True Brew ferm bucket warning

[nyer]

For the last several months I have had a problem with the amount of beer I end up with. I usually get 4 to 4.5 gallons after making a batch. I thought it had something to do with extreme boil off due to brewing outside in the winter.

I'm brewing Edworts pale ale this morning and noticed that when I put 5 gallons of water into my pot it didn't measure up to the 5 gallon mark I made on it. When I started having this problem I bought a true brew ferm bucket that has the 2 gal to 5 gal marks on the side so that I could easily and accurately measure my water. I took a known 1 gallon container and filled the bucket 1/2 gallon at a time and discovered that it's off by 1/2 gallon, 5 gallons is really 4.5 gallons and it's short 1/2 gallon from 2 to 5 gallons. I'm pissed, I probably did 6 brews using this thing and I had efficiency problems and low yield on every one. I re-marked the bucket correctly and I plan on contacting true brew so they can fix the problem.

 

[MMW]

Thanks for the tip. I'll be checking mine when I bottle next weekend.

 

[anemic]

I use a graduated plastic rubbermaid pitcher to measure water. I view the bucket marks as reference only.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

I have True Brew fermenting and bottling buckets and mine aren't accurate either. Mine is actually very close @ 5 gal. but at 4 gal. it's off by quite a bit.

 

[mmc1]

I have an Ale Pail that's off by a 1/2 gal as well.

 

[Homercidal]

Dammit. I need to check my Ale Pail now. I always wondered, but figured that they people making it would be smart enough to at least get this right!

I wonder if they mark several different types of buckets using the same equipment and only calibrated the markings for one of them. Using on a different bucket might make it not work out right.

 

[buzzkill]

mine is off too,but I know its off and used the same 'off' readings to mark all my stuff. So it all works out. I marked it all before I knew it was off.

 

[Jenks829]

Good eye...... I also have the True Brew Kit and after reading this post, I checked mine the next time bottled and sure enough, the readings were inaccurate. Off by approximately 0.5 gallons. Thanks for finding this.

 

[Munsoned]

I've only used the bucket I have for Apfelwein/Ciders, which takes the whole "measuring" issue off the table since I'm just pouring in gallons of apple juice directly. All of my beers go into carboys. No real reason for this, just ended up doing it that way. Guess I was lucky...

 

[Arkador]

I added water to mine .5gal at a time, and added my own mark to each of my fermenters, so that I have no question about the volume.

 

[Julohan]

let me know on the ale pail.

 

[Julohan]

The ale pail is quite a bit off too. The mark is at least 1/2 gallon less than where it should be.

 

[impetus19]

Wow... now i am wondering if my morebeer bucket is off.. anyone check it?
If i didnt have a copper lager fermenting in it right now i would check the accuracy of it.

 

[culaslucas]

Damn - thanks for the tip - I always used the measurements on the side. I wonder how much my efficiencies were off. Dammit. Going to have to go correct this TONIGHT

 

[kaiser423]

I brewed two beers just the other day. One of my pails was marked, and the other I kinda had marked. I decided to mark the second one, but didn't want to do the whole half gallon at a time thing.

So, I just took a home depot bucket that had the markings on it and filled it up to 5 gallons then poured it in and marked it. That mark was a full 2 inches higher than on my other pail that I measured myself. I was definitely confused and worried for a bit before I decided that the home depot bucket just had to be wrong.

I had hit my OG perfectly with an extract batch on the one I measured myself after topping off. No way was I a gallon or so low on the pail that I did myself, otherwise my OG would have been way off.

 

[jpc]

FWIW, I marked my buckets using a scale. I find that weight works much better, since I don't trust most home-quality volume measurement devices (like measuring cups and the like).

 

[nyer]

I tried emailing crosby and baker to complain but somehow I'm blocked. It won't allow me to open it up to send anything.

I'm really irritated about these buckets, I ended up marking it myself. I could have done that in the first place without buying their piece of junk.