thedude123

Recipes 

How do you measure the pre-boil volume? do you put marks on your kettle? I just did my first AG batch and i didn't plan out how i was going to measure this so I just estimated. My next batch I would like to me exact, so I was wondering what the best way of doing this would be.

SporkD2

Recipes 

I made marks every .5 gallons on my mash stirrer. When it gets close, I stick it into the boil kettle until I get my desired pre-boil

MNBugeater

Recipes 

Depending on your vessel, there are some nice sight tube options.

If you have a thermometer in use, you could add a tee fitting to it and add a simple sight tube. You can make these pretty easy, but they aren't all that expensive to buy. $15 or so

The other commonly used option as mentioned above is marking your stir spoon/paddle. Or even building a gauge. A simple 1/2" -1" wooden dowel from the hardware store would suffice. Notch it or mark it in .5 gallon increments. Then just place it in your kettle as it fills up.

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Kauai_Kahuna

Recipes 

I use my stir spoon, anything that can be cleaned and marked will work. High tech answers can always get high tech and expensive. What ever works for you.

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Brew-boy

Recipes 

A+ For the spoon with markings cheap easy and I don't need to buy anything.

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Yooper

Recipes 

I've marked the outside of my sparge kettle and my boil kettle. I used pink nail polish, and it's been there for at least a couple of years.

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ajf

Recipes 

I use the spoon, but with a twist. Instead of sticking the spoon in the wort I just touch the top of the wort with the end of the handle, and measure the distance to the rim of the kettle. That way, by spoon doesn't get all sticky.
You could also use bathroom scales and the hydrometer if your scale is accurate.

-a.

bull8042

Recipes 

I guess the "dudes" should use blue nail polish though, right?

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MikeG

Recipes 

I've got a feeling you don't use the plastic bucket fermenters but mine are marked so I use that fill line to measure my water amount and just transfer to the brewing pot from there.