Weldless sightglass how to?

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bagpiperjosh

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i looked but didnt finda thread on it. I'd like to make my own weldless site glass for my keggles.. anyone know of a how-to and parts list? id like to buy everything at Home Depot or Lowes if i can.
If i HAVE to buy them , i'd buy from Bobby M because ive heard nothing but good things. but id rather make them myself if possible, because thats just more fun to me.

thanks!
 
bagpiperjosh said:
i looked but didnt finda thread on it. I'd like to make my own weldless site glass for my keggles.. anyone know of a how-to and parts list? id like to buy everything at Home Depot or Lowes if i can.
If i HAVE to buy them , i'd buy from Bobby M because ive heard nothing but good things. but id rather make them myself if possible, because thats just more fun to me.

thanks!
Click to expand...

You can get most of the parts from McMaster Carr. The locknut with the ridge can be gotten from any number of online suppliers. You cant piece it together from home depot.

Do yourself a favor. Order one from Bobby If you get the parts yourself, you'll probably pay more and curse more than just buying it ready to assemble from Bobby. You still have the DIY satisfaction of drilling your keg and mounting and calibrating the volumes.
 
It's probably not too difficult to figure out the pile of parts I use to make mine but not a single piece would be found at a home center. I started with Mcmaster parts and eventually found better suppliers. I will warn you that if you do copy my design exactly that some manufacturers have longer thread lengths than others and you may be stuck using a short stack of washers to make up for that gap. If you thread the polycarbonate, be sure to do it on an angle so that the tubing doesn't jut out away from the keg at the top.

If you want to buy parts from lowes, it will be brass fittings. They don't have polycarbonate so PVC clear tubing? Eh... I'm not so sure.
 
at the price Bobby sells his most excellent sight gauges, why bother building on from scratch?
I'd put the energy in to another DIY project
 
I'm a big proponent of DIY projects, but I bought two sight glasses from Bobby. It will definitely cost you more in the long run.
 
I am all about DIY. But for the quality that you receive from the products that Bobby M provides, you just can't go wrong. I just bought two sightglass kits with T-fittings and a RIMS kit from BREWHARDWARE.COM and honestly, for the prices you're really better off going with his "proven" products. You're still within the realm of DIY but with the quality of the fittings and the pieces he is able to provide, you're not going to be able to "piece-meal" a similar setup together at Home Depot or anywhere else for that matter. Sure its a couple bucks more but the "trial, error, and guess-work" has been eliminated from the equation. That alone is worth it to me.
 
I made two of them using parts I already had on hand, but everything I used can be found at home depot. I used clear pex for the tube, and brass compression x NPT elbows, brass lock nuts, and SS washers and eye bolts for the rest.

If I didn't already have the parts on hand I probably would have bought from Bobby. For just a few $ more than the retail cost of my inferior parts, the BobbyM model is well worth the price IMO.
 
I did as JuanMoore. Using and all-tube elbow 5/8 in brass and some 3/4" SS washers with bottle nipple silicon seals and some 5/8 OD clear plastic tubing. The keggle sight glass cost me about about $8. But I caught the brass elbow on sale for $2 (orig 8). I wanted 1/2" ID that is why I had to order the plastic tubing from usplastics for $14 delivered. Also the elbow doesn't quite hold the plastic right and sealed so I used a little Teflon tape and it worked like a charm.

All this. An be done with the 3/8" ID PTFE at the hardware store very easily! I highly recommend doing that. It'll cost about $10 all in all. Saving you a good $20 to put towards homebrew. Granted the PTFE isn't clear, but opaque, it still serves the purpose well!

image-4143553939.jpg


image-647900561.jpg


image-317472874.jpg


image-1134240615.jpg
 
PTFE tubing? PTFE is teflon and I've never seen it in a home center. The semi opaque stuff both HD and Lowes carries is LDPE (low density polyethylene) and it's only rated for up to 175F. In any case, both of those tube types would be a little more flimsy than I'd like. If you encased it in some metal tubing, it would work out.
 
Bobby_M said:
The semi opaque stuff both HD and Lowes carries is LDPE (low density polyethylene) and it's only rated for up to 175F. In any case, both of those tube types would be a little more flimsy than I'd like. If you encased it in some metal tubing, it would work out.
Click to expand...

The stuff I used (which is available at my local home depot) is a cross linked HDPE (PEX), and rated for 200F at 80 psi, and 250F at 10 psi. I've brewed with it many times, and it hasn't gotten soft at all, even when I had my old burner set-up that caused the liquid in the sight glass to boil over.
 
Bobby_M said:
Hmm, I believe you. I never looked at liquid through a piece of PEX but it didn't appear to be translucent enough for my taste.
Click to expand...

Most PEX has dye in it (usually blue or red) making it nearly opaque. The "natural" color is undyed, and semi-translucent. Since it's not completely clear, I have to look closely to see the level of plain water in my HLT, but even very pale wort shows up from across the yard in my MLT and BK. It's not ideal for the HLT, but works well enough for me.

As I said, if I didn't already have the materials on hand, I would have bought them from you instead of making my own. Yours are superior in many ways, and don't cost much more than the retail price of the parts to make inferior ones like mine. I may still upgrade and buy some from you someday.
 
I've designed and made my own sight tube/glass... 100% stainless steel fittings, borosilicate glass tube, fittings both top and bottom (goes back into the keggle) and high temp silicone o-rings.

Not as cheap as what Bobby_M sells, but I couldn't find a sight tube assembly that I liked with borosilicate glass instead of plastic. Used it on last brew day and it worked beyond great. It's fitted to my keggle now and is set to brew tomorrow. I've even added a stainless steel shield to it (testing it with tomorrow's brew day).

I didn't get anything from HD or Lowe's. I used McMaster-Carr, Bargain Fittings, and Amazon for the parts. You can see it on my keggle that's in my gallery, if you're interested.
 
OneHoppyGuy said:
Post some photos! you did it an excellent job!
Click to expand...

Well, since you put it THAT way... :D

SightTube2.jpg

SightTube1.jpg

2012-03-28_19-49-25_483.jpg


Without the shield installed (first batch brewed with it) getting up to a boil...
2012-03-03_23-26-10_111.jpg


I really like how you can see the wort change color in the tube. I did get a dip tube cleaning brush from William's Brewing, which makes cleaning inside the tube REALLY easy. I removed the marks on the outside before installing the shield (denatured alcohol) so the glass has no marks on it now.

I went through two major design changes for the fittings as well as a couple for how the tube would sit inside them. The shield design is in it's second stage right now, and more changes could be in order. I also have to try out a couple of different options for how it connects through the keg wall. I expect to have it finalized within a week (depending on machine shop schedules and such). I need to see how the shield works during an actual brew day (tomorrow) before making any changes there. I also have some perforated stainless tubing that might become the shield.
 
I'm crazy like that... I'm also super careful around my keggle/kettle... But, accidental strikes is why I decided to make the shield for it... I need to see if the machine shop down the street can get the groove longer for me. At least at the top end of the shield...

I have two people interested in my first keggle... :rockin: I also have a replacement donor keg on standby to become my next keggle (when one of them buys this one from me). The shine isn't 100% perfect (in my eyes) but it is enough to blind people. :D Next keg is in better condition than the first, so it should be far easier to polish up. Of course, using the methods listed by Bobby_M (for the most part)... Being me, I can't leave well enough alone though and have already decided on tweaking the process for the second time around... I also have another keg on deck after the above mentioned one... Might make another keg mash tun form that, changing it now that I've been using one for a while.
 
Nice. I wanted to make some similar, I think the top fitting makes it look so much more much cleaner than the open top w/ eye bolt.

What I can't get past is why those NPT to compression elbows are so expensive. $20+ for one fitting, really??
 
As I mentioned, NOT cheap...

I also like how there's really no chance of snagging something on the top of it, or on the eye bolt (since it doesn't have one). It does look even cleaner with the shield in place. Plus, the smallest OD of the glass tube I've found is 1/2"... I can only imagine what the elbow fittings would cost with 5/8" or 3/4" compression sides there.

I'm also investigating/designing a welded option for those who go that route. Only problem there is the entire setup will be more due to the welded fittings used (TC ferrules and such).

I am very glad that it easily clears the humps in the keggle without issue.

I'm going to try and take some more pictures of it in action when I use it Saturday (today technically) for my first 10 gallon batch. :rockin:
 
Markd27 said:
Nice. I wanted to make some similar, I think the top fitting makes it look so much more much cleaner than the open top w/ eye bolt.

What I can't get past is why those NPT to compression elbows are so expensive. $20+ for one fitting, really??
Click to expand...

It's because they're not cast and machined out of cold material.
 
Golddiggie said:
Well, since you put it THAT way... :D

SightTube2.jpg

SightTube1.jpg

2012-03-28_19-49-25_483.jpg


Without the shield installed (first batch brewed with it) getting up to a boil...
2012-03-03_23-26-10_111.jpg


I really like how you can see the wort change color in the tube. I did get a dip tube cleaning brush from William's Brewing, which makes cleaning inside the tube REALLY easy. I removed the marks on the outside before installing the shield (denatured alcohol) so the glass has no marks on it now.

I went through two major design changes for the fittings as well as a couple for how the tube would sit inside them. The shield design is in it's second stage right now, and more changes could be in order. I also have to try out a couple of different options for how it connects through the keg wall. I expect to have it finalized within a week (depending on machine shop schedules and such). I need to see how the shield works during an actual brew day (tomorrow) before making any changes there. I also have some perforated stainless tubing that might become the shield.
Click to expand...

that is beautiful
 
I made my own, too. You usually spend a lot more time and a little more money doing it yourself, but if you have something particular in mind you will end up with something that will make you happier.

IMG_5535small.jpg
 
I thought about putting one of those on a fermenter and keeping a hydrometer in it for an ez check on gravity while fermenting. Anyone have thoughts on something like that? just curious.
 
kman917 said:
I thought about putting one of those on a fermenter and keeping a hydrometer in it for an ez check on gravity while fermenting. Anyone have thoughts on something like that? just curious.
Click to expand...

Not sure how well that would work. Would the beer in the tube stay mixed with the beer in the fermenter? Doubtful. It's probably going to get ganky from the yeast as well making it hard to read the hydrometer.
 
jfrizzell said:
Not sure how well that would work. Would the beer in the tube stay mixed with the beer in the fermenter? Doubtful. It's probably going to get ganky from the yeast as well making it hard to read the hydrometer.
Click to expand...


Good point. Just something I had thought about... Not sur it worth ruining a conical over. Thanks.
 

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