What size is my carboy?

[gratefuldisc]

How high is 5 gallons in a 5 gallon carboy?

I picked up what I thought was a 5 gallon carboy at a tag sale. After racking my first batch to secondary, it didn't look as full as I expected. Either the carboy is a bigger size than 5 gallons, or I took too many hydrometer samples while in primary (possible). The beer comes up to just below the shoulder of the carboy and it looks like I could fit another gallon or so... Do I have a 6.5?

 

[ArcaneXor]

Take an empty 1-gallon milk jug and use it to fill it up with water. That'll tell you how big it is.

 

[gratefuldisc]

so where is "full"? top of the shoulder? in the neck?

 

[JuanMoore]

Gallon jugs typically hold a fair amount more than a gallon. I used a pyrex measuring cup to find the gallon and half gallon marks on one of my large growlers, and then used that to fill up my carboys. Most "5 gallon" carboys hold about 6 gallons if filled to the neck, so yours is probably a 5 gal. Here's a thread that has some pics of various size carboys with volume marks etched on-https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/marking-your-carboy-63174/ The 5 gal might be a few pages in.

 

[Revvy]

so where is "full"? top of the shoulder? in the neck?

You'll know after the 5th addition of your 1 gallon of water where 5 gallons is.

Use a sharpie and mark gallon increments as you go along.

Up until very recently there were more than one carboy maker, so multiple versions of the same thing, so there's really no way for US to tell you where it is on your carboy, since more than likely each carboy maker may have had slight variations of the design, which may mean different carboys could have different measurments.

You'll have to do it yourself

 

[gratefuldisc]

Gallon jugs typically hold a fair amount more than a gallon. I used a pyrex measuring cup to find the gallon and half gallon marks on one of my large growlers, and then used that to fill up my carboys. Most "5 gallon" carboys hold about 6 gallons if filled to the neck, so yours is probably a 5 gal. Here's a thread that has some pics of various size carboys with volume marks etched on-https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/marking-your-carboy-63174/ The 5 gal might be a few pages in.

Thanks, the pics in that thread answered my questions. Seems to be a 5 gallon, and now I have to buy some glass etching acid

 

[woodstone]

Thanks, the pics in that thread answered my questions. Seems to be a 5 gallon, and now I have to buy some glass etching acid

A dab of my wife's fingernail polish at each one gallon increment works wonders and has not come off the glass in 10 years of brewing and washing!

:rockin: