Where to buy clear rigid tubing locally

slayer021175666

The sight glass on my hot liquor tank is made out of a piece of 3/8 outside diameter clear rigid tubing. I think I cut a length off of a plastic racking cane to make it. Anyway, it broke on me a couple weeks ago and I just now got around to trying to find replacement tubing but, I don't seem to be able to source it locally. I can't even get it at my local home brew shop unless I buy a whole Auto siphon and I'd rather not. Besides that, they're 25 miles away from me and another town. Does anybody know where to get it locally? Or, do you have any other ideas?

Broken-Crow

Maybe just use a piece of 3/8" silicone hose with something jury-rigged to hold up the top until you can order a proper replacement?

rburrelli

Try brewhardware.com. I have seen it on their website.

DBhomebrew

Be sure anything you use is rated for the temps it will see. I lost a few Auto-Siphons by washing in very hot tap water. They'd develop spiderweb type cracking throughout their length.

slayer021175666

I'm quite aware but, thank you anyway. I've been using racking canes and vinyl tubing my whole life and never really had any problems except for the spider cracking after a hell of a lot of use and then I throw it away. I just barely started changing any tubing at all to silicone in the last year or two. It was more than 25 years ago when I started brewing and I never even knew silicone or anything like that was available until a couple of years ago. Used vinyl tubing on hot and cold side all the time before that. Used racking cane material for any clear rigid tubing I needed. Still use it in a lot of things to this day.
Definitely not trying to get smart with you, though. I do thank you for your input.
Prost!

slayer021175666

I just now thought of something also, DB.
Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever had a problem with the small diameter stuff because it's thicker walled. I just read your post again and saw that you were talking about auto siphons and yes! I couldn't get more than 5 or 10 uses out of them and they'd start leaking from the cracks because the outer tube is so damn thin. Nowadays, I have taken the bottom part with the valve in it, off of the end of the outer tube of the auto siphon and attached it to a copper tube to use as the outer part of the siphon. Been working like a charm for about 10 years! I can send a pic if you or anyone else wants one. It's pretty cool.

Deadalus

Amazon carries it, polycarbonate tubing. I ordered the longer one about a couple years ago.

DBhomebrew

Now that your mention it, I've got a small collection of perfectly good inners!

slayer021175666

There again, though. Did you see the shipping cost? No damn way in hell I'm paying $44 for a 6 ft length. You can buy a whole Auto siphon at the home brew shop for 15 and make three sight glasses from the inner tube.

slayer021175666

Exactly! The inner ones are thick enough to handle the heat and everything. They will bend a little bit and contort over time but, it's not enough to worry about. For a sight glass, you want something that is rigid but see through. Using glass is only an option if you're going to incase it with a metal tubing which makes it harder to see and, it can still get broken even with the protective metal tubing around it.
Want to send me one of them? Or even two? I'd appreciate it and, I could even tell you what links you can cut them to to make the package smaller? Try to ship it as cheap as absolutely possible and I would PayPal you the shipping money you had to spend.

Deadalus

Sorry I looked for it and didn't see it but didn't put it in my cart. It was 3 years ago when I bought, I'm not seeing a shipping charge but I think I did pay some shipping. No local store by me. It definitely wasn't $24+ for the shipping though, I wouldn't pay that either!

slayer021175666

Right. Thank you, though. I do appreciate you trying for me.

Deadalus

What length do you need? A racking cane ought to be long enough or maybe a bottle filler. They are cheaper than an auto-siphon. I looked at a couple and they don't say what they are made of. Since it is for your HLT that would be less bothersome not knowing the material than if it was for your BK.