Brewometer kickstarter thoughts - digital bluetooth hydrometer

[yeastylad]

I got mine a few weeks back, right in time for a brew day. I struggled to get it working initially and had to reinstall the app to get it working.

All seemed good at first, but after a day or so in the fermenter, the temperature was off by quite a bit, so I could no longer rely on my readings. I was fermenting at a tightly controlled 68F, but the unit want reading that.

I spoke to the folks at Brewometer, and Marcus shipped my a new unit to test immediately. Nice service. This unit seemed better, but still not bang on accurate. I'm convinced it's the app that needs to be fixed to though - there is currently a known issue with manual calibrations not being retained in the phone or tablet your are reading with. Marcus tells me this should be fixed within the next day or so.

Although mine hasn't worked well so far, i have faith in these guys to fix the bugs and have it working well soon. The 2 readings here are for my original red unit, and the Orange one they shipped me after. Big differences, as they were both floating around in the same beer...

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1460995165.534692.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1460995200.582817.jpg

 

[BeardedBrews]

Been logging to the cloud for about 24 hours now.

You know what would be crazy cool? API integration between the app and Brewer's Friend.

Even if it didn't have a dedicated device at your fermentor, you could open the app, get the reading, and then click "Post Sample to Brewer's Friend". I guess you'd have to also be able to select the brew session, but still, would be awesome.

 

[Vandulus]

I probably would have bought two if there was a 2 pack discount. I asked if they were planning anything and they responded promptly that they didn't. I have no issues with that stance and think the per unit price is set in a pretty good place. I ordered one yesterday after seeing some of the initial feedback here.

My first one is arriving in the mail today and hopefully by the time I need to buy a second one, they'll have some sort of discounted price.

 

[beskone]

Ordered a green one Thursday, shipped Friday, arrived today!

Can't wait to test this out on this weekends brew!

 

[user 204491]

Brewer's Friend integration would be pretty cool, but again, I really like the way it is integrated with Google sheets right now. Once the data is there you can then do anything you would like with it. Google is not going to lose any of your data and the downtime there should be virtually zero, so if you ever experience any problems, the issue is likely not with the receiving side.

Like I said, I've been logging data to the cloud since yesterday afternoon, and while I was at work today I noticed something really strange. This morning at 5 am my fermenter was sitting at about 80F. I plugged in the fermentation chamber and set the temp for 58F, the pitching temp for the Kolsch yeast I'm going to pitch. I watched with every 15 minute data point as it went down 80>79>77> and so on until it finally hit 58. Then the next reading jumped up to 61, and it continued climbing to 69. Then it went down slightly to 67 and stayed there for 11 consecutive readings, before it jumped down to 64 and lowered back down to 58 again.

So now the question is, did my fermentation chamber go bonkers and decide to heat things up for no good reason, or did the thermometer on the Brewometer go crazy like yeastylad described? Unfortunately no one was around to go look at the actual temp, so I might never know.

 

[paulegli]

Just pulled the trigger on a Brewometer -- thanks to everyone for their feedback so far. I also got a pair of Tessel 2 devices a few weeks ago. Originally, I was planning on writing code for the Tessel to have it drive an SSR to control my fermentation chamber fridge, much like this project:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgU3McOF-l8[/ame]

Now I'm thinking I can pair the Tessel to the Brewometer and have a unit that could control the fermentation schedule based on both temperature AND SG. How cool would that be?

 

[boat_eggs]

anyone who is pining for a discount: you had your shot with the kickstarter. paid over $90 extra for a pair since the campaign didnt make it

 

[pepindavid]

Received mine yesterday! Will brew tonight, and report back.

I did a test overnight (i'm also testing my fermentation temperature control setup for the first time).

The Google Sheets work like a charm. The temperature readings also seem fine. But the gravity seems odd: I tested with tap water, and the gravity went from 0.994 to 1.008 overnight, with fluctuations, with most readings being between 1.000 and 1.006.

 

[Vandulus]

Dropped mine into one of my tanks that's going through secondary right now. I am very impressed so far with the little I was able to play with it last night. One thing that surprised the hell out of me was the range. I was expecting maybe 3-5' feet, but was able to get up to 15' feet away - in a SS BrewBucket (stainless), through a 1/2" solid wood door and drywall! Now to start budgeting for another one...

 

[HLSheppard]

I ordered mine just based on this thread. Love me some new toys!!

 

[user 204491]

Hmmm.... Well unfortunately I think I'm starting to experience the big differences in reading temps that yeastylad mentioned a few posts back.

When I got home yesterday both my Brewometer and temp probe in the fermenter measured roughly the same - temp probe was 58.9, Brewometer was 60. Went ahead and pitched my yeast.

When I woke up this morning, Brewometer was reporting a temp of 74, which was just impossible, so I went out to check on things. Sure enough, the temp probe was reading 59.5 degrees, while the Brewometer was telling me it was 74. I took a quick sample and measure with my Thermapen, which confirmed it was about 59 degrees.

Looking at my online data, it was reporting temps well outside of the possible range for about 3 hours, but it is now back to reading 60 which agrees with my temp probe.

I'm not really sure what could explain this aside from a malfunction. There was no violent fermentation going on during this time. This started only 8 hours after pitching, there was only a minimum amount of krausen starting to form when I took my sample this morning, and there was no airlock activity, noticeable amount of CO2, or any other externally visible signs of fermentation. I'll report it to the developers and see what they say.

 

[BrunDog]

I will say that there seems to be larger fluctuations at lower gravities. I saw this over the last couple of days, where it would bounce around a few points. My hefe is 4 days out and the Brewometer measures anywhere from 1.009 to 1.012 as I just watch it over the course of a few minutes. My temp has been rock accurate though.

Not sure if this is CO2 bubbles affecting the readings or just sensitivities in the circuitry. At the end of the day, what I really care about is that fermentation has finished.

Anyway, should it need an update, does anyone know how that is accomplished? OTA? Programming cable? Send it back?

 

[LBussy]

Is it possible the section that bobs out of the wort is measuring the temp and the headspace really is that far off from the wort temp?

 

[user 204491]

Hmmm... That's an interesting theory, but I really don't think so. First, there was no violent fermentation going on, so I'm not really sure why it would have been bobbing around very much at all. Second, the ambient temp of the garage was 65F this morning, while the fermentation chamber was set to 58. When I opened it up to check things out, it definitely felt cooler inside the chamber, not warmer, than the garage.

I was wondering if the accuracy might be a factor, but I don't think that could account for it either. I've got a 2 degree differential set on my ITC-1000. With the beer set to 58F, that means it will engage cooling if it gets to 60.1F. With the +/- 2 degree accuracy of the Brewometer, that means that if my beer reached 60.1 then it could have been reading it at 62.1F, but I saw temps as high as 74.

Also the fact that it jumped back down to 58 in a relatively short amount of time would seem to indicate the unit was just wrong as well.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Curious to see if the name choice becomes an issue with More Beer or Blichman.

 

[pepindavid]

I just wrote to the company about the gravity reading: I find it odd that it would almost steadily ramp up from 0.994 to 1.013 overnight, in tap water... I'm beginning to worry that either the temp correction of the gravity is wrong, or I have a faulty device. Maybe it's not as accurate in plain water?

I'll be brewing tonight, so I'll get to test it with real wort and fermentation, but we'll see what they answer.

 

[jmark]

I'll add to the temp issues. Mine seems to move a fair bit but seems to be consistently higher than the actual temp measured. Gravity readings seem reasonable so far, dropping a few points since I pitched yeast yesterday morning and now picking up steam. I don't care about temps since I have brewpi handling that regulation but it would be nice if they could solve these issues.

 

[jmitchell3]

Just outta curiosity: What if you have more than one? Are they identified in the app by color?

Yes, it appears color is the differentiator. In some of the screenshots it shows different sets of metrics with different colors...

I just ordered one this morning to try out, a purple. Got a confirm by email but no shipping notice yet

 

[user 204491]

Well, unfortunately mine appears to have gone absolutely bonkers at this point. According to the data it's logged in the past 3 hours the gravity has jumped all over the place from 1.040 to 1.049, and the temp has fluctuated between 58F and 72F. Starting to have some trust issues with my unit.

 

[BrunDog]

Well, unfortunately mine appears to have gone absolutely bonkers at this point. According to the data it's logged in the past 3 hours the gravity has jumped all over the place from 1.040 to 1.049, and the temp has fluctuated between 58F and 72F. Starting to have some trust issues with my unit.

Starting?!? Sounds like no doubt it's funked. My bet is the temp swings are what is causing your gravity changes, but only they can confirm/fix. I would press them for a replacement.

Such is the case with new hardware/software. They can test it all they want in their lab, but that's not 99% of monkeys. The real measure of their worth will be demonstrated by how they acquire, learn, communicate, remedy, and improve. Keep us informed.

 

[Newsman]

Glad I haven't jumped on this yet. Sounds like y'all are alpha testers....not even in Beta yet.

 

[BrunDog]

I just wrote to the company about the gravity reading: I find it odd that it would almost steadily ramp up from 0.994 to 1.013 overnight, in tap water... I'm beginning to worry that either the temp correction of the gravity is wrong, or I have a faulty device. Maybe it's not as accurate in plain water?

I'll be brewing tonight, so I'll get to test it with real wort and fermentation, but we'll see what they answer.

That definitely isn't right. Pull it out and see if it's taking on water. That would certainly change the readings, although it would go the other way now that I think about it. Anyway it's still way wrong.

 

[LBussy]

Starting?!? Sounds like no doubt it's funked. My bet is the temp swings are what is causing your gravity changes, but only they can confirm/fix.

Could be, although 14 degrees and 0.009 points don't line up. Should be interesting to see how this all bears out.

Bad battery maybe? If these are sourced overseas that would be the one easy/likely thing to check.

 

[BrunDog]

Glad I haven't jumped on this yet. Sounds like y'all are alpha testers....not even in Beta yet.

No, I don't think so. Mine is definitely showing its merit.

 

[pepindavid]

That definitely isn't right. Pull it out and see if it's taking on water. That would certainly change the readings, although it would go the other way now that I think about it. Anyway it's still way wrong.

Unfortunately I am at work, but I'll take it as soon as I get home... Once I drop it in my fermenter tonight, though, It'll stay there until bottling time... I hope they answer me before I do that...

Being in Canada, this thing was a bit pricey (with the exchange rate and the international shipping) to be a Beta tester, but hey, if it works, it'll be cool..!

 

[user 204491]

FYI - I've heard back from one of the developers, and he's assured me they are looking into it and have been in contact with other folks from here that have reached out. So far today mine seems to go a bit bonkers, then fix itself and read correctly again, only to go back to being bonkers for a bit. I'll let you know if I hear back any concrete answers from them.

Either way, I'm going to leave it in my fermenter until it's time to keg the beer, as one of the reasons for buying it in the first place was never having to open the fermenter to take a sample, and I already had to do that once this morning to verify the temperature.

 

[ChrisL_]

Being in Canada, this thing was a bit pricey (with the exchange rate and the international shipping) to be a Beta tester, but hey, if it works, it'll be cool..!

I am thinking of ordering one myself. What was the final price after shipping and exchange?

 

[pepindavid]

What was the final price after shipping and exchange?

A hefty 188.19 $CDN (April 4 exchange rate).

At least, they seem prepared to help : I received a reply from them. They are suspecting a leak (even if units are tested for leaks), and are prepared to send me another unit.

I'll keep you posted!

 

[BrunDog]

Per my post earlier about small SG fluctuations, I gave the fermenter a couple of raps, and after a minute, the SG settled a touch lower and has been more consistent (mind you, a 2-3 point swing was hardly a deal breaker). So maybe it had some bubbles on it that affected the reading. My beer is down to 1.009 (now 4 days completed). I assume it will only go another couple of points. Then I will let it rest a bit for cleanup. Then it will go into secondary onto some ginger and lemon for finishing flavor. Not sure if the Brewometer will go into the secondary.

 

[tjmac5071]

I am so excited for this product because I never check SG after it goes into the fermenter because I hate taking the lid off, and I'm kind of lazy about it in general. I appreciate everyone posting their experiences so far to help with the decision to buy or to start taking samples using the port in my new brew bucket once I start using it, also to help me hone in on actual ferm temp since I insulate the probe against the side and take a degree or two off the set temp as a gustimate to account for actual internal ferm temp. Anyone who does not use a thermowell have any input on temp per the brewometer vs side of the bucket?