Anyone Else Brew By Eye?

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ekul

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I've been AGing for over a year now and one thing i've never got around to is buying a jug to measure how much water is going into the kettle. I fill up a cube from the tap and then take that to the kettle, so i get a general idea of how much water is going in.

A few months ago i did a brew where i just filled up a 9L bucket with grain (didn't have scales) and threw in a handful of POR. Came out tasting pretty good. I think OG was around 1049?

I am however going to buy a 5L jug and start measuring how much water i'm using. Or even get a long stainless ruler i suppose.


Anyone else doing it by eye? Any brewers doing their mash temps by elbow?
 
My 9L woolies buckets hold exactly 5kg to the level top. I've drawn rings inside using a permanent marker for 4.5 and 4 kilos.
You can get little 5L cubes from Bunnings that are brilliant for measuring bulk water.
Likewise I have a 33L mark on my sight tube on both urns.
 
i use the long ass steel ruler.

My HLT and Kettle are both 50lt kegs, so i've got a calibration chart for my readings. The beauty about this is because they are both the same vessel (type and brand), i can use my ruler to measure my water, then once in the kettle i can use it again to keep an eye on my pre and post boil volumes, as well as keep an eye on my boil off rate. Although that last one takes a bit of a feel for it....

Works well.
 
So I'm probably going to bite the bullet and go all grain. Been brewing fresh wort kits for a while now - no qualms with the quality at all, just wouldnt mind some control over the specifics.

I'll be doing BIAB with no chill, and im reasonably confident I have a handle on all the processes involved... maybe...

Anyway, I just had one question. Without a tap on the boiling pot, how on earth do you guys get the hot wort from the pot to the no chill cube?! I am of the understanding that just pouring it in (heavy pot, would need a big funnel to stop spilling) would create hot side aeration? Kind of scared to siphon it... don't want a mouthful of boiling wort...


i brew by ear..

" ear, chuck some of this in " "ear, have another beer "
 
I've been AGing for over a year now and one thing i've never got around to is buying a jug to measure how much water is going into the kettle. I fill up a cube from the tap and then take that to the kettle, so i get a general idea of how much water is going in.

A few months ago i did a brew where i just filled up a 9L bucket with grain (didn't have scales) and threw in a handful of POR. Came out tasting pretty good. I think OG was around 1049?

I am however going to buy a 5L jug and start measuring how much water i'm using. Or even get a long stainless ruler i suppose.

Anyone else doing it by eye?
Any brewers doing their mash temps by elbow?


I just brew in the nude and use my dick to measure the water depth...

1 penis = 80cm

which is a good width!
 
Not by elbow, but I have accurately gone by the reflection in the mash tun!
Give it a try some time :)
James
 
No, but I often do this with fermentation. I can usually judge how a beer is going by the krausen etc.
 
Anyone else doing it by eye?

I use Beersmith for my recipes and calculating expected gravitys. but don't measure my water.
after I mash in, i let the HLT boil and use that to rinse, sterilise, clean etc. whatever I need to.
for a 20L batch, i usually go through about 40L of water

My Mash paddle is an oak skirtingboard with texta marks up it to measure how much is in the kettle so I can hit my pre-boil volume.
I just sparge until I hit 1010 or I reach my boil volume.
I can then boil longer or dilute it for more beer, or just leave it as is.
Most of the time my gravitys are either bang on or pretty close once I hit my pre-boil volume.

BF
 
Used to do it, have now started using beersmith so I can create better, more consistent beers so I have started measuring what's going in.

I've got some stainless pieces which I'm going to use as a measuring stick until I can get a sight glass for my Mash tun and Kettle.
 
I cannot imagine brewing without my eyes though
jokes aside, I mark my vessels and pots every 6l because I have a measured 6l TAD bottle
 
I'm horrendously lazy at measuring my kettle volumes, pre and post boil. I have a steel ruler that i "could" use to measure the volumes if i calibrated the 80L kettle. Just a haven't got round to it. If i end up with a little less or little more in the cubes, it doesn't bother me too much. Rarely happpens, cause i use BS2 and my volumes are calc'd for me. My gravities are always what i expect though.

I do often brew by eye with late/dry hop additions though. Just chuck as much in as i feel like. Might keg hop some Styrian to a TTLL tonight for shits and giggles.
 
Yep, im usually lazy and dont measure my pot. I have a steel ruler, and have calibrated my 80l alumi pot (from allquip)... but I basically know were the 33l mark is, so its just a guess most times.
 
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