On my last brew I started getting bubbles bad in my sight glass of the boil pot.. Noticed it was sucking air at the bottom connection. I tightened it and the tubing pretty much squished through the holes in the clamp. where can I find the CLEAR high temp tubing? I found the opaque(sp) white stuff but with plain water in the hot tank it is hard to see the level.
Clear tubing for my sight glass
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Polycarbonate, but it doesn't clamp well. Silicone tubing is semi opaque.
33rdstreet
Member
Did you buy your sightglass or make it yourself? Typically the tubing you want is clear polypropylene. You can find this at omega.com or mcmaster.com. If you bought a pre-made one, it should be made with this material already.
I have the same issue whenever I use my HLT as a brew kettle, for it has a clear polypropylene sightglass tube connected to a brass compression elbow. What happens, in my setup, is the heat from my burner actually boils the liquid in the sightglass well before the actual kettle boils. Thus, the wort boils and bubbles up through the tube. Since my sightglass is open to the air (i.e. it does not return to the top of the kettle), I just put a piece of teflon tape on the top during the boil. Watch out: if you remove this before the kettle is cool, liquid will shoot out of the tube like a geyser.
Therefore, you probably are not sucking in air, but are just boiling off what's in your sightglass.
I have the same issue whenever I use my HLT as a brew kettle, for it has a clear polypropylene sightglass tube connected to a brass compression elbow. What happens, in my setup, is the heat from my burner actually boils the liquid in the sightglass well before the actual kettle boils. Thus, the wort boils and bubbles up through the tube. Since my sightglass is open to the air (i.e. it does not return to the top of the kettle), I just put a piece of teflon tape on the top during the boil. Watch out: if you remove this before the kettle is cool, liquid will shoot out of the tube like a geyser.
Therefore, you probably are not sucking in air, but are just boiling off what's in your sightglass.
I agree with 33rd on where the bubbles are coming from. You need a heat shield. The fitting is probably hitting 240+ degrees. If you're using regular vinyl tubing, I'd be concerned about leaching flavors into the brew at those temps.
OHIOSTEVE
Well-Known Member
I have stainless steel elbows top and bottom.. tubing running between em. It was definitely sucking air. and like I said, when I clamped it tighter the tubing squished through the holes in the clamp. I thought for sure I was gonna have a geyser.
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