Experiences with sight glasses

[Kev888]

I've never been a fan of sight glasses in the boiler, yet conversely wouldn't be without one in the HLT. Now I'm starting to build a BIAB setup for the first time, which obviously combines both vessels..

I'm thinking not important, as with a full-volume setup there isn't the same amount of measuring (sparging, topping up etc) that I'm used to - in theory, initial and final levels are all that will normally concern me. But I have little serious experience of this; what do you experienced BIABers think of them - worth having or not?

Cheers
Kev

[bigchris]

I've never used a vessel with a sight glass, either 3 vessel brewing or BIAB. Never really seen the need, especially for BIAB.

Using a stainless steel rule to measure the water depth, I added, 5, 10, 15, . . . . etc. litres of water into my 40L buffalo and made s simple chart. Now when I start, I fill up to the correct depth and away I go.

Buffalo 40L boiler
cm litres
1 1.1
2 2.3
3 3.4
4 4.6
5 5.7
6 6.9
7 8.0
8 9.2
9 10.3
10 11.5
11 12.6
12 13.8
13 14.9
14 16.0
15 17.2
16 18.3
17 19.5
18 20.6
19 21.8
20 22.9
21 24.1
22 25.2
23 26.4
24 27.5
25 28.7
26 29.8
27 30.9
28 32.1
29 33.2
30 34.4
31 35.5
32 36.7
33 37.8
34 39.0
35 40.1
36 41.3
37 42.4

[Kev888]

Excellent, thanks - thats the sort of thing I had in mind really. I use a marked stick for my boiler now so it sounds very similar.

I like the sight glass on my HLT because its too high to easily access, so the glass is helpful for watching the mash volume, top up volume, sparge volume etc. But the BIAB setup will obviously have to be at working height, and it sounds as simple as I hoped.

Cheers
Kev

[rpt]

I used to use a rule to measure the headroom above the liquid in my Buffalo. The BIABacus spreadsheet converts to litres. But I now use a sight glass. To save drilling I put a T piece by the tap and used 3/8" beer line with a JG connector. The level is wrong when the tap is open but that doesn't matter. It's so much easier than using the ruler.

[Kev888]

Thats good to know, thanks.

Do you find the sight-glass gets crud in it or anything like that? Mind did in the past when I had one on a boiler, but then I never used a bag for hops (let alone grain) in those days.

Cheers
Kev

[rpt]

I've not had a problem with crud. I clean it when I clean the boiler by leaning it so the solution goes up the tube.

[Kev888]

Thanks, thats good to know.

Cheers
Kev

[roscoe]

I vote same as kev.

HLT with sight glass, BK no point really, might do the etching thing one day in the BK

Perhaps, when starting out brewing and getting to know your gear, batch size a sight glass can be handy.
Tried the tape measure, steel rule thing once wot a faff, not doing that again.

[Kev888]

Thanks for the thoughts. I think whats coming across here (and on other sites and posts I've been searching for) is that in BIAB some people like sight glasses and some people don't, and it is very much down to personal preference - crucially there doesn't seem to be any especially strong reason for or against them in this type of setup, so its very much up to me.

Cheers
Kev

[hambrook]

I've never used a vessel with a sight glass, either 3 vessel brewing or BIAB. Never really seen the need, especially for BIAB.

Using a stainless steel rule to measure the water depth, I added, 5, 10, 15, . . . . etc. litres of water into my 40L buffalo and made s simple chart. Now when I start, I fill up to the correct depth and away I go.

Buffalo 40L boiler
cm litres
1 1.1
2 2.3
3 3.4
4 4.6
5 5.7
6 6.9
7 8.0
8 9.2
9 10.3
10 11.5
11 12.6
12 13.8
13 14.9
14 16.0
15 17.2
16 18.3
17 19.5
18 20.6
19 21.8
20 22.9
21 24.1
22 25.2
23 26.4
24 27.5
25 28.7
26 29.8
27 30.9
28 32.1
29 33.2
30 34.4
31 35.5
32 36.7
33 37.8
34 39.0
35 40.1
36 41.3
37 42.4

This is handy, but I did a brew using a Buffalo yesterday and due to the location of the tap, the first two litres at the bottom of the boiler cannot be drained without tilting; so dome rework of the scale needed, especially post boil when another 2 litres is lost (I have a pair of Buffalo's)

[joe1002]

I have a sight glass when I BIAB but that is because I use my HLT/boiler from my 2 vessel system.

A bit of hot PBW recirculated through the sight glass soon clears all the crud out.