Sight glass on a mash tun? yes or no?

[Bsquared]

I don't think I have ever used I sight glass on a mash tun, but I'm now going to start using a converted keg as my mash tun and am debating putting a sight glass on it. I have sight glasses on my HLT and Kettle, so I know whats going in and whats coming out. And because I fly sparge I monitor the gravity of the kettle as I am sparging. I don't really see a need for a sight glass on the mash tun.

Curious to hear what other peoples thoughts are on this.

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

I have one on mine, and I don't use it. I went for one on the MLT instead of the kettle, and I should switched them around.

 

[Bobby_M]

Whenever I'm asked, I suggest not to put one on the MLT unless you know for a fact that you want to direct fill and direct fire the MLT with strike water. I do know that some people will put them on the MLT with the bulkhead under the false bottom and use it as a vacuum gage to avoid compacting the grainbed but this is a pretty specific application.

 

[ehedge20]

I fly sparge as well. I only measure the amount of water I put into the mash tun at the beginning with a ruler. I sparge until I reach my target volume in my kettle and therefore I do not care how much water is in my mash tun but I have a good idea.

I do stop adding water from the HLT when I am 2 gallons short in my boil kettle so that the remaining 2 gallons comes from the mash tun undiluted. I suppose if I added a sight glass I could see exactly how much water was left in the mash which would enable me to know exactly when to cut of the supply from the HLT and totally drain the Mash Tun to get my target level in the boil kettle if all that makes sense.

 

[Bsquared]

Thanks, this is what I was thinking too. I can't envision needing it, just wanted to make sure I was not missing some thing.