Actual Capacity of a 5 Gallon Carboy?

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Pelikan

Pelikan

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I'm going to begin using a 5 gallon glass carboy for the purpose of dry-hopping. I'm curious, is a 5 gallon carboy exactly five gallons when filled to the absolute brim, or is there maybe a quart or so of headroom?

I'd like to get as much of my brew into the carboy as possible, and generally do batches that tend toward 5.25 gallons. If I can't get it all in there, would putting the excess in a glass jug (with airlock) be an acceptable alternative, then recombine at bottling?
 
Pelikan said:
I'm going to begin using a 5 gallon glass carboy for the purpose of dry-hopping. I'm curious, is a 5 gallon carboy exactly five gallons when filled to the absolute brim, or is there maybe a quart or so of headroom?

I'd like to get as much of my brew into the carboy as possible, and generally do batches that tend toward 5.25 gallons. If I can't get it all in there, would putting the excess in a glass jug (with airlock) be an acceptable alternative, then recombine at bottling?
Click to expand...

I think most 5 gallon carboys would fit 5.5 or even 5.75 to the bung. I've never actually measured it, but I know that I have had way more than 5 gallons in the bottling bucket. I guess you could use milk jugs and fill it with water and use a sharpie and mark the volume and know for sure. I've never thought that far ahead!
 
I used a milk jug to find the 5 gallon level in my carboy. But the milk jug was a little more than a gallon. Use a quart measuring cup to fill the jug up to a gallon, mark it,then use the jug to fill carboy to 5 gallons and mark that. I also find that the milk jug marked exactly to the gallon is handy for mixing iodophor in the proper ratio.
 
Yikes, I'm glad I checked. Mine holds exactly five to the very, very top. Lame...I'll have to go grab a 6 gallon better bottle and use that as my secondary. Top off with marbles if need be.
 

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