Marking your brew pot

alee · 03-29-2009, 01:49 AM

I used my 9 gal stainless brew pot for my first all grain this afternoon. Because I wanted to know when I was at my target 6.5 gal wort level and then my 5 gal target level, I did a little search and found this website for calculating the depth of liquid for a particular volume and radius pot.
Cylinder Calculator
You will have to convert gallons required to cubic inches (multiply by 231) to get the required depth in inches.
I then took a blunt screwdriver and hammered a very slight indentation on the outside of the pot at both the 6.5 and 5 gallon marks so that is showed though on the inside of the pot. It saves measuing with liquid and wasting water!
Hopefully someone will find this useful.

newbeerpig · 03-29-2009, 03:23 AM

Very useful, dang math though... will be very useful for my new kettle because it doesn't have any marks inside.

GunnerMan · 03-29-2009, 03:31 AM

I just measured my pot like you did and found a gallon = 2.1 inches or so in my pot, so I took a yard stick and put marks every 2.1 inches. I did this on each of my pots on each end of the stick.

McKBrew · 03-29-2009, 03:33 AM

You guys are too smart.

I just poured in a gallon at a time and marked the stick after each one.

beesy · 03-29-2009, 04:43 AM

very nice......however I just want to throw another comment in.

I it would be interesting to see how well you math measures up to the fill and mark method due to differences in abilities to accurately measure the radius of your pot. I would think unless you had a very large set of calipers or other fine measuring device, you could be off a little. Also, ever notice most pots are not perfectly vertical? This will also throw your measure off because the distance between marks becomes less as you read the caudal side of the pot (smaller diameter at bottom than top) as most are tapered slightly out as they are pressed into shape and this allowed the die to come out of the pressed pot easier. Just something to think about....

alee · 03-29-2009, 10:23 AM

My five gallon mark was pretty darned accurate. I measured 5 gallons of water into my 6 gallon carboy and marked the outside with permanent ink. My 5 gal of wort filled the carboy really close to the mark.
I was really just shooting for an estimate. My pot looks pretty straight to me. Also, I just measured the diameter and divided by 2!

GunnerMan · 03-29-2009, 02:13 PM

Yeah you will be off a bit but the day I cause my self to go through enough stress to make sure my volumes are accurate to the 1/20th of a gallon is the day I quit brewing. I measured my marks to at the 1 and 2 gallon for accuracy and they were fine. My ag batch last night yeilded the perfect amount so I think I am ok.

Matt Up North · 03-29-2009, 04:17 PM

Home depot, get a dowel for a buck, measure 5 gallons into the pot, stick the dowel in and mark it. Then add a gallon and mark that, and so on and so on. Best buck you have spent

**ryan0914** · 05-19-2011, 03:00 AM

Another formula to figure this out so you will know the exact measurement

(h)=(3.1414)x(radius of your pot)^2x(volume/231)

"Volume"- 1 gal,2 gal 3 gal... the volume you want to know the height of..(usually use 1 for the height of 1 gal)

"231"- the formula is for cubic inches and there are 231 cu/in in 1 gal so that converts to gal

"h"- height in inches your looking for. (usually use 1)
this is to find how many inches

**bruin_ale** · 05-19-2011, 03:06 AM

Yeah, dip stick is great and basically free (did that for years) - but a sightglass is so much nicer. If you're doing all grain, it should be required. Much easier to just watch the liquid level drop on a sightglass to tell how much water you moved from HLT to mash.