Wood for measuring volume???

Ok, so for my AG setup, I want an easy/cheap way to measure volume, so I am thinking of using a wooden stick and pouring measured amounts of water into my BK, Ale Pale, 6 gallon carboy, & 5 gallon carboy, and then measuring them with the stick at each addition and making a notch to mark the measurement(using notches as I don't want to leach ink into anything). For my Carboys this measurement would obviously be made by putting the stick next to the carboy, but for my BK and Ale Pale(I use the ale pale to collect runnings from the mash tun so I'm not worried about putting a stick in it) I would just be sticking it in and taking the reading. Since the stick would be square, I would have 4 sides, which would work for all 4 containers

What type of wood would be best for this. My concern is the wood eventually getting rotten from soaking up that sweet wort, but I also see people using wooden mash paddles too. I'm obviously not going to be using any green treated boards, or anything with chemicals, but I'm just curious what types of wood you all use for this?

Note: I also have some tung oil(100% pure tung, not that cheap knock off chemical crap) that I could treat the wood with too if necessary.

Suggestions/Advice? Or should I be using PVC or metal?

Metal might be best, but if you clean and store your measuring stick after use it won't rot.

A friend of mine had the same idea, but he uses his brew spoon for it. Just make notches on the handle.

jmendez29 said:

A friend of mine had the same idea, but he uses his brew spoon for it. Just make notches on the handle.

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This is what i did. Works great.

I made my mash paddle and measuring stick out of maple and did not put oil on it just wash it good

I will give you three ways ive seen this done. One is a simple stick with notches be it wood plastic or metal. Secondly a stainless steel weight on a string and dyeing the string a pre measured depths of known volume. thirdly knowing the dry weight of the vessels you are using and weighing them when full, if you know the weight of a gallon of wort you can derive the volume of liquid in the vessel.

So pretty much any hardwood should work?

I like the spoon idea, however I have 4 different sized containers I want to use it on, and my spoon only has 2 sides, which makes the wooden stick more attractive for me.

I use masking tape on the outside of my carboys to mark gallons.

I use an aluminum yardstick to measure the volume in my BK. Just make a chart to convert inches to gallons.

We use a paint stirrer from Home Depot. If one starts rotting just pickup another (they are free).

I made this out of some aluminum I found at my local Ace. Works quite nicely.. Cut a channel down the center. Made a holder out of 3/4" plywood with wingnut. Set it to the amount you want and fill to the very bottom edge.

I use a old rake handle that's been notched. Still got paint on it and everything.

You guys are way too fancy for me!