blichmann thermometer placement on a 15.5 gal sanke keg?

[timbah]

just built a hlt , mash tun, and a brew pot out of sankes all with thermometers im just wondering for 10 gal batches if the thermometer on mash tun is placed about 7 inches from bottom of tun off of false bottom on the 15 and a half gallon keg anyone know how much grain per inch on average takes up that volume?

[jeff]

just built a hlt , mash tun, and a brew pot out of sankes all with thermometers im just wondering for 10 gal batches if the thermometer on mash tun is placed about 7 inches from bottom of tun off of false bottom on the 15 and a half gallon keg anyone know how much grain per inch on average takes up that volume?

I know it's a bit late to reply to this topic but here is how to work it out for anyone that might be interested. This answer is based on the assumption that you are mixing roughly 5 cups hot liquor to one pound of grain during dough-in.

The keg has a diameter of 15.5in which means that the cross section has an area of 188.7in² using the formula: A = Pi * r²

1in of keg depth thus equals 188.7in³ or 0.8168gal. 7in of keg depth equals 5.7179gal.

Since 1lb of grain occupies a volume of roughly 0.36qt, 1lb of grain mixed with 5c of hot liquor produces 1.61qt or 0.4025gal of mash.

Divide 5.7179gal by 0.4025gal to get 14.21lb of grain required to reach the 7in level of the thermometer shaft. Count the dead space under the false bottom and this number increases.

Hope this helps!

[slothrob]

I think there are some very useful numbers in there for a lot of brewers. Thanks Jeff.

[ColoradoBrewer]

Yeah, thanks Jeff! I cut a pasted this info into my folder for brewing references.