I realized recently that my bottling bucket is off by 1/2 gallon (based on the markings compared to Pyrex measuring cups). THEN I started to wonder, well what if my Pyrex is off? Someone mentioned that you should measure a gallon by weight to verify. Any thoughts?
I’d put my faith in the Pyrex before a bottling bucket. A gallon of water at 60° is about 8.35 lbs.
I find the best way to calibrate is to first calibrate a half gallon in some sort of container. Then use that half gallon to calibrate larger containers. Less counting = less chances for a mistake. “Was that 12 or 13.”
This is something I know I need to do.
+1. And if you calibrate your kettle (via wooden dowel or whatever) you know exactly how much is going into the bucket before then. Gotta have accurate volumes to get accurate efficiency.
I’ve used a 1-gallon water jug to incrementally mark all my vessels. It’s not an absolute scientific measure, but it’s been more than accurate enough for me for 25+ yrs. Plus, the marks allow me to focus my OCD toward the next big problem I have no control over:) Good luck.
Yeah, I think this has caused some carbonation issues in the past with me. Damn you bottling bucket.
I’m always thinking 1 gal water = 8 pounds. What exactly are the quantifications about that?
Close enough for math in the head. In my opinion.
A liter weighs 1 kilogram. There are 3.78 liters in a gallon. A gallon weighs 3.78 kilos or 8.33 pounds.
I was wrong about the 8.35. That’s at 32°, not 60°. And here I thought I would never use this conceptual science or math in life.
But I think It’s useful for us in the life. 
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A U.S. gallon of water displaces 231 cubic inches (Queen Anne’s Gallon). If you can find a perfectly or near perfectly cylindrical vessel (e.g., a kettle), you can calculate volume in gallons and fractions of a gallon using the following formula:
volume_of_cylinder_in_gallons = 3.14 x radius x radius x height_of_the_liquid_column / 231
Example:
My Vollrath 6-gallon Tri-Ply kettle is 12" wide (diameter) x 12.5" high (height). Radius is half the diameter; hence, the radius of this kettle is 6". I usually boil down to approximately (~) 8" of liquid in this kettle. The volume of a liquid increases roughly 5% at 100C (212F). What is the volume of wort + break + hops in the kettle?
volume_at_100C = 3.14 x 6 x 6 x 8 / 231 = ~3.92 gallons
volume_at_room_temperature = 3.92 x 0.95 = ~3.72 gallons
The formula shown above will not work with a bucket because it is actually a modified cone. This type of geometric shape is known as a conical frustum.
volume_of_a_conical_frustrum_in_gallons = 3.14 x height x (radius_1 + radius_2 + (radius_1 * radius_2)) / 3 / 231
Where radius_1 = internal diameter (width) of the bucket at the bottom / 2, and radius_2 = internal diameter of the bucket at the top of the liquid column / 2
Love the math. I don’t have the dimensions of my kettle with me, but my brew kettle is 1" = 1 gallon. Had to smile when I saw that. Was it designed that way or am I just lucky? I don’t know, but it seems to work out for me.
Alcohol obviously weighs less as well. I think it’s about 79% of water. So if weighing after fermentation, the amount will be different.
not only does it weigh less than water, it infiltrates between the water molecules and can effectively occupy the same space as the water.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84k206qaVRU as explained by one of Bill Nye’s helpers.
Is the internal width of your kettle 17"?
My bet is that your Pyrex measuring cup is accurate and your bottling bucket is not. You could always check your Pyrex against another measuring cup to verify. That would be less of a hassle than measuring by weight.
So how hard would it be for big kettle manufacturers to publish a volume/depth chart with purchase of their kettles? I have a nice Polarware 10-gal pot, and I bet it would have been pretty easy for them to provide that info with purchase. Just sayin’.
When I added site glasses to my keggles, and vinyl numbers to my carboys, I did everything in half-gallon increments by weighing a half-gallon as 1892 grams at tap temperature. Technically every additional half-gallon increases the margain of error based on temperature, but I just decided I could live with it.
Could use a volume calculator
Which 10-gallon Polar Ware stockpot do you own? Polar Ware offers one made in the U.S.A. 10-gallon stockpot (model 360) and a factory converted version of this stockpot called the Brew Pot (models 361BP and 362BP), one made in the China 10-gallon stockpot called the BrewRite Brew Kettle (model T5140), and one made in China 10-gallon Economy Brew Pot (model T422BPTT). I own the made in U.S.A. 10-gallon Brew Pot (model 360BP). The 361BP is easy to pick out of the line-up because it has factory welded fittings.
http://polarware.com/Vollrath-Files/Polar-Ware-Files/CAT_PW-Homebrew_En_NP_2013-08-22.pdf
The internal dimensions of the 361BP are roughly 14" wide by 16" tall (the Polar Ware specified width of 15" includes the rolled lip at the top of the kettle). The BP361 holds approximately (~) 10.5 gallons when filled to the top.
Here are measurements for the 361BP:
height_of_one_US_gallon = 231 / (3.14 x 72) = ~1.5"
0.375" = ~1/4 gallon
0.75" = ~1/2 gallon
1.5" = ~ 1 gallon
As mentioned above, the volume of a liquid expands by roughly 5% at 100C (212F); hence, one’s end of boil measurement should be approximately 1.05 times the volume one wants to achieve after chilling. While not perfectly accurate, multiplying the volume at 100C by 0.95 will give one the approximate volume at room temperature (i.e., the multiplicative inverse of 1.05 = 1 / 1.05 = 0.95238)
I did some careful measurements a few years ago and determined that my kettle is 1.5" height per gallon. And I had read that wort increases in volume by 4% at boiling, so I typically measure preboil wort right after the hot break happens and the foam settles down. I multiply by 0.96 to get my volumes.
The point is - maybe that info was readily accessible to me a few years ago, but it sure didn’t come with the kettle.