Author Topic: Measuring yeast weight (Read 4578 times)

Tripper · « **on:** January 30, 2015, 07:40:14 PM »

Hello,

Newby. I was making Tom L NY recipe. I picked up a Taylor food scale for about $30 bucks. Measures to 1 gram. Recipe called for 1.3 grams.

Picked up a 3-pack of Red Star IDY. Label says: 'NET WT. 7g - 1/4 oz'. Each packet contains 7 grams, right?

Wrong - at least according to my food scale. The way it weighed out, the packet contained about 2.5 grams of yeast. (The salt and sugar weighed out fine).

The dough balls are in the refrigerator now. I guess I'll find out tomorrow if I tripled the yeast measurement.

Can any vet help me out? 'Weighing' in on this would be appreciated.

Tripper

mitchjg · « **Reply #1 on:** January 30, 2015, 08:21:35 PM »

If your scale measures to 1 gram, then you cannot know (using the scale) that the yeast weight 2.5 grams. Am I missing something.

Trust the Red Start packet weight. It is very standard and standardized. I assume the 3 pack looks like the picture below and each packet says 7 grams / 0.25 ounces. Then, yes, each packet weight is 7 grams. Anything is possible, like a big time manufacturing/packing glitch - I would guess, however, you are not measuring correctly.

You can also measure with measuring spoons. 1 teaspoon is right about 3 grams. So, 1.3 grams/3 grams is .43 teaspoons - right in between 3/8 teaspoon and 1/2. Should be close enough.

PrimeRib · « **Reply #2 on:** January 30, 2015, 09:21:22 PM »

An easy way is to pour the pack of yeast onto a sheet of white paper. Then using a butter knife or card divide the yeast into approximately seven parts. Then divide one part into three further parts.

Chicago Bob · « **Reply #3 on:** January 30, 2015, 10:12:34 PM »

Quote from: PrimeRib on January 30, 2015, 09:21:22 PM

An easy way is to pour the pack of yeast onto a sheet of white paper. Then using a butter knife or card divide the yeast into approximately seven parts. Then divide one part into three further parts.

TXCraig1 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 30, 2015, 10:21:36 PM »

Dissolve 1 packet (7g) in 93g water. Each 1g of the resulting liquid will have 0.07g yeast. Use 19g of the liquid = 1.3g yeast (1.33g to be precise).

theppgcowboy · « **Reply #5 on:** January 31, 2015, 05:25:26 PM »

Amazon sells small scales that measure 10th gram and cost about 10. We saw a special once and got two for $8 and the shipping was included. They work great.

David Esq. · « **Reply #6 on:** February 01, 2015, 02:31:19 PM »

1/4 tsp usually hits 1 gram for my instant yeast. But, you can't really accurately measure such small amounts as .3 grams. If your scale measures in resolution of .1 grams it is probably advertised as accurate to +/- .05, which could put you at 17% more or less than you want.

Gregg's method works better because you are measuring multiple grams instead of a fraction of 1, it so the margin for error is smaller as a percentage of the scale's resolution. I don't know how one knows when the yeast is fully dissolved and theoretically evenly distributed in the solution. Or how one knows it is ever evenly distributed versus being more concentrated in one area of the container versus another.

But, consistency is usually more important than accuracy unless you are constantly changing formula.

Not sure using 5x the yeast needed to get a potentially more accurate measurement is worthwhile. And if you bake a lot you aren't buying yeast in packets so won't have a supposedly accurate base of 7 grams to work with.

spacetrucker · « **Reply #7 on:** February 07, 2015, 01:41:28 PM »

I spent more for my scale, like $40 but it is .01 g accuracy, I use a coffee filter then tare weight it, and measure from there to get the very small amounts, all this coming from a guy who used to use a double hand full of flour and a fist full of lard and a sprinkle of salt to make tortillas.....

Reefkeep · « **Reply #8 on:** February 01, 2019, 06:24:12 AM »

Quote from: TXCraig1 on January 30, 2015, 10:21:36 PM

Dissolve 1 packet (7g) in 93g water. Each 1g of the resulting liquid will have 0.07g yeast. Use 19g of the liquid = 1.3g yeast (1.33g to be precise).

That’s very helpful!

Can I assume you include the 19 grams as part of your hydration \ water %?

ARenko · « **Reply #9 on:** February 01, 2019, 09:47:01 AM »

I hope you're planning to get a more accurate scale in the future. I got this one from Amazon and it works great...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003STEIYY/?tag=pmak-20

I also got this weight for calibration...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ULILIK/?tag=pmak-20

p.d.clue · « **Reply #10 on:** February 01, 2019, 11:33:55 AM »

I use this one with no issues:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007X64HPS?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_pd_title

TXCraig1 · « **Reply #11 on:** February 01, 2019, 01:26:39 PM »

Quote from: Reefkeep on February 01, 2019, 06:24:12 AM

That’s very helpful!

Can I assume you include the 19 grams as part of your hydration \ water %?

Yes, actually 17.7g water. The other 1.3g is yeast.

MadMatt · « **Reply #12 on:** February 01, 2019, 03:15:15 PM »

I use cheap 0.01g pocket scales from ebay

I've had two because I dropped one at it broke

2nd one doesn't work as well (slow) but seems accurate enough

I also have some Tanita kitchen scales for measuring larger ingredients (up to 3kg) it has a mode that does 0.1g up to 300g so if I wanted i can get away with just using that.

enchant · « **Reply #13 on:** February 01, 2019, 03:44:06 PM »

I also got a cheap jeweler's scale from ebay. Reads to .01g. $6 shipped.

https://www.ebay.com/i/292940198680?chn=ps

wotavidone · « **Reply #14 on:** February 02, 2019, 12:55:36 AM »

Try no to get too techno.
I think the best advice in this thread so far is dump your 7g sachet out and split it into roughly equal portions until you get down to approximately the desired weight.

Speaking of weighing to very precise resolutions, I've got one of these.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/392196144985

I used it for weighing gold prills to the nearest 0.2 micrograms. 1.3g of yeast would actually be too heavy for it.

wiz_d_kidd · « **Reply #15 on:** February 02, 2019, 02:49:33 PM »

I, too, have a scale that only measures 1 gm, and it's not very consistent at low weights. What I do is measure the weight of many teaspoons of yeast, being careful to level off each tsp with a knife. Keep adding precise teaspoons of yeast until you get into the 20-40gm region. Say it took 10 tsp to get you to 30 gm, so you know the weight is 3gm/tsp (which is what I measured for my SAF IDY). So your 1.3 gm yeast recipe would require a scant 1/2 tsp. As long as I'm using the same batch of IDY (I bought a 1lb bag), I can just use the volume (i.e. tsp) measurement instead of the weight measurement. Don't try this with flour, though!

Reefkeep · « **Reply #16 on:** February 03, 2019, 08:06:35 AM »

Many ways to skin this cat... Very kewl, if you want to use the volume way the following link has a yeast teaspoon to grams converter...

https://www.traditionaloven.com/culinary-arts/baking/dry-instant-yeast/convert-tea-spoon-tsp-to-gram-g-of-instant-yeast.html

Thanks for all the help,

Chris

tommydgun · « **Reply #17 on:** March 05, 2020, 08:26:59 PM »

so my issue is that i bought a scale that measures 3,000g by 0.1g units, but it wont measure from 0g - 0.3g... the scale doesnt start giving a number greater than 0 until 0.4g. how the heck was i supposed to know that? lol it doesnt say anywhere! Anyone know of a scale that will reliably measure 0.2g? I only make dough for 2-3 pizzas tops per week so i am always using very small amounts of yeast and it is SO frustrating!!!

HansB · « **Reply #18 on:** March 05, 2020, 09:09:39 PM »

After trying two others I bought this one four years ago and would buy it again: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ME8VI34/?tag=pmak-20

amolapizza · « **Reply #19 on:** March 06, 2020, 04:26:12 AM »

Scales.. Something one could get upset about..

There is one trick that might help you. If you disolve 1g of yeast in 99g of water, each g/ml of the resulting solution will contain approximately 0.01g yeast. If you replace 20g of the water in your formula with this solution you ought to have just about 0.2g of yeast.