What Grain Scales Do You Use?

[peas_and_corn]

I'm looking around for some grain scales- what should I go for? What do you use?

Cheers,
Dave

 

[peas_and_corn]

I'll keep my eye on it for the remainder of the auction...

 

[Uncle Fester]

I use this item from Jaycar. Only a 1kg limit, but it has a .5g resolution which makes it fine for hops and specialty grains as well.


Jaycar Link

Fester

 

[newguy]

You have two options. If you're only going to use it for grain, look for a cheap food scale with a 25g or better resolution and 3kg+ max weight. Either a simple spring-needle readout or a digital unit, depending on your budget and how accurate you want to pretend to be. If you want one scale that you can use for hops & grain, get a digital unit with 1g resolution and 1kg+ max weight.

I started off with one cheap spring-needle food scale for grain. It had 25g resolution and a 3kg max weight according to the box. However, I couldn't put more than 1.5kg on it because the needle wouldn't move past 1.5kg no matter how much weight I put on it. For hops, I guessed. I bought hops in either 30g bags of pellets or by the plug. Either way, I could estimate their mass based on volume well enough. I then bought a digital scale with a 1kg max weight and 2g resolution. It cost $90 at the time (this was a long time ago) and was used only for measuring hops. One day I got it wet and it went tits up.

Which brings me to my present scale, a $25 Radio Shack special. 1g resolution, 3kg max weight, and TARE functionality. I use it to measure grain and hops.

Watch the stores for specials. eBay has some good deals from time to time as well.

 

[bulp]

G day P+C

I picked up these scales linky for $15 + $35 postage they have been selling for over $40 +postage just have to be patient and watch don't bid until the last second. I know Screwtop has these exact same scales and they are good as they go up in 1g increments and can handle 30kg's hope this helps.

Cheers

Bulp

 

[AUHEAMIC]

What are these grain scales you speak of? Doesnt everyone measure in cups?

 

[peas_and_corn]

I was outbid. Oh well... I'll buy other scales- I suppose there are 'plenty of scales in the sea'

 

[lagers44]

What are these grain scales you speak of? Doesn't everyone measure in cups?

Yes !! and i light my fire by rubbing 2 sticks together & go to bed when the sun goes down . :lol:

Just having fun with you Peels , i've never used or heard of anyone using cups before.

Lagers

 

[peas_and_corn]

This one looks pretty good. Apparently weighs up to 7kg at an accuracy of 1g. $36 +postage?

I'll keep a eye on this one.

 

[bulp]

P+C

Took me a while to finally get one cheap, these are on all the time from this seller just have to be patient and wait for the right time. Anywhere between $15-$25 is a good cheap price for these units. Have you heard of Bidnapper? Worthwile if you don't want to sit at the computer all friggin day, just do a quick google and you'll find it.

Cheers

P.S That 7 kg scale sounds allright pretty snazzy lookin unit, if ur doin single batches that'd be perfect

 

[lagers44]

This one looks pretty good. Apparently weighs up to 7kg at an accuracy of 1g. $36 +postage?

I'll keep a eye on this one.

Hi P+C

That 7kg one is pretty good , I have a similar styled one at 7kg it does my single batches very well & doubles as good hop scales as well.
You wont go wrong.

PS. Just noticed the postage costs & i wouldn't pay that knowing it's not a true reflection of costs incurred. Look for cheaper.
Lagers

 

[PostModern]

Scales... pff, I use a bucket.

 

[bugwan]

This one looks pretty good. Apparently weighs up to 7kg at an accuracy of 1g. $36 +postage?

I'll keep a eye on this one.

The second one you've linked to is a cracker. I spotted these a while back and decided to create a thread about them - they were going for about $5 at the time (starting at $0.99), they've gone for more than $30 since :angry:

According to the Completed items list on eBay, the cheapest one recently is around $16... Good luck! I'll be bidding on one of these in a week or two I think. We're both expecting the same grain mill delivery

 

[TidalPete]

Digital fishing scales off eBay.

TP :beer:

 

[WitWonder]

Just bought these scales.

Should do the job nicely methinks.

 

[Screwtop]

P+C

Took me a while to finally get one cheap, these are on all the time from this seller just have to be patient and wait for the right time. Anywhere between $15-$25 is a good cheap price for these units. Have you heard of Bidnapper? Worthwile if you don't want to sit at the computer all friggin day, just do a quick google and you'll find it.

Cheers

P.S That 7 kg scale sounds allright pretty snazzy lookin unit, if ur doin single batches that'd be perfect

Thought I'd done well buying a set for $18 :huh:

 

[Doogiechap]

I coulden't help myself :lol:

Chris Apr 4 2007, 07:24 PM

​

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 found some 7Kg/1g scales on ebay but was cheaper back then......
Great scales for hops and grain but .

 

[reVoxAHB]

Having had another el cheapo ($35-$50) 5KG/1g digital scale die on me today, I've opted for an industrial big-boy like this or this.

For those of you who are using 30kg/1g increment scales, are they accurate enough on the lower end (eg measuring 65g pellets for example) ?

I would prefer to use only 1 scale for both grain and hop, not having to purchase a secondary smaller 0.5 increment 1kg max scale (just for hops).

I don't need it deadly accurate to that exact g, but don't want it reading 25g when it's really 15g.

Thanks,
reVox

 

[peas_and_corn]

If it's a 1g scale I wouldn't measure small amounts for that- I have two scales, one that has 1g increments for grain and another that has 0.1g increments for measuring hops. With 1g gaps there is a couple gram tolerance either side of what is measured.

 

[Kleiny]

bought one on ebay goes in 1g increments and is great for hops and grain
make sure it has a tare function so you can 0 it once youve put a bucket on it