# Diy Sight Gauge For Hlt



## manticle (26/4/11)

I found some clear acrylic tube at work some time a go that I thought would make a perfect sight gauge. Last time I made a copper manifold, I made the unfortunate mistake of buying from a place that sold minimum 6m lengths so I had a bit spare.

Today myself and Vitalstatistix fitted out our HLTs with some swanky fitted bits to make a slightly steampunk looking sight glass.

Due to the limit of picture numbers in each post and due to still needing to measure out our respective amounts and mark the glass (hopefully in a way that does justice to the aesthetic already present) there will be several, image heavy posts and some updating later.

1. Steal the idea from someone else: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/diy-sight-gauge-110185/

2. Buy all the pieces. Make sure they fit the copper pipe you have. Initially scheduled for Friday, one of us (I won't say who) bought the wrong bits, so a rescheduling was in order.

Copper pipe, transparent hollow tube, appropriate compression fittings, appropriate threaded elbows, appropriate washers and locknuts.

3. Mark up the HLT making sure the vessel is straight and your markings are straight and where you want them.







4. Measure and cut the pipe.






5. Assemble the fittings temporarily to make sure you are not a goose. Hold the temporarily fitted pipe against the HLT to make sure the markings are matched by your proposed construction.


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## manticle (26/4/11)

6. Mark and cut the slot in the copper. We used a hacksaw to make the two end slots and a dremel with a diamond disc attachment. I used electrical tape to mark up straight guidelines as the copper is obviously rounded and hard to rule on.

Safety glasses work well to keep copper pieces from lodging themselves in your eyeball.


























File those rough edges down - we used a diamond file but any file suitable for soft metal should do.


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## manticle (26/4/11)

7. Drill out your vessel.

To settle the Stainless versus aluminium debate once and for all, using a conical step bit took me a total of about 15 seconds to drill my top and bottom hole.






Vitalstatistix on the other hand....................






Ended up drilling a 10 mm hole and filing it out to size. 

8. Once again, file the rough edges, make sure the fittings fit the holes.

9. Jab yourself in the thumb with the end of the file (optional)

NB: While this step is optional, substitution in the form of a minor injury such as burning your hand on hot copper or steel, cutting yourself with a dremel or hacksaw, hitting yourself with a hammer or stabbing yourself with a different pointy object seem to be mandatory from my experience. Might as well get it over with before you begin.


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## Pourmeanother (26/4/11)

Nice Work

I assume the plastic tube goes around the copper ?

Could you not use the plastic tube between the fittings for easyer vision and cleaning ?


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## Pourmeanother (26/4/11)

OH OH Blood


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## manticle (26/4/11)

8. Make sure you keep your work place tidy for efficiency and safety






9. Cut some silicon washer from some cheap silicon baking cookware






10. Cut the plastic tube to fit inside the copper housing and using whatever skills and knowledge you have, fit all the bastards together and make them fit onto the vessel. Thread tape is a must, silicon on hand in case you need it (but don't use it yet).






11. Check for leaks.

Yes mine leaks. Needs more thread tape.






Vitalstatistix's vessel had no leaks.






12. Measure out liquor into tun, make gradations on tube. Pics to come.

In addition met Mr and Mrs Eyres, watched a barley wine get brewed, watched brand new march pumps make a brewday harder, drank a couple of beers and had an all round productively fun day.


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## manticle (26/4/11)

pourmeanother said:


> Nice Work
> 
> I assume the plastic tube goes around the copper ?
> 
> Could you not use the plastic tube between the fittings for easyer vision and cleaning ?




As you can hopefully see from the later pictures - plastic tube goes inside the copper. Copper is protective.

Because it's an HLT rather than a kettle, cleaning should not be much of an issue. I've thought about doing similar for my kettle but I think a dip tube is a much safer option.


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## bignath (26/4/11)

Great thread manticle!

Have been thinking for some time about doing the same thing for my HLT. 

Just one thing that i wonder about though, if the copper is held in via compression fittings, and the plastic tubing goes inside that, how does it all fit together to stop water coming out through the plastic tube and out of the copper pipe, or do i have this all the wrong way around in my head..

Would love to give this DIY project a go.

Cheers mate,

Nath


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## manticle (26/4/11)

Just wind some thread tape around the ends. Fortunately the tube fits very well inside the pipe (coincidental and welcome).

A bit of silicon would fix it if the thread tape wasn't enough. I need more tape on mine but need to mark it up first.


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## bignath (26/4/11)

Sweet!

now just need to find some polycarb/acrylic tubing....


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## michael_aussie (27/4/11)

a noob question . from a noob who is intrigued but intimidated by the whole AG show I assume you need to clean each fitting after each run?? 
Does this mean you will be dismantling this every time??


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## bignath (27/4/11)

michael_aussie said:


> a noob question . from a noob who is intrigued but intimidated by the whole AG show I assume you need to clean each fitting after each run??
> Does this mean you will be dismantling this every time??



I guess you could, but i wouldn't bother.

It's not the boiler (although you could put one in a boiler, and if so i'd clean it regularly), but if it's just the hot water tank of a 3 vessel setup it's all going to end up being boiled later so infection won't be a problem. As it's only the hot water tank, it's only heating water. 

I don't clean out my kitchen kettle after i make a coffee. Same principle here....


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## mika (27/4/11)

Seems like a lot of trouble to go to, when similar can be achieved without having to slot copper pipe and end up with a bunch of fittings which obscure the end of the sight glass and result in volume that you can not actually measure.
But each to their own.


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## manticle (27/4/11)

Was a bit of fun and the tube is protected from being knocked and scratched. The obscurity of measurement worried me a little on mine (Vital's is visible up to the point where the HLT is full).

I guess I'll see when I actually fill her up but being an HLT, it's the volume of water taken out that is important so I have faith.

AG brewing is a lot of trouble if you don't like stuffing around unnecessarily.

Michael Aussie - if this was a kettle, you would need to break it down and clean it and it would definitely not be worth it. This vessel will contain only water.


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## Screwtop (27/4/11)

Nice Mant

Wish I had put mine inside a protective tube. Plus it gives you something to stick a graduated scale to. On my old keggle I pop riveted a length of SS behind the tube to stick a white background on, then poured water in litre by litre to mark the scale. After upgrading to a larger 82L kettle it was easier as it is flat bottomed and cylindrical so a scale could be made by calculating the depth of one litre for the diameter of the vessel, then making a scale using a brother label-maker.

Screwy


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## davewaldo (27/4/11)

Although not as well protected this looks like a far easier (and neater) proposition: Replacement Sight Glass


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## manticle (27/4/11)

Of course it's easier to buy a sight gauge.

That wasn't the point.


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## Pennywise (27/4/11)

And how the hell are you going to cut or burn yourself buying pre-made stuff :lol:


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## QldKev (27/4/11)

Why did you have to go and do this, I'm getting close on the build of my new 3V system and now you are giving me more ideas for more work!.


Looks great!



QldKev


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## WarmBeer (27/4/11)

My lo-tec version:


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## Vitalstatistix (16/5/11)

WTF? I didn't know you were documenting this, nice one!




> To settle the Stainless versus aluminium debate once and for all, using a conical step bit took me a total of about 15 seconds to drill my top and bottom hole...



yeah, but stainless is shiny!


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## yardy (16/5/11)

Gday Kev,

give us a yell if you're after a sight glass, I've got a few 400mm lengths of tempered glass.

cheers

nice job btw manticle.



QldKev said:


> Why did you have to go and do this, I'm getting close on the build of my new 3V system and now you are giving me more ideas for more work!.
> 
> 
> Looks great!
> ...


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## manticle (16/5/11)

Vitalstatistix said:


> WTF? I didn't know you were documenting this, nice one!
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Forgot to mention it but took a few photos on the day.



yardy said:


> nice job btw manticle.



Cheers Yardy. Still tweaking a few bits and bobs and have only made temporary markings on the tube so far. Wanted to attach a dial thermometer weekend just gone but need to wait for a replacement. The cheap one I bought was screwed straight out of the box (screwed as in not working) and the more pricey ones are out of stock (on re-order).

All mainly for when I build my brewstand as buggered if I want to step on a ladder every time I need to check temp or measure out water in a 2 litre jug like I currently do.


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## Tilt (3/11/11)

Hey Manticle - this is a great write up and I appreciate the pics too -- thanks muchly. 

I'm making a sightglass for my HLT and was wondering about a couple of the finer points on your model.

1. Did you use a crox tool to provide a ridge on each end of the copper pipe to provide a compression fit against the elbow/ bulkhead fitting?

2. Has the thread tape/silicone goop seal of the plastic tube inside the copper pipe stood the teast of time? 

3. Would you recommend any mods/ improvements to your approach based on your experience?

4. How have you attached your scale/ numbers to the glass? (on this I was thinking of using the Dremel disc to cut three sides of the 'cut out' section then folding it back and flattening it to give a flat surface next to the glass I could then paint white and mark up with the scale)

Thanks 
Tilt


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## manticle (3/11/11)

I'm making a sightglass for my HLT and was wondering about a couple of the finer points on your model.

1. Did you use a crox tool to provide a ridge on each end of the copper pipe to provide a compression fit against the elbow/ bulkhead fitting?

No.

2. Has the thread tape/silicone goop seal of the plastic tube inside the copper pipe stood the teast of time? 

Still OK.

3. Would you recommend any mods/ improvements to your approach based on your experience?

If you can find elbows with a male thread instead of the brass fittings, you will get more out of your tube. I haven't looked yet but if I can find some, I may replace the brass fittings. See the link to the inspiration for pics of which fittings I mean.

4. How have you attached your scale/ numbers to the glass? (on this I was thinking of using the Dremel disc to cut three sides of the 'cut out' section then folding it back and flattening it to give a flat surface next to the glass I could then paint white and mark up with the scale)

All this is part of a future brewery design for when I build a gravity stand. At the moment, my HLT and tun are simply next to each other on a table and I still measure my water out with a jug. However the plan is to print onto some kind of heat resistant transparent sheet (maybe mylar - need to research) the appropriate sized scale made up in photoshop then simply roll this around the plastic tube. The tube is such a good fit inside the copper tube that I doubt I need to fix it any other way and can therefore avoid any potentially toxic or non-heat resistant adhesive.

A permanent marker on the front would work fine but wouldn't look as neat.


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## Tilt (3/11/11)

Thanks - seems we're at similar stages of the ultimate brew tower development project.
My aim is to use an old Hill's Hoist post with a wheeled tripod base with stabiliser arms to make up a mobile Blichmann style 3 tier system - and every tweak to the rig is a step along the way! This mod is for my HLT, a thick walled 50L HDPE tank that I've fitted a 2200W element to. I also currently use the 3L jug to measure for strike and sparge - but am keen to speed up that part of the process with an element of accuracy. 

On looking back at the original article you've referenced I see what you mean about maximising the visible length of your plastic tube - makes sense to minimise metal hardware so I'll look at what I can find to do this.

I also see that the US design used O-rings (in the place where you've use thread tape/silicone) to seal the plastic at either end against copper - makes sense that this'd work as its low pressure (heat being the main stress factor and both options are flexible enough to deal with that).

Re the measure scale - good idea on the printed transparent scale wrapped around the tube - where would you get this type of thing printed? 

Also I thought I might paint the inside of the copper pipe white to improve visibility of the water level - have you had any problems seeing the liquid level on low light brewing (I often brew in the shed at night with less than perfect light)?

Cheers
Tilt


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## manticle (3/11/11)

A lot of printers will print on acetate but I'm not sure how heat proof that is.

I work in a gallery where mylar is used a lot by our conservation department. They have tape measures printed on mylar so I will be asking them for msds and advice on how/when to print.

When I find out, I will let you know.


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## Tilt (3/11/11)

Cool - thanks. I'd appreciate that.
I'll see what I can find out from a printer we use occasionally at work too.


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