complain about that

 

[domonsura]

Base malts I use an old pair of kitchen (manual) scales...which probably have a wicked error margin anyway, but I've always used the same ones. The bowl scraped flat holds 1kg JW pils mail bang on, so I just weigh the first one to make sure that it's the same every brew, then scoop/scrape the rest in in kilo lots. Specialty malts I get weighed into portions at the shop when I get it cause I always buy them fresh (cause I never really make up my mind until I get there).
Hops get weighed with the little digital scales to the 0.1g
I agree that the other variances in the brew probably have more effect, but I'm just trying to achieve consistency in amounts really, so I can see what effect the other variances are having.

That title is dodgy as.....the first phrase that came to mind was 'chocolate malt'....DODGY....

 

[Stoodoo]

I usually measure to the gram, even if it means picking out one or two more grains to get it to the correct weight. Call me anal if you like.

Cheers

 

[Tony]

i have a big scoop. I scoop a heap out of the bag and sit it on the scale

if its within 100g of the kilo mark, in it goes.

With specialties, the darker they are, the fussier i get.

I will measure chocolate to be fairly close but if i want 300g of light crystal and i have 400g left in the bag, i will tend to shrug my shoulders and just tip it in.

Its all good.

cheers

 

[Doc]

Plus or minus 5gr for me.
Why ? Because I have a very extensive inventory and keep a spreadsheet of what i have in order to keep track. I subtract the recipe from the inventory after each brew. That way I know what I have, what I'm running low on, in order to restock so that I can brew any style I want whenever.

Doc

 

[Franko]

Plus or minus 5gr for me.
Why ? Because I have a very extensive inventory and keep a spreadsheet of what i have in order to keep track. I subtract the recipe from the inventory after each brew. That way I know what I have, what I'm running low on, in order to restock so that I can brew any style I want whenever.

Doc

doc,
is that spreadsheet available anywhere sounds like a great idea

 

[tangent]

my software does it automatically

 

[bugwan]

my software does it automatically

I was going to say.... Promash does this for you.

Unfortunately, I'm too lazy to add in all my stock to the database. Luckily, I run a Picobrewery, my stocktake would take 3 minutes.

 

[deebee]

I mill my grain outside and am sure I lose about 6.25g of flour per brew in the wind.

To compensate i always add 6.3g of base malt to each recipe.

 

[Stuster]

What sort of brewer are you doing things in that slap-dash manner? (come on, how can your recipe be right with that 0.05g loss! :angry: ) My BREWGURU told me to be exact about that sort of thing. Your beer will end up undrinkable (and probably lethal).

 

[brendanos]

I mill my grain outside and am sure I lose about 6.25g of flour per brew in the wind.

To compensate i always add 6.3g of base malt to each recipe.

Hahahahaha.

 

[mobrien]

When I started I was really careful about everything. Measuring the the gram; measuring to the mL.

But the more I do this, the more I rely I the "Thousand year" theory. That is "They've been brewing beer for thousands of years"

Don't get me wrong - I have temp control (to within 0.5 deg) on HLT and two fridges. I have a det of scales that measures to three decimal places of a gram (thats 0.001g resolution). I love the gear!

But, at the end of the day, I'm not going to sweat 100g in the grain. I'm not going to worry about 5g in the hops. If I miss the temp by 0.2 degrees who cares

Afterall, this beer brewing started off in buckets in a cave somewhere.

M

 

[NRB]

I'm anal. I'm to within 5g with all grains and 0.1g with hop additions. Helps achieve consistency. I am a scientist after all! h34r:

 

[Josh]

I'm fairly accurate on the scales. Like they used to tell me in school, "you're only cheating yourself". Which is kinda true if your recipe takes into account your brewery efficiency.

 

[Weizguy]

I get my grain at the lhbs, and sometimes they toss in a little extra. This may help me meet my efficiency :lol:
They are usually close with the hop measurements, but the grain has a little more margin for error. Prob about the same tolerance %-wise anyway.

2 questions:

• Will I burn in Hell for this?
• How does one measure grain with one's @nus anyway, and does it affect the flavour of the final product?

i.e. this beer tastes like cr@p

Seth

 

[Doc]

doc,
is that spreadsheet available anywhere sounds like a great idea

It is just a list of what I have and how much. Nothing flash. Helps me formulate recipes at work though, because I know what I have in stock

Doc

 

[johnno]

I am not anal about it but I do like to use the correct amount.
Give or take a couple of grams.

cheers
johnno

 

[Chris]

I just use the dodgy bathroom scales. I weigh myself before, write down my weight and then go downstairs, grab the malt, which I have put into a bucket, half full by eye, maybe have a drink or something to eat, go back upstairs and stand on the scales with the bucket balanced on my head (so I dont throw of the balance). I then write down my new weight and subtract the old weight from this, this gives me the weight of the grain. I repeat this process 5 or 6 times till I get the required quantity.
I have found this method much better than my previous one. I only had envelope scales that measured upto 50g, so I would weigh out 50g of malt, then spread it all out on some graph paper so that no grains were stacked (so the thickness was 1 grain thick) and count the number of squares that 50g of malt took up. Once I knew the area that 50g took up I could multiply out by my required quantity. I found that my driveway was the only area large enough to spread out my 5kg of grain spread to 1 grain thickness, so on it I marked out a 5cm grid (3g accuracy!). It was then a matter of spreading out the malt until enough squares in the grid were filled. It was quite a simple method but I had to find another way because a flock of cockies started hanging out in the trees near the house and would descend on the spread out grain while I was carefully eyeing along the ground to make sure the layer was only one grain thick. So I started doing it at night, but the cockies still came but they couldnt see in the dark, so now Im missing the top of my left ear and my right thumb.

 

[Stuster]

 

[Stoodoo]

I just use the dodgy bathroom scales. I weigh myself before, write down my weight and then go downstairs, grab the malt, which I have put into a bucket, half full by eye, maybe have a drink or something to eat, go back upstairs and stand on the scales with the bucket balanced on my head (so I dont throw of the balance). I then write down my new weight and subtract the old weight from this, this gives me the weight of the grain. I repeat this process 5 or 6 times till I get the required quantity.
I have found this method much better than my previous one. I only had envelope scales that measured upto 50g, so I would weigh out 50g of malt, then spread it all out on some graph paper so that no grains were stacked (so the thickness was 1 grain thick) and count the number of squares that 50g of malt took up. Once I knew the area that 50g took up I could multiply out by my required quantity. I found that my driveway was the only area large enough to spread out my 5kg of grain spread to 1 grain thickness, so on it I marked out a 5cm grid (3g accuracy!). It was then a matter of spreading out the malt until enough squares in the grid were filled. It was quite a simple method but I had to find another way because a flock of cockies started hanging out in the trees near the house and would descend on the spread out grain while I was carefully eyeing along the ground to make sure the layer was only one grain thick. So I started doing it at night, but the cockies still came but they couldnt see in the dark, so now Im missing the top of my left ear and my right thumb.

I don't want to offend you but that's the funniest thing I've read in a long time.

Cheers


ps, if you need someone to take out them cockies, let me know