Pickling Lime

[blatz]

Any idea what a level teaspoon weighs in grams?

Given the sensitivity of pickling lime, I am a little leery of my scale.  I know it won’t be perfectly accurate, but I am just curious.

[ehall11_cox.net (EHall)]

Convert teaspoons to grams - Conversion of Measurement Units

1tsp = 5grams

[mabrungard]

I don’t think that conversion applies.  The cited conversion appears to be for water, not a powdered solid.  There are a few variables involved in converting a mass measurement to a volumetric measurement.  And those variables differ for each mineral and its situation.  That is why I refuse to offer a conversion in Bru’n Water for volumetric measurement.

With a mass measurement, the primary variable is the moisture content of the mineral.  That is a whole lot better than trying to use a volumetric measurement.

[hopfenundmalz]

So bing a hands on type, I went to the basement once my starter was cooled and on the stir plate.

1 tsp of Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime, loose scoop then leveled by striking off with a knife came to 2.59 grams on my 100 gram capacity scale call it 2.6 grams.  Only one test, should have done more and averaged.

[tschmidlin]

Another way to do it is to weigh a level cup, which is 48 tsp, so you just divide the weight by 48.  It gives a decent approximation I think.

[blatz]

cool - thanks guys.  I used my scale which is only accurate to one gram and tried to be as careful as possible.

Mash pH for Friday’s brew was 5.51 at room temp (versus 5.3 calculated/anticipated), so it appears I may have been a little heavy handed on the lime but not by too much.

[morticaixavier]

@blatz

cool - thanks guys.  I used my scale which is only accurate to one gram and tried to be as careful as possible.

Mash pH for Friday’s brew was 5.51 at room temp (versus 5.3 calculated/anticipated), so it appears I may have been a little heavy handed on the lime but not by too much.

I think you might have been a little light handed with the lime. Lime should increae PH

[mtnrockhopper (Jimmy K)]

@tschmidlin

Another way to do it is to weigh a level cup, which is 48 tsp, so you just divide the weight by 48.  It gives a decent approximation I think.

This was going to be my suggestion.

[blatz]

@morticaixavier

@blatz

cool - thanks guys.  I used my scale which is only accurate to one gram and tried to be as careful as possible.

Mash pH for Friday’s brew was 5.51 at room temp (versus 5.3 calculated/anticipated), so it appears I may have been a little heavy handed on the lime but not by too much.

I think you might have been a little light handed with the lime. Lime should increae PH

Right and the pH was higher than what I calculated so I used too much.  Guess I don’t follow

[morticaixavier]

@blatz

@morticaixavier

@blatz

cool - thanks guys.  I used my scale which is only accurate to one gram and tried to be as careful as possible.

Mash pH for Friday’s brew was 5.51 at room temp (versus 5.3 calculated/anticipated), so it appears I may have been a little heavy handed on the lime but not by too much.

I think you might have been a little light handed with the lime. Lime should increae PH

Right and the pH was higher than what I calculated so I used too much.  Guess I don’t follow

well you see first you have to take into account that I am a dumba$$ that doesn’t always read what is actually written on the page. right 5.51 is indeed higher. I read it as 5.1 :

[system]

@blatz

cool - thanks guys.  I used my scale which is only accurate to one gram and tried to be as careful as possible.

Mash pH for Friday’s brew was 5.51 at room temp (versus 5.3 calculated/anticipated), so it appears I may have been a little heavy handed on the lime but not by too much.

Did you check your mash pH before you added the lime?  Bru’n water’s pH prediction for my latest stout was low (5.2 vs 5.5 measured).

[blatz]

@narvin

@blatz

cool - thanks guys.  I used my scale which is only accurate to one gram and tried to be as careful as possible.

Mash pH for Friday’s brew was 5.51 at room temp (versus 5.3 calculated/anticipated), so it appears I may have been a little heavy handed on the lime but not by too much.

Did you check your mash pH before you added the lime?  Bru’n water’s pH prediction for my latest stout was low (5.2 vs 5.5 measured).

i did not - I switched up and brewed an IPA rather than the porter (will be doing that next batch) i mentioned to you  in another thread - started from scratch with RO and added all my salts to the mash during mash-in.

[hokerer]

@morticaixavier

well you see first you have to take into account that I am a dumba$$ that doesn’t always read what is actually written on the page. right 5.51 is indeed higher. I read it as 5.1 :

Don’t feel too bad, I read it the exact same way at first glance.  Had to go back and look a few more times.

I just blame it on the two values being written with different numbers of decimal places

[nateo]

For measuring small amounts of salts and lime for water softening I picked up a 100x0.01g digital scale on Amazon for about $10. It’s accurate to about +/-0.05g, from my experience.

Also, wear gloves and goggles while handling. That stuff is pretty caustic.

[blatz]

@nateo

For measuring small amounts of salts and lime for water softening I picked up a 100x0.01g digital scale on Amazon for about $10. It’s accurate to about +/-0.05g, from my experience.

Also, wear gloves and goggles while handling. That stuff is pretty caustic.

cool - thanks - what model did you get? sounds like a winner.

[nateo]

Here’s the one I got, it was $11.20, but it’s out of stock now:
http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Scale-Ac-100-Digital/dp/B003O5K3JQ

There are a lot of similar scale made by the same company around the same price though.

You get what you pay for and all of that, but for the price, you get a surprising amount of accuracy, much better than you’d get from a tsp.

[hokerer]

This is the one I’ve got…

http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Signature-AWS-100-Digital/dp/B0012LOQUQ/ref=pd_sbs_op_1

…and it is in stock

[thirsty_monk]

@hokerer

This is the one I’ve got…

http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Signature-AWS-100-Digital/dp/B0012LOQUQ/ref=pd_sbs_op_1

…and it is in stock

I got the same scale. Works pretty good. I also got the calibration weight but used it only once or twice.

[mabrungard]

A good scale with modest precision in the 0.1 gram range is a real nice addition to any brewing setup.  Its good for measuring mineral additions and great for measuring hop additions.  I have an old Ohaus triple beam scale that I don’t have to worry about.  With some accessory weights, I can measure up to 2 or 3 lbs at a time.  But that’s not really that scale’s purpose.  I suppose some sort of hanging scale would be more appropriate for measuring bulk malt additions?  That triple beam is fine for measuring accessory malt additions though.

I’m betting that a sharp eye on Ebay would find a decent deal on a scale with decent accuracy and capacity.

[blatz]

@mabrungard

A good scale with modest precision in the 0.1 gram range is a real nice addition to any brewing setup.  Its good for measuring mineral additions and great for measuring hop additions.  I have an old Ohaus triple beam scale that I don’t have to worry about.  With some accessory weights, I can measure up to 2 or 3 lbs at a time.  But that’s not really that scale’s purpose.  I suppose some sort of hanging scale would be more appropriate for measuring bulk malt additions?  That triple beam is fine for measuring accessory malt additions though.

I’m betting that a sharp eye on Ebay would find a decent deal on a scale with decent accuracy and capacity.

yes - I have a nice hanging scale for grain and a very good scale for hops(accurate to .05 oz) but its not enough for mineral additions.  I might just buy the one hokerer/monk recommended - looks like it will serve its purpose.  cheers guys.