Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Marking my sight glasses: Barrels or Gallons

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Marking my sight glasses: Barrels or Gallons

    Is it best to mark my tank site gauges in gallons or barrels? I do have flow meters and I marked everything in barrels. But now, I'm wishing I had marked them in gallons.

  • #2
    Originally posted by AGB View Post
    Is it best to mark my tank site gauges in gallons or barrels? I do have flow meters and I marked everything in barrels. But now, I'm wishing I had marked them in gallons.
    I think many might argue for hL (hectoliters), and the metric system in general for ease of measurements.

    For me, at a certain point it stopped making much difference. I think of gallons in terms of growlers/kegs most of the time, so it is easy enough for me to quantify gallons into barrels and vice versa. Same with the metric system. 2 liter growlers are just a hair over a half gallon growler at the conversion rate of 3.785 liters per gallon, or 1.17 hL per bbl. 30 & 50 liter kegs for foreign operations.

    It is really about using the unit of measure that is most convenient for your purposes, and that you can translate most fluently.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by UnFermentable View Post
      I think many might argue for hL (hectoliters), and the metric system in general for ease of measurements.

      For me, at a certain point it stopped making much difference. I think of gallons in terms of growlers/kegs most of the time, so it is easy enough for me to quantify gallons into barrels and vice versa. Same with the metric system. 2 liter growlers are just a hair over a half gallon growler at the conversion rate of 3.785 liters per gallon, or 1.17 hL per bbl. 30 & 50 liter kegs for foreign operations.

      It is really about using the unit of measure that is most convenient for your purposes, and that you can translate most fluently.
      It makes sense to me to mark them in gallons or liters. I forgot to mention that we are a 5bbl brewery located at a winery. We keg everything and have no tap room. So I think I'll go back and mark everything in gallons. I have a flow meter, so it is pretty easy.

      Comment


      • #4
        For the love of God, go with litres...
        Jeff Rosenmeier (Rosie)
        Chairman of the Beer
        Lovibonds Brewery Ltd
        Henley-on-Thames, Englandshire
        W: www.lovibonds.com
        F: LovibondsBrewery
        T: @Lovibonds

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Rosie View Post
          For the love of God, go with litres...
          That makes no sense. OP is in Georgia, USA. All taxes and sales are figured in gallons or brewer's barrels. Most of our containers are in fluid ounces. Why add confusion?
          Timm Turrentine

          Brewerywright,
          Terminal Gravity Brewing,
          Enterprise. Oregon.

          Comment


          • #6
            I'm with Rosie...

            Everything I do is in liters. So simple to do any math regarding dosing or ratios or recipe formulation or anything volumetric. Or heat additions, refrigeration, packaging, or almost any brewery/winery operation. Yes, I must eventually revert to the neanderthal measurement system of gallons when I report to the Feds. But that is far easier than using some archaic gallon measurement all the way from the beginning.
            Phillip Kelm--Palau Brewing Company Manager--

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by TGTimm View Post
              That makes no sense. OP is in Georgia, USA. All taxes and sales are figured in gallons or brewer's barrels. Most of our containers are in fluid ounces. Why add confusion?
              I think the sooner you guys give up on these archaic measurements, the better. I moved over from the US 24 years ago and about lost my mind when I found out the pint was different here...and hence so was the gallon and brewers barrel.

              We too sell over the bar in divisions of the Imperial pint, but are taxed in hl%, a very simple conversion at the end of the month.

              In the brewhouse or even in the kitchen (I can't believe people still use cups and tablespoons either) at home, metric just makes total sense. Chemical ratios, liquor to grist ratios, being able to weigh water and/or beer and convert to volume, easy working with ppm, etc, etc.

              IMHO, it's time you guys gave up the equivalent of pounds and shillings.
              Last edited by Rosie; 02-18-2020, 03:36 AM.
              Jeff Rosenmeier (Rosie)
              Chairman of the Beer
              Lovibonds Brewery Ltd
              Henley-on-Thames, Englandshire
              W: www.lovibonds.com
              F: LovibondsBrewery
              T: @Lovibonds

              Comment


              • #8
                I could make a snarky comment about certain other countries making backwards decisions because of a bunch of misguided old people, but...

                I always marked my sightglasses with barrels, since all my kegs were an even fraction of a barrel. I was going to mark it in sixths of a barrel, but I don't need that level of precision on a 10 bbl tank. The only exception was the first barrel in the tank, which I marked more precisely with a flow meter to avoid partial kegs.

                Comment


                • #9
                  People need to friggen relax. Mark your sight glass however the hell you want. It's your sight glass, it's your brewery. Do what works best for you. The markings are mostly useless anyway. If its for tax determination then that can simply be your walk in or finished goods storage area. I'm going to create my own measurement system, then we'll see some bitterness to the likes of a late 90's west coast ipa.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by spetrovits View Post
                    I could make a snarky comment about certain other countries making backwards decisions because of a bunch of misguided old people, but...
                    Yeah, the people that still prefer pounds and shillings...
                    Jeff Rosenmeier (Rosie)
                    Chairman of the Beer
                    Lovibonds Brewery Ltd
                    Henley-on-Thames, Englandshire
                    W: www.lovibonds.com
                    F: LovibondsBrewery
                    T: @Lovibonds

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Marking every gallon is excessive once you reach over a barrel or so. Your choice of measurement unit is totally up to you and, for me, it was a matter of convenience. I used US units as a Canadian homebrewer simply because that's how suppliers sold ingredients. When I went pro the government wanted everything metric so I switched and I happen to prefer it. I marked my BBTs in hl and later marked every ten liters within the first and last hl of the tank. For me that was between 0-1hl and 9-10hl. Measurement unit aside, subdividing the two extremes of the tank makes it easy to dose and avoid partial kegs etc.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Rosie View Post
                        In the brewhouse or even in the kitchen (I can't believe people still use cups and tablespoons either) at home, metric just makes total sense. Chemical ratios, liquor to grist ratios, being able to weigh water and/or beer and convert to volume, easy working with ppm, etc, etc.
                        This exactly.

                        I did not mean to start the next revolution (pun intended), however this is why I ultimately left with the point that you should use whatever is the easiest form for you to speak in fluently. Conversion is not impossible in any case.

                        Now to change the subject of sorts - I don't care between Plato and SG either, lol. Brix takes a quick reference, but not a big deal.

                        Round two - Fight!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Next up, The arguement between SAE and metric tools!

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by UnFermentable View Post
                            This exactly.

                            I did not mean to start the next revolution (pun intended), however this is why I ultimately left with the point that you should use whatever is the easiest form for you to speak in fluently. Conversion is not impossible in any case.
                            Shame we can't all speak the same language though...I bought a US brewhouse and they made NASA like fails in conversions and the install guy (though he was a complete legend) couldn't speak a lick of metric

                            Originally posted by UnFermentable View Post
                            Now to change the subject of sorts - I don't care between Plato and SG either, lol. Brix takes a quick reference, but not a big deal.
                            Round two - Fight!
                            I tried to go Plato when moving to new facility, but our main hydrometer supplier in the UK only does SG, so we stick with it.
                            Jeff Rosenmeier (Rosie)
                            Chairman of the Beer
                            Lovibonds Brewery Ltd
                            Henley-on-Thames, Englandshire
                            W: www.lovibonds.com
                            F: LovibondsBrewery
                            T: @Lovibonds

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by augiedoggy View Post
                              Next up, The arguement between SAE and metric tools!
                              I own a lot of tools...none of them in fractions of inches, thank f*ck...except for the socket drives, I guess
                              Jeff Rosenmeier (Rosie)
                              Chairman of the Beer
                              Lovibonds Brewery Ltd
                              Henley-on-Thames, Englandshire
                              W: www.lovibonds.com
                              F: LovibondsBrewery
                              T: @Lovibonds

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X