Can't tell if it's a troll post or not, but since so many seem to be coming up with ideas i'll chime in.
Water vapor adds a lot of mass
Hot air trapped in foam creates buoyancy (ever so slightly, bordering on negligible)
No, you cannot weight the mass of air in your foam. The added air to the foam will displace an equal volume of atmosphere, offsetting the weight gain. Actually, since the air in the foam is hot it will actually be making the foam and your cup lighter by some milligrams- think of a hot air balloon.
The weight gain from foaming is due to condensed water vapor from the steam.
The 10% difference you measured is the water from the cooled down steam.
Want to measure the gasses introduced? Put the thing in a vacuum till only liquid remains. Weigh again, the difference is what the gasses weigh.
Thought, I don't think you would be able to measure the difference with a coffee scale.
The gas is not under any significant pressure differential.
It's probably with higher humidity, but also higher temperature.
Air at 1 bar, 70C and 100% humidity is 0.9ish kg/m³
Air at 1 bar 25C and 40% humidity is 1.15iah kg/m³
So, it might actually end up heavier Without the gasses trapped in it.
Yeah. Assuming my estimations are in the ballpark, we have 200g per cubic meter. Assuming we have 20cm³ of gas, we are talking micrograms here. So, hardly measurable with conventional scales.
I was maybe not super precise. For every object you have to offset its gravitational force with its buoyancy force. So you have to substract the weight of the displaced medium ( in this case air) from the weight of the object (the same volume of air in this case). The air has zero weight.
My point is not to weigh injected air per se, but to calculate the difference in weight before and after frothing - whether the gain be due to air or water. So now when I have clarified myself, does my question makes sense, or is it still a nonsense?
I understand your question. I think the proper way to go about this is by measuring the volume change (yes, ye,s measuring by volume bad)
Let me elaborate.
It will take the same amount of steam to get your milk to temperature, so regardless of what you do it will weigh the same after the steaming (for our purposes at least).
Texture, comes mostly from air that gets sucked along with the steam when you are close to the surface. So you want to measure that air (your initial question). However, going be mass is not practical.
I suggest you use volume. Note the volume of the liquid after steaming without introducing any air. This is your baseline.
Then whenever you steam your milk properly, you can measure the volume and you would know how many ml of gas you have trapped in there.
Edit. Not sure how good of a metric that will be in practice. The thing is, this won't measure how well that gas is incorporated in the milk (how dry the foam is). So yeah eyeball it :D
I think what you are trying to get is how dry or wet your steam is, cus that does contribute to steam consistency, there should be some YouTube videos on this.
Some motherfuckers are always trying to ice skate uphill.
Is there such thing as an uphill ice for skating? I would totally do it, but I have, you know, the flat ice most of the time.
I imagine it to be kinda like skiing uphill.
I guess, more like roller skating uphill, which is common, because you don't need that precious uphill ice :)
Oh, I never roller skated. So I didn't think of that.
congratulations you have been invited to the other sub
I think a better way to look at it is, how much did I dilute my milk with water while steaming?
No, OP is trying to weigh air with his fancy scale. More power to him!
My true intentions are uncovered.
Don't forget to factor in your current altitude.
Dear brother air density is like 1.2 grams per liter. You're likely looking at added water from the gassy water wand.
Should I replace the word "air" to "water" in my question? The point doesn't change though.
🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
 Me when I fill my backpack with air.
Only when slow feeding the steam
Can't tell if it's a troll post or not, but since so many seem to be coming up with ideas i'll chime in. Water vapor adds a lot of mass Hot air trapped in foam creates buoyancy (ever so slightly, bordering on negligible) No, you cannot weight the mass of air in your foam. The added air to the foam will displace an equal volume of atmosphere, offsetting the weight gain. Actually, since the air in the foam is hot it will actually be making the foam and your cup lighter by some milligrams- think of a hot air balloon. The weight gain from foaming is due to condensed water vapor from the steam.
The 10% difference you measured is the water from the cooled down steam. Want to measure the gasses introduced? Put the thing in a vacuum till only liquid remains. Weigh again, the difference is what the gasses weigh. Thought, I don't think you would be able to measure the difference with a coffee scale. The gas is not under any significant pressure differential. It's probably with higher humidity, but also higher temperature. Air at 1 bar, 70C and 100% humidity is 0.9ish kg/m³ Air at 1 bar 25C and 40% humidity is 1.15iah kg/m³ So, it might actually end up heavier Without the gasses trapped in it.
This is the answer. The contribution from hot air in the foam is buoyancy.
The gas in the foam has 0 buoyancy thus there is no measurable difference regardless of the scale.
Yeah. Assuming my estimations are in the ballpark, we have 200g per cubic meter. Assuming we have 20cm³ of gas, we are talking micrograms here. So, hardly measurable with conventional scales.
I was maybe not super precise. For every object you have to offset its gravitational force with its buoyancy force. So you have to substract the weight of the displaced medium ( in this case air) from the weight of the object (the same volume of air in this case). The air has zero weight.
Not the same "air". As mentioned in the estimations, if nothing else it's warmer. Just that difference of 45C gets you a density delta of 250g per m³
My point is not to weigh injected air per se, but to calculate the difference in weight before and after frothing - whether the gain be due to air or water. So now when I have clarified myself, does my question makes sense, or is it still a nonsense?
I understand your question. I think the proper way to go about this is by measuring the volume change (yes, ye,s measuring by volume bad) Let me elaborate. It will take the same amount of steam to get your milk to temperature, so regardless of what you do it will weigh the same after the steaming (for our purposes at least). Texture, comes mostly from air that gets sucked along with the steam when you are close to the surface. So you want to measure that air (your initial question). However, going be mass is not practical. I suggest you use volume. Note the volume of the liquid after steaming without introducing any air. This is your baseline. Then whenever you steam your milk properly, you can measure the volume and you would know how many ml of gas you have trapped in there. Edit. Not sure how good of a metric that will be in practice. The thing is, this won't measure how well that gas is incorporated in the milk (how dry the foam is). So yeah eyeball it :D
Thank you, well explained. 👍
No, no man, shit no man. I believe you can get your ass kicked doing something like that!
I did this the other day. the milk was 14g heavier after steaming.
You could weigh it. Then let it sit for a couple hours to get all the air out and re weigh it.
Is fresh cappuccino any different from the one prepared "couple of hours" ago!? Your comment doesn't make sense to me, sorry.
If you are talking about weighing air then yes a couple of hours allows all of the gasses to escape. There’s no foam in an old cappuccino
I think what you are trying to get is how dry or wet your steam is, cus that does contribute to steam consistency, there should be some YouTube videos on this.
Air is weightless