Brewometer kickstarter thoughts - digital bluetooth hydrometer
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Well, at least that's what I think I did, as it's my SOP generally, but I suppose I could have used oxygen for 60 seconds and then pitched. Pretty sure I just did what i normally do though. Still though, seems like a plausible enough explanation that I'm questioning myself. What I can't figure with that explanation though is why now my (incorrectly) calibrated Brewometer is not off. For example the one I said was reading 12 points low (1.049 instead of 1.061) is now reading at 1.012. So if my calibration is wrong, wouldn't the beer actually be at 1.000 (or pretty close to that).
Either way I did bring it up to the developers, and they seemed kind of stumped, suggesting that maybe the shape of my fermenter or lack of headspace was causing the issue. Don't see how though as I use a Speidel 30L and a modified 1st gen Coopers FV as my two main primaries. Both seem to be pretty normally shaped to me, and they have headspace for days when you're fermenting 6 gallons.
When these beers are done fermenting I will see what they read in water, and on the next brew day I will make darn sure to pitch, then oxygenate, then toss in the Brewometer and see if I'm still running into issues.
Even if you have to calibrate on brew day I still think that's a minor inconvenience and these things rock! :rockin:
arfenarf
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Heh. I'm trying to figure out a way to answer, 'both!'
I haven't dug into the BrewPi source code enough to know how hard it would be to add a bluetooth receiver to the BrewPi and have it take input from the Brewometer.
For the time being, though, my new Brewometer has been in its inaugural batch for 48 hours and is working like a champ.
http://kateweber.com/2016/05/16/maibock/
I'm not sure I'd want to regulate temp with the Brewometer, but it sure would be nice to include gravity as part of the BrewPi UI.
Yeah, I'm on my 3rd ferment with the Brewometer, and while it is great for monitoring and tracking trends, I think the variability is just too much to try to hook temperature control up to it. I've found the probe in my thermowell to be much more reliable and doesn't tend to bounce around at all.
Don't get me wrong, I love the thing, but I just don't think it's good for that particular purpose.
Also I love every time I see those gauges pop up somewhere
Don't get me wrong, I love the thing, but I just don't think it's good for that particular purpose.
Also I love every time I see those gauges pop up somewhere
Carlscan26
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I'm on my 3rd ferment with the Brewometer, and while it is great for monitoring and tracking trends, I think the variability is just too much to try to hook temperature control up to it. I've found the probe in my thermowell to be much more reliable and doesn't tend to bounce around at all.
Don't get me wrong, I love the thing, but I just don't think it's good for that particular purpose.
Also I love every time I see those gauges pop up somewhere
I agree for not using its temp sensors to regulate temperature on a running basis but I believe you can use the gravity readings to kick off ferment temperature change/ramp steps. For example bumping the temp up for a diacetyl rest once primary fermentation is done.
Totally agree with that, and that is exactly one of the things I'm using mine for!
I agree it does seem odd that the cal is apparently correct at lower SG, especially when it seemed good in water before adding to the wort. Did you clear the cal point from water when you added the new one at the start of fermentation? You've probably played with this more than I have, but I think it is a multi-point cal and just adds a new point by default rather than replacing. My guess is they just use a linear fit between the points.
If in fact you do have two cal points entered (one at 1.000 and one at 1.061), then it maybe it's now approximately correct across the range? It would be interesting to make a cup of sugar water at various concentrations and check it when your current batch is done.
But yeah, I am probably overthinking it. Totally agree that even with the cal strangeness, these are pretty cool.
Hey, yeah, just checked, and I did not remove my previous calibration, just added a second one, so perhaps you are correct.
I'll definitely report back once they're out of beer and I've checked them against water again.
Bigdaddyale
Well-Known Member
Ugh - ^drama^.
I never came across an Android app that I couldn't simply side-load from an apk on our Fire HD...
Cheers!
I never came across an Android app that I couldn't simply side-load from an apk on our Fire HD...
Cheers!
Yeah, that!! ^^^
No drama intended. I had never used an Android device and was surprised it wouldn't just load the Brewometer app. and it took a while to figure out how to do it.
I was just trying to let others know that.
I don't know what 'side-load from apk on Fire HD' even means.
Derp
Well-Known Member
Mine arrived yesterday and as soon as I opened it up I put it in a pint glass of tap water and it read 1.001 and was about half a degree off, so I was quite pleased. After a few minutes I removed it from the glass and placed it on the countertop for an hour or two while I had a few beers on the street with the neighbors. When I came back inside I refilled the glass with RO water with the intention of running a test for a few days and playing around with logging to the cloud. When I put it in the RO water it read about 2.235. I thought it might be an erroneous reading due to the time it spent out of water, but it's still reading about the same. I tried correcting it with calibration points and it got it in the ballpark, but there are still some big swings.
Any idea about what's happening? I assume it might be the size/shape of the pint glass, so I guess I might try filling a larger vessel with RO water and see what it reads. Maybe I just got lucky the first time?
EDIT: I figured it out. The device was upside down in the glass. I flipped it over and it went right back to 1.001.
Any idea about what's happening? I assume it might be the size/shape of the pint glass, so I guess I might try filling a larger vessel with RO water and see what it reads. Maybe I just got lucky the first time?
EDIT: I figured it out. The device was upside down in the glass. I flipped it over and it went right back to 1.001.
Mine arrived yesterday and as soon as I opened it up I put it in a pint glass of tap water and it read 1.001 and was about half a degree off, so I was quite pleased. After a few minutes I removed it from the glass and placed it on the countertop for an hour or two while I had a few beers on the street with the neighbors. When I came back inside I refilled the glass with RO water with the intention of running a test for a few days and playing around with logging to the cloud. When I put it in the RO water it read about 2.235. I thought it might be an erroneous reading due to the time it spent out of water, but it's still reading about the same. I tried correcting it with calibration points and it got it in the ballpark, but there are still some big swings.
Any idea about what's happening? I assume it might be the size/shape of the pint glass, so I guess I might try filling a larger vessel with RO water and see what it reads. Maybe I just got lucky the first time?
EDIT: I figured it out. The device was upside down in the glass. I flipped it over and it went right back to 1.001.
Haha, at first I thought how could it possibly be upside down, but yeah, I guess in a pint glass there wouldn't be any room to flip over.
Derp
Well-Known Member
I could have sworn that I'd checked to make sure the weights were on the bottom, but I guess I might have had one too many beers last night.
Anyone have their gravity readings get stuck?
I have an IPA that should be already down in the low teens but appears to be stuck at 1.035. This was after a big dip down to ~1.020, then it climbed back up.
I'm hoping that during a really active part of the fermentation some krausen got stuck and it's throwing the readings off. There's no way this beer is still at 1.035 after 5 days...
I have an IPA that should be already down in the low teens but appears to be stuck at 1.035. This was after a big dip down to ~1.020, then it climbed back up.
I'm hoping that during a really active part of the fermentation some krausen got stuck and it's throwing the readings off. There's no way this beer is still at 1.035 after 5 days...
RiverCityBrewer
Well-Known Member
Have you given your fermenter a shake or stir? Maybe that will correct it? I may be way off though since I got mine about 6 weeks ago, but stupid work and vacation got in the way so I haven't even had a chance to use it yet.
It's possible it's stuck in the krausen or up against the fermenter. I'll give her a shake tonight and see. The last IPA I made with this yeast finished in a little under 4 days so i'm sure the readings are not correct.
From the chart you've provided, the drop down to ~1.020 would appear to be the anomaly (even if that is the correct reading). Have you taken a hydrometer reading to compare?
Brand new product from a brand new company. It's not a widget sold in bulk. That's my guess why.
Ya. Maybe the calibration is off, but that curve makes it look like fermentation is done. Take a hydro reading and go from there. My bet is its terminal.
Takes less than a few hours to list your product on Amazon. A little more effort to get it to ship Prime. My point is that there are many customers that prefer to buy on Amazon. Especially for products from new companies. On Amazon I am guaranteed that my product will be delivered. This makes it easy for me to try random products from new companies. I'm just saying by not using Amazon (and Prime) as a distribution channel. They are losing sales. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
I don't agree and I am a major Amazon fan/shopper. Novel product they are working to get out the door. Not a mature enough product to chad distribution channels yet.
Murphys_Law
Well-Known Member
You're missing out on a neat little product if the only reason you won't buy is because of Amazon, IMO.
Derp
Well-Known Member
Current shipping time is 2 or 3 weeks and Amazon is more of a "I want it now" type of operation. Maybe once they get production ramped up...
Mine shipped within a week of ordering and only took 2 days to arrive. If you really want one I would just order direct from their site. So far I have been having a blast tracking my temps and gravity readings. Great tool and will help keep my fermentation on track.
As I said I love Amazon but if another seller uses PayPal it's just as easy.
AF1HomeBrew
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The problem with selling stuff on Amazon is the cut they take from the seller. I purchase a lot of stuff from Amazon, but a few years ago we needed to list a clients product on Amazon at the same time we we're trying to sell on our company website to see if that would help. There's not a lot of profit involved unless you're selling a boat load of product.
Put it in RO or distilled water. Let it settle for about a half hour. Measure temp with a thermapen or something accurate. Use the app to calibrate.
put it in water (tap water is fine IMPO). let it sit for 10-15 min.
One thing that happened to me is that Brewometer started showing number that seemed 6-8 points too low - verified it by hydrometer, just as I expected. Hydrometer says 1.012 or so, Brewometer 1.005. The reason was that some of the yeast has settled at the top of the brewometer, a nice thick bit of yeast cake, during very active fermentation, and I suspect this was pushing the cylinder down a bit in the liquid, so it was reporting the beer to be slightly lower gravity than it really was. Even after I took it out - it was showing 0.992 or so in pure water, but once I cleaned the yeast cake off the top, it was back to 1.000 in water.
jmitchell3
Well-Known Member
Just used my brewometer for my second full batch, an American blonde ale. Here's the spreadsheet pics: View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1464102930.508789.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1464102938.891800.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1464102938.891800.jpg
Thanks for the tip. Mine seems to be doing the same thing. reading close to 1.000 for final gravity. Does look like there is some yeast caked on the top so that is probably the cause. A manual hydro reading showed the beer at 1.004 so it was close
I don't see it as a huge problem as I am using brewometer as indicator of relative change (time derivative of gravity) rather than absolute value. In other words. I Can tell when gravity stopped dropping. And with hydrometer in the final stages I can get final calibration. Which is something I would have to do anyway.
BeardedBrews
Well-Known Member
Just to put this in perspective:
$120 Electronics Item Shipped by Prime
$1.00 Per Item Fee
$18.00 Referral Fee ($9.60 if you call it an electronics accessory)
$1.00 Order Handling
$1.06 Pick and Pack
$2.73 Weight Handling
$0.15 Storage
The additional cost for Next-Day or Same-Day type service is not immediately clear from Amazon's page, but would certainly add to the fees.
Would you be willing to pay an additional $22.12 for the convenience of shopping on Amazon? Or, from the other perspective, if you saw it for $120 on their website and $150 on Amazon with prime, which would you pick?
Thanks for that detailed breakdown. But since it would be sold by the originally retailer the per unit cost would not be $120 but somewhere less. Let's hypothesize that this unit has a mere $40 markup above cost of goods. Would the seller be willing to make only $20 profit for the advantage of being available to an very large buying base that Amazon provides. There is a reason so many companies sell products on Amazon.
Currently are not losing a single sale because they are shipping every single unit they can build. They may one day sell on Amazon if the are able to produce sufficient quantities. But this is a niche product that servers a relatively niche hobby. I doubt they will ever produce enough of them to find their way to Amazon.
Having said that, I will most likely be buying one from their site in the near future.
