Simple and cheap sight level gauge

[mrveeno]

I was going to buy a sight level gauge to measure my strike water from a keg.
Too much money, me being cheap and all. I came up with this using a tee, elbow and vinyl tubing. It ended up being about $5. The tubing fit tight into the tee and elbow, but I used a bit of high temp silicone anyway. No, I haven't marked it yet, just did it today.

 

[Bobby_M]

Please cover up that element wiring.

 

[Brulosopher]

Bobby beat me to the punch- I'd strongly recommend saving yourself from potential shock and cover them wires up.

 

[jodell]

Also clear vinyl tubing doesn't do well with hot water

 

[mrveeno]

It'll work for me. I worked avionics for 36 years and know how to stay away from low voltages as well as very high voltages. Ain't no one else around my stuff but me, and I don't need to go near it while it's on, and it's just about eye level.

The heat in the tube will be a max of 180 degrees. If this tubing doesn't work, I'll MacGruber something else.

 

[jodell]

...

 

[plazola86]

cheap and simple. $18 and you get stainless steel/ high temp components.

http://www.bargainfittings.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=46_69&product_id=116

 

[mabrungard]

Vinyl tubing is OK with hot water. I do recommend pre-boiling the tubing prior to use to get most of the volatiles out of it. I use the reinforced vinyl tubing at many points in my system.

Regarding the high-temp silicone seal: Since regular silicone seal is fine for temps up to 350F, there is no need to use the high-temp stuff. In addition, I'm not sure if the high-temp stuff is food safe.

By the way, I employ a similar vinyl sight tube on my tun. It is ported directly through the side of the tun without any valve. I've also marked levels on the exterior of the tun that correspond to the amount of wort that will come out of the GRAIN BED when drained. Remember, the grain takes up space and the amount of liquid that can drain out of that bed is different than when there isn't grain in there. This information is useful when assessing how much wort you need to fill your kettle and how much wort is left in the tun.

 

[mrveeno]

cheap and simple. $18 and you get stainless steel/ high temp components.

http://www.bargainfittings.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=46_69&product_id=116

Thanks for the link. Too much money and a pain to drill the holes, etc.

 

[mrveeno]

Vinyl tubing is OK with hot water. I do recommend pre-boiling the tubing prior to use to get most of the volatiles out of it. I use the reinforced vinyl tubing at many points in my system.

Regarding the high-temp silicone seal: Since regular silicone seal is fine for temps up to 350F, there is no need to use the high-temp stuff. In addition, I'm not sure if the high-temp stuff is food safe.

By the way, I employ a similar vinyl sight tube on my tun. It is ported directly through the side of the tun without any valve. I've also marked levels on the exterior of the tun that correspond to the amount of wort that will come out of the GRAIN BED when drained. Remember, the grain takes up space and the amount of liquid that can drain out of that bed is different than when there isn't grain in there. This information is useful when assessing how much wort you need to fill your kettle and how much wort is left in the tun.

This is only for my liquor tank. I use an Igloo cube for the mash tun. I only used high temp silicone as that is what I had on hand.

 

[Bobby_M]

It'll work for me. I worked avionics for 36 years and know how to stay away from low voltages as well as very high voltages. Ain't no one else around my stuff but me, and I don't need to go near it while it's on, and it's just about eye level.

The heat in the tube will be a max of 180 degrees. If this tubing doesn't work, I'll MacGruber something else.

At least dab some of that silicone sealant over the exposed wires. There's no reason to be overtly dangerous even to yourself. Is the keg at least grounded?

 

[mrveeno]

Grounding the keg would be more hazardous. Then if I had my hand touching the keg, it would supply a complete circuit. We always learned to work with one hand in your pocket around high voltages, as it keeps stuff off your heart.

 

[Bobby_M]

I think you might be trolling me now. Do you disconnect the grounds on all your appliances? Same concept.

 

[The_Bishop]

That thing is a disaster waiting to happen. First, you have the not-inconsequential threat of electric shock due to the exposed wiring at both the element in the kettle and at the junction of the wiring to the left of the picture. Then you have the sketchy vinyl tubing jammed *inside* some plastic barbs that are probably not heat rated, either, not on the outside as it should be which adds some new fun potential catastrophes: being doused with scalding hot water when the tubing pops out or that really sketchy 'plug' made of vinyl tubing bent over and zip tied fails, or getting doused with scalding hot water then simultaneously being electrocuted by the exposed wiring/ungrounded kettle.

As for you working in avionics? I call bull***t on that one. Unless you mean you sweep up the shop in an avionics place, because there's no way anything even remotely resembling that dangerous crap would be considered 'ok' by anyone who has even a rudimentary understanding of how electricity works and it's hazards.

Edit:

That thing is even sketcher than it looks here; this is one of your other pics of it:

 

[mrveeno]

No, I am not trolling. If you want to do all of that stuff, then by all means do it. The water is under no pressure, so the tubing isn't going to come flying out, spraying water all over. As I said, I also RTV'd it. As for the wiring, there is no way I come near it. As for the avionics, yes, I worked RADAR, Nav, Instruments & Comm systems and everything else under the sun for the USAF for 36 years.

 

[mrveeno]

That thing is a disaster waiting to happen. First, you have the not-inconsequential threat of electric shock due to the exposed wiring at both the element in the kettle and at the junction of the wiring to the left of the picture. Then you have the sketchy vinyl tubing jammed *inside* some plastic barbs that are probably not heat rated, either, not on the outside as it should be which adds some new fun potential catastrophes: being doused with scalding hot water when the tubing pops out or that really sketchy 'plug' made of vinyl tubing bent over and zip tied fails, or getting doused with scalding hot water then simultaneously being electrocuted by the exposed wiring/ungrounded kettle.

As for you working in avionics? I call bull***t on that one. Unless you mean you sweep up the shop in an avionics place, because there's no way anything even remotely resembling that dangerous crap would be considered 'ok' by anyone who has even a rudimentary understanding of how electricity works and it's hazards.

Edit:

That thing is even sketcher than it looks here; this is one of your other pics of it:

You seem to be the one that doesn't understand how electricity works. I do. That's why I'm still alive today. The path to ground can be a dangerous one.

 

[The_Bishop]

You say this:

Grounding the keg would be more hazardous. Then if I had my hand touching the keg, it would supply a complete circuit.

You seem to be the one that doesn't understand how electricity works. I do. That's why I'm still alive today. The path to ground can be a dangerous one.

Your picture is this:

I can only come to the conclusion that you have no idea what you're talking about or what the concept of safety is. Good luck, you're going to need it.

Edit - As an addition for anyone reading this later, this is a good explanation on how grounding works and why it's critical that your kettle be grounded if you're using electrical elements, so you don't follow mreenvo's horrible advice:

https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-grounding-1152859

 

[mrveeno]

This post wasn't about the heater element. Appliances and other metal electrical units are grounded in case the power wire comes loose and hits the case, boom, pops the breaker. I never suggested to anyone that they should hook up there heater this way, did I? I also don't brew beer in my bare feet, so I can't be a path to ground. I could be path to ground if I had the keg grounded, grabbed the lever and "accidentally" touched one of the terminals. That would suck greatly.

Thank you for your kind comments though, Bishop.

 

[The_Bishop]

To clarify: If the keg was grounded and the hot leg came into contact with it, either via your highly unsafe 'jam the wire into the receptacle' method, a leak, or by the element failing and exposing the hot leg to the water in the kettle, it would have a direct path to ground via the ground connection to the kettle, which would cause a short and would trip the breaker. Ideally this is connected to a GFCI, so the imbalance would trip the GFCI, too. With no ground connected to the kettle, it can be energized and waiting for you to complete the circuit. That's how it works. Keeping your hand in your pocket and wearing sneakers is *not* protection, and no amount of superstitious wishing will change that. Considering that this whole contraption is precariously balanced on a metal ladder, again with the unsafe connections at both the element *and* the extension cord being in very close proximity to a highly conductive aluminum ladder, it's tremendously unsafe.

On to your 'sight glass':

Tubing goes *over* barbs. Not *in* them. I don't care that you 'used silicone', it's not how that works and it's just begging to leak. Two of those leak points are directly adjacent to the dangerously exposed power terminals of the heating element, which is surrounded by conductive material. If you can't understand *why* that's dangerous, I suggest you immediately quit playing around with anything that plugs into mains power before you hurt yourself or anyone else.

Your 'sight glass' is flawed. The act of draining from the same source as the sight glass is connected to will cause incorrect readings due to the lowered pressure where the tube is connected to the drain point. It will be worse if you pump, the sight glass will draw air. There's a reason that sight glasses are connected separately. Also, those plastic fittings you are using look like they're for polyethylene tubing, likely lawn sprinkler stuff. They're not rated for potable water *or* high temperatures.

 

[Turkeyshot]

What could possibly go wrong?

 

[mrveeno]

Gee, maybe I'll ground the ladder and the polyethylene fittings.

Common sense is a dead sport. I'll post pics of me electrocuting and boiling myself alive when I brew in a few weeks. I will be sure to ground my iPhone as well.

 

[The_Bishop]

Ah, Reductio ad absurdum, the final refuge of someone who is wrong and refuses to admit it despite being presented with an overabundance of evidence in opposition of their position.

Good luck with your brewing, sir.

 

[mrveeno]

I didn't say I wasn't wrong, I'm just not going near the terminals when they are energized. Thanks for playing by American League rules.