Bobby M You Duh Man

[3PegBrew]

Got one of Bobby's weldless sightglass thermometer combo kits. It rocks. With that said, I have it calibrated and ready to go. Thanks Bobby! Too bad you're in New Jersey or I'd invite you over for a brew day a beer and a burger haha.

 

[Chuginator]

I second that. Just got two site glasses w/thermometers, a digital thermometer, and a step bit. Can't wait to get these puppies installed!

I'll raise a glass to Bobby M. Err... after I brew one up.

 

[timm747]

2 glasses raised!

 

[jafo28]

Yes these site glasses are great, so nice not having to grab the wooden dowel to see pre boil volume. Also have one on my HLT, Love 'em.

 

[jsguitar]

And another glass raised!

I'd also highly recommend Bobby M @ http://www.brewhardware.com/ too.

I ordered two sight glass/bushing kits since I already had a stainless T in each kettle. One of my old sight glasses constantly leaked at the compression fitting and the labels looked bad on both so I ordered two kits from Bobby.

One of my keggle's is a Coors type and the other is the usual that you see. The weldless T in my Coors type angled down a bit because of the keg's shape and I didn't even notice that when I ordered, so that one didn't have enough angle. I contacted Bobby and ultimately got him a pic and he made one with a steep angle that works perfectly. He even offered to just swap it out (it was my fault!) but I didn't want to bother with shipping it back, so he gave me free shipping on the new one!

Totally above and beyond.

Here's a pic of the before and after.

 

[redrider736]

+ (lost count).
Ordered one weld in Sight-glass kit & Stickers, cuz Stickers are Kool
Quickly went from 1 Keggle build to 3. New order sent in for 2 more kits.
Product is awesome and support is top notch !!

 

[AdamCanFly]

I agree! Bobby is a great asset to HBT AND home brewing!!

 

[Gussymo]

Stop it. You'll give him a big head.

 

[theonetrueruss]

ok.. so you all use the sight glasses... I got a question... I seem to have issues with my wort coming out of the top of my sight glass tube.. even though my tube is a few inches above the top of my kettle... and the kettle isn't boiling over. Do you cap it somehow?

 

[FromZwolle]

Stop it. You'll give him a big head.

he really doesn't like all this adoration! why do you think he's always jamming a lead pipe into his eye?

 

[Bobby_M]

ok.. so you all use the sight glasses... I got a question... I seem to have issues with my wort coming out of the top of my sight glass tube.. even though my tube is a few inches above the top of my kettle... and the kettle isn't boiling over. Do you cap it somehow?

It is most likely (I'm 99% sure) that it's an overheating situation. You've turned the fitting into a mini boil kettle. Ideally, you protect it from heat coming around the side of the vessel and the wort inside will stay just below boiling. Check out the heat shield video here:

 

[theonetrueruss]

thanks! It looks like I have a small project to undertake.

 

[3PegBrew]

Bobby isn't a lead kind of guy. He likes smooooooooth stainless steel. for welding.....

 

[theonetrueruss]

Ok, Bobby, I got my aluminum, can I get that pdf of the pattern for the heat shield? Ought to post it on your site in the instructions section.

Thanks! Way helpful!

 

[Bobby_M]

It's linked in the text in the little "what's new" section on the product page. I know it's hard to see.

 

[CollinsBrew]

Got my two sightglasses w/ thermometers a couple days ago. Won't get to actually install them until around December. Thanks for the quick shipping though Bobby! Hopefully, by the time I get back to the states I'll have orderded all of the parts I need for my new semi-automated brew system and they'll be waiting for me in the garage. Beer will never have tasted so good!

 

[Flomaster]

It is most likely (I'm 99% sure) that it's an overheating situation. You've turned the fitting into a mini boil kettle. Ideally, you protect it from heat coming around the side of the vessel and the wort inside will stay just below boiling. Check out the heat shield video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5p-JYSLXRA

awesome I need this asap..

here is a short video from last weekends brew day
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/WSLTxdLs4q3iRYaZN7_g7A?feat=directlink

-=Jason=-

 

[GlenF]

It would be much easier to cut the flashing like a door handle hanger to get it onto the T fitting...rather than a complicated star pattern.

It should stay in place fairly well.

 

[Flomaster]

went to lowes and grabbed that flashing, it was .53 cents out the door. im going to just stuck it under my brew kettle and if it melts from the direct heat I'll do bobby's chocolate starfish hotdog flavored water method

-=Jason=-

 

[passedpawn]

I highly recommend the sight glasses that bobby sells. AFAIK there aren't better ones. There are certainly worse ones, and I've owned them. Ugh.

I cannot recommend the thermometers that bobby sells. I bought one and it was quite inaccurate, even after some effort trying to calibrate it. It was faulty, no doubt about that. To Bobby's credit, he offered to replace it. This is all one could ask for. Thanks Bobby.

 

[Bobby_M]

I don't blame you for not recommending them because the ONE you got was a dud. Of course there will be defects in any product and for what it's worth, I've spot checked 5 units out of every shipment of 100 and they are always within spec at 32, 150 and 212, at least as compared to the three different digitals I have.

The unit you have is definitely out of spec and as far as I know, the manufacturer would credit me for the exchange because they tout a 5 year warranty. I evaluated units from 5 different manufacturers and these were the best value. If price were no object, I would have went with Tel-tru but very few people want to pay $45 for a dial.

Thanks for the props. The one thing no customer of mine will ever be able to say is that I responded to any complaints with "your problem".

 

[theonetrueruss]

I did the star pattern and it was very easy and fits amazingly well. I won't be brewing for a couple weeks so I'll let you know how well it works then but so far so good.. I did go a liitle off plan and made it slightly wider and longer. It fits around the sight glass gasket just perfect though.

 

[cino101]

Bobby, ever thought about selling a stainless mesh version of a hop spider? Thinking something like -TH-'s version here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/how-build-hop-spider-filter-hops-your-wort-231971/index8.html

I might be wrong but I thought there was a video or thread of you doing some mesh work already...

 

[Bobby_M]

It's insanely slow work to put something like that together by hand. It's a cool product and I'd love to able to sell them but I can't bring myself to hire employees.

 

[theonetrueruss]

ok, so I've been using the heat shield Bobby mentioned but I had to take an extra piece of flashing and put it under the edge of my burner to keep the boil in the sight glass down to 0.

Amazing the flashing seems to blacken and burn on the edges. Banjo burner = hot!

I just got me a piece of stainless sheet metal that I'm going to fashion into a heat shield this week and will brew this weekend with it. I'm using the same concept but with heavier gauge stainless (heavier than flashing anyway). Hopefully the stainless will not have that problem. The cheap flashing does work though. Used it for quite a few batches last year. Drinking some right now

 

[Tomtanner]

I just ordered two of these bad boys myself and already have one installed in what will be my hlt. I'm in the process of installing my second one on what will be my boil kettle (drilling holes in these kegs is a bi$&@). I did notice that I didn't see the vinyl numbers in my kit that are referenced in the online installation video (which is a great feature of ordering from bobby). Do we purchase the stickers separately or are they available at any hardware store?

 

[passedpawn]

I just ordered two of these bad boys myself and already have one installed in what will be my hlt. I'm in the process of installing my second one on what will be my boil kettle (drilling holes in these kegs is a bi$&@). I did notice that I didn't see the vinyl numbers in my kit that are referenced in the online installation video (which is a great feature of ordering from bobby). Do we purchase the stickers separately or are they available at any hardware store?

You should have the rubdown labels. If you don't, PM Bobby.

 

[Cromacster]

Ordered and Installed 2 sight glass kits for my HLT and BK. Installation and calibration was a breeze. First brew day with them was a double brew day. Having a more precise indicator for liquid volumes was very convenient.

Cheers

 

[Bobby_M]

I just ordered two of these bad boys myself and already have one installed in what will be my hlt. I'm in the process of installing my second one on what will be my boil kettle (drilling holes in these kegs is a bi$&@). I did notice that I didn't see the vinyl numbers in my kit that are referenced in the online installation video (which is a great feature of ordering from bobby). Do we purchase the stickers separately or are they available at any hardware store?

I have recently switched to slipping the number strip inside the brown paper sleeve that protects the polycarbonate tubing in transit and 50% of my current customers email me angrily claiming that I forgot to send the numbers. I'm not picking on you but it seems like the obvious place to put them so they don't flop around in the box. I guess I have to include this detail on an instructions sheet or set an auto responder.

 

[Bobby_M]

ok, so I've been using the heat shield Bobby mentioned but I had to take an extra piece of flashing and put it under the edge of my burner to keep the boil in the sight glass down to 0.

Amazing the flashing seems to blacken and burn on the edges. Banjo burner = hot!

I just got me a piece of stainless sheet metal that I'm going to fashion into a heat shield this week and will brew this weekend with it. I'm using the same concept but with heavier gauge stainless (heavier than flashing anyway). Hopefully the stainless will not have that problem. The cheap flashing does work though. Used it for quite a few batches last year. Drinking some right now

These might do a little better than the really thin flashing:

 

[mccumath]

I have recently switched to slipping the number strip inside the brown paper sleeve that protects the polycarbonate tubing in transit and 50% of my current customers email me angrily claiming that I forgot to send the numbers. I'm not picking on you but it seems like the obvious place to put them so they don't flop around in the box. I guess I have to include this detail on an instructions sheet or set an auto responder.

Yep, took me a little while to find mine, but it was all good!

 

[Tomtanner]

I have recently switched to slipping the number strip inside the brown paper sleeve that protects the polycarbonate tubing in transit and 50% of my current customers email me angrily claiming that I forgot to send the numbers. I'm not picking on you but it seems like the obvious place to put them so they don't flop around in the box. I guess I have to include this detail on an instructions sheet or set an auto responder.

Definitely not angry at all, I'm thrilled with the product and will be using your services as I continue my project. So i went to check the paper sleeves that came with the kit and it appears my lovely mother in law took it upon herself to clean my garage........ Amazing. Anyhow I'll go to my local hardware store to get something similar, what type of product should I look for? Vinyl numbers I'm assuming but how do you know which kind are heat resistant? Again love the service and the online store.

 

[Roadliner]

Just ordered the weld-less bulkhead and weld-less sight tube thermo from Bobby. Can't wait to get it to add to improve my brewing kettle!

Trying my first AG soon as I get it

 

[Eternalodyssey]

Just saw this thread and figured I'd chime in. I ordered sightglass, a number of fittings, and a RIMS setup from Bobby M earlier in the year and I have been nothing but happy. His products are ROCK SOLID!!! You can't go wrong ordering from www.brewhardware.com. And no, I don't work for Bobby. I'm just a Dork that appreciates quality vendors.

Bobby, I'll have to swing by your area and bring you some homebrew next time I'm visiting my hometown in Newark, DE in the Spring. I'll also be racing at Thunderbolt in Jersey next June.

Brew!

 

[Roadliner]

My stuff is in the mail!! YAY! I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas. Especially after all the awesome reviews.

 

[sj_engr]

I have a sight glass kit that i didn't end up using. PM me if interested.

http://www.brewhardware.com/sightglass/58-sightglass-for-welded-couplings

option 1/4" coupling Paid $19+7 shipping

Will sell for $15 shipped.

 

[sweetcell]

another quick testimonial for Bobby: i ordered a few small items to complete my kettle rebuild and was charged a standard "shipping and handling" amount. i knew it was too much since the items i ordered could fit in a small envelope (gaskets and a nut), but i rolled my eyes and resigned myself to paying more for shipping than for either of the two items i ordered.

3 days later bobby sends me a $3 refund... reason: "cheaper shipping"!

that's a class act. he didn't need to do that, he already had my money.

i can't imagine dealing with anyone as honest and helpful as bobby.