$3.52 eye sight

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I just had it in boiling water. It's fine.
Geez, do you people not have anything else to do than to sit on a forum and poke fun at other people's posts that you know nothing about?
 
randyisrad said:
I just had it in boiling water. It's fine.
Geez, do you people not have anything else to do than to sit on a forum and poke fun at other people's posts that you know nothing about?
Click to expand...

If we had anything better to do, of course we'd be doing it. You too, I presume.

Post a DIY on this forum and expect your DIY to be inspected for brewing suitability.

I've been through a few sight glasses and I can tell you that yours won't last. If it breaks, it will be a disaster of boiling liquid gushing in an unstoppable torrent. You might save yourself, but your prepubescent beer will pay the ultimate price.
 
randyisrad said:
I just had it in boiling water. It's fine.
Geez, do you people not have anything else to do than to sit on a forum and poke fun at other people's posts that you know nothing about?
Click to expand...

Well, if I knew nothing about it, I wouldn't have posted, or gone to the trouble of finding the replacement that would solve the problem.

There is a reason all of the producers of the sight glasses use high temperature, fda-approved polycarbonite instead of the cheaper acrylic. Your sight glass will still be pretty cheap, so don't fret!
 
randyisrad said:
I just had it in boiling water. It's fine.
Geez, do you people not have anything else to do than to sit on a forum and poke fun at other people's posts that you know nothing about?
Click to expand...

I don't see anyone trying to poke fun at you. We're trying to help you out with a little constructive criticism based on our own experiences. And we've tried many of the things you're showing us, so some of us DO know something about it.

Your sight glass will work on a temporary basis, but there are alternatives in the same price point that are much more durable. Feel free to use your sightglass, just be aware that if you're direct firing it probably won't last in the long run, and when it does fail it will likely be a hot sticky mess (not to mention a little dangerous). How do I know this? Because you're not the first brewer to try it. I know exactly how well acrylic works as a sightglass in a direct fired vessel, and how much of a mess it makes when it fails.

Take this into consideration so that you're at least aware of the limitations of your design, ignore it and find out the hard way, or improve your design based on this knowledge. The choice is yours.
 
Ohhhhhhh
It's not the hot water, it's the flame.
That makes more sense.
Sorry you'll. I'll upgrade to the others plastic :)
 
randyisrad said:
Ohhhhhhh
It's not the hot water, it's the flame.
That makes more sense.
Sorry you'll. I'll upgrade to the others plastic :)
Click to expand...

I'm not sure it's the flame so much as the acrylic getting brittle after repeated extreme temperature changes. A fellow brewer I know used to use an autosiphon to drain his near boiling wort into his chiller becuase he didn't want to drill a hole in his kettle. After a while the acrylic tube started getting hairline cracks and then eventually failed. It never had any exposure to flames, just extreme temp changes.
 
JuanMoore said:
I'm not sure it's the flame so much as the acrylic getting brittle after repeated extreme temperature changes. A fellow brewer I know used to use an autosiphon to drain his near boiling wort into his chiller becuase he didn't want to drill a hole in his kettle. After a while the acrylic tube started getting hairline cracks and then eventually failed. It never had any exposure to flames, just extreme temp changes.
Click to expand...

Yeah, one is just faster than the other, but both will eventually kill it.
 
My buddy made a sightglass based on plans on here I think, but got his actuall tube mixed up with a cut piece of racking cane he was using on another project. It worked....for about 15 or 20 minutes of the boil, until I noticed that it was starting to make the shape of a question mark.

Then it started to spew wort.....Boiling hot wort.


Setting it for a few minutes in boiling water to see how it holds up and actually boiling wart for 1-2 hours is two different things.

Noone's intentionally trying to criticize, in fact I'm sure everyone on here is pulling for you for this to be a success, and that price, hell yeah we want it to work. But we want to make sure so we're not trying to seal up a high pressure meltdown while our beer is brewing.

This is exactly what you want to happen, a bunch of expert brewers critiquing it and offering suggestions.

Swapping it out wasn't pretty or fun.
 
JuanMoore said:
I'm not sure it's the flame so much as the acrylic getting brittle after repeated extreme temperature changes. A fellow brewer I know used to use an autosiphon to drain his near boiling wort into his chiller becuase he didn't want to drill a hole in his kettle. After a while the acrylic tube started getting hairline cracks and then eventually failed. It never had any exposure to flames, just extreme temp changes.
Click to expand...

This happened to me as well. The autosiphon looks like a mosaic now. I bought a new one and changed my process so that I am only siphoning the wort that is ready to pitch.
 
toddbyrne said:
Would you use a compression fitting to attach it to a SS coupler?

What size would you recommend for ease of cleaning?

Thanks,

Todd
Click to expand...

I would actually recommend that you look at Bobby M's sightglasses, or at least the thread in actual glass part. I believe the expense is worth the convenience of just threading it in place.
http://brewhardware.com/index.php?o...t-glass-kit&catid=37:thread-in-kits&Itemid=61

Now, if I were using that piece of tubing, I would probably use a compression fitting, yes. Bargain fittings has a nice stainless one, or you could perhaps fashion one up at home depot for bronze.

I think the one I have at home is a thick walled 1/2" OD and it is plenty easy to clean with a long brush or a pipe cleaner.
 
There is no F'n way I'd use CPVC in a boil kettle. Even if it was electric no flame. Especially for a bulkhead, for the previously stated dangers. At least buy brass compression fittings, and use O rings to seal it. Polycarb tubing would be ideal for the "glass"
 
Boil-kettle or not, I'm assuming this is direct-fired, though...

.jpg
 
Do the readers of your blog know that it's not meant for a boil kettle but for a mashtun? Do you think they will make the distiction?

Simply reading a few of the Darwin Award Winners, is enough to prove that for the most part people are idiots, and so it's a good idea to assume the worst in folks abilities not to screw up royally. ;)

(My favorite is the Russian Roulette one.) :rolleyes:

I think most people looking for a sightglass design online are going to be looking for one for their kettle. So if this ain't gonna work for it, and may end with 5-15 gallons boiling liquid spewing out of their kettles you are going to have to put neon warning signs all around the instructions on your blog not to use it for your kettle at all.
 
What's the point of a sight glass on a mash tun, though? I was going to install one on my boil kettle so I'd know my boil volume, so I could make sure to end up with 5.5 gallons. If I had a separate HLT, having a sight glass would let me know how much strike or sparge water I had added to the mash tun.

I'm just not sure what information I'd get out of having a sight glass on the mash tun itself. I know the amount of water I added, I know the weight of the grain.
 
HLT or MLT would be the same difference. Either I know how much water I've added (MLT) or I know how much water I'm going to add (HLT)
Im going to get the other plastic and a brass fitting for the kettle
 
I just don't see how you're going to know how much water you've actually added, since you're starting with dry grain. The first X gallons of water you add to the mash tun, there shouldn't be much movement at all on the sight glass because that water's going to be mixed in with dry grain. Maybe I'm missing something, though.
 
I don't particularly like combining the drain port with a sight glass port for two reasons. First, it makes reading the level impossible while draining. Second, you have to seal the top of the sight in order to maintain a siphon for a full drain.

Also hanging a ball valve and tubing off such a cantilever of plastic is a sure way to break something.

I'm not busting your balls for the fun of it. It is fun, but it's not why I'm posting ;-) Disclaimer: I sell sight glasses that are more expensive for a reason.
 
the_bird said:
I just don't see how you're going to know how much water you've actually added, since you're starting with dry grain. The first X gallons of water you add to the mash tun, there shouldn't be much movement at all on the sight glass because that water's going to be mixed in with dry grain. Maybe I'm missing something, though.
Click to expand...

Agreed Bird. I have never seen the purpose of a sight glass on the MLT. After grain absorbtion water level means nothing to me.
 
Well, for fly sparging it would be good to know that you've matched your input and output rates...
 
I suppose. Personally, I don't think I would bother with one on the mash tun. Assuming I had separate mash tun, HLT, and boil kettle, I'd put then on the HLT and boil kettle. Just something else to potentially leak or fail that seems to be of limited utility (some utility, but limited)
 
Okay, you guys are making me nervous. I built two site glasses out of broken racking canes and some brass plumbing fixtures. They've servived two brew sessions and a full length H2O checkout run (including one 10 gallon batch in 90 deg weather) without any apparent damage. The bottom of the racking cane on both of them is at about the 5 gallon mark so they may be protected from the heat. I also use a small (5X7) heat sheild for the BK.

Based on previous success shoul I be worried?

siteglass2.jpg

siteglass1.jpg
 
Well, your racking canes are being contained in the copper. Have you actually touched the plastic part of it during a long boil to see if it's softened? My buddie's was free standing and being held at the top by and eyelet, and it wasn't encased in metal.

His started to flop like a wet noodle. Yours may be as soft as his got, but it's being held into place. I would seriously finger the plastic during the boil to see how soft it is getting in there.
 
I haven't actually touched them but I have taken them apart and saw no deformation. I'll probably buy a Bobby M special eventually. I built these because it was fun not really to save cost. In the meantime, these will see at least one more brew--The Little Sumpin Sumpin recipe is out and I'm not waitin' on the mail. ;)
 
Ravenshead said:
The Little Sumpin Sumpin recipe is out and I'm not waitin' on the mail. ;)
Click to expand...

:off: How close are you sticking to that recipe? And if you are sticking to it where are you getting your hops? Thanks.

btw - Bargain fittings sightglass or Bobby's are worth the $$$. - just to get back on topic!
 
Ravenshead said:
I haven't actually touched them but I have taken them apart and saw no deformation. I'll probably buy a Bobby M special eventually. I built these because it was fun not really to save cost. In the meantime, these will see at least one more brew--The Little Sumpin Sumpin recipe is out and I'm not waitin' on the mail. ;)
Click to expand...

Bobby's fittings are great, but you could also just replace the racking cane with polcarb tubing like was linked at the start of this thread. I can't tell what type of plastic you have connected to the brass, but it could probably be replaced with a brass fitting if you're worried about it.
 
As far as the plastic fittings go, I think they are just plain old NSF 61 PVC. I don't know what the heat rating is on them, that's why I did a full scale boil test before brewing.

Also, I used plain-old black o-rings that don't seem to be giving me any trouble either. I assume I shoud have used red ones for high temp. I may take the BK apart this afternoon and inspect them for damage.

samc: I will be sticking to the recipe and since I'm in a hurry I'm going to pony up and buy everything from the LBHS. I just started brewing last feb and I haven't built up a stock of bulk supplies yet. That will change soon.

EDIT: Looks like CPVC is rated to about 180 deg.

EDIT 2: They're polypropylene apparently good over 250 deg. The Acrylic racking canes are still an issue though.
 
Racking canes are almost always made of Acrylic rather than Polycarbonate.

Heat Resistance - The maximum "continuous service temperature" of acrylic is between 180 degrees F and 200 degrees F depending on the particular use. This means that while the material can withstand higher temperatures for very short periods of time, it will soften and lose its form or shape if subjected to these higher temperatures for any period of time.
Click to expand...
 
Bobby M

I just saw this at your store "Sightglass with Threaded Bushing". I forsee you shipping two of these to Houston soon.
 

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