Brewometer kickstarter thoughts - digital bluetooth hydrometer

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I found at least one site that claims to have an HC-05 communicating with a BT 4.0 BLE device.
But on balance it does appear the easiest path would be via an HM-10.

I'm going to have to pick one of those up and validate it on one of my BrewPi "minions"...

Cheers!

 

[beskone]

Mine is exactly 2º off, can't wait for the calibration update.

I also have a thing where it will log data for hours on end, then just stop. I'll have to quit the app and re launch for it to pick back up.

Not sure if it's the wifi cutting out in the garage or if it's the brewometer.

Pretty cool though, most of my fermentation was finished in the first 60 hours, went from 1.055 - 1.014 but now it's not logging so I'll have to go manually check where it's at this morning.

 

[jmark]

The updated app showed up on the App Store yesterday... haven't tried the new calibration method yet though as mine is still sitting in a batch of Best Bitter.

 

[user 204491]

From the brewometer FAQ page.
Q. Does the SG reported by the brewmometer compensate for the current temperature automatically?

A. Due to the polycarbonate housing of the the Brewometer, no correction is needed for 38F to 98F. Temperatures above 98F result in an decrease of SG of about 1 point per 10F. i.e. water at around 160F will read 0.994.

Hmmm, I'm not sure if I buy that or not. If you look at all the "freak out" occurrences in my tracking graph you'll notice there is a pretty clear correlation between peaks/valleys in the temp and peaks/valleys in the gravity.

So either the temp reading was freaking out, messing up the gravity reading, or the gravity reading was freaking out, messing up the temp.

 

[BrunDog]

I agree. Can't see how temp and gravity rating are not related.

 

[TaylorBrewed]

They have to be. Everytime one changes the other does as well on my brew.

 

[beskone]

They are related but the software is compensating inside the brewometer.

I think the FAQ is saying that in the normal temp range it's accurate, outside you have to start manually adjusting.

 

[ChrisL_]

I think they are saying that the probe is not actually touching the liquid and given the material in which it is encased/insulated that the temp does not affect the gravity reading in a given range.

I posted my reply as a couple people had wondered if the manufacturer had been asked this specific question.
It seems maybe it has spawned a new set of questions.

 

[user 204491]

I showed the sheet to some home brewers at work, and one of them asked me about having it do a real time ABV calc. I added it to my sheet if you want to take a look, but it's pretty simple, you just use this formula:

=sum(INDIRECT("D"&COUNTA(D: D))-D2)*131.25

Then I added a gauge graph for it as well.

Please note - there should NOT be a space inbetween the : and the D there, but if I type them together, it does this in my formula

 

[day_trippr]

[...]Please note - there should NOT be a space inbetween the : and the D there, but if I type them together, it does this in my formula

fwiw, I run into this all the time here, and the sure fire way to get the text across intact is to stick it inside a CODE block...

=sum(INDIRECT("D"&COUNTA(D:D))-D2)*131.25

Cheers!

 

[user 204491]

fwiw, I run into this all the time here, and the sure fire way to get the text across intact is to stick it inside a CODE block...

=sum(INDIRECT("D"&COUNTA(D:D))-D2)*131.25

Cheers!

Ahh, thanks! Looks like the CODE block is only accessible from the advanced tab, but will remember it for the next time!

 

[Carlscan26]

I still see a smiley face

 

[BrunDog]

Me too but looking on the HBT app.

 

[rafaelpinto]

Seems awesome.

Can it be used during mash?

 

[user 204491]

Seems there's nothing preventing you from using it during the mash, as it says the temp range is 32F - 185F.

 

[ChrisL_]

Very interesting. It can certainly handle the temperature reading. Great to be able to monitor it remotely if you do not have a temp controlled recirculating mash. I wonder about the ability to read the gravity with all the grain in there? A typical mash is likely too thick, but I do full volume BIAB. Won't likely be pinpoint accurate but even close reading of gravity, with the temp of a mash charted would be cool.

 

[pepindavid]

I suspect something similar: mine had been hovering between 1.011 and 1.014 for about 48 hours. When I hiked up the temp (about 2 F), the gravity also went up, with most readings between 1.015 and 1.018. It now seems to have stabilized between 1.014 and 1.016. It

Update: I shared my spreadsheet with the developers, because I thought that the fluctuations were a bit unusual: (from 1.011 to 1.018 is quite significant). I still had it today going down to 1.012, and up to 1.017).

The developers looked at the data and think it shouldn't fluctuate that much: they will send me a new device, and include a return envelope for the one I have (they want to take a look at it to try to understand what is causing the problem).

So far, I am really impressed with their customer support.

 

[user 204491]

Hey, gang, looks like they released an update for the app today and the developer sent me some new instructions regarding calibration (you'll need the new app to follow these steps).

Regarding calibration, they should come pre-calibrated, if it seems off when floating in water, tap the gear icon, select the color of brewometer you want to calibrate and press the tare button to zero the gravity to 1.000.
If additional points are desired, prepare solutions of your approximate starting and finishing gravity (i.e. 1.015 and 1.060). Make sure there are no bubbles attached to Brewometer when calibrating.
Temperature doesn't matter if calibrating 68F (+/- 30) degrees. The polycarbonate body has similar expansion coefficient to water and so does not need temperature compensation in this range. Above this range, we've noticed about a 1 gravity point decrease per 10 degree increase in temperature, so water at around 110F would read 0.999, 120F would read 0.998 and so on.

I asked him about the correlation we're noticing between temp and gravity swings, and I'll let you know what he says once I hear back!

 

[enkamania]

I started a batch yesterday and so far, so good. I've added some averages to the spreadsheet, so towards the end I can see how long it's been stable. One issue I found is that when you calibrate the temperature, it doesn't like a number with a decimal.

 

[akthor]

Until they fix it so you don't have to recalibrate it every time I'm out. The whole point for me is that my old tired eyes have trouble reading a hydrometer.

 

[BrunDog]

Supposedly it's fixed. I did not have to calibrate mine, so I haven't tested it. But it is supposedly working.

 

[user 204491]

Yeah, as far as I'm aware that issue has been fixed with the recent app update. While the developer didn't specifically call it out in the email they sent me it does appear to be retaining the data in the app. One thing to keep in mind though is that you are essentially calibrating the app to work correctly with the unit, not storing a calibration on the unit itself. So, if you use multiple devices to connect to the same unit, you will need to calibrate each instance of the app you're using.

I calibrated my two new units yesterday using RO water. The new calibration function really makes it a breeze. They both needed only minor changes to gravity (1-2 points); however, they were both off pretty significantly on temp (6-8 degrees). I don't have them in beer yet, but that will change this weekend.

 

[pepindavid]

A replacement has been sent to me. Will take some time to get here, but I should have it available for my next brew day.

The one I will send back to them was clearly affected by temperature changes (they seem to think that it's not possible, but the numbers don't lie). It was sitting pretty stable between 1.014 and 1.016 at around 69F, and then I cold crashed... The gravity went all the way down to 1.007 during cold crash.

The hydrometer reading at bottling was 1.015.

You can see data here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1u-QkUrCMsuJI8hCLVCfRX8KP9mnfk2s0WHdBucVxz30/edit?usp=sharing

(You also may notice a big drop in gravity before I cold crashed: that's when I dry hopped. My guess is that device floated differently with thick layer of hop particles and gave wrong readings.).

We'll see if the next one is as sensitive to temp changes!

 

[user 204491]

I pretty much had the exact same experience with the unit I'm sending back to them. You can see my graph here.

Notice that things just got crazy during the cold crash. Temp swings +/1 20F, and gravity swings going right along with them +/1 9 points. The entire time the beer was sitting at 33F +/1 2 degrees, and the gravity never changed from the 1.009.

The developers were great though, insisted on replacing the unit, shipped out a new one right away, and they've been very communicative throughout the process. They told me on Thursday of last week that they were having a meeting that evening, and one of the topics was my wild temp/gravity swings and their correlation.

 

[dfborn]

So, I've had mine new unit sitting in RO water since Saturday. SG has risen steadily with occasional dips of a point or two. It's up to 1.006 now but has been as high as 1.009. The temp isn't swinging. I calibrated it initially in water.

Any ideas?

 

[LBussy]

So, I've had mine new unit sitting in RO water since Saturday. SG has risen steadily with occasional dips of a point or two. It's up to 1.006 now but has been as high as 1.009. The temp isn't swinging. I calibrated it initially in water.

Any ideas?

I'd be curious if there were tiny bubbles forming on it. Any chance to tap it just a bit?

 

[BrunDog]

Would say same. Tap it or take it out and put it back in.

 

[BrunDog]

I pretty much had the exact same experience with the unit I'm sending back to them. You can see my graph here.

Notice that things just got crazy during the cold crash. Temp swings +/1 20F, and gravity swings going right along with them +/1 9 points. The entire time the beer was sitting at 33F +/1 2 degrees, and the gravity never changed from the 1.009.

The developers were great though, insisted on replacing the unit, shipped out a new one right away, and they've been very communicative throughout the process. They told me on Thursday of last week that they were having a meeting that evening, and one of the topics was my wild temp/gravity swings and their correlation.

Keep in mind the electronics were not made by Brewometer. My guess is they buy the board off the shelf. The temp swings must either be a faulty temperature sensor or the math they use to perform calculations. The probability of a several faulty sensors should be very low, so I believe something else is going on there.

Also, the published temp accuracy for the temp sensor is +/- 3 degs C.

 

[dfborn]

I'd be curious if there were tiny bubbles forming on it. Any chance to tap it just a bit?

Did this and that seemed to fix it. Is this because of the RO water off-gassing ? Should I expect the same kind of performance in wort? (I can't really take it out then...)

 

[pepindavid]

Did this and that seemed to fix it. Is this because of the RO water off-gassing ? Should I expect the same kind of performance in wort? (I can't really take it out then...)

I had the exact same problem with mine when I tested in water. Simply swirling the fermenter corrected the situation. The same happened when I dry hopped: the device got "stuck" in the thick green layer, and the readings were off. Swirling did the job.