Dumb question - 6 gallon carboy can hold 6 gallons right?

[crispyc21]

So I have a dumb question but just want to make sure I’m not going crazy. A 6 gallon carboy is supposed to hold 6 gallons right??

I ordered the Deluxe Wine Making Kit (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FBOWQW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20) from Amazon and received it last week. Before I start to make my first batch of wine I followed directions to fill and mark each container (primary and secondary fermenter) to the six gallon mark. Per the kit description on the amazon page this kit is supposed to come with a 6 gallon glass carboy. The issue is I don’t think I was shipped a 6 gallon carboy. When I tried to fill the 6 gallon carboy with 6 gallons of water the carboy overflowed and a little over a cup of water was remaining. So the carboy seems to be only a 5 gallon carboy. I transferred all the water from the carboy to the plastic bucket (primary fermenter) and it was just slightly under the 6 gallon mark, once I added the remaining cup and a half of water it filled up to the six gallon mark.
I was unable to find any makings on the glass carboy to determine it’s size but it will not hold six gallons of water/wineIn the pictures you can see the carboy is overfilled (water spilled) with the remaining water in measuring cup.
http://s32.photobucket.com/user/Crispyc21/media/Wine/pic08519.jpg.html
http://s32.photobucket.com/user/Crispyc21/media/Wine/pic13985.jpg.html


So tell me I’m not crazy and I received the wrong carboy.

 

[PGEduardo]

Imperial or US gallons?

6 gallon [US, liquid] = 4.996 045 107 8 gallon [UK]

 

[crispyc21]

Not sure what the carboy is. but I was measuring via US using 4 qts = 1 gallon, therefore I used 24 quarts to = 6 gallons.

 

[divrguy]

I would expect it to hold 6 U.S. Gallons.

 

[PGEduardo]

My point is that they might be purposely misleading to inflate the value. In the comments a guy mentions 23 liters - what does that equate to?

 

[Singletrack]

23 liters is 6.08 gal. As it turns out, volumes are not easy to measure, and often the markings are inaccurate. Weight may be more accurate.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Carboys vary wildly in their volumes. No big deal if its only a cup and a half short, in fact, that might be better because you will easily lose that much wine during your first racking from the bucket to the carboy. Less that you will need to top-off!

 

[crispyc21]

So I'm going to count this toward a newbie mistake or misunderstanding.

I did some more measurements last night and I do believe it’s 6 gallons. The issue is/was the way I was measuring 1 gallon. I was measuring 4 qts = 1 gallon, therefore I used 24 quarts to = 6 gallons.
But after using the measurements in the wine kit I’m working on they used 23 liters = 6 gallons. The 23 liters fit in the carboy just fine.

23 liters (6 gallons) is a lot less water than 24 quarts (6 gallons). So I’m going to stick with the liters.

 

[m00ps]

Im guessing it was a 5gal carboy. They come in 5, 6 and 6.5gal but 6gal is rarer IMO. They are designed to hold a MAXIMUM of their rated value. So a 5gal carboy will be 5gal at the top ring right before the neck tapers in. So it can reliably hold 5 gal with a tiny bit of headspace. Note that this headspace is not enough to contain byproducts of fermentation (although I've never made wine). You probably need at least a 6gal carboy to ferment a 5gal batch

 

[phug]

23 litres is 6.06 gallons, since it takes 3.79 litres to make up one US gallon.

I suspect that your measuring cup may be inaccurate, and/or your bucket may also be inaccurate.

When you're measuring out 24 quarts of something, it only takes being off by 165 ml (5.6oz) to be over or under by 1 US Gallon, which is a 17% variance.

 

[DoctorCAD]

So I'm going to count this toward a newbie mistake or misunderstanding.

I did some more measurements last night and I do believe it’s 6 gallons. The issue is/was the way I was measuring 1 gallon. I was measuring 4 qts = 1 gallon, therefore I used 24 quarts to = 6 gallons.
But after using the measurements in the wine kit I’m working on they used 23 liters = 6 gallons. The 23 liters fit in the carboy just fine.

23 liters (6 gallons) is a lot less water than 24 quarts (6 gallons). So I’m going to stick with the liters.

Not true, 1 liter = 1 1/16 quart so 1 1/16 * 23 = 24.38 quarts, not really enough to make a "wine" difference.

Remember, you aren't mixing pharmaceuticals here with a .0001% tolerance. You are making wine, which is tolerant of just about any measurement system.