Bobby_M Sight Gauge

This is a recommendation for Bobby_M's sight gauges. I've used sight gauges from another vendor and Bobby's are clearly superior. I'll admit that I just added them to my keggles and if they let me down during the next year I'll update this thread with scathing testimonial.

My previous sight gauges cracked from normal use. They were constructed from some type of tubing fixed into a brass compression fitting. I had no problem with them until they cracked.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Bobby includes some nice appliqué numerals for marking gallons. If you screw this up (I did) he'll send another set for about $4.50. The polycarbonate tubing is threaded directly into a 1/2" SS adapter.

[edit] Bobby has a thin brush made just for his sight glasses. It's only a few bucks, I have one and would recommend it for cleaning the tube in a BK.

Old one and new one


Old one and new one


Bobby_M sight gauge


More Bobby_M sight gauge


And one last one...

I just installed two of his sight tube/thermo combo units and brewed one batch with the new equipment. Worked flawlessly!

The install was easy, but the drag was calibrating the gallon markings. No one's fault there... a necessary evil. Just time consuming measuring, pouring, marking, repeat. I installed one on my HLT and the other on my keggle. Great stuff... would recommend Bobby and his sight tubes for sure, even if he is a little obsessed with shining his keggles to a mirror finish that rivals the chrome on a 67 corvette! (just poking fun here)

Cheers!

It's "unabashed".

Wow! Great comparison pics!

Geez man, it's hard to believe that was an unsolicited, unpaid review. I have to admit, my designs have gone through adjustments since I first started putting these together. You might say the first 20 sold were all prototypes and I did use wimpy tubing for a few of them. I'm at a point now where I can fully stand behind the design and will never run out of parts (unless I just goof on inventory). Thanks for the props and great pics.

So are they threaded (clear tubing) to fit the stainless fitting? I have an early "wimpy" set on my HLT and BK.

I have to second the great quality if these. I just installed mine and am putting off measuring and marking. I had an old one from another vendor and it shattered maybe 5 brews into use. I can't see me breaking this one unless it is plain carelessness.

I must also chime in in praise of these things. I fired my keggle with a sight glass for the first time two weeks ago, and it worked perfectly. Big thumbs up to Bobby M for this and his other contributions to the brewniverse.

I have one of bobby's sight gauges and it works perfect no cracking no fading or color changes. A fine piece of equipment.

I haven't had time to install mine, but it looks well made. Nice thermometer, too.

I have been looking into getting a couple for my rig, I think I need look no further, and just get them from Bobby M.

+1 on Bobby M's sight-glasses. We have on in our boil kettle and on in our HLT!

+1 on Bobby M's product quality! I have a weldless thermo/sight combo on my boil kettle.
It's awesome.

[UPDATE] 15 months later, no problems at all.

I must say that Bobbys site tubes and service are great.
Thanks alot my friend
Later, TangleFoot-out

Installed mine on my HLT. It was pretty easy.

I forgot to wipe the tube with alcohol before putting on the numbers. I hope they stay on.

I did a BIAB last week. It made it easy to see how much was in there.

Question for you, Bobby...

Do you have an application where you can combine a sight glass with a ball valve? I want to make an electric HLT out of a cooler, but I don't want to have to drill extra holes in the cooler wall. Can your sight tee/ no thermo do this?

By necessity, the sight glass would have to be between the ball valve and the cooler. So I guess I'm asking if you can thread a ball valve onto the sight t?

You can do this. You will create a siphon on the sight tube when you open the vale.

So you will need to close the valve to get an accurate reading on the level of the liquid.

A nipple between the valve and the Tee on the sight glass would set this up.

I have a sight gauge on my ball valve. At the top of the sight gauge there is an opening and closing valve. If I leave the valve open I can't get an siphon going, close the valve and all is good in the world.

+1 to Bobby M's sight glass. I received, installed and calibrated my sight glass/thermo combo and it works like a charm. Super easy install.

Another satisfied customer here. Great products and customer service.

http://www.brewhardware.com/

:rockin: You guys know what you're doing to my weekend right?

You're not allowed to have a weekend!
Sight glasses must ship!

Seriously though, I've had one on my HLT for over a year now and it's been flawless. Recently upgraded to some Blichmann burners though and was noticing some sight glass bubbling. But guess what, you sell heat shields too!
Granted I could've easily made my own, but it's the least I could do for all the knowledge you've provided me throughout this leap into brewing.

I'd honestly have to say that if there's one person on this forum that I've learned the most from, it's hands down you.
Let me know when you feel like mentoring! lol

i bought 2 of these a few months back.. I really like them. Very easy to install and no leaks. I'd buy these again.

I purchased three (3) special order (for 55 gallon barrels) and came in perfect. Packaging and shipping great. Couldn't think of a nicer guy to do business with. This would be the first guy I would go to get my sight glass from. Nice Job Bobby!!!!

Bobby. I bought two sight glasses from you (and other brew hardware from you) and both work perfectly! I check your website often for new brewing items because I know you will provide superior products and your customer support is fantastic.

Thanks!

Dan

Bobby, got the sight glass and installed it... Looks and works great. Ty!

I just ordered a sight gauge/ thermometer combo last night. From everything I've read it seems like a great product, and Bobby sounds like a great guy. I could have built one of these, since I work with all these fittings every day, but I would rather support a fellow homebrewer, plus then its one last thing to fabricate. I can't wait to get it installed.

I'm visiting a helpful local homebrewer Saturday morning to plasma cut my keggle top after an hour and three battery charges with a battery powered dremel (set myself up for failure there!).

Sight glass is in the mail now, should have it installed Sunday and checking for leaks! Wish I had ordered the brush with it to save on shipping but oh well.

After struggling with accurate volume measurement. I have been considering purchasing one of the weldless sight glasses. I noticed however that the max temperature for the sightglasss is only 250F. I suspect that the contents of sight glass must never get anywhere close to boiling. I would expect this to be a bit of a sanitation issue as you'll have some un-boiled wort in the kettle. Obviously this isn't much of an issue or it would have been posted on. Has anyone experienced a "sudden increase" in sanitation issues after installing a sight-glass? And, to be clear, I'm not trying to argue that it this is a feature solely of Bobby M's product. This is going to be an issue with any sight-glass.

EDIT: I just found a thread discussing this issue, so never mind (I did search first!):

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/sight-glass-risk-300760/

I bought one for my HLT and BK and love em

Ordered mine and had it shipped to my brew partners house. The idiot took out the sight glass and brush and burned (literally in a camp fire) everything else in the box. Didn't realize he had burned the stickers for marking the tube until we had it installed. I emailed Bobby and he sent me replacements right away! Great customer service, great guy to work with, and an absolutely stellar product!

Well, all good things must come to an end.

I installed 2 of these a while ago, and one has finally succombed to fatigue, I guess, from the heating / cooling cycles. The other one still looks fine.

As you might be able to see here, there is an additional crack at around 3.5g mark. I didn't do anyting to cause these to break (as far as I know).

I will be buying another (probably 2), although I'll take a look around and see if there is a more permanent solution. I'd rather spend more and not deal with problems.

He does offer heat shields for them at $10 a piece. 3 yeras of use is still a great investment. How many batches do you think you put them through?

kh54s10 said:

Installed mine on my HLT. It was pretty easy.

I forgot to wipe the tube with alcohol before putting on the numbers. I hope they stay on.

I did a BIAB last week. It made it easy to see how much was in there.

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The vinyl numbers are still there! Easily among the best $$ I have spent on brewing equipment!

mjmac85 said:

He does offer heat shields for them at $10 a piece. 3 yeras of use is still a great investment. How many batches do you think you put them through?

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Electric kettles. No heat shield required.

50 - 75 batches. I have no complaints. But if there is something better, I'm for it.

I posted to complete the review, not to complain.

I'm curious if there has been any PBW or oxiclean exposure. I actually think 60 batches is a good guess as a usable lifespan even without any misuse. Now that this is my full time gig, a borosilicate sight kit is higher on the priority list. Fingers crossed that I can make it happen for the right price.

Bobby_M said:

I'm curious if there has been any PBW or oxiclean exposure. I actually think 60 batches is a good guess as a usable lifespan even without any misuse. Now that this is my full time gig, a borosilicate sight kit is higher on the priority list. Fingers crossed that I can make it happen for the right price.

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That would be very cool, given my special talent for melting the current ones!

Bobby_M said:

I'm curious if there has been any PBW or oxiclean exposure. I actually think 60 batches is a good guess as a usable lifespan even without any misuse. Now that this is my full time gig, a borosilicate sight kit is higher on the priority list. Fingers crossed that I can make it happen for the right price.

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Oxiclean about every 10 batches. Normally, I just hose the keggles and put away. About every 10 batches, I filled with oxiclean and recirculated for 24 hours.

I did recently (just before it cracked) do the same with heated PBW. But I think that's a red herring.

I think the culprit here is fatigue from heating and cooling cycles. Note that it cracked in two places right near the metal 'T', and nowhere else. It's possible that the combination of heat and oxygen-based cleaners are causing the failure.

I've seen some people have really bad luck with alkaline exposure with certain tap water chemistry. I mean one PBW soak for 4 hours and the polycarbonate falls to pieces. Certainly not on my tap water, and apparently not yours either, but the 5start chem engineer admitted that there's something about how PBW works that steals carbon from the bond. It's way over my head, but I can't disprove what he said either.

Bobby_M said:

I've seen some people have really bad luck with alkaline exposure with certain tap water chemistry. I mean one PBW soak for 4 hours and the polycarbonate falls to pieces. Certainly not on my tap water, and apparently not yours either, but the 5start chem engineer admitted that there's something about how PBW works that steals carbon from the bond. It's way over my head, but I can't disprove what he said either.

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I'll do the same heated PBW treatment to my other keggle after I brew this weekend. It's in perfect shape now. So, another data point.