safe marking interior of aluminum boil kettle

[ryoko]

I was wondering if there was a method of making a mark inside a boil kettle to better judge volumes. Was thinking of making a scratch at the 5 gal mark, it might allow baddies to embed but the boil should take care of that. A visible marker would be better, but I do not know of something that will not leach into the wort at the high temps. Ideas?

Thank you

 

[prpromin]

Mark your mash paddle with a Sharpie. Lots of people use that method. Great if you only have one kettle. I use a wooden dowel with the gallon points marked in black (only use it on the boil side, though).

 

[geoffm33]

There is this thread here about stainless, author mentioned it may work with Aluminum, details here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/how-add-permanent-volume-markings-kettle-illustrated-463099/

EDIT: Just wanted to add:

Mark your mash paddle with a Sharpie. Lots of people use that method. Great if you only have one kettle. I use a wooden dowel with the gallon points marked in black (only use it on the boil side, though).

^ This is what I do and works fine for me.

 

[HBngNOK]

Just use one of the many kettle volume calculators and a ruler. You can measure from the bottom up or the top down to know your volume.

Although that etching trick is way cool!!

 

[PastorofMuppets]

I have a stainless spoon which i use during the boil and it is engraved or rather etched with gallon marks. I didnt use a sharpie.

 

[ryoko]

Thanks all, I did the dowel thing in the past, but wanted something more like the etching solution. I think I'll give that a try.

 

[Fenduh]

I use a 24" steel ruler that I happened to have. My kettle is 12" wide so it's 2.04" for every gallon.