Recommendations for new Home Enthusiasts

Tips and Tricks: for new Home Enthusiasts

If you’re already familiar with the basics of your scale (such as turning it on/off and switching modes), this article will you give you a more in-depth look at your scale’s capabilities and how to care for it properly.

Charging Capabilities

Any charging block with an output of 5 volts and 1 amp is good to use with any of our scales.

There are a lot of "fast-charger" blocks sold at electronics stores that have a high amp output that is good for charging something like a cell phone very quickly. These blocks are not the best for our scales. To get the most life and use out of your scale, use a charging block at or under the recommended specifications.

It's only necessary to charge a scale once or twice a week. A fully charged battery will last for about 25 hours of constant use, which takes about a week or so. It is not recommended to let the battery run out completely before charge.

Protecting your Scale

 There are a number of ways of protecting your scale and keeping it to the best of its ability.

When creating longer brews such as pour-overs, we recommend using the heat pad that is provided in the scale’s box. The heat from longer brews can directly affect the accuracy of the load beam, which is the mechanism that makes our scales so precise. As well as affecting the load beam, the exposure to heat can shorten the life of your scale. The heat pad will also protect from potential scratches to the surface.

Be careful inserting the charging micro USB into the port of most of our scales, as not to damage it. A damaged USB port can result in difficulties charging your scale. For the Pearl 2021, there is a USB-C port that has a different shape. 

For extra scale protection, you can purchase fortified bases for the Lunar scale and extra protective film for the Pearl series scales.

When traveling with your scale when you want to make some good coffee while you’re out and about, we highly recommend protecting your scale with one of our carry cases, which are reinforced and designed with our scale’s shape and needs in mind.

Modes

All of our scales have several manual and auto-start modes. These modes are designed specifically with brewing pour-over (Pearl series) and espresso (Lunar and Pyxis) in mind. Learn how to adjust and toggle modes and settings to your workflow. 

Calibration

We recommend calibrating your scale once you have it out of the box, and once every two weeks thereafter depending on the amount that it is used. This prevents possible drift during your coffee measurements. As a home barista, it’s likely that your scale will not travel around too much and will have a ‘home’ base. All of our scales work best on a stable, solid surface. However, if you would like to travel around with your scale its recommended to ‘smart calibrate’ your Pearl or Lunar at each new location you put it in.

If you find your scale is still drifting after smart calibration, contact us at support@acaia.co on how to diagnose the issue.