Just wanted to share something I use often in water adjustments:
http://www.chymist.com/Mass-volume%20equivalents.pdf
I find volumes of salts easier to work with than weights.
I prefer to just add an 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, etc… of a teaspoon and not have to measure gram weight.
I do the same with acids but that’s just a volume - metric to English conversion.
Thanks. Have you ever checked to see how accurate and consistent it is?
Wow, thanks for posting.
I did weigh/measure test several years back of the calcium chloride and calcium sulfate sold at my local homebrew shop. The weighed salts filled the teaspoon fairly level by eye. I haven’t done anything more technical.
Forgot to mention that the smaller sizes of teaspoons can be purchased on amazon in stainless steel sets.
Normally there are 5 of them in a set:
Tad is 1/4 of a tsp
Dash is 1/8 of a tsp
Pinch is 1/16 of a tsp
Smidgen is 1/32 of a tsp
Drop is 1/64 of a tsp
The stainless “accurate” sets costs more.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014HPNKY6
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KH9PSNI
The alternative is a precision gram scale, the cheap ones I’ve used in the past are just too finicky and pouring the salts off the scale is always a pain. Try to put a piece of wax paper down first then tare the scale…
A good gram scale isn’t cheap but perhaps worth the expense:
Very handy, and should get you passably close for our purposes. One caveat is that some salts are extremely hygroscopic, and will pull in water from the stmosphere. That is turn will affect their density. CaCl2 is probably the biggest concern with this - it’s what DampRid is made with, which is intended to pull moisture out of the air.
I’m curious, when adding your hops, how many teaspoons of hops do you use? I find that I need an accurate scale for more than mineral additions. There really is no substitute.
Agreed. I weigh my water additions with a grain scale, 15.4 grains to the gram. That shows me the difference even a very small amount can make. I don’t think I’d feel confident measuring by volume.
I agree with Martin and Denny that with such small amounts, weight just seems to be most accurate. But Eric has me thinking about CaCl2 - will an open bag of it begin absorbing water from the air and then weigh more per granule than an unopened bag? My current bag is probably 6 months or more old - it probably was exposed to some pretty humid conditions (especially on brew days)…any thoughts?
Same here. Think I’ll stick with what I’m doing for now.
If I had a grain scale I’d do a test but I measure hops and grains using my oz scale.
Maybe one/some of you guys with a grain scale can weigh some of your salts and report back (like weight a teaspoon and compare to the chart)?
The gradual absorption of moisture from the air is almost certain. You have a couple of options for combating that: create a CaCl2 solution and calculate the additions based on the solution strength, or bake your CaCl2 in the oven for an hour or so at 375 to 400F to drive the salt back to its anhydrous form. Of course, you need to make sure your calculations are set up for anhydrous CaCl2.
How often would you need to bake the CaCl2 to keep it roughly anhydrous, Martin ?
Good question Jon. Is it safe to just do small batch amounts each time preparing to brew?
Which gram scales do you guys use? Can you provide links?
How are you placing the salts onto the scale? Using something like a wax paper sheet or does the scale have a basket?
Anyone with an accurate and precise scale willing to weigh a teaspoon of different salts?
Dont have a link to mine, but it came up here or on homebrewfinds about 2 years ago for about $10. It measures down to .1 gram. I use a smallish light plastic measuring cup and use the scale’s tare function to zero out the cup. With 100% RO water, my water treatments are miniscule for almost everything except for gypsum in my IPA. No scientific proof behind the scale’s accuracy from me, but i have been pleased with the outcome of my brews since getting the scale and getting into water treatment with Bru’NWater. I did not do one without the other though and have no idea how I would account for .3grams of anything without the scale. Just my experience
I use a cheap one that’s pretty consistent and reliable. I use a small,lightweight plastic cup/basket that I tare out to weigh salts and hops in.
http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-0-01g-Digital-Scale/dp/B0012LOQUQ
I’ll weigh out a tsp of CaCl2 and gypsum, and post tonight, just for reference.
Most higher end scales have calibration weights.
I had a cheap $10 scale but it was way too finicky and quite frankly a piece of junk.
Looking for a better method, I just started to use teaspoons.
I’m happy with the results and haven’t had any complaints so it must be close or at least consistently inaccurate.
Mine has a 50g calibration weight.