Curious experiment

[philm00x]

So while brewing this tripel, I decided I'd finally check to physically see where 2.5 gallons would fill in the LBK. I know people are always saying the top of the Q and such, but in a quest to ensure my gravity reading corresponds to the proper volume, I wanted to find out. So I began pouring water into my LBK, one quart at a time using my trusty measuring cup. Turned out, 2.5 gallons was really at the bottom of the Q, but the top of the L in "Liter" on the right side of the measurements on the LBK. I know with mass producing things, sometimes things don't line up properly so I imagine the graduations aren't stamped properly all the time on the plastic.

Anyhow, with the vorlaufing I did and now knowing where my target volume really is, I'm going to see just how it affects my OG and efficiencies. I imagine I'll be getting a lot closer to my targets, if not surpassing them.

[Brewbirds]

Sounds very similar to what happened to us when we discovered our measuring cups were off and started using a ruler.
If your not hitting targets it pays to calibrate everything as you have demonstrated.

[philm00x]

Well today, aside from adjusting my sparge technique, I actually surpassed my OG by 2 points, where before I was falling short by 5-7 points. From what I understand, other folks actually do get 2.5 qts at the top of the Q, so I would recommend checking all of your LBKs individually, as well as other fermentation vessels, and marking them where a particular volume should be so that you don't dilute the wort and miss your targets.

[DaYooper]

Make sure your measuring cup is "calibrated" as well.

I am guessing MrB does not have more than 1 mold as something that size if fairly expensive and once the mold is made it doesnt really go anywhere. But, it could be possible they have multiple molds or replaced one and it might be off, but at least it would be consistently off. I believe it was Brewbirds who went through the trouble of weighing the water (hopefully on a calibrated scale lol) to determine the volume to set up their measuring stick.

[Brewbirds]

Yes it was the BBs who discover that the markings were off and it seemed to fix our problems, as did using the ruler trick to check volumes. Since we developed this though I haven't checked the LBK because we don't use the markings on it we use measured volumes.

We join the Phil Man in encouraging you to check/calibrate all equipment that regarding measurements.

Thanks for posting this thread.