BA$tards ripped me off

2 issues last night!
I bought a turkey fryer set up to get a full boil, and since I am about to go into all grain. So I buy this Turkey Fryer and it says 30 quart...which should be 7.5 gallons correct? Well I am making NB Irish red last night and I wanted to do a full boil extract...
I put in 5.5 gallons of water and was above the handles!!
Thes SOBs lied I couldn't even get 6 gallons in there!
Should I take it back?

So after some cooked off I put a little more in and then at the end I some left over that I couldn't fit in my 5 gallon Carboy! Do you guys ever have this problem? My Bucket is fermenting my Bock so I couldn't use that. I have like 4- 5gallon Glass carboys,, Can I not use these for primary fermentation?

What do you do with that 12-20 ozs that didn't fit...I hated pouring it down the drain!

Theres a few issues here, but I will address 1. Freeze or can the extra wort to use on starters.

I'd take it back. Where'd you buy it?

I would return it, but I would make sure to check your gear and measurements before you brew next.

You can use the 5 gallon carboy as a primary. You need to attach a large blowoff tube because the krausen is going to over flow the carboy. You'll end up losing something like a liter or two of beer out the blowoff. Once the krausen falls back you can remove the blowoff and attach an airlock.

a 7.5 pot is tough to do 5 gallon full batches in, especially when you start getting into really big beers. A 10 gallon pot is comfy for 5 gallon batches but I'd still go as big as the burner will handle.

I have not used my 5 gal carboy in 10+ years as I usually use my 6.5 gal carboys. My pipeline was full and I wanted to brew a Octoberfast so I broke out the old 5 gal carboy and actully checked the volume to see where the 5 gal mark was. To my surprise, a five gallon carboy is just that, exactly 5 gallons to the very top. Think of them as a 4.5 gal carboy and you will be fine. I was not about to waste my beer either, so I put 1/2 gal into a growler and slapped an airlock on it. I think I am going to pick up a 7.5 gal bucket to be my backup fermentor instead.

What are you using to measure your water?

I mean, if you put 5.5 gallons in the pot 7.5 gallon pot (and it barely fit), then some boiled off, and what was left didn't fit in a 5 gallon carboy...

It sounds to me like like you had more than 5.5 gallons to begin with. (For example, was that 5 .5 gallons of water, and then you added a half gallon jug of extract? If so, that's 6 gallons right there...)

I've had a similar problem before, I put 3 gallons of water into my 5 gallon pot, by the time it expanded from heating up, I added my liquid extract, my dry extract, a few pounds of sugar (I was making a tripel) my pot was almost completely full.

And then the fact that it wouldn't all fit in your carboy...well, a 5 gallon carboy doesn't work so well for primary on 5 gallons of wort (no headspace for krausen, of course you can use a blowoff tube...) but if your wort didn't fit in the 5 gallon carboy, it sounds like it was more than 5 gallons.

You should have calibrated it first with a 1 gallon picher then you would have known beforehand. I use a square dowel marked at 1/2 gal. intervals.

I'd take it back anyway, even if it is used.

KoedBrew said:

What do you do with that 12-20 ozs that didn't fit...I hated pouring it down the drain!

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wouldn't have done that. I probably would have split the batch into 2 of the carboys, or as mentioned freeze the remainder for starters

I could give you the long answer on finding the volume of your pot. Pi r squared X pot height ÷ 231 = gallon x 4 = quarts.. Or you can measure the diameter of your pot and it's height and go to

http://www.manskirtbrewing.com/calcs.shtml

Capacity of a pot is to the rim.

I use a metal yardstick to measure volume when I brew. I just fill the pot until it measures what I want in gallons.

My guess is that he used his premarked fermenting bucket for measuring the water. It is a decently well known fact around here that the measurements on those are horrible off. Use a known good calibrated measuring device and recheck your level. Don't use your fermenter buckets.

I was mid-boil recently and decided to make a measure stick, to accurately take a gravity reading. Used the formula iaefebs used, and measured off 5 gallons in inches on a stick. Tried it, turned out I was dead on- I was early in the boil so boiloff was negligible at the time. Point is- if you know your pot diameter and gallons you're trying to measure, you can easily back out the height in water in that pot without having to physically pour 5 gallons into the pot, then dump it down the drain. Just a thought. Kyle

return the kettle and get something ~10g. 7.5 is not enough for full boil AG, you will often have 8-8.5g of wort.

MikeRoBrew1 said:

return the kettle and get something ~10g. 7.5 is not enough for full boil AG, you will often have 8-8.5g of wort.

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+1 I have a 30 quart and my partials (~3 gallons) sometimes boil over.

Wyrmwood said:

+1 I have a 30 quart and my partials (~3 gallons) sometimes boil over.

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Seriously? 3 gallons boiling over a 7.5 gallon pot? Are you boiling with the lid on or something?

Last night I did an extract batch, I dumped 3 gallons of water into my 5 gallon pot (that's 3 1 gallon jugs of drinking water). The amount lined up quite well with the 12 quart mark on that is stamped on the side of the pot.

By the time I added all my extract, I was up to just shy of the 16 quart mark, and I had no problem. I've actually never had a boil over issue. Maybe it is because I'm using a bag for my hops?

I do 6-6.5 gal boils in a 7.5 gal pot all the time. It is really full, but get yourself some antifoam from wherever you buy your supplies. Once I started using the stuff, I've never boiled it over.

Thanks, for all the recommendations,
I was using 1 gallon jugs of spring water, that is how I measured.
I put in 5 did my steeping then when I pulled the steeping grains out I thought I would lose a lot of space, nope... was still about 3 inches from the top of the kettle. I put in another 1/2 gallon about half way through the boil... that was it.

As for the Carboy, yup came home and went to check on it and my blow off bottle had overflowed! I had foam and Wort all over the floor...luckily it was the basement. I guess I should have split the batches like someone recommended. I have a couple 3 gallon carboys.

I guess I need a bigger pot and carboy


___________________________________________________________________________________________
Primary: Irish Red Ale, EdWort's Apfelwein
Secondary: Raise Helles Bock
Drinking: Rocky Nevada Pale ale

dorklord said:

Seriously? 3 gallons boiling over a 7.5 gallon pot? Are you boiling with the lid on or something?

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yes, yes and yes, otherwise it takes donkey's years to boil... (electric range)

Last night I did an extract batch, I dumped 3 gallons of water into my 5 gallon pot (that's 3 1 gallon jugs of drinking water). The amount lined up quite well with the 12 quart mark on that is stamped on the side of the pot.

By the time I added all my extract, I was up to just shy of the 16 quart mark, and I had no problem. I've actually never had a boil over issue. Maybe it is because I'm using a bag for my hops?

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I've had more boil overs with bags... not sure why. I'm getting better at catching it. Also depends on how many beers I have while brewing I did a late edition on my last batch, which made it go much quicker. I added the LME at "flame out" (dial out?). Worked great except my "black" beer is "brown"

arch1tect said:

a 7.5 pot is tough to do 5 gallon full batches in, especially when you start getting into really big beers. A 10 gallon pot is comfy for 5 gallon batches but I'd still go as big as the burner will handle.

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I do 5 gallon batches in a 5 gallon pot, use anti foam drops and you can get a good boil going about an inch from the top, then hit it up with some water to get to 5 gallons. i do it all the time those anti foam drops are freakin awesome!

I need to get some, last time I almost blew a gasket I ws blowing so hard - for like an hour!

Bishop916 said:

I need to get some, last time I almost blew a gasket I ws blowing so hard - for like an hour!

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Obligatory Response: " Thats what she said"

Back to the topic - My 7.5 is, well, 7.5. And I have two of them. I use them every weekend. With careful attention and fermcap you can make it work.

Hannable1975 said:

Obligatory Response: " .

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I was waiting for that...