Tilt Hydrometer Question

[crosschk]

Hey,

I am considering getting a Tilt Hydrometer. I ferment my beer in a stand up freezer that I converted and control the temp with an inkbird. Will the device connect to bluetooth outside of the freezer? or will I need to keep a Raspberry PI in the freezer?

 

[AlexKay]

I ferment in stainless buckets or kegs, inside a freezer. I hang the Pi right outside the freezer and it seems to pick up signal just fine.

 

[crosschk]

I ferment in stainless buckets or kegs, inside a freezer. I hang the Pi right outside the freezer and it seems to pick up signal just fine.

cool, thank you

 

[brew_mama]

I used to ferment in a regular refrigerator and now in a mini fridge and the Tilt worked fine for both. I kept the phone on top of the fridges.

 

[crosschk]

I used to ferment in a regular refrigerator and now in a mini fridge and the Tilt worked fine for both. I kept the phone on top of the fridges.

Right now an old phone would be cheaper than a pi lol

Thanks for the idea

 

[Geezer-Glide]

Stainless fermenter inside a converted freezer fermentation chamber. iPad on a magnetic mount outside the freezer. Works just fine. I can monitor my brews upstairs. Or nearly anyplace.

 

[crosschk]

Ok I'm sold lol

 

[Witherby]

I used to ferment in a regular refrigerator and now in a mini fridge and the Tilt worked fine for both. I kept the phone on top of the fridges.

This is how mine is set up with a chest freezer using an old phone. The downside is checking the fermentation day and night. I’m addicted!

 

[AlexKay]

Since you haven’t bought the Tilt yet, try and look at a few threads here first. The Tilt is spot on for OG, and it’s great to know when SG is steady and thus fermentation has stopped, BUT the absolute value of the SG can be significantly off once krausen or hop sludge or something gets on the device. I still like them (I have 6!) but go in with your eyes open. If you care about attenuation or ABV calculations you’ll need a different instrument to measure FG.

 

[crosschk]

Since you haven’t bought the Tilt yet, try and look at a few threads here first. The Tilt is spot on for OG, and it’s great to know when SG is steady and thus fermentation has stopped, BUT the absolute value of the SG can be significantly off once krausen or hop sludge or something gets on the device. I still like them (I have 6!) but go in with your eyes open. If you care about attenuation or ABV calculations you’ll need a different instrument to measure FG.

Thanks, i just want to know temp, and when fermentation is complete...abv I can live without knowing exactly

 

[bwible]

Right now an old phone would be cheaper than a pi lol

Thanks for the idea

Yeah thats what I use - an old phone we had laying. I have one I use for the tilt and another one I use as a dedicated music player. The Tilt app quits every so often and has to keep being restarted. Never figured out why.

 

[bwible]

This is how mine is set up with a chest freezer using an old phone. The downside is checking the fermentation day and night. I’m addicted!

It sends an email to your gmail account when you start a log. Open the one from Noah. It updates hourly or however you set it up and you can check it in real time from anywhere as long as the Tilt app stays open on the logging phone.

 

[KeizerBrewr]

Everyone has touched on what I wanted to say. If you have brewing software. some have the ability to integrate your Tilt and allow tracking of fermentation. I use Brewer's Friend and it is so nice to see the progress attached to the recipe you brewed.

 

[wepeeler]

I have 3 Tilts, and they occasionally lose signal, but for the most part, you should be just fine. I use an old Amazon Fire Tablet. Tilt also makes a repeater for SS, but I don't know much about it Tilt® Repeater

 

[crosschk]

use an old Amazon Fire Tablet

Oh i have one of those too

 

[Witherby]

It sends an email to your gmail account when you start a log. Open the one from Noah. It updates hourly or however you set it up and you can check it in real time from anywhere as long as the Tilt app stays open on the logging phone.

Yeah, I'm looking at Google sheets on my phone all the time. That feeling the first thing in the morning after pitching yeast when the Tilt spreadsheet tells you that the gravity has started to fall and you know your yeast is working! My chest freezer is out in the garage but I have a mesh router close enough to reach it.

 

[BAF]

FG usually isn't too far off for me unless I use a yeast that generates thick sticky krausen. I use a Raspberry Pi to pick up the BT beacons and feed it into BrewBlox since I already use that for fermentation control anyhow.

I can pick up the beacons pretty much anywhere on the first floor of my house (brewery in the basement). The only exception is if the Tilt is in a stainless fermenter in my converted chest freezer, but the Pi sitting a few feet away picks it up no problem.

 

[Bago-0]

What are you fermenting in? I have a keg fermenter and cannot connect to the tilt outside the fridge. I need a repeater or phone sitting on top of the keg.

 

[Chris112]

The tilt pro works great for me inside a steel unitank and using a Pi zero about 7 feet away to connect and log to Brewfather. Never looses signal.

 

[BAF]

Klarstein stainless fermenter from an Amazon lightning deal inside of chest freezer and my Pi will pick it up just fine sitting just outside of the freezer, but not much further.

Otherwise, when in plastic fermenters (fermzilla / speidel), that's when I'm able to pick it up from a different floor of my house.

 

[BreeBrew]

Right now an old phone would be cheaper than a pi lol

Thanks for the idea

An iSpindel would even be cheaper, it connects to wifi and has the same functionality as the Tilt.

 

[crosschk]

An iSpindel would even be cheaper, it connects to wifi and has the same functionality as the Tilt.

I'll check it out

 

[cactusgarrett]

Thanks, i just want to know temp, and when fermentation is complete...abv I can live without knowing exactly

Keep in mind the temp is similar to the gravity issue - I've got SS BrewBuckets, and the signal is just fine. However, the temp on the tilt is routinely about 4 degress (F) warmer than the probe I'm using for temp control when inserted into a thermowell when the temp is dynamic (crash cooling, for example). All my thermometers are in agreement, including the Tilt. There's just some disagreement when temps are changing that I'm chalking up to fermenter geometry - thermowell being in the center of the beer while the Tilt is floating on top.