[ynotbrusum]

Nah, you'd just have to drip water into your teaspoon until you hit 4.93 grams on your scale (or you overflowed your teaspoon).  Better yet just weigh 4.93 grams of water and pour it into your teaspoon to see if it fits!  Getting the teaspoon to stay level might be interesting though...

And hold the water at 3.98°C throughout...

Yeah, there is that aspect involved here, too....crap.

[thelastdamnbatch]

Nah, you'd just have to drip water into your teaspoon until you hit 4.93 grams on your scale (or you overflowed your teaspoon).  Better yet just weigh 4.93 grams of water and pour it into your teaspoon to see if it fits!  Getting the teaspoon to stay level might be interesting though...

And hold the water at 3.98°C throughout...

Yeah, there is that aspect involved here, too....crap.

No wonder teaspoons are so expensive...  might have to bust out the differential calculus and get the precise volume of it too...

What type of neutral filler (if any) could be put into gypsum?

Is it worth seeking out stuff labeled "pharmaceutical" or "food grade" - 99.9% pure.  I'm sure that's what they're selling us at the LHBS!?!?

[denny]

Jon, thanks for the fact checking on this. I think my lazy ass will keep breaking out the scale for my salt additions from here on in.

THIS^^^^just say no to volume measurements and always weigh.  You can pick up a diet scale so cheap there's no reason not to.

[thelastdamnbatch]

I think (or at least hope) there's a lot of sarcasm in this thread, though it would be interesting to know the purity of the salts sold and perhaps the cause of the discrepancies in volumes.

[Stevie]

Weighing is just a better method of measuring in this case. Bakers and pour over coffee drinking hipsters weigh their ingredients for the same reason.

I'd wager the main cause is gypsum could be compacted and Epsom salt or calcium chloride have all sorts of shapes and sizes. Calcium chloride also has the whole sucking up moisture issue.

[thelastdamnbatch]

Still curious about the filler thing though...

It's probably not worth seeking out product specifically labeled as "99.9% or 100%" pure.

[Stevie]

I think it is a non-issue.

[denny]

I think it is a non-issue.

Agreed.  Is there any evidence there are fillers used?

[thelastdamnbatch]

The reason fillers came up is because the weight of a teaspoon of gypsum was called into question, it varies between several different sources and even the infamous "How To Brew".  Thus the joke about the inaccurate teaspoon... one would think the weights would be fairly close for something like gypsum which is in powder form, the counter was that Calcium Chloride in bead form was almost dead on accurate.

Just to be clear, I'm not advocating using volumes or finding "pure" salts nor do I require any further response on the topic, it was all pretty much in good fun.  If someone wants to investigate it further and report back that's fine (absolutely not necessary!) but I don't know how to scientifically determine the purity of gypsum.

[Stevie]

Gypsum can be compacted.

[thelastdamnbatch]

Gypsum can be compacted.

Absolutely but can 11 grams of gypsum be compacted into a teaspoon?  Most sources say about 4 grams per teaspoon. 

Anyone with a gram scale willing to try it?  Again, if you try it this is just for fun it's not serious!!

[denny]

The reason fillers came up is because the weight of a teaspoon of gypsum was called into question, it varies between several different sources and even the infamous "How To Brew".  Thus the joke about the inaccurate teaspoon... one would think the weights would be fairly close for something like gypsum which is in powder form, the counter was that Calcium Chloride in bead form was almost dead on accurate.

Just to be clear, I'm not advocating using volumes or finding "pure" salts nor do I require any further response on the topic, it was all pretty much in good fun.  If someone wants to investigate it further and report back that's fine (absolutely not necessary!) but I don't know how to scientifically determine the purity of gypsum.

It seems like concluding there are fillers is kind of a stretch.

[thelastdamnbatch]

It seems like concluding there are fillers is kind of a stretch.

It was a sarcastic conclusion!  Fun!  Weee!!  Yayyyy!  Wow!!! Yipppeeee!!! Yahooo!!!

When did home-brewing become a serious endeavor?

Since they started handing out medals!

You want a medal for that?

[Stevie]

Gypsum can be compacted.

Absolutely but can 11 grams of gypsum be compacted into a teaspoon?  Most sources say about 4 grams per teaspoon. 

Anyone with a gram scale willing to try it?  Again, if you try it this is just for fun it's not serious!!

Possibly a typo? 1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons. That is close enough for me to think typo.

Scooped and leveled = 4.1g
Scooped and packed with my thumb then leveled = 5.6
36.5% increase is enough of a variance to recommend not using volume to measure small amounts of salts.

[thelastdamnbatch]

Gypsum can be compacted.

Absolutely but can 11 grams of gypsum be compacted into a teaspoon?  Most sources say about 4 grams per teaspoon. 

Anyone with a gram scale willing to try it?  Again, if you try it this is just for fun it's not serious!!

Possibly a typo? 1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons. That is close enough for me to think typo.

Scooped and leveled = 4.1g
Scooped and packed with my thumb then leveled = 5.6
36.5% increase is enough of a variance to recommend not using volume to measure small amounts of salts.

The numbers speak for themselves, unless that's the incorrect density of gypsum.

2.32 g/cm3 (dihydrate)
1 tsp = 4.92892 cm3
4.92892cm3/tsp * 2.32g/cm3 = 11.4g/tsp