Scale weirdness

[holyfeld]

Help out a home boy.

I have a kitchen scale. Supposed to be very accurate according to other people. Recently my wife came home with a 2# tri-tip. I had the scale out, and weighed it. Either the store ripped us off or my scale was inaccurate. It weighed about 1.5#. I'm getting ready to make some sausage today so I brought out the scale, put a container on it, tared, and added water. My thinking ... an ounce of water by volume should weigh one ounce. 

Water (oz)	Scale Display
4	2 1/8 oz
8	4 1/2 oz
12	6 1/4 oz
16	8 1/2 oz
20	10 1/2 oz
24	12 3/8 oz
28	14 3/8 oz
32	1# 0 1/2 oz
48	1# 8 3/4 oz
56	2# 0 3/8 oz
64	2# 8 5/8 oz
72	2# 15 7/8 oz
80	3# 7 1/2 oz
88	3# 15 /12 oz
5 lbs of flour in bag	4# 7 1/2 oz

The scale has an 11 # capacity. I am using tap water at room temperature at 3000', not distilled water at 39 deg at sea level.

Either my thinking or scale is off. Actually they could both be off.

Suggestions?

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Honestly the only way to tell if your scale is off is to get a set of calibration weights. Good scales should have a calibration mode that allows you to, get this, calibrate the scale using the weights.

I have quite often bought meats and they do not weigh what the sticker says. Never had one be 1/2 pound off though.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Also 16 fluid ounces of room temperature water weighs 1.04 pounds, so 1 fluid ounce would weigh .065 pounds.

 

[mosparky]

 
Also a fluid ounce of room temperature water weighs 1.04 pounds, so 1 fluid ounce would weigh .065 pounds.

???...Wanna try that again ? Either I'm really tired or somebody is thinking faster than typing.

 

[daveomak]

If you are trying to weigh small amounts, like cure #1 or spices, you might think about a scale that weighs in grams and is 0-100 grams full scale...   100 grams is about 1/4 #...   or ~4 oz..... 

Sounds like your scale is off and like Dirstsailor noted, some calibration weights would be good....  Check to make sure it has a calibration mode... 

If you are friendly with your butcher...  You could have him weigh up some clean rocks....  write the weight on them with a sharpie... then you can check your scale....    I have a tin can seamer and made tins weighing different amounts and had the butcher weigh them out....   works very good....

 

[krj]

I'd definitely start by checking the calibration. Dave's idea is a nice inexpensive route, but you can also buy a decent set of calibration weights in a case on Amazon for $20.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

???...Wanna try that again ? Either I'm really tired or somebody is thinking faster than typing.

Yep sorry, I edited the post. 16 fluid ounces = 1.04 pounds...

 

[mosparky]

It's all good. I.d be lying if I said I haven't done worse.