Abou how much does 5 gallons of beer weigh?

[oldstyle244]

So I am figuring out that I have to have more patience with my beer, my current set up is one fermenter and 2 carboys; thinking of changing that to 2 fermenters and either 3 to 4 carboys, the space I have is only wide enough for three total, so thinking of getting a table/shelf so I can have 6 going at a time, but not sure how much weight would be in three 5 gallon buckets/carboys, hate for it to fail and turn into six buckets/carboys all over the floor

 

[thCapn]

About 40 pounds.


--
th Cap'n in Portland, Oregon

 

[fartinmartin]

If your five gallons equal nineteen litres, that's nineteen KGs plus the container .
One KG is 2.2lbs

No that's for water, I don't know how much heavier beer is than water.

 

[flars]

Use the weight of water per gallon. However that would be for static weight. You would have to take into account the needed extra structural support required for the force applied when the weight of the five gallons of beer is not static.

 

[dkevinb]

Beer is slightly heavier than water, but not much (by whatever your SG is). Water weighs 1 kg/liter = 8.3 pounds per gallon - "A pint's a pound the world around."

Don't forget the weight of the carboy.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Water is 8.33 lbs/gal. The max weight of fermenting wort is the weight of water times your OG. To be safe, figure on 5.5 gal of barley wine with OG 1.1.

5.5 gal x 8.33 lbs/gal x 1.1 = 50 lbs +/-

To account for any "dynamic" forces (i.e. setting it down), add a 20% safety factor for a total of 60 lbs.

 

[Qhrumphf]

take the liters of the beer, and multiply by the specific gravity (yeah, it actually does mean something), and that'll give you the weight in approx weight of the liquid in kg (1 kg is the weight of 1 liter of water at 4°C, but the difference at beer temp is negligible) plus the weight of the fermenter itself. Covert it to pounds or don't, your choice. And then add the weight of the fermenter empty. Boom.

 

[DSorenson]

Water is 8.33 lbs/gal. The max weight of fermenting wort is the weight of water times your OG. To be safe, figure on 5.5 gal of barley wine with OG 1.1.

5.5 gal x 8.33 lbs/gal x 1.1 = 50 lbs +/-

To account for any "dynamic" forces (i.e. setting it down), add a 20% safety factor for a total of 60 lbs.

I second this, except I would over-build it a bit more, depending on what I was working with. I would brace the legs of what ever you are building and probably use 2x4s and 4x4s strategically.

Not a bad idea to include a central leg to take the stress of the center of the table.

 

[C-Rider]

Unless you are adding something late to your bier you don't need carboys. Just get lots of plastic buckets and ferment until done in them.

 

[oldstyle244]

Thanks all, I guess I will try and go with something that has about a 250+ pound rating; that way I should be pretty much covered.