Where To Buy A Water Level Sight Glass For Mash Tun?

[seravitae]

Hi,

Woohoo! Finally found someone to do SS welding for me I'm planning on getting a 1/2" socket welded to my mash tun, connecting a ball valve to it, and putting an SS equal tee on it so i can use the top half for a water level sight guage. (and the down bit to march pump).

Any ideas where I can get a food grade plastic pipe for water level measuring? Also, how do you seal the plastic tubing against your fitting?

I have access to pyrex glass tubing which i'd prefer to use but I can't think of how to make a food grade/water tight mating between glass tube and stainless.

Cheers

 

[3G]

Hi Sera
You could use a compression fitting off the tee to hold the tube
Cheers

 

[Sammus]

Don't do that, get a seperate socket welded for the sight glass. If you have your outlet on the same bit as your sightglass, as soon as you start pumping out the level in the sightglass drops lower than what it actually is and its near impossible to do anything accurately.

 

[3G]

Yeah, good point. Use a socket and a 90 degree elbow with the compression fitting

 

[seravitae]

Ah yeah, good thinking. Okay, i'll weld on a seperate line for the sight tube.



Also, compression fitting sounds okay.. Sounds okay with plastic.. but probably break glass tubing i would imagine.. anyway, where should I look for suitable sight tubes?

 

[Cocko]

Wouldn't a level gauge on your HLT do you a lot more service?

I mean if you know what is going into you tun then you know what is coming out yeah?....

2c

EDIT: Plus, wouldn't grain get up in your tube?!... unless you taped it below your FB!

 

[Henno]

I have some polycarbonate site glass left over from when I had to buy 3 bloody metres of the stuff for my sight glass. Send me a PM if your interested.

Somebody PM'd me once when I put up a post about my above mentioned polycarbonate and I apologise profusely for not getting back to him but I deleted the PM and have felt bad ever since. It's a catholic guilt thing I think.

This polycarbonate is the stuff that fits perfectly into a 1/2" olive fitting.

 

[seravitae]

Oh, hmm, i didnt consider that.

I always thought people had levels on their mash tuns though.. Otherwise why would sammus suggest the pump vs water level issue?

I mean, if I just need to measure a known quantity of water from HLT to mash tun, then what does it matter if I use a tee joint before the ball valve? (HLT --> socket --> male-male adapter --> tee joint to comp. fitting with tube, and other section going to ball valve (drain to mash tun)

is that a better way of doing it? personally i like that idea better because i'm trying to keep compression fittings/plastic away from the mash tun where any alcohol will be.. hot water is okay though..

 

[Cocko]

Mate show me a pic of a Mash Tun with a sight gauge!!

Think about it! :icon_chickcheers:

 

[seravitae]

Oh, well.. I apologise profusely, i've actually forgotten to mention a critical element... I'm setting up a "2.5 container system" - my mash tun doubles as my kettle.. I've seen some kettles with sight gauges so you know how much to boil down to..

HLT with sight guage, mash tun sight guage hole plugged with SS plug. drain to mash tun. mash. march pump to cheapo temp storage container.. empty mash tun.. attach sight guage from HLT.. transfer wort back.. boil..

 

[Cocko]

Sorry mate, I don't know how not to sound like a c*nt!... Maybe I never will

Seriously though, it sounds like you have it sussed so don't stress it is my tip! do what ya need to do to make some killer beer!!

Again, didn't mean to sound like an arsehole...

Go for it!

 

[nardcooker]

is it a friend or business doing the welding for you ?

 

[Doogiechap]

Sera, just to give my two bob's worth....
My first kettle had one.... but my second, third, and fourth defiantely have not !!!
The sightglass in your kettle/ MLT is a bitch to clean.
Hop debris, residual sugars that remain after draining make for more a fun playground for bugs.
I also found that the level jumped around heaps during the boil making it hard to get a good reading. I'm very happy with a piece of Ally strip that has a hook and dangles in my kettle with graduated markings every 5l. Very easy to remove and clean.
Cheers
Doug

 

[Justin]

Firstly, there is no alcohol in the mash tun so it can have no effect on fittings/plastic. No magic happens until the yeast get involved. And infact, nothing needs to be sanitary on anything before the kettles valve as the boiled wort is on it's way out.

Forget the sight gauge for the mash tun, it's useless. Once grain is mashed in the whole level thing changes anyway, and plus if you transfer 20L of water from your HLT then you know that there is 20L of water in your mash tun. Why do you need to measure it twice?

You miss the point of a sight gauge with your question asking if it matters if you use a tee joint before the ball valve on the HLT. As someone above said, once you start drawing liquid through that valve your gauge level will change. This level varies depending of just how open the valve is. Once you start transferring liquid to the mash tun how do you expect to actually read how much liquid you have transferred-the only way to get a reading is to shut the valve. Why would you want to do that if you could install a sight gauge on it's own dedicated fitting and actually use it to monitor volumes as they transfer on the fly accurately-without having to shut the valve to take a reading.

The pump vs water level issue is still a valid issue if you pump from you HLT. Not everyone uses gravity to transfer from HLT to mash tun, and even if you do use gravity the problem still exists.

My recommendation is to really think about what you "actually" need and think about why you need it. Dont just blindly copy what other people did, think about what you want to achieve, why it's important to you, how is it going to work best in your situation and then how is the best way to do it. Once you start doing this you can work out what people have done wrong in their systems and how you can do it better. There are so many copied mistakes out there because people just copy what they have seen without actually thinking about it, and the cycle continues.

It's worthwhile having a good think about things before heading off and do it.

Good luck.
Cheers, Justin.

 

[felten]

http://www.grainandgrape.com.au/product_in...roducts_id=6980
this looks like the goods, i think..

 

[TidalPete]

Wise words from both Doogiechap & Justin which just about sum it up sera.
Good luck with it.

TP

 

[HoppingMad]

I'm very happy with a piece of Ally strip that has a hook and dangles in my kettle with graduated markings every 5l. Very easy to remove and clean.
Cheers
Doug

Doogie you are a man of genius, I'm going to make one of these. I have been eyeing off a sightglass like the one Felten has linked to but when you factor in all the bits you also need (weldless stainless fittings) it gets darn expensive.

I'm off to make a dipstick! :icon_chickcheers:

Hopper

 

[seravitae]

Sorry mate, I don't know how not to sound like a c*nt!... Maybe I never will

Seriously though, it sounds like you have it sussed so don't stress it is my tip! do what ya need to do to make some killer beer!!

Again, didn't mean to sound like an arsehole...

Go for it!

You didn't, no worries

is it a friend or business doing the welding for you ?

Friend of a friend. Happens to do home brewing and work in a brewery so I think i'll get a decent job done

Sera, just to give my two bob's worth....
My first kettle had one.... but my second, third, and fourth defiantely have not !!!
The sightglass in your kettle/ MLT is a bitch to clean.
Hop debris, residual sugars that remain after draining make for more a fun playground for bugs.
I also found that the level jumped around heaps during the boil making it hard to get a good reading. I'm very happy with a piece of Ally strip that has a hook and dangles in my kettle with graduated markings every 5l. Very easy to remove and clean.
Cheers
Doug

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. That does sound like an easier, cheaper and better option.. Definately considering this now.. Thanks

Justin, thanks for the detailed response. You pose very good points! I was trying to copy other people's designs but yeah, I didnt consider what I wanted to achieve. And I don't actually think I need to measure anything constantly or very accurately. The aluminum strip guage idea seems like a smart plan to tackle simple indication.
In fact, dispite the common sense in your posting, If I were a mod i'd be stickying that good advice, to learn the process in general, but to do things the way that suits you best..

I guess that's also why I've posted many many threads asking questions about what people have done - try to get good ideas and balance them against what I'm doing. Glad I asked this question.

Also, even though i've been doing a form of BIAB for years and years, I need to stop posting when I'm extremely sleepy. I can't believe I actually thought mashing process produced alcohol. Someone needs to invent a fatigue/blood alcohol % interface to stop me getting on AHB at the worst of times haha.


Thanks guys!