Brewometer kickstarter thoughts - digital bluetooth hydrometer

[pepindavid]

FWIW, my temp readings were ok while cold crashing (they may have been slightly different from the beer itself until equilibrium was reached, but nothing too weird). It's the gravity reading that became wrong: it had been sitting between 1.014 and 1.016 (which was fine, as the hydrometer at bottling showed 1.015), but it went as low as 1.007 during cold crash, which was obviously wrong.

I don't know much about "floating science", but wouldn't temperature differences affect the pressure (within the device and the headspace, if my High School chemistry is still right)? And if the pressure is affected, could it affect the "floating" of the device, therefore affecting the tilt? Now that I think of it, though, the weight of the air within the device shouldn't change; just the volume and the pressure.

Looking forward to see if my replacement will act differently!

 

[BrunDog]

Density is weight per volume. Neither change so density remains the same.

That said, regular glass hydrometers are affected by temperature. I assume this is because the liquid becomes slightly more dense with decreasing temperature. I can't imagine the rules are different for this device, so the temp sensor *should* use the temp in its calculations.

Hey has the developer been informed of this thread? It would do them well to be present here.

 

[TaylorBrewed]

So my unit stopped sending information to the cloud last night around midnight. I suspected it might have been battery or my phone that I use to grab this information died. I went to my basement this morning where my chamber is and it was still sending information to the phone. I emailed the developers to see what they suggest. I un-clicked the box to start sending information to the cloud and then re clicked it hoping that it would start sending information again but no luck. Has anyone experienced this and what might you suggest to try while I'm waiting to hear back from the developers. Thanks

 

[beskone]

So my unit stopped sending information to the cloud last night around midnight. I suspected it might have been battery or my phone that I use to grab this information died. I went to my basement this morning where my chamber is and it was still sending information to the phone. I emailed the developers to see what they suggest. I un-clicked the box to start sending information to the cloud and then re clicked it hoping that it would start sending information again but no luck. Has anyone experienced this and what might you suggest to try while I'm waiting to hear back from the developers. Thanks

ya mine does this, i think it's flaky wi-fi in the garage but I'm not 100% sold on that. Gonna have to verify next brew.

 

[enkamania]

So my unit stopped sending information to the cloud last night around midnight. I suspected it might have been battery or my phone that I use to grab this information died. I went to my basement this morning where my chamber is and it was still sending information to the phone. I emailed the developers to see what they suggest. I un-clicked the box to start sending information to the cloud and then re clicked it hoping that it would start sending information again but no luck. Has anyone experienced this and what might you suggest to try while I'm waiting to hear back from the developers. Thanks

My internet has gone out a couple of times. I shut off my tablet and restart the program, that did the trick.

 

[TaylorBrewed]

That must had happened during the night. Your solution fixed it. Thanks

 

[jmark]

Finally racked my first beer using the brewometer this afternoon. FG was 1.012 based on my hydrometer reading which was just about the same as the brewometer (1.010). For tracking gravity, I think this tool does the job - I think there are issues with temps though but I use brewpi for tracking and controlling temperature, so that doesn't bother me.

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Hey has the developer been informed of this thread? It would do them well to be present here.

Yeah, I pointed this thread out to them a couple of times in our correspondence, and I believe they read at least part of it, as they mentioned to me how exciting it was that people were already hacking the device.

I also experienced the unit stopping logging several times during my first trial run. It would seem to go quiet for sometimes over an hour, and then have rapid fire updates all within seconds of each other.

I mentioned that to the developer, but they did not have an explanation.

I'll point this thread out to them again and ask them to come join the fun!

 

[BrunDog]

For anyone interested, you can pick up a 7" Amazon Fire for $40 through Saturday. I almost clicked the "buy" button but then I realized I don't *really* need a tablet mounted to my fermentation freezer...

 

[AF1HomeBrew]

You guys are having too much fun, so on 4/22 I decided to purchase one too. Last night I received an email with a shipment notification. I should receive mine this coming Monday.

 

[BrunDog]

Yes!! Join in the fun and be just a bit poorer!!

 

[AF1HomeBrew]

Yes!! Join in the fun and be just a bit poorer!!

Ha! compared to the BrewNanny that I helped Kickstart that still hasn't materialized (but I was able to get my $499 back or the 2 beer bugs that I still haven't used) the BrewOMeter is nothing.

 

[BrunDog]

Serious question now... Has anyone cleaned their Brewometer? I soaked mine in warm water and a little dish detergent, then gave it a light wiping and a good spray rinse. I think that it is clean at the o-ring interface, but honestly how can I tell without opening it? I could see it *possible* that bugs could lurk there. I will certainly make sure to give it a good sanitizer soak prior to the next insertion. But then again, I am super anal about sanitization.

 

[drgonzo2k2]

A few updates from my side...

I did hear back from the developer, and while they thought it was amazing we had 34 pages discussing their product, they said at this time, being so small and firmly in start-up mode, they don't really have the bandwidth to jump right in and start answering questions here. They're more focused on getting units together and getting them out the door. If anyone has direct questions the best way to get them answered seems to be reaching out via email on their website.

I cleared the temp calibrations on both my units last night, let them float in some water for 20 minutes to acclimate to the temp, and then compared readings to my Thermapen. I'm happy to report that they were both only off by 1 degree, so that's much better than the 8 degrees I originally calibrated for by not giving them time to acclimate. Everyone should do this when calibrating their units. Both of mine were only off by .001-.002 gravity points and 1F, so very minor corrections.

I setup a quick and dirty website for my home brewery and am using my revised sheets to feed it. This way I can just look at one screen and have real time data on how my fermentations are going. Plus, it was kinda fun to setup a site for my brewing habit (err... hobby!).

If you're interested the site is here, and the updated sheets I'm using to feed it are here.

Feel free to poke around on the website a bit, but keep in mind it's still very much a WIP, and I set it up in about 20 minutes. Also, keep in mind that I'm not logging any data points currently, so all the data is from my last fermentation.

Lastly, yes, I have cleaned one of my Brewometers so far. It had a little gunk stuck to it when I fished it out of my fermenter post kegging. We use unscented liquid dish soap, so I just used some warm water and a soft wash cloth like what I use to clean out my fermenters and kettles, and it cleaned right up. I did unscrew the ends and made sure to clean off the threads and o-ring, but that might have been overkill. On brew day I just plan on leaving it in my Star San bucket prior to tossing it in the fermenter.

 

[BroomVikin]

A few updates from my side...

I did hear back from the developer, and while they thought it was amazing we had 34 pages discussing their product, they said at this time, being so small and firmly in start-up mode, they don't really have the bandwidth to jump right in and start answering questions here. They're more focused on getting units together and getting them out the door. If anyone has direct questions the best way to get them answered seems to be reaching out via email on their website.

I cleared the temp calibrations on both my units last night, let them float in some water for 20 minutes to acclimate to the temp, and then compared readings to my Thermapen. I'm happy to report that they were both only off by 1 degree, so that's much better than the 8 degrees I originally calibrated for by not giving them time to acclimate. Everyone should do this when calibrating their units. Both of mine were only off by .001-.002 gravity points and 1F, so very minor corrections.

I setup a quick and dirty website for my home brewery and am using my revised sheets to feed it. This way I can just look at one screen and have real time data on how my fermentations are going. Plus, it was kinda fun to setup a site for my brewing habit (err... hobby!).

If you're interested the site is here, and the updated sheets I'm using to feed it are here.

Feel free to poke around on the website a bit, but keep in mind it's still very much a WIP, and I set it up in about 20 minutes. Also, keep in mind that I'm not logging any data points currently, so all the data is from my last fermentation.

Lastly, yes, I have cleaned one of my Brewometers so far. It had a little gunk stuck to it when I fished it out of my fermenter post kegging. We use unscented liquid dish soap, so I just used some warm water and a soft wash cloth like what I use to clean out my fermenters and kettles, and it cleaned right up. I did unscrew the ends and made sure to clean off the threads and o-ring, but that might have been overkill. On brew day I just plan on leaving it in my Star San bucket prior to tossing it in the fermenter.

Drgonzo2k2, I think by this point you deserve some sort of R&D fee from these guys or at the least a beta tester freebie!

 

[beskone]

Well I have a little data from my cold crash. I'm not seeing the wild fluctuations, just the seemingly standard .004 swings that I'm assuming come from the unit bobbing around in the beer.

I think this is a fantastic tool for tracking fermentation progress. I knew when the beer was done, knew when to ramp my temps up to let the yeast clean up, knew when to dry hop and cold crash. I'll still be verifying my FG using a tried and true hydrometer for accuracy for my brew logs, but I'm loving this thing.

I let my iPad run out of batteries so this graph is a day into the cold crash but looking good so far!

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Drgonzo2k2, I think by this point you deserve some sort of R&D fee from these guys or at the least a beta tester freebie!

Hah, well if the developers happen to browse through this thread I'll happily accept any freebies they wish to send out!

Really though I'm just happy to help out with what I think is a cool new brewing tool.

 

[boat_eggs]

concerning the the cleaning question, I just used dish soap on them and for the one that is working sprayed the crap out of it with starsan.
the o-ring seals do concern me a bit and I was thinking of changing them out to square o-rings. there would be less surface area this way but i am worried that it would throw off the calibration. a 100 pk goes for about $10 so it is not that risky of a test

 

[Garou24]

drgonzo2k2 - Thanks for sharing your site and your sheets!

I just got my brewometer and will be sending it on it's maiden voyage this weekend in a batch of pale ale.

 

[tagz]

It really wouldn't take that much effort to post a couple of times thanking everyone for the interest. From the sidelines it seems like they are more interested in sending these out the door than addressing problems. Then again, I don't run a startup.

 

[boat_eggs]

Does anyone here use a android tablet with these? I bought a Galaxy Tab A 8 for use with these and am taking it back after a few hours because the bluetooth is crap

 

[enkamania]

Does anyone here use a android tablet with these? I bought a Galaxy Tab A 8 for use with these and am taking it back after a few hours because the bluetooth is crap

I have a Nexus 7 and it seems to work.

 

[Vandulus]

I bought a cheap 5.1 Android tablet with Bluetooth 4.0 from Amazon for $50 and found out the Bluetooth was worthless. Originally I thought it was the Brewometer, but I couldn't detect or pair 2 BT speakers or a keyboard. Thankfully my son's old iPad Mini works like a champ and I paid him instead.

For anyone using an iPhone or iPad - is there a way to run the Brewometer app without leaving the screen always on? I disabled the screen lock, but the power savings mode seems to stop Brewometer from reporting - even when plugged into an AC adapter. I'd love to find a better way of continuously monitoring without leaving the screen always powered.

 

[TaylorBrewed]

So last night I bottled my first batch that used the brewometer. At end of fermentation I was sitting between 1.014 and 1.018. When I cold crashed it got down to 1.08 to 1.011. When I did my final readings the brewometer was a degree higher in temp and .004 higher in gravity. Finished beer was 1.010. So it seems when I cold crashed I had a more accurate reading. Anyone else see this happen?

 

[jmark]

I think that happened to me - after cold crashing, my gravity dropped 4-5 points and was about in line with my hydrometer FG reading. I'm going to hypothesize that the krausen was particularly stubborn in falling (I was using 1469 which is known to be like that) and that was affecting the readings. Nevertheless, the brewometer did its job and told me when fermentation was complete.

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Regarding Android compatibility, remember that in general you need Bluetooth 4.0. Beyond that, they have a list of compatible Android devices here.

As far as the iPad goes, that's what I use, and I've got a post somewhere several pages back about setting mine up if you want to go digging, but I think yeah, the screen always stays on. I know I had to disable the power saving features and auto lock functions. I think like that it means it stays on unless you hit the power button. I've got a cover on mine, so I don't notice the screen.

 

[Garou24]

I upgraded last year from a Android Razor M to a Droid turbo. So i just hooked up my old Droid phone next to my carboy a few minutes ago. I used the Dev options to force the screen to stay on as long as it is plugged in. I tested it out over the last few days and had no issues. Syncing to to google docs so I can view the fermentation anywhere.

 

[boat_eggs]

Developer just got back to me and said they have spent more time on the iOS version than the android version, makes sense. I may go to the dark side and get an iPad mini

 

[BrunDog]

As I posted above, Amazon Fires are cheap right now. Great customer service there too, so if it doesn't work, send it back without pain. I use a few for my home automation system, and have had zero issues. They are on 100% of the time communicating via wifi. I can't confirm their BT performance but can't imagine it isn't quality.

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Well, I got my second one in a freshly brewed beer yesterday, and at this point I am thoroughly puzzled...

As I said before I calibrated it in RO water after letting it acclimate to the temperature, and it needed only very minor adjustments.

I did that a second time yesterday on brew day, the adjustments had kept in the app, and it was spot on.

So I finish my brew day, oxygenate for 60 seconds, pitch the yeast, and then drop in the Brewometer.

Off by 12 gravity points (reading 1.049 instead of 1.061) and 8F (reading 72F instead of 80F). That's after letting it acclimate for an hour and then checking on it.

Surely it must be stuck or something, so I give the fermenter a good shake, swirl it around a bit, and come back 20 mins later to find no change.

So I double check by pulling a sample and confirm gravity with a hydrometer and temp with a Thermapen, and the unit is indeed off.

I calibrate it to the readings I just took and then leave it for an hour or so. Now the gravity is correct, but the temp has gone 8F the other way (so now it's reading 88F instead of 80F).

I assume it's sorted itself out on the temp, so I remove the calibration setting (so now 80F is 80F), leave it for a bit, and now it's low by 8F again.

Repeat this once more last night and again this morning. It seems to read really low for a while, correct itself and be okay, and then ready really high again.

I can't explain that, nor why the gravity which was spot on was 12 points off the moment I tossed it in my beer.

You can check out the graph on my site here, and the sheet with the backing data is here.

 

[enkamania]

I finished my first real batch with the brewometer (I threw it in at the end of fementation of my prior beer) It worked as expected with no major anolmalies. I matched SG and FG with my hydrometer. My spreadsheet is Here My next brew should be fun, I'm using the yeast from this batch with a slighly modified recipe

 

[pepindavid]

FWIW, the first beer I brewed with the help of the BrewOmeter turned out the be my best so far (at least, for the moment, one week after bottling). It was my 6th batch. Maybe it's the recipe itself, maybe the fact that I had temperature control for the first time, or maybe having a better understanding of where the beer was in the fermentation process (through the BrewOmeter) actually helped, but in the end, it's a good beer.

If you're looking for an IPA recipe, this is the one I used (just tweaked it a little to be closer to 6% ABV):
http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25129

 

[55x11]

So I got mine finally last night!
I calibrated it (was .007 too high on SG in pure water and .8 degF or so high on temperature).
I placed it into my Belgian Porter (which is slowly coming down from fairly high OG, but may be a bit stuck now around 1.030).

The disappointing and disturbing fact is that the SG seems to move around a lot even over the past 6-8 hours or so, as I am ramping the temperature up from 68F to 75-78F or so (this is a Belgian saison / Strong Belgian Ale yeast and somehow went a bit dormant so I am trying to wake it up).

The SG went from 1.025 to 1.035 and everywhere in between. Anyone else seen anything like that? Should I wait till it settles a bit?

 

[55x11]

Well, I got my second one in a freshly brewed beer yesterday, and at this point I am thoroughly puzzled...

As I said before I calibrated it in RO water after letting it acclimate to the temperature, and it needed only very minor adjustments.

I did that a second time yesterday on brew day, the adjustments had kept in the app, and it was spot on.

So I finish my brew day, oxygenate for 60 seconds, pitch the yeast, and then drop in the Brewometer.

Off by 12 gravity points (reading 1.049 instead of 1.061) and 8F (reading 72F instead of 80F). That's after letting it acclimate for an hour and then checking on it.

Surely it must be stuck or something, so I give the fermenter a good shake, swirl it around a bit, and come back 20 mins later to find no change.

So I double check by pulling a sample and confirm gravity with a hydrometer and temp with a Thermapen, and the unit is indeed off.

I calibrate it to the readings I just took and then leave it for an hour or so. Now the gravity is correct, but the temp has gone 8F the other way (so now it's reading 88F instead of 80F).

I assume it's sorted itself out on the temp, so I remove the calibration setting (so now 80F is 80F), leave it for a bit, and now it's low by 8F again.

Repeat this once more last night and again this morning. It seems to read really low for a while, correct itself and be okay, and then ready really high again.

I can't explain that, nor why the gravity which was spot on was 12 points off the moment I tossed it in my beer.

You can check out the graph on my site here, and the sheet with the backing data is here.

Thanks for sharing your spreadsheets - I am using the templates myself, and it saved me a lot of work. ABV is a nice touch!

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Thanks for sharing your spreadsheets - I am using the templates myself, and it saved me a lot of work. ABV is a nice touch!

No problem; I'm glad they're helpful!

FYI - It looks like the image you tried to attach didn't make it through.

 

[55x11]

No problem; I'm glad they're helpful!

FYI - It looks like the image you tried to attach didn't make it through.

I wonder if this works

Also:
Chart

 

[tiputus]

A few updates from my side...

I did hear back from the developer, and while they thought it was amazing we had 34 pages discussing their product, they said at this time, being so small and firmly in start-up mode, they don't really have the bandwidth to jump right in and start answering questions here. They're more focused on getting units together and getting them out the door. If anyone has direct questions the best way to get them answered seems to be reaching out via email on their website.

I cleared the temp calibrations on both my units last night, let them float in some water for 20 minutes to acclimate to the temp, and then compared readings to my Thermapen. I'm happy to report that they were both only off by 1 degree, so that's much better than the 8 degrees I originally calibrated for by not giving them time to acclimate. Everyone should do this when calibrating their units. Both of mine were only off by .001-.002 gravity points and 1F, so very minor corrections.

I setup a quick and dirty website for my home brewery and am using my revised sheets to feed it. This way I can just look at one screen and have real time data on how my fermentations are going. Plus, it was kinda fun to setup a site for my brewing habit (err... hobby!).

If you're interested the site is here, and the updated sheets I'm using to feed it are here.

Feel free to poke around on the website a bit, but keep in mind it's still very much a WIP, and I set it up in about 20 minutes. Also, keep in mind that I'm not logging any data points currently, so all the data is from my last fermentation.

Lastly, yes, I have cleaned one of my Brewometers so far. It had a little gunk stuck to it when I fished it out of my fermenter post kegging. We use unscented liquid dish soap, so I just used some warm water and a soft wash cloth like what I use to clean out my fermenters and kettles, and it cleaned right up. I did unscrew the ends and made sure to clean off the threads and o-ring, but that might have been overkill. On brew day I just plan on leaving it in my Star San bucket prior to tossing it in the fermenter.

Hello, thanks for sharing your sheet. Really appreciate it! Any change that you could share your Google site template as well? I like your site and would like to build same. Unfortenately I'm not that good with Google sites yet!

 

[Garou24]

My brewometer seems to be working well in my current batch. My issue seems to be with the app for android. The app seems to stop working and transmitting data each night around 1-2 AM and when I wake up I find the app running but with a blank white screen. Restarting it seems to work, but I miss out on the hours of data between those times when it was not working.

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Hey, really glad that everyone seems to be enjoying the sheet and the site.

Really happy to have folks copy and use the sheet. Unfortunately on the site though, I don't have a template for that. I just used Google sites and selected one of the themes on the first pages, and then went from there. If you just try it out and play around with it though I think you should get the hang of it. I'm no Google sites expert, and I think I've put about an hour into it total at this point.

Also, I added an attenuation gauge to the sheet this morning, but I've not yet had a chance to add it to my site. Maybe this afternoon or this evening.

As far as performance goes, the current Brewometer seems to be working properly since yesterday morning, which was the last time I fiddled with the calibration on the temp. At this point it's back to no adjustment from how I received it, and keeping in mind the +/- 2F variance, I think it is inline with the temps I'm seeing on my ITC-1000 (which is accurate to within 1F of my Thermapen).

It had some fluctuations on gravity overnight, but if you check the graph, you'll see I've got a pretty violent fermentation going on at the moment, so that's to be expected - go house bugs!

One thing that I thought was odd was that it started logging temp to 1 decimal place for a while and then stopped doing that. Not sure why, but I'll mention it to the developers. I'm also going to suggest that instead of logging just the point in time every 15 minutes, maybe they could do some sort of average over the past 15 minutes. I bet that'd smooth out a lot of those swings. From monitoring the app it looks to receive an update from the unit every 1/2 second, so they should have lots of data points to average.

 

[tiputus]

Thanks for answer! You can share your sites template quite easily. Just go to your site, open settings and "save as template" or something like that. Mine is in finnish, so I don't know what's exactly written in english version if chrime.