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Permalink Reply by Jason Dominy on June 3, 2009 at 4:28pm

I picked up a good, cheap gram scale at IKEA this weekend. It's called the ORDNING, and the link is here:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20018198
Used it for several days, and it seems to be pretty good and accurate. Was $25.00.

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Permalink Reply by Chandler Rentz on June 3, 2009 at 5:56pm

I prefer something like this: http://www.espressoparts-usa.com/product/ESCALI_PR100S

it's very accurate (.05 g increments). I use this when testing barista's dosing habits for certification. You do have to pop the basket out though. Espressoparts has another scale that's similar, made by Tanita... check it.

... but I really like this one because you can put the whole portafilter on it and it still measures in .1g increments.

http://www.americanweigh.com/product_info.php?cPath=25&products...

The only drag about it so far is that when using battery power it turns off really fast. You tare the PF, start dosing and it turns off right as you're coming back to weigh. I'm ordering the power adapter in hopes that it will stay on longer before energy saver kicks in. It does drift occasionally too... but only by a 10th of a gram. For $60 it's pretty damn good. You could probably get something more stable but you'd pay much more for it... this one works just fine.

The main thing you want is something that has the range to weigh up to 1000g but still has small increments (.1g is good enough). Most portafilters weigh anywhere from 600-800g. In a cafe setting I wouldn't want to be popping out baskets all the time. (unless you have ridgeless baskets that don't require a lot of hassle to pop out, of course).

too much info? I tend to ramble.

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Permalink Reply by Mike McGinness on June 3, 2009 at 6:44pm

My shop uses ridgeless baskets and all PF's nekkid which makes popping out the basket easy, for me. But I'd still recommend a scale that will handle the entire PF with basket. While it's a not problem for me to pop the basket from a hot nekkid PF to check build weight periodically, it's not as easy for some of my baristi with more delicate fingers. And yes not speculation, I get to hear their complaining about it!

Definitely agree not to weigh each shot, way not practical, except during training of course. But it is a very good practice for any and every one to periodically spot check their dosage consistency.

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Permalink Reply by Jacob Casella on June 4, 2009 at 8:51am

Thanks for the suggestions, folks, I appreciate it.

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