level markings for carboys and pails.

[shanek17]

Its great to have level markings on our pails and carboys so we know the volume, but sometimes they are not on our pails and basically never on carboys. so i will have to put my own on there and iv been thinkin whether to go with gallons or liters for my markings.

so far iv been finding gallons to be confusing since there are different standards of a gallon. like the US Gallon and then the imperial gallon. and i dont know if using the canadian gallon standard will come back and bite me in the *** later. so i am now considering Liters, since its a universal standard. but iv noticed alot of others use gallons so not sure which is the best method. i live in canada by the way.

 

[Dugger]

If you are going to be doing kits, mark it 23 liters; heck, mark it 23 liters anyway - that's the same as 5 Imp gal/6 US gal. If you think you will still get confused, mark it as all 3 ( 23L/5ImpGal/6USGal) and you will cover all bases.

 

[cpfan]

Shane:

The same line is 23 litres, 5 Imp gallons, and 6 US gallons. It's the human mind that gets confused.

BTW, don't trust a pre-marked line. Measure it yourself. Pre-printed lines can be out of position. If you want an easy way, buy a good quality 23 litre kit (Vineco Vinterra or RJ Spagnols Premier Cru) and use that to mark the line.

Steve

 

[BobF]

I filled one each of my carboy sizes and emptied them into the fermenters. I marked the fermenter with level for each size. It doesn't matter if I call it gallons or liters - I know which size carboy I'm able to fill at each mark.

 

[Runningwolf]

I made up some markers several years ago for different size vessals out of 1/2" pvc. I also made a capsule to keep them in with meta so they are always sanitized. I took a lot of time making them and putting accurate marks on them. Since the day I made them and stored them away, I don't think I ever opened it back up. Great idea, I just never had to utilize them.

 

[shanek17]

See i was confused because i went to a calculator and found out that

5 liters = 1.09984579 Imperial gallons. and that 23 liters = 5.05929062 Imperial gallons.

so i was seeing the decimals and additional numbers and wondering what to do.


so how do you all leave your markings on your equipment? first i was thinking using black marker but then thought it would rub off. but now iv got a couple better ideas that may work and be more water resistant. has any one tried printing out numbers with sticker paper and sticking them on there? i see a company in the US sells them pre made, but the shipping for me would cost more than the product itself, plus id rather be creative and make it myself, its all apart of the fun of home brewing!

heres the sticker video
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrzjoVF38h0[/ame]

 

[Dugger]

For our purposes 23 liters equals 5 Imp gal equals 6 US gal - no need to be super accurate.
I only mark the levels on my primary fermenters which are plastic buckets; I don't mark my carboys since they should be filled to the neck area regardless of the volume to reduce head space.
Most of my buckets have a 23 liter mark already in them - usually a ridge on the inside, so check to see if yours has. Mine are mostly 30 liter Ropak buckets. The ones that don't have a ridge I simply use a black marker line on the outside at the appropriate level, established by putting 23 liters of water in it. When the mark starts to fade after a while I simply remark it. No need to get super fancy with the marking either,IMO.
I also add a 19 liter (5 USGal) level on one of the buckets for making recipes that call for that volume.

 

[shanek17]

yea the measurments are close enough. thats a good point dugger, puttin markings at 23 and 19 liters. i was gonna mark them startin at 5 liters but i really doubt i would need that on my carboy. i ended up just putting a 23 liter on now to try out and maybe ill add a 19 liter. and i measured out the volume of my mexican carboys and they are not truly 6 gallons, as is indicated on the bottom, they were slightly bigger than that.

i put some different symbols on the carboys so i can narrow down the measured line. i just used double sided sticky pads and sealed them with eletric tape.

 

[shanek17]

Shane:

The same line is 23 litres, 5 Imp gallons, and 6 US gallons. It's the human mind that gets confused.

BTW, don't trust a pre-marked line. Measure it yourself. Pre-printed lines can be out of position. If you want an easy way, buy a good quality 23 litre kit (Vineco Vinterra or RJ Spagnols Premier Cru) and use that to mark the line.

Steve

yea. Your rite the pre printed lines are not correct! i was using my primary pail to measure out my carboy and realized its not even accurate. their markings for liters were bigger than normal... i was wondering why my carboy was overflowing with water!

 

[tonyt]

I just do the math when starting a kit. If it's an 18 ltr kit I add 5 ltr more water. If its a 16 ltr kit I add 7 ltrs more water. Grape packs, rasins and oak are in adition. Am i screwing up?

 

[cpfan]

I just do the math when starting a kit. If it's an 18 ltr kit I add 5 ltr more water. If its a 16 ltr kit I add 7 ltrs more water. Grape packs, rasins and oak are in adition. Am i screwing up?

You're probably not screwing up, but it may be difficult to do the arithmetic.

Is the 18 litre kit ... 18 litres of juice/concentrate or 16 litres of juice/concentrate plus 2 litres of grape skins? I believe that some brands are the latter.

Also, did you use warm/hot water to dissolve the bentonite? How much? Did you measure it? I don't.

For me, it's easier not to think about it. Pour the juice/concentrate into the primary, having done the bentonite thing however the instructions specify. Then top up to the 23 litre mark.

Steve

 

[shanek17]

so i tried out another method for markings. i bought some numbered stickers at the dollar store and covered them with masking tape. As you can probably tell i started at the top and worked my way down haha. The bottom numbers are near perfect but the tops look kind of messy. just a tip the tape goes on real nice if you smooth it on with a credit card or something similar.

 

[cpfan]

so i tried out another method for markings. i bought some numbered stickers at the dollar store and covered them w
them with masking tape. As you can probably tell i started at the top and worked my way down haha. The bottom numbers are near perfect but the tops look kind of messy. just a tip the tape goes on real nice if you smooth it on with a credit card or something similar.

Not sure why you think you have to mark volumes on a carboy. The volume markings are important on the primary, but not on the carboys.

Steve

 

[Dugger]

In addition to what cpfan said about marking the carboy, I think you said this was a 25 liter carboy and, if you are going to be doing kit wine, this will be a problem for you. Most kits are made at 23 liters and when you transfer to your carboy you will have headspace problems. When fermentation is complete you need to top up to the neck portion of the carboy and for a 25 liter carboy this is a lot of topping up. You would be well advised to get a 23 liter carboy if you don't have one already. If you are only going to be doing grape or fruit wine, the carboy is manageable by making a larger volume but then you will likely have problems with your primary bucket being too small, assuming it is a regular bucket.

 

[shanek17]

Not sure why you think you have to mark volumes on a carboy. The volume markings are important on the primary, but not on the carboys.

Steve

well im new at this so i would like to see how much wine or beer i have in the carboys, regardless whether there being used as primary or secondary fermenters. Maybe i didnt need all the markings on the carboy but ill be able to use them accurately for primary fermenters now, and if i use them for rackings ill be able too see how much im losing and what not. im just trying to get aquainted with the measurments, something i never paid attention to in school haha.

and dugger, im not too worried about head space, as i dont plan on letting my wine or beer age for long enough that the head space would pose a problem, maybe whem im more comfortable with this and making quality wine then i can let the wine age for years with peace of mind.

 

[shanek17]

In addition to what cpfan said about marking the carboy, I think you said this was a 25 liter carboy and, if you are going to be doing kit wine, this will be a problem for you. Most kits are made at 23 liters and when you transfer to your carboy you will have headspace problems. When fermentation is complete you need to top up to the neck portion of the carboy and for a 25 liter carboy this is a lot of topping up. You would be well advised to get a 23 liter carboy if you don't have one already. If you are only going to be doing grape or fruit wine, the carboy is manageable by making a larger volume but then you will likely have problems with your primary bucket being too small, assuming it is a regular bucket.

yea my carboys are roughly 25 liters. This wine kit i have going now i actually put in extra water by accident, i assumed that the glass carboy labelled as 6 gallons was true, but it is a littld bigger. But besides that, when its done fermenting the kit instructions suggested keepin it in a cool area for another couple weeks before bottling. so i dont think head space in my carboy is an issue. iv heard head space is an issue when your storing wine for many months or years.

 

[tonyt]

Also, did you use warm/hot water to dissolve the bentonite? How much? Did you measure it? I don't.
Steve

I just consider the Bentonite water as "langiappe" if it's a kit that calls for 7 ounces of warm water. If it's a kit that says to stir the Bentonite into 2 ltrs of water I count that as the first two ltrs on the way to a total op 23. As far as is the grape pack extra or part of the stated kit size I know by if I hit the 6 gallon lip on the fermenter or not. If it's visibility short of the mark I assume the grape pack was considered part of the total advertized kit size so I add that much more water and hit the mark. To rinse out the shipping bladder I measure out liters then pour into the bags to rinse.

 

[Wiz]

I have the same problem with primaries. Why don't the manufacturers recognize the problem and print the emboss,print, etc. on the inside of the the primary?

 

[cpfan]

I have the same problem with primaries. Why don't the manufacturers recognize the problem and print the emboss,print, etc. on the inside of the the primary?

Possibly because there might be some concern about the ink dissolving in the wine or beer. Plus I wouldn't trust them to get the markings right every time.

Steve

 

[shanek17]

I filled one each of my carboy sizes and emptied them into the fermenters. I marked the fermenter with level for each size. It doesn't matter if I call it gallons or liters - I know which size carboy I'm able to fill at each mark.

Thats a good idea bob. Im just backtracking and reading your comment from awhile ago, but now i get your method. so do you fill your bucket up a little higher than your marking to make up for the lose of volume from racking?