How to build a sight glass?

[Monkeybrew]

I'm thinking about adding a sight glass to my boiler, and also thinking about building a bigger HLT with a sight glass.

My boiler and potential new HLT is made from this-

http://www.colchesterhomebrew.co.uk/col ... d-lid.html

Any hints & tips would be great.

Cheers

MB

[Fil]

cheap n chearful - a tank connector and flexible translucent silicone tube,

top shelf solution one of the maltliller or homebrewbuilder kit solutions,

one issue is the height of any fittings u use as they will dictate the minimum volume u can measure, so if u are insulating it might be worth considering an insulated base too which could accommodate a bottom drain feed for the sight glass??

And dont be tempted to fit a T to ur drain to feed the sightglass as if u do it wont read true with the tap open. making it pretty useless

perspex tube is cheaper than polycarbonate, but may discolour with heat and be very brittle after heating..

if going hard tube, think about a wide enough bore to allow u to float a bead to aid reading.

remember to sit level fill a bit and drain leaving the deadspace occupied before u start filling to calibrate.

[Monkeybrew]

Cheers for the reply.

Now you've gone and done it though, I keep going back on the homebrewbuilder site and looking at shiney things!

Cheers

MB

[boingy]

Pretty sure a strong-ish light behind the plastic bucket will show the liquid level so your sight glass could be as simple as writing on the bucket. Not as cool looking but less to clean and the price is hard to beat.

[Dave S]

I don't think I'd be bothered with a sight glass on a boiler. There're only two levels to consider, pre-boil and post-boil. I achieve that with a calibrated length of adhesive tape stuck to the side. HLT, on the other hand would definitely benefit from a sight glass.

[lord groan]

Mine was made using a tank connector through the bottom of a tea urn HLT, 15mm elbow to bring pipe through side skirt, another elbow to point upwards then a 15mm compression fitting joining sight glass to 15mm copper tube, topped off with a 15mm plastic pipeclip, I used 15mm acrylic pipe (polycarbonate is recommended) and wrapped the compression olive with lots of PTFE so I didn't have to overtighten the nut and risk cracking the tube.
Polycarbonate is recommended above acrylic because it is stable to higher temperatures. Both are foodsafe. That said I have found that my sight tube, because it is outside the HLT, doesn't even get too hot to hold when bringing the HLT to the boil, It doesn't get above about 30c I don't think, so I suspect the temperature issue is more theoretical than actual.
1st pic shows underneath where the longer copper tube is the sight glass feed

2nd pic showing compression fitting