Joe Camel
Well-Known Member
I'm a big believer in writing everything I can down as I brew so that I can piece together what went wrong if things need fixing, or what went right so I can replicate later.
Everything goes into the notes, temps, gravity, masses, the odd pH here and there, and especially volume, I collect the wort into a graduated pitcher and record the numbers for 1st runnings and the batch sparges. I had noticed through the first couple of batches I've done that while I'm hitting all my volume targets, I always ended up a few litres shy on my final volume. Talking to brew club members here, they said chalk it up to Edmonton air, very dry, and add a couple more percent to evap losses in Beersmith to account for it. That I was ending up a few points high on target gravity seemed to agree with them, so I did.
In preparing for this batch, I decided I was tired of collecting wort 4L at a time and went about calibrating a dipstick and bucket for the job. I was going to measure a litre at a time from my pitcher into the bucket and make a mark on the stick where the water wetted it.
For s**ts and giggles, I put my graduated pitcher on my digital balance and tested it gravimetrically (that's a 10 cent word for filled with water and weighed it). Turns out, 4000g of water comes up to the 4.3L mark on the pitcher, so for the last few batches, I've been compounding a 7.5% error in volume measurement 4L at a time. It's like sales tax on my own beer! I'm collecting 43L and thinking it's 47L, which correlates to my last beer nicely, we targeted 38.5L into the fermenter and ended up with 34L bottled.
This time around, with my new calibrated stick and pail, I actually got 49L into the boiler and wound up with 40.5L in my fermenters (I'm pretty sure).
Everything goes into the notes, temps, gravity, masses, the odd pH here and there, and especially volume, I collect the wort into a graduated pitcher and record the numbers for 1st runnings and the batch sparges. I had noticed through the first couple of batches I've done that while I'm hitting all my volume targets, I always ended up a few litres shy on my final volume. Talking to brew club members here, they said chalk it up to Edmonton air, very dry, and add a couple more percent to evap losses in Beersmith to account for it. That I was ending up a few points high on target gravity seemed to agree with them, so I did.
In preparing for this batch, I decided I was tired of collecting wort 4L at a time and went about calibrating a dipstick and bucket for the job. I was going to measure a litre at a time from my pitcher into the bucket and make a mark on the stick where the water wetted it.
For s**ts and giggles, I put my graduated pitcher on my digital balance and tested it gravimetrically (that's a 10 cent word for filled with water and weighed it). Turns out, 4000g of water comes up to the 4.3L mark on the pitcher, so for the last few batches, I've been compounding a 7.5% error in volume measurement 4L at a time. It's like sales tax on my own beer! I'm collecting 43L and thinking it's 47L, which correlates to my last beer nicely, we targeted 38.5L into the fermenter and ended up with 34L bottled.
This time around, with my new calibrated stick and pail, I actually got 49L into the boiler and wound up with 40.5L in my fermenters (I'm pretty sure).
