Hands on Review: Brewers Hardware Tri-Clover Sight Glasses

This review is by Homebrew Finds Contributor Brad Probert.  Brad is an engineer, expert homebrewer and experienced reviewer.  Grab a link to Brad’s website at the end of this review.

Brewers Hardware TC Sight Glasses

A large sight glass on a brew rig set-up can legitimately be classified as a luxury. There are various ways to assess your wort clarity during your brew session. During recirculation of the mash, or during vourlaf, you want to know when your wort is running clear and free of grain debris. Connect a sight glass into your recirculation loop and you can easily see the wort clarity without having to look for grain bits in a recirculation spray. It’s just right there in plain view.

Sight Glass showing cloudy wort during recirculationSight Glass showing clear wort during recirculation

Hands on Review

Installed on Spike+ Kettle – Hands on Review

My Spike+ Mash Tun had welded-on 1.5” TC ports. I removed the butterfly valve, added in the sight glass, and then attached the valve back on to the outlet of the sight glass. This configuration can make your kettle more prone to tip over as it gets things sticking out pretty far, so make sure you’re stable. With the heavy-gauge bottoms on the Spike Kettle, I was still secure.

1.5″ Sight Glass1″ Sight Glass

Brewers Hardware sent me both a 1” and 1.5” TC Sight Glass to try out. A 1” and 1.5” TC both use the same flange (which is actually a 2” OD flange), but the 1” has a narrower ID. The 1.5-inch sight glass has a passageway ID of 1-3/8”, and the 1-inch sight glass has an ID of 7/8”. The bigger one provides a larger viewing window to observe your wort clarity, but if you want to match the ID of your fluid passageways you might opt for the smaller one. For example, the pickup tube in my Spike kettle measures 9/16” ID.

The craftsmanship on both of the sight glasses is truly superb. There is a lot of top-shelf homebrew gear out there, but unboxing and looking at these, it felt like a whole other category. They certainly looked to have the durability to stand up to use in a professional brewing environment, but the machine quality seemed like what I’d expect to see in medical equipment grade. In my brewing trials, both sizes worked great, with no issues and cleaned up afterwards super easily.

Conclusions

My personal preference is slightly in favor of the larger viewing chamber of the 1.5” Sight Glass. But on both, I’m sold on how easily I can assess wort clarity without having to pop open the lid on anything. Even if not an essential part of your homebrew set-up, it’s definitely a welcome addition.

More Tri-Clover/Tri-Clamp!  Tri-Clamp Fittings at Proflow Dynamics

More Photos

1″ Sight Glass Flange1.5″ Sight Glass Flange1.5″ Sight Glass AssemblyAfter an Easy Hot Water Rinse

More Brewers Hardware Gear Reviews!

More Homebrew Finds!

Recent Deals!

10 Most Recent Homebrew Resource Posts & How-To’s!

We are Homebrew Review HQ!  Our 10 Most Recent Reviews

pinned

This post may contain affiliate links. We may make a commission when you use our links. This will never cost you extra. Thank you for supporting Homebrew Finds!

greatdeals

Special Thanks to Brewers Hardware for providing the unit used for evaluation in this review.

By Brad Probert.  Check out Brad’s website – beersnobby.com

Make sure the components you use are compatible and rated for your intended application.  Contact manufacturer with questions about suitability or a specific application.  Always read and follow manufacturer directions.

Price, promotions and availability can change quickly. Check the product page for current price, description and availability. tag:tpr review:bhtcsight

Leave a Reply