4 Best Compact Scales for Small Breweries

There’s nothing more refreshing than a perfectly brewed ale, and that’s thanks to the breweries who work hard to make it that way. For small breweries, compact balances play a big role in helping them become successful. This blog will define compact balances as well as what makes a small brewery, how compact scales can help these small breweries, and our top 4 recommendations.

What Are Compact Scales? What’s a Small Brewery?

Compact scales are scales specifically designed to provide the same functionality while taking up the least amount of room in your workspace. As you can imagine, this is ideal for small breweries that need to preserve space. The definition of “small brewery” depends on how small you’re talking about. For example, according to the IBRU Independent Brewery website, small is defined as “annual production from brewery or subsidiaries totaling less than 1.8m HL per year.” Within that range, your brewery may be defined as a craft brewery, microbrewery, etc. depending on annual production numbers.

To learn more about the different brewery sizes, check out our blog How Weighing Scales Can Help Breweries and Distilleries.

How Can Compact Scales Help Small Breweries?

Compact scales can make an enormous difference in more ways than just saving space. Below are just a few of the many ways that compact scales can benefit small breweries.

Portability

You may need multiple scales in your brewery for different purposes, but compact scales reduce the need for duplicates due to their portability. Most compact scales come fitted with a rechargeable battery, allowing them to be passed around the brewery to wherever they’re needed without worrying about wasting an electrical outlet for a charge. When compact balances can be shared between coworkers, you’ll need less to meet your demands.

Recipe Formulation and Batch Consistency

I t’s not enough for your beer to be tasty, it should also be unique so that customers can’t get the same taste anywhere else. Developing a recipe can be a tough process, but once you’re satisfied with the final product, you want each batch to be consistent. Compact scales can assist with both recipe formulation as well as batch consistency.

What does it take to make the perfect beer? With a compact scale, you’ll be able to weigh out all the necessary ingredients to a precise level, so each is in the proper proportion. When it’s time to produce the beer in bulk, these precise measurements will help guarantee that each barrel has the same consistent flavour profile, alcohol content and aroma, so your customer’s second and third pints taste just as delicious as their first.

Cost Control and Stock Management

Unfortunately, the ingredients necessary to brew beer cost money. Fortunately, since you’ll know exactly how much of any ingredient is used to brew your beer thanks to compact balances, you’ll be able to prevent over-purchasing and waste, saving you money. Purchasing only the ingredients required will have the additional benefit of making stock management much easier.

Our Top 4 Best Compact Scales for Small Breweries

1. Adam CBX Compact Bench Scale

Capacity: 1200g – 6000g

Readability: 0.1g – 1g

Adam Equipment’s CBX Compact Bench Scale features a rechargeable battery with an outstanding 200 hours of use from just one charge. There’s no need to be stuck in one place, the CBX is built for portability. The CBX is also simple to use, with little to no training necessary, saving the company time.

2. Kern EMB Compact Precision Balance

Capacity: 100g – 5.2kg

Readability: 0.001g – 5g

Just because the Kern EMB is compact doesn’t mean that it sacrifices precision. In fact, despite the EMB’s entry-level price, there are a wide variety of capacities and readabilities to choose from so you can get the desired accuracy. Its simple two-button operation means that anyone can use it and promotes focus on the applications at hand.

3. Adam LBX ‘Latitude’ Compact Bench Scale

Capacity: 3kg – 30kg

Readability: 0.5g – 5g

If you need a high-capacity scale that still saves space, the Adam LBX ‘Latitude’ Compact Bench Scale is for you. The LBX has all the benefits of a bench scale, such as checkweighing, percentage weighing and counting applications in addition to all the benefits of a compact scale. With a 240-hour battery life, you can work wherever in the brewery for weeks before needing a recharge.

4. A&D SJ-HS Compact Bench Scale

Capacity: 3kg – 30kg

Readability: 0.5g – 20g

We know convenience can be a big consideration when choosing a weighing scale, so if that’s true for you, look no further than the A&D SJ-HS Compact Bench Scale. The SJ-HS offers up to 2000 hours of battery life – that’s 250 eight-hour workdays! Not only that, the SJ-HS boasts a settling time of below 1 second, meaning none of your time will be wasted with this scale.  

5. Bonus - Adam ABW-S Aqua Stainless Steel Waterproof Scale

Capacity: 4kg – 32kg

Readability: 0.1g – 2g

Although not technically a 'compact scale' compared to the models in this list, the ABW-S is nevertheless worth a special mention due to its continuing popularity with breweries. With IP68 protection, a 0.1g accuracy option and a capacity option of 32kg (perfect for weighing those 30kg bags), it's easy to see why. And, compared to many scales, the ABW-S Waterproof Scale is compact - it easily fits on a bench top, taking up minimal space.

Do you have any questions about which scale is best for your small brewery? Contact the Inscale team.