Cool home made mod for boil off measure!

[boyd0418]

So I came up with an idea for measuring the boil off amounts during a session.

- kettle
- exact measurement for your increments
- bottling wand (spring loaded)

First, fill your kettle by increments one by one you would like to measure by, then marking the wand after each increment. (Fill in 1 gal, mark. 2 gal, mark. 2.5 gal, mark. Etc...)

Do this with the spring loaded side up.

You can now plunge the spring loaded tip down, insert your sanitized wand, release the plunge, and lift. The wort will fill the wand and stay at the level at which your wort is currently at. Furthermore, somewhat accurately measuring your boil off during the process.

All of this is of course assuming you do not have a "big boy" kettle with a level gauge.

Hope this helps!

 

[boyd0418]

Demonstrated

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[orangehero]

Your wand doesn't melt in the hot wort?

 

[boyd0418]

The wand is glass

 

[Big Monk]

Wouldn't the spring load portion be plastic?

Not that it matters because your measure pre and post boil so it will likely never see higher than your mash out temp.

Pretty cool. Anymore details on it?

 

[Chrisbrewbeers]

Those wands are some type of really hard plastic aren't they? That is really good use of things people probably already have, with my 9 gal kettle I think I would need a bigger wand though. I have narrowed all the volumes down with topping up and luck I think so most times I can get 5 gallons or a little more.

 

[Calichusetts]

Alternatively, buy a SS ruler. You can calculate what level of water/wort would measure to what height online or do the fill test and mark it accordingly. On brew day, insert a dry ruler, take note of where the wet line is (might have to calculate lower due to boil.)

I have an etched kettle but can't read it during the winter due to the steam. Luckly, my system is totally dialed in and I don't worry about volumes during the boil, I hit my numbers every time.

 

[MagicMatt]

Don't forget that liquid expands when it's heated. This means if you used room temp water when you made your markings the level will not be accurate when you're measuring 180°F wort.

 

[andy6026]

I was going to use a similar system, but was (overparanoid?) about using a poisonous marker/sharpy to make the marks on the stick knowing that it would be submerged in the beer. Are my fears exaggerated or well founded?

 

[unionrdr]

I'd think a marker would be fine, since the volatile solvents flash off by the time the markings are dry?

 

[Clonefan94]

I was going to use a similar system, but was (overparanoid?) about using a poisonous marker/sharpy to make the marks on the stick knowing that it would be submerged in the beer. Are my fears exaggerated or well founded?

Your fears are exaggerated. Basic Brewing did a three part podcast on toxicities in brewing. Had a toxicologist who did a lot of the tests. The most toxic thing, by miles, found in beer, is the alcohol. Nothing else was even showing up in trace amounts. They did everything from copper, brass to non food grade plastics.

With the marker, most of the toxic solvents would evaporate pretty quickly. So, look at how much black marker is actually on that wand. Honestly, if you were to drink enough beer to actually make any trace toxicity of that a problem, you'd probably be long dead from liver failure.

Now, that being said, I might change my mind if you were having to redraw the sharpie lines 4 or 5 times a brew day because the wort is leaching the ink off.

I have a stick I made with gallon marks on it, for my brew pot, using a sharpie. It's 3 years old and the lines are pretty much as dark as the day I made it. And I usually scrub it pretty well with a wet rag when I'm done, to get all the sugar off of it.

That being said, I only use it to dip in during the sparge, to find out how many gallons I have to start with. My boil off may vary slightly, a couple ounces here or there, but for the most part, it's really consistent. So I don't bother with that anymore. As well as I start with more wort than I'll need, that way I can leave a little, with the trub in the boil pot and not in my fermenter.

Also, I wouldn't use anything but glass for the wand, if you are actually letting it sit in the brew pot while it's boiling. But the good news is, if you are boiling, there really is no need to sanitize the wand and you are just dipping it in to see where the level is at. No need to let it just sit in the boiling wort.