Inline Sight Glass

Williams 728
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Islandboy85

Islandboy85

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I'm having trouble finding designs for a diy inline sight glass. I thought about using stainless/brass compression fittings and poly tube, but that started to get expensive. I've seen some designs in the past that were assembled with copper pipe fittings, but couldn't find a write up on them. Anybody know what size tube, fittings, and o-rings i would need to assemble my sight glass?
 
JKoravos said:
A piece of clear vinyl hose and 2 screw clamps. That should cost you about a buck.
Click to expand...

The vinyl tubing I've got gets super soft at higher temps. That's's why I thought about using polycarbonate tube. I want to use at least 1/2" Inner diameter so as to allow an unrestricted flow.
 
Yeah, thw vinyl is not a good choice for the high temps, but his point about the design is still valid. A short lenght of the polycarb tubing and some hose clamps should work.

I personally just look in the top of my MLT to see how clear it is. :D
 
I built mine out of polycarbonate tubing and polypro compression fittings from McMaster. I'm about to start brewing (so I'm pretty busy atm) and I'll take some pictures of my setup in action.

Here is the info from McMaster:

1 9176T32 Durable Clear Polycarbonate Tubing, 5/8" ID, 3/4" OD, 1/16" Wall Thickness, 2' L, 1 Each @ $3.78 Each, Subtotal $3.78
2 5016K457 White polypropylene Compression Tube Fitting, Adapter for 3/4" Tube OD X 1/2" NPT Male Pipe, Packs of 1, 4 Packs @ $2.62 Per Pack, Subtotal $10.48

As you can see, you can build two inline sight glasses that work and look pretty decent for less than $15. Truth is, they were even cheaper since I put them between my pump and the valve, so they serve as the nipple that would have cost me $5 each anyway.
 
Red Clay said:
I built mine out of polycarbonate tubing and polypro compression fittings from McMaster. I'm about to start brewing (so I'm pretty busy atm) and I'll take some pictures of my setup in action.

Here is the info from McMaster:

1 9176T32 Durable Clear Polycarbonate Tubing, 5/8" ID, 3/4" OD, 1/16" Wall Thickness, 2' L, 1 Each @ $3.78 Each, Subtotal $3.78
2 5016K457 White polypropylene Compression Tube Fitting, Adapter for 3/4" Tube OD X 1/2" NPT Male Pipe, Packs of 1, 4 Packs @ $2.62 Per Pack, Subtotal $10.48

As you can see, you can build two inline sight glasses that work and look pretty decent for less than $15. Truth is, they were even cheaper since I put them between my pump and the valve, so they serve as the nipple that would have cost me $5 each anyway.
Click to expand...

Hadn't looked at the poly fittings...I think you're on to something! Pictures!!!!Pictures!!!!Pictures!!!!
 
Islandboy85 said:
Hadn't looked at the poly fittings...I think you're on to something! Pictures!!!!Pictures!!!!Pictures!!!!
Click to expand...

How about something like this for $30 on Ebay:

!Bbyi+Hw!Wk~$(KGrHqQOKioEq43HB5kdBK)pQE19UQ~~_12.JPG


You will probably spend that much in parts and your time. With this you just need some bushings.
 
I'm an idiot. I took some great action shots of the sight glasses with wort running through one and water through the other. But I forgot to put my CF card into my camera...DOH.

So here is a decidedly non-action shot of the way I've set up my sight glass. It works perfectly.

1883-sight-glass-800x533.jpg


There is enough polycarbonate in what I ordered to make four that size.
 
Red Clay said:
I'm an idiot. I took some great action shots of the sight glasses with wort running through one and water through the other. But I forgot to put my CF card into my camera...DOH.

So here is a decidedly non-action shot of the way I've set up my sight glass. It works perfectly.

1883-sight-glass-800x533.jpg


There is enough polycarbonate in what I ordered to make four that size.
Click to expand...

Pic didn't make it through...
 
Sweet. I like that very much. I finally found the pic I had been looking for. It's in BYO Nov 03. It's Justin Bruett's CHEM brewery. I'd love to know how he sealed the fittings.
 
Here is what I did, took my 1/2" ID 3/4" OD silicon tubing, some hose clamps, and the 1/2" ID x 5/8" OD polycarbonate tubing (Amazon). A quick, simple solution, and it works well. I've used it 3 times in the last 3 weeks without fuss or mess. Best part, cheap.
Brewery-Const-27.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
hatrickwah said:
Here is what I did, took my 1/2" ID 3/4" OD silicon tubing, some hose clamps, and the 1/2" ID x 5/8" OD polycarbonate tubing (Amazon). A quick, simple solution, and it works well. I've used it 3 times in the last 3 weeks without fuss or mess. Best part, cheap.
Brewery-Const-27.jpg
Click to expand...

I thought about trying this, but I was a bit worried. I was worried about mating the hose with different size tube due to the fact that they aren't the same diameter, I was worried the hose would slip off at some point because there aren't any barbs on the tube to grip to, and was worried the clamps would crack the tube. I may have to try this method. If it doesn't work, I can always buy the other fittings I suppose. My thought was to mount the sightglass, inline thermometer, pump, and output valve all in a nice little package hard-plumbed together.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
If you don't have any problem using copper (lead-free apparently), I found the shark bite fittings for 1/2" pex plumbing fit the polycarbonate tubing as well. I picked up, 1/2" Sharkbite to 1/2" npt connections at Home Depot. Since I'm trying to stay away from copper/brass I opted to not use them but copper would definitely be better than PVC pipe. The brass compression fittings I found didn't fit at all though. I've been debating about ordering the 1/2" npt to 5/8" Stainless compression fittings from BargainFittings.com and seeing if they work, but since that's nearly $40 in 2 fittings, I'm not rushing out to try them, maybe next month.
 
In the link, I believe he says it's just a glass slide for a guitar that he picked up at a music store. I don't think the entire list is given, but the rest looks like simple hardware items.
 
XXguy said:
In the link, I believe he says it's just a glass slide for a guitar that he picked up at a music store. I don't think the entire list is given, but the rest looks like simple hardware items.
Click to expand...

I hope those flanges aren't like the cheap galvanized one I saw at Ace today.
 

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