Marking your brewpot for volume! How do you do it?

So I have a 40qt SS pot and I have used it once for AG. I want to be able to know what my boil volume is and short of using a graduated stick, how can I go about marking my pot for easily veiwing my quantity? Does anyone use smaller collection pots to measure their volume prior to adding it to the brew pot? Just looking for the most efficient method.

Appreciate all comments and advice.

Salute!

Used the stick method until I got a keggle and then installed a sight glass with some sharpie markings on it. A sight glass from bargain fittings or Bobby_M is not very expensive to put on your pot. I have also notched markings into a plastic stir spoon as well.

first placed the pot on a level surface. i measured a gallon of water at a time, by weight, for the best accuracy. pour into the pot. mark the level with a sharpie. the sharpie marks stay intact for a surprisingly long time. every other use or two, i just remark before it wears off.
i intend to carefully measure the distance from the top, transfer measurement to the outside, then use a punch and hammer (with a block of wood on the inside) to put a permanent dimple there.

I used a one gallon jug to fill my old pot. At each gallon just put a mark with a Sharpie on the out side and label them. Worked like a champ.

I am currently using a Blichmann that has a built in sight glass, which made life easier this time.

I just cut lines into my plastic stir spoon with a sharp knife.

I use this guy.
Bargain Fittings


Easy to install. added marks with a perminate marker every half galon
I used black for full galon, and red for half marks.

I use a measuring stick. I feel like it's a moot point anyway because the time that I most want to accurately measure the volume is right before I transfer to the fermenter, and the chiller is always in there screwing up the measurement then.

weirdboy said:

I use a measuring stick. I feel like it's a moot point anyway because the time that I most want to accurately measure the volume is right before I transfer to the fermenter, and the chiller is always in there screwing up the measurement then.

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Cut lines into a plastic spoon (or similar) for each gallon while the chiller is in there.

+1 for the measuring stick.
I found an 1/4" x 3 ft AL rod at the homedepot for a few bucks. Added a gallon at a time to the kettle and used a cheap triangular file to etch a notch into the stick. - easy to read and will never wear out. It makes it very easy to guestimate less than gallon amounts. You worry-worts can find some SS if you feel the need.
Carry on
Jason

I just made this last week while mashing. It just came to me...


2 quart measurements...surprise, it's a 6.5 gallon pot and not a 7 like I thought!

Arkador said:

I use this guy.
Bargain Fittings

Easy to install. added marks with a perminate marker every half galon
I used black for full galon, and red for half marks.

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+1... Good stuff from them... Have one on my E-HLT...

Nice guy to deal with as well...

:rockin:

Did you mark the levels cold or after the water was boiling?

Its just that I noticed that the other day when I was doing an extract in a small pot that as the water was approaching boil the level rose at least an inch probably closer to two inches. this was just water nothing else in there.

I mean I know why and all that, but I normally use my big keggle and never noticed it before. and is probably why it always seemed like I was a bit short on volume after tansfering to fermentor.

The level was at the 5 gall mark, but when it cooled it was really already past the 5 gall mark. never really checked levels again after crash cooling, but next time I will just to see how much of a change it really is.

I have two wooden dowels, one marked w/o the IC, the other marked w/ the IC.

I didn't bother to mark them while the water was hot. I'm not going for 100% accuracy, I just want a general idea of where things are.

Personally, I try to work by the SG more than the wort quantity anyway.

My 15 gallon pot is 16 inches deep, so I just use my measure, and assume about an inch per gallon... I really need to check that a bit more accurately though!

maybe it's the anal engineer in me, but i prefer to take a bit more care and time to set up my system to have maximum accuracy so any sloppiness in my actual using it will have less of an effect.
1. how are you measuring that gallon of water that you are pouring in before you mark each gallon? by weight(my preference)? in a graduated cylinder? somewhere near the top of an old milk jug?
2. is the cylinder and the pot sitting on a level surface? a slight sloe of the surface can make a difference. (this is an issue for me because my house is 80 years old. marbles always end up at one end of the room. my driveway where i brew is even more sloped.)
3. if you use a dowel or other dipstick, does your pot have a flat bottom? (mine doesn't)

eelpout said:

Did you mark the levels cold or after the water was boiling?

Its just that I noticed that the other day when I was doing an extract in a small pot that as the water was approaching boil the level rose at least an inch probably closer to two inches. this was just water nothing else in there.

I mean I know why and all that, . . .

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i don't understand how boiling can change the volume significantly, aside from some of the water evaporating off. the level might rise because of the bubbling, but why would you want to measure it then?
i would generally want measurement marks when the pot and water is cold.

sharpstick said:

i don't understand how boiling can change the volume significantly, aside from some of the water evaporating off. the level might rise because of the bubbling, but why would you want to measure it then?
i would generally want measurement marks when the pot and water is cold.

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Someone hasn't had chemistry in a while. Put a pot of cold water filled to the rim on your stove and turn the heat on. Gonna get messy way before the boil....

sharpstick said:

i don't understand how boiling can change the volume significantly, aside from some of the water evaporating off. the level might rise because of the bubbling, but why would you want to measure it then?
i would generally want measurement marks when the pot and water is cold.

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Liquid water will expand by ~4.1 percent when heated from 20 deg C to 100 deg C. Depending on the dimensions of your kettle, this could lead to the surface rising at least a half inch (for a 15 in tall kettle). The numbers might be trickier but I would expect that any bubbles of water vapor that are moving around (rising to the surface) in the kettle will also slightly raise the surface since they are much less dense (but are compressible, so I'm not sure how much, probably depends on how vigorous the boil is).
From the Water Wiki:
Temp Density
deg C (kg/m^3)
+100 958.4
+80 971.8
+60 983.2
+40 992.2
+30 995.6502
+25 997.0479
+22 997.7735
+20 998.2071
+15 999.1026
+10 999.7026
+4 999.9720
0 999.8395
−10 998.117
−20 993.547
−30 983.854

Just my opinion but I would heat up the water in whatever kettle your are using and then mark the graduations.
I had a converted keg that I installed a sight glass in and made the mistake of marking the graduations cold. Once I heated up the water the volume was incorrect. I was using this measurement for sparge water and wanted to be precise.
Just my 0.2cents

Poobah58 said:

Someone hasn't had chemistry in a while. Put a pot of cold water filled to the rim on your stove and turn the heat on. Gonna get messy way before the boil....

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this isn't exactly chemistry, more like physics.
why would anyone fill to the brim except to demonstrate this property of water? i didn't realize water would expand as much as 4%. i've always measured water volume at ambient temperature.
this is a good thing to remember if i ever need to determine volume of hot wort though.
all the more reason to have accurate markings in the first place.

I'm a simpleton so I just marked a long bamboo skewer (oh yea...I'm cheap too!) with a sharpie. I filled the kettle (which is just a big pot) one gallon at a time (room temp) and marked it. Just happened to turn out that the skewer was exactly '8 gallons' long (my kettle is only 8 gallons).

If I'm at sparge temp I multiply the measured volume by .97...if I'm near boiling I multiply by .96.

I never measure the volume in the kettle after the boil starts...I've calculated everything and my final volume should be spot on...I'll do the final measurement in the glass carboy (also marked with a sharpie).

If your kettle is not level...as long as you measure right in the center of the pot it won't matter (assuming a flat bottom).

1. how are you measuring that gallon of water that you are pouring in before you mark each gallon? by weight(my preference)? in a graduated cylinder? somewhere near the top of an old milk jug?

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I used an old milk jug with a mark on it...I made the mark by weighing though. One thing I did discover was that the factory markings on my TrueBrew buckets were WAY off (and not consistent in error).

I still have quite a few weldless sightglass kits in stock, all stainless, simple, etc, etc, marketing jargon. link down there\

Nothing that special. Just mark the mash paddle at gallon intervals with a Sharpie. When the mark fades enough, I redo it.

<sarcasm> Wow, water expands by up to 4%, and the unwashed plebs without recent chemistry and/or physics instruction are chumps for being off in their measurements by as much as a quart on a 6 gallon boil. The horror. The horror. </sarcasm>

I drilled small holes in my mash paddle... at .5 gallon increments.

Doesnt wear off, measures accurately enough for HBing

Killinger said:

<sarcasm> Wow, water expands by up to 4%, and the unwashed plebs without recent chemistry and/or physics instruction are chumps for being off in their measurements by as much as a quart on a 6 gallon boil. The horror. The horror. </sarcasm>

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does the "sarcasm" tag make it acceptable to act rude?

sharpstick said:

does the "sarcasm" tag make it acceptable to act rude?

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Yes



of course it does

sharpstick said:

does the "sarcasm" tag make it acceptable to act rude?

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Sorry, dude, meant to defend you, not offend.

Trying, further, to say 4% isn't the end of the world.

So, whether you set your readings at ambient or near boil, things like evaporation rate that you can neither accurately (to within a quart) predict nor control make a precise measurement of your wort volume somewhat less important.

sharpstick said:

this isn't exactly chemistry, more like physics.

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Is there really a difference?

Huge.



one is physical science, one is chemical compostion, really

Synovia said:

Is there really a difference?

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Chemistry is just physics simplified with a LOT of assumptions

I just marked my measuring stick today. I originally marked a super heavy duty stainless grilling spatula but found it to be very inaccurate from the cooking liquid measuring cup I used to find volumes. I now have a volumetric flask that is accurate to within 0.6ml so I thought that would do better.

Anyways I marked both a wooden down rod and old racking cane every half gallon. My efficiency calculation will be on the spot now.

Lots of ideas and opinions submitted here and I appreciate them all. I think I am going to go the route of heating my water and marking the levels on a stainless rod. I can then remove water in measured increments and mark the lower volumes accurately. I have graduated beakers and jugs as well as a digital scale.

I know I am just HBing, but I am anal about what I do when I make my wine and beer, so I want it to be as close to perfect as my inexperienced self can get it.

Thanks to all for the input.

Salute!

Umm, so like, I had a piece of scrap aluminum in my trash pile. I didn't take great care to ensure a completely level pot...no...but it doesn't matter since when I measure the wort, it'll be close to level but not exact anyway. I measured 2Quarts at a time with a pitcher, while cold.

The measurements I get are far more accurate than eye-balling, and this is what I'm shooting for.

Did I mention it was free?

Synovia said:

Is there really a difference?

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from xkcd - A Webcomic - Oregon



B

Picked up a SS rod at work and then filed marks into it a given volumes of liquid. I did this with cold volumes and I know there is expansion due to higher temperatures, but my main concern is final volume into the primary.

Someday I will install a sight glass, a ball valve and a thermometer in my brew pot, but I am satisfied with what I have for now.

Thanks for all the response to this post.

Salute!

I calculated a volume constant factor for each of my two kettles. I then use an aluminum yardstick or sometimes just a tape to measure the depth. It's quick and easy to do the conversion with a pocket calculator. I know the volume below the false bottom, so I just measure down to it and add or subtract that volume depending on which way I'm going. ie, filling or draining.

I found an aluminum yardstick at Ace for a buck. Just used it with new kettle actually. I measured room temp water with 2qt measuring cup and kept adding it to the kettle. Every 1/2 gallon I wrote down how deep the water was. I started at 3 gallons and went up to 7. As it turns out, each 1/2 gallon is 3/4". I just finished an hour water boil to get my evap rate and will check volume again when it cools. Funny thing though, v=Pi x (rxr) x H didn't exactly match up with my more pedestrian method. I'm sticking with the pedestrian method

Rick500 said:

I just cut lines into my plastic stir spoon with a sharp knife.

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I did the same thing. I have a mark every 1/2 gallon from 1 to 8 gallons.

JerD said:

I found an aluminum yardstick at Ace for a buck. Just used it with new kettle actually. I measured room temp water with 2qt measuring cup and kept adding it to the kettle. Every 1/2 gallon I wrote down how deep the water was. I started at 3 gallons and went up to 7. As it turns out, each 1/2 gallon is 3/4". I just finished an hour water boil to get my evap rate and will check volume again when it cools. Funny thing though, v=Pi x (rxr) x H didn't exactly match up with my more pedestrian method. I'm sticking with the pedestrian method

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There is nothing inferior about your pedestrian method to determine a volume factor. Usually any discrepancy with the mathematical calculation is due to either imprecise measurement of the kettle inside diameter or due to the non-uniform sides of the kettle. ie, kettles will usually have a radius where the bottom meets the sides or as with converted kegs, the bottom is usually concave and there are ribs in the walls. I first measured and calculated a factor then checked it against actually filling the kettles with measured volumes as you have done. It turned out the difference was quite small. I measure the keggle from the top of the false bottom and I know the volume to that level is very close to 1/2 gallon. That makes it simple to calculate. My keggle factor is 0.8 gallons per inch and my 10 gallon kettle is 0.66 gallons per inch with one gallon below the false bottom. There is also a seam half way up on the keggle which is the 7.5 gallon level. That's handy for just eyeballing the volume for a quick approximate estimate. A 4% shrink factor for hot vs cool wort works well, though I seldom bother figuring it in. I like to brew a slightly larger batch size to account for hop absorption etc and I'm happy if I actually get between 5 and 6 gallons into the fermenters. Usually it winds up at 5.5. I like that as there will be inevitable racking losses and I want to get a full 5 gallons into the keg. If there's any surplus, I put it in a two liter PET bottle. What I don't like is coming up short when filling a keg, but I make certain that doesn't happen anymore. This is also why I brew either 6 or 12 gallon batches. The losses will almost alway be more than you think. I learned that very early on.