Measuring Sparges and Wort

Right now I'm assembling my all grain set up for my first brew. Currently I have two converted kegs and a 10 gallon igloo cooler. Any tips on how to accurately gauge how much sparge water is being sent to the mash tun and how much wort has been collected in the BK without merely eyeballing it?

Some suggestions I've received are measuring the hot water/wort in a bucket with the gallons indicated on the side and have read of people using "measuring sticks". Didn't know if any one had any other ideas. Thanks.

easy get a container you know the volume of and use that. requires a little math to keep track of how much water you are adding but its easy.

the collection is easy. get a stick. a half inch dowel will be fine. stick it in your pot and add a gallon of water. then mark where the water line is on the stick. add another gallon and repeat.

I use ale pails....they are marked in 1/2 gallon increments. Cheap and easy.

sight glass

Does a sight glass have measurements on it? I'm new to all grain and never understood the benefit of a sightglass on a keggle.

You make your own markings on the glass by pouring in a measured amount of water into your container.

Like Hammy said, you need to "calibrate" your own sight glass when installing on a keggle. Kettles such as Blichmann's that come with sight glasses will already be marked.

The benefit is exactly what you're looking for. Measuring the quantity of wort or water in your kettle.

DPB said:

Does a sight glass have measurements on it? I'm new to all grain and never understood the benefit of a sightglass on a keggle.

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The dip stick is the poor man's sight glass. A dip stick is really easy to make and works perfectly fine.

maida7 said:

The dip stick is the poor man's sight glass. A dip stick is really easy to make and works perfectly fine.

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I use my "brew spoon." With the handle down, I added the volume and marked it on the spoon by carving it out slightly with a knife. Works great.

I might buy a sight glass when I have the money to spend that I would rather not spend on another batch of beer.

Is there a simple (cheap) device out there to hook on to the tubing that would calculate the runoff?

A flow meter? No, not cheap.

I was looking on here and discovered some flowmeters and some previous posting in regards to flowmeters. I guess what I'm looking for is someone who has used one of these flowmeters (in a gravity fed system) with any success. It seems like this would be the a fairly accurate and easier way to calculate how much water and wort you've collected.

Thanks Bobby M. What are some of the other drawbacks? Are they difficult to clean? Inaccurate? I'm pretty sure cost alone will prevent me from investing in one of these but it might be worthwile in the future.

I just haven't seen any that would put a cheap sight glass out of the running. The cheaper ones I've seen are not rated for temps near 200F and another one can't be reset.

FYI, I'm working on some weldless sightglass kits that will be less than $20 a piece.

Basically, it's really easy to put say 8 gallons in the HLT, open the valve and stop when you see 4 gallons on the sight. You subtract to know how much you've drained out. In a BK, you just look at the level to see how much you've collected.

I don't try to calculate the run off. I calculate how much water I need for the mash and for the sparge. I take into account that I can't withdraw about an additional gallon and half from my HLT and add that to the sparge. Then like everyone else is saying, I've calibrated all my equiptment before brewing. I have a turkey fryer bucket with 1, 2, 3 gallons written on it. One gallon at a time, I poured one gallon of water into my keggle and marked off on the keg and the sight glass where that water level rests. I did this on all three keggles I own, one gallon at a time. So was it a half day project, filling three kegs one gallon at a time? Yup. Can I just look at my kegs and know how much water is any of them at any moment? Yup.

Edit: My kegs are from different sources, so it wasn't as simple as looking at one and popping a sticker on another. Furthermore, because of the bumps in a keg, it isn't as simple as just saying 'the first gallon is 2" from the bottom, so the next gallong must also be 2" higher". As the keg widens and shrinks, that gallon height can change, so I think a mark on the keg/sight glass is the most accurate way to know whats inside.

I use a dip stick (with just 1 notch) for most brews. When I need to measure a different volume than normal, I use the bathroom scale, a gravity reading, google to tell me the density of water, and a calculator. I don't do this very often, but it works.

-a.