Kitchen Scales

Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum

Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Dazzling

Active Member
Joined
27/1/05
Messages
38
Reaction score
0
G'day all, I'm looking to purchase some electronic kitchen scales, any tips on places to buy, brands to avoid etc etc....

Cheers

Dazzling
 
Hi Dazzling,

Depends on what you want to weigh.

Think about what you want to weigh and the level of accuracy you need.
Grains, you probably want to weigh up to 5kg and be accurate to 20 gms.
Hops, you probably want to weigh 20gms and be accurate to 1 gram.
Water salts, you want to be weighing 2-3 grams and accurate to 0.1 gram.

So your grains scales will not be good enough for water salts.

The laboratory section of ebay is full of scales.

The big department chains such as Kmart and Big W, often have scales. Have a browse around your local shops. A 2kg set with resolution down to 1-2 grams is common for about $50. Dick Smith also used to sell scales, I assume the chain still does.

Most importantly, treat them gently, the load cells don't like being dropped.
 
I got a set of 2kg digital scales which going up 1 gram at a time for $30 from BIG W.

Works for me! I use these for hops and grains, if I need more grains just do 2 kg at a time.. easy
 
I've got the same ones Slugger. Cheap 'n cheerful. Like POL said though it does depend on what you'll mainly be weighing.

Shawn.
 
I bought a set of of digital scales from coles for just under $30 the other day. I have used them for weighing hop pellets. The brand is Tiffany and has 2kg capacity and has 1gram increments.

:beer:
 
I like Salter scales, they're an excellent brand. I think that two sets of scales is a good idea, a small set that weighs up to a few hundred grams in 0.1g increments or less, for hops and other additions, and a set for grain that will do to however many kilos you need, in 1 gram increments or 5 gram if you want a cheaper set.
 
sluggerdog said:
I got a set of 2kg digital scales which going up 1 gram at a time for $30 from BIG W.

Works for me! I use these for hops and grains, if I need more grains just do 2 kg at a time.. easy
[post="56616"][/post]​

I lashed out and got the $40 one from BigW. Goes up to 3kg in 1g increments. :super:
 
I use the kitchen scales for weighing grain (1g accuracy). I also have scales from Jaycar which weigh up to 200g @ 0.1g. I saw some scales with similar specs for $60 at Wantirna trash and treasure last Sunday.
 
Accuracy in the lower range is far more important. If you are a bit out with a 5 kilo malt bill it will make relatively little difference.
A few extra/less grams of high alpha hops or specialty grains will make a big difference.
I never actually weigh the main malt bill anymore. I used an ice-cream container and checked how much grain was 1 kilo the first time I used the scales. Now I just count the numbers of ice-cream containers to meet the grain bill.
 
Every time I look in Cash Converter or Hock Shop windows they seem to have small scales, which Im assuming have been used to weigh drugs in their previous life. Drugs are expensive so Im assuming they weigh down to small measures and are accurate. May be a option ??? A cheap Big W set for the grain and hops and a cheap hock shop set for salts if needed.
 
Back
Top