sight glass placement - front or side?

[slakwhere]

so i have 2 new bottom drain keggles to put sight glasses in. obviously i am going to put them as low as possible in the keggle, but do you guys prefer them in front of the keggle (between you and the keggle when facing the brewstand) or off to the side?

 

[Golddiggie]

I like it in line with one of the handles. Makes it easier to make sure it won't get damaged when you lift/carry the keggle around.

Not bottom drain but I'd do the same placement either way. Basically, it's as low as you can get it.

 

[Hammy71]

I have one on the front of my BK and one on the side of my HLT. I have a single tier system, so the BK is in the middle and the HLT is to the right. It's what was practical for me. Design your system to suit your needs.

 

[day_trippr]

Wow!

I had to put my shades on to look at all that bling this early in the day.

Cheers!

 

[Golddiggie]

Wow!

I had to put my shades on to look at all that bling this early in the day.

Cheers!

yeah, it's a bit blinding in bright light (which it wasn't when I took the picture).

I don't have a stand, yet, but I plan on having the sight glasses close to the ball valves for all future keggle/kettle builds. That way it's no issue to see/use them no matter what they're on. I just space the ball valve so that the sight glass won't hinder it and go from there. IMO, with keggles you need to place things as close to the center, between the vent holes in the lower skirt, as possible. That way you don't have additional heat to deal with.

 

[slakwhere]

this is going to be a bottom drain, electric setup... so they won't ever get any heat from vents (or in this case handles since the keg is upside down). i think i'll go with front for viewability tho

 

[Golddiggie]

this is going to be a bottom drain, electric setup... so they won't ever get any heat from vents (or in this case handles since the keg is upside down). i think i'll go with front for viewability tho

I like front... I would put everything in the same area too. That way less chance of something getting bumped later.

 

[slakwhere]

it's gonna be 180 degrees off the heat sticks (which will be in the back). but with the silver solder holding all the couplings together and the relatively few ports in these things (just 1 heat element and 1 half coupling for sight glass + temperature) i should be ok plus bottom mount means CIP so my secret hope is the keggles never actually leave the stand again

 

[mosstradamus]

I am still in the process of putting my bottom drain keggles together....I decided to place mine in front for better visibility. But I was also concerned about them getting knocked around, so I made a guard for them.

My version is nowhere near Goldiggie's (extremely impressive).....but mostly made from what I had on hand. I installed a sight glass guard made out of a sanke spear. The flared end fit perfectly over the base of the sight glass fitting. I cut outside of the two (out of three) dimples near the flare using a hand grinder with a cutoff wheel. That resulted in just over half the tube being cut away. If I was to do it over again, I might cut out less. I then used a rubber grommet at the top of the sight glass to center it within the guard. A 7/8 zinc plated hole cover is on the top. The angle of the stabilizing screw at the top isn't that pretty, but it is solid.

 

[Golddiggie]

The tube in mine is borosilicate glass. With o-rings under the shield to keep it away from the glass, on the ends of the glass (inside the fitting) to keep it from hitting metal inside too. Then a couple of o-rings top and bottom under the compression nut to get it to seal up nicely. On the verge of finally ordering my small lathe, so I'll be able to do more. Once I have that, I'll be able to make my weldless version much better (need to make a spacer to go on the NPT fitting end so that it holds the o-ring in place on the outside, or offsets for the inside o-ring).

I also make mine as long as possible, while allowing it to dump back into the keggle. That way if I'm boiling really hard, and don't have the heat shield placed correctly (initially) I don't get hot wort flowing out onto the floor (and such).

 

[slakwhere]

i love that it empties at the top back to the kettle, but strangely the thing i love the most is the o-rings that are showing you what volumes to hit

 

[Golddiggie]

i love that it empties at the top back to the kettle, but strangely the thing i love the most is the o-rings that are showing you what volumes to hit

You can easily do that too... Just get o-rings that have an ID really close to the shield, or tube OD. A little tight is a good thing (won't slide down that way). Then just add water until it starts to register and mark it. I usually have the pre-boil volume marked as well as post-boil volume so that I know when I'm either close, or on target. IMO, using a sight tube/glass is so far better than any stick you could use it's crazy to not use one. Especially when you can get them fairly cheap, or make your own without too much effort. If you can't weld, and don't have access to someone that can (or don't want to spend the money) then just go weldless.