Digital Hydrometers

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merhlyn

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Hello everyone,

I have been using a Beer Bug, was actually one of the first to use on their Kick Starter, but the device has finally kicked the bucket. I am looking for a replacement but I wanted to start a discussion about the various replacement s available before I committed to one.

SO I could stay with Beer Bug or as it has migrated to Brew Perfect I could go with them. I like the ability to look at how my brew is going while I am at work and in the past the ability to see my progress has been fun. I like the ability to see the temps as my basement has wild temp swings and my ferm chambers can go crazy if the power hiccups. However, looking at their site I am not seeing a whole lot of active brews going on an hardly any forum talk (make that none) so it makes me wonder if it is a dying product.

I see that their is another product called the tilt, however it is Bluetooth and does not provide any type of web (Cloud) interface that I can see but it looks nice.

Next their is a new product coming out called Plaato, and it offers the enhancements that I like.

Another product I seen was BrewPi but my ability to code and all is nil and it looks like it might be more for advanced brewers (read that as breweries).

So What does the community think.

Michael
Manchester, Michigan
(Where it is cold and I need to brew to keep warm)
 
Check out Fermentrack. It supports everything you listed for wants.

Web site: Fermentrack - BrewPi-Compatible Fermentation Tracking Software
Docs: Fermentrack — Fermentrack documentation

Long thread here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/thread...ewpi-www-replacement-for-raspberry-pi.649303/

Otherwise...there are (other) repeaters available for the Tilt including BT/WiFi bridges, then you just need to direct the data to a web app - either one of the Tilt-associated solutions for web logging and visibility, or, again, Fermentrack...

Cheers!
 
BrewPi is a temperature control solution. It appears Tilt, Plato, and iSpindel are more along the lines of your Beer Bug. Tilt seems to be the most popular but maybe I’m biased because that’s what I use. You can record with an old phone or tablet if you have one, or use a Raspberry Pi Zero W and their free software which is quite easy to set up.

Officially the maker of BrewPi has replaced the BrewPi software with a ground up rewrite called BrewBlox but other than unofficial support for at least collecting from a Tilt, maybe the others, it really has nothing to do with digital hydrometers. I haven’t kept up on Fermentrack but thought it was a software solution to replace the dated BrewPi software and support older generations and DIY versions of the controller hardware?

If you really just want remote temperature readings and maybe recording there are a number of WiFi thermometers out now.
 
Do some reading on Fermentrack because you're way behind its abilities...

Cheers!


I just did. To accomplish what the OP asked about (a digital hydrometeter) he has to buy a Tilt digital hydrometer or buy or build an iSpindel digital hydrometer. Then he could use Fermentrack as a UI/logger which would be a good way to go if he wants to expand to control but way overkill as Temp/SG logger when a Tilt and an old phone could do what his current hardware did without having to deal with flashing SD cards and command-line software installs. Sounds like he already has another method to control the temperature of his fermentation chamber.
 
I like my Tilt. I set it to use my old iPad, and then I can see it on the app or on Brewer’s Friend. I like that I can log into Brewer’s Friend anywhere and see what my fermentation is doing.
 
I use Tilts with TiltPi running on a Raspberry Pi Zero W with data sent to Google Sheets. I also have MyBrewbot which reads the Tilt and/or temp probes and can adjust the fermentation temp based on SG, time, or based on a specific user entered fermentation profile (example: hold at 68F for 3 days, then free rise to 72F, then cold crash to 34F when SG = x.xxx ... etc.).
 
I have a brew perfect classic with temp probe. New in box. Interested in it?
I just might be. I have not decided yet on which way I am going to jump yet though. How much would yo be asking?

Michael
 
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