Hop Pellets

[quantocks]

this is going to be a stupid question so I apologise,

but I have no digital scales and used some cheap IKEA measuring devices my Mrs had in the pantry. I used 1/4 cup of pellets to make a Coopers Lager @ 25 minutes and another 1/4 later on so making it 1/2 cup EKG pellets. It's ridiculously hoppy.

I need a better way to measure the hop pellets without a scale, is there any better methods?

cheers

 

[Cube]

got a 50 grm bag? divide into 5 piles of equal quantity.

got a 90 grm bag? divide into 9 equal size piles.

Need explanation for a 100 grm bag?

10 grm piles the easy way.

 

[Cube]

 

[quantocks]

I have had quite a few beers tonight however:

5x10=50

so 5 bunches of hop pellets if I have a 50g bag is 10g per bag.
so 9 bunches of hop pellets if I have a 90g bag is 10g per bag.
so 10 bunches of hop pellets if I have a 100g bag is 10g per bag.

how is that 'dumb' ?

 

[lczaban]

so 1 pellet is 10g?

surely not, Cube. One hop pellet being 10g is verging on even more ridiculous than half a cup of hop pellets in a Lager.

:|

What Cube is saying is that starting out with a known quantity (100g for arguments sake), you should be able to visually divide that up into even piles and be fairly close to the divided quantity. For example, divide 100g of hops into two and you get two 50g piles of hops. Divide 100g into four even piles and you should get four 25g piles of hops. This method isn't perfect, but if you can be confident in how well you can divide up your initial known quantity (even from a visual "that looks even" perspective) you'd be surprised how close you can be when it comes to putting the visually divided quantity on a set of scales to check.

If you don't feel as though you can divide a large amount into lots of small portions (like 100g into ten 10g portions), divide your initial portion in half, then half one of those portions again, and so on. You should be able to achieve either the exact portion you desire (or something close enough to what you want). This would be a better way than trying to measure out hops in a measuring cup IMHO, and seeing as though I measure things for a living I should have half a clue about this... The problem with using a measuring cup is that you can't control how densely packed in the hops pellets are in the measuring cup. Obviously the more densely packed in the hops are, the more hops you will add. It is much better just to visually divide your initial lot up evenly. You'll be close enough to the money to not make a big difference in the final result.

 

[Ross]

You want to make good beer?....buy a scale...cheap as...


cheers Ross

 

[Barley Belly]

Got $13??

 

[Bribie G]

Go for it. Ideal for hop flowers, pellets etc. If you put a light bowl on it, when you switch it on it will zero itself so you can also use it to accurately weigh crystal malt, carapils etc.

I bought a Target scales but paid $50 - they are a bit heavier duty and apart from measuring in one gram increments, come with a large aluminium bowl as I also need something to measure base malt by the kilo etc. However the online price for those scales is excellent.

 

[Jase71]

The pellets I have are of different sizes, so I assume the weight will differ - will measure later.

A word on scales - I have some jewellers scales that measure up to 100grams, but if I were to buy again, I would get some with a higher upper range so I could also measure out my dex, dried malt etc in one go (at the moment I need to weigh a few batches to get my priming sugar values)

For the purposes of brewing, I dont see any need for 0.0001g lower thresholds

EDIT: so that one on Ebay looks good, I might just grab that one myself

 

[Fermented]

Pop into Target, Quantocks.

$40 full price (probably on sale now) gets you a 1g resolution stainless steel scale which reads in g, oz, ml and lbs & oz with a maximum load of 4 kg. Perfect for going all malt. Has a tare function too, so it's pretty useful. It doesn't have a platform - it's just smooth with rounded corners so it's dead easy to keep clean.

Could even try DJs at the Chase as their sale looks to be pretty good.

Your quarter cup would have been probably >15g, possibly >20g. The half cup of EKG would have been the killer, I guess. I'll measure it up later today when I do a brew just for the sake of interest.

Cheers - Fermented.

 

[flattop]

I got a slimline digital scale from Dimmeys for about $15, it hangs on the wall and the stand folds away when not in use, it seems to be accurate, you can re-zero it with a jug on top then pour in the volume that you want. i have measured a few grams to over a kilo. It's also a clock.

 

[boingk]

I use a cheap set of manual slide scales I got from the local tobacconist. They work quite well, and if they ever need calibrating the average $2 coin weighs 6.5g or thereabouts from memory. Only problem is that they only weigh up to 10g at a time - albeit in rediculous accuracy.

I'd definitely go one of the eBay scales though, as digital kicks ass in precision stakes.

Cheers from your 'stuck in the past' forum member - boingk

EDIT: OK, thats it, I'm heading down to Dimmeys...damn you all!

 

[Bizier]

Try to get a scale with 1/10th (0.1) gram increments - I have a digi scales, but it is a pain, because it isn't accurate enough with 1 gram increments, esp for low hopped beers.

 

[flattop]

Update, the scales are "Salter" brand and do not do 0.1gm increments. just units of 1gm and higher

 

[quantocks]

found some online for 14 dollars.

Measures in 1g increments up to 3kg, and 2g increments up to 5kg.

for that amount of cash I'm going to order and see how it goes

http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/p/modern-ele...-kitchen-scale/

 

[quantocks]

would something like this be beneficial ? making a tea with a plunger?

 

[flattop]

My sclaes are like those but the glass plate folds out to 90* the plastic plate hangs from the wall vertically and the LCD is close to the top, in fact the buttons look the same also.

 

[Jakechan]

My sclaes are like those but the glass plate folds out to 90* the plastic plate hangs from the wall vertically and the LCD is close to the top, in fact the buttons look the same also.

Just out of interest...and completely OT

alt+0176 =



(Ive had to use it a lot in my job)

 

[flattop]

now if i could only go down the store and grab a cheap altimeter....

 

[kook]

would something like this be beneficial ? making a tea with a plunger?

It is supposed to be quite calming and help with insomnia, but if you use water straight out of the kettle you'll still extract quite a bit of bitterness.

Add a little cold water first, and steep for a few minutes. You'll probably find it better to blend with chamomile and catnip.