Tilt reads 1.003 in tap water.

[MrBJones]

Calibrating my new Tilt, found that it reads 1.003 in tap water at 74º f. A regular floating hydrometer reads so close to 1.000 that it may well be dead on. Should I go ahead and use its app to adjust the Tilt to 1.000 as it floats in the tap water, or would it be worthwhile to wait until I have some distilled water?

 

[tracer bullet]

I wouldn't touch it. Tap water with dissolved minerals and other stuff in it will likely read a little higher than the perfect 1.000 that you might be expecting. Don't worry about using it right now, but also don't calibrate it with the wrong thing.

 

[micraftbeer]

While technically they say to use distilled water, if you're calibrating it to a floating hydrometer that reads 1.000, then you can calibrate your Tilt to that. Then you've essentially "synched" your Tilt to your hydrometer.

 

[tracer bullet]

Yeah, but is the floating hydrometer correct, did it read 1.000 in tap water or in distilled water? It could be off as well.

Just playing devil's advocate It's definitely not a big deal to do it or not do it.

 

[MaxStout]

Calibrate it in distilled water, and at the temp you want as a reference for 1.000 (60F?).

 

[jwelch1103]

I just checked my new tilt last night in distilled water, it was jumping between 1.001 and 1.002. I was just about to adjust the calibration when I took a closer look and noticed two small bubbles stuck to it. I gave it a twist to knock them off and then it went to jumping between 1.000 and 1.001. I left it be since it’s stated accuracy is 0.001. So check closely for bubbles n it before calibration.

 

[hotbeer]

.003 difference isn't very much error. And that is only .001 more than tilts stated accuracy

The specific gravity is accurate +/- 0.002

https://tilthydrometer.com/pages/faqs
And as mentioned, you should have used distilled or other pure water. Not tap water. Though I use tap water myself to check, but I'm not so finicky about being piss perfect.

Or does piss perfect mean that one accepts splatters missing the mark? I've never been certain.

 

[KeizerBrewr]

1.003 would work for me. If you don't have a warm and fuzzy on that number, then get some distilled water, and put it into a clean and well rinsed(with distilled water) vessel so it can recalibrate.

 

[Smudgey]

It's the relative difference a tilt is most useful for. From what I read, most people end up using their tilt to watch the curve rather than the numbers. When it flattens out, you're done. I've never been able to trust the figures on mine but the trend is really useful.

 

[jpakstis]

The other thing is that your hydrometer’s 1.000 reading in 74 degree water is either adjusted to 1.003 (BeerSmith) or 1.002 (Brewer’s Friend) because 60 degrees is the calibration temp. So the Tilt’s reading of 1.001 - 1.003 certainly seems within the margin of error.

Like others have mentioned, I use my Tilt mainly to track how fermentation is going and when it’s completed. I’m also not a big stickler for exact measurements so unless the Tilt is way off at the start (could be the turbidity of the recently boiled and hopped wort interfering with the Tilt or more likely I suck at accurately reading my hydrometer) I will use its OG and FG readings.

 

[VikeMan]

Regarding distilled water, yes, distilled water would be the most accurate way to calibrate. But, I once "did the math" on it and found that tap water would have to contain approx 2600 mg/l Total Dissolved Solids to skew the gravity by one point. So unless your tap water is brackish, it's good enough IMO for calibration.

 

[MrBJones]

Thanks for the replies!

I emailed the folks at Tilt and asked. Here's what they said:

You can use tap water to calibrate your Tilt hydrometer. There is some difference with the dissolved solids but it is negligible for the purposes of SG.​