Volume vs weight

I was asked this question and I’d like to hear the community response.

How does the process differ weight vs volume? Are syringes still needed? Why is it more precise? Thanks

I’ve only just gotten my scale yesterday, but I’ll weigh in (ha ha).

With volume you could be using graduated cylinders, syringes, or graduated pipettes to do your measuring. Your accuracy is as good as the markings on the devices and your knowledge of how to use them. There is a correct technique for both. Measure from the bottom of the meniscus in a cylinder or graduated pipette. But you must measure from the outermost edge of the rubber plunger tip in a syringe. With syringes you also cannot have air bubbles and you must resist the urge to eject that “leftover bit” in the tip/needle. You also want separate syringes or pipettes for each ingredient to prevent cross contamination.

Quite a handful, eh?

With weight most people are using digital scales with a tare button. The accuracy is as good as the accuracy of the device. There’s a lot less hassle if using dropper bottles, but you’ll still need something to transfer your liquid from its container to the bottle if it doesn’t have a dropper, so a pipette or syringe is useful then, but otherwise unnecessary. Measuring by weight should be a lot easier to do correctly since you have to be pretty, um, remarkable to come up with a wrong technique for reading a digital scale.

There’s also a bit when mixing by weight about specific gravity and temperature that I don’t really want to go into. But it can throw off accuracy a bit too if your technique is inconsistent.

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@zigz Made awesome points and explained things very well.

Another thing for me changing from volume to weight mixing was… ARthritis.
My arthritis is a killer after using syringes. I just don’t do them anymore at all.

My scales. I love them. No mess. No fuss.

Mixing by weight is LESS PAINFUL all the way around. lol

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