Gravity going backwards?

[don_bran321]

Anyone get results like this before? My first time being able to track to the spreadsheet.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Sometimes beer goblins will open the fermenter and add sugar.

- OR -

The TILT is not very accurate and just provides a general idea of the s.g.

Take your pick

 

[Gnomebrewer]

It's the beer gods again setting their wrath upon any brew made with pumpkin.

Or maybe some CO2 bubbles settling under the TILT? (I'm not sure how a TILT works, would CO2 affect it the same as a regular hydrometer?).

 

[don_bran321]

Sometimes beer goblins will open the fermenter and add sugar.

- OR -

The TILT is not very accurate and just provides a general idea of the s.g.

Take your pick

I was thinking the same thing with the goblins.

 

[augiedoggy]

could be some floating trub under/ around the tilt as well effecting it

 

[clearwaterbrewer]

Sometimes beer goblins will open the fermenter and add sugar.

- OR -

The TILT is not very accurate and just provides a general idea of the s.g.

Take your pick

That tilt is as accurate as any triple hydrometer... that is, if you have pumpkin krausen sludge on your glass hydrometer, or CO2 in solution it will do the same thing.. 1.017 to 1.019 is not that much, the difference between two marks, or about the same as the meniscus, in fact.

Heck most triple scale hydrometers don't even have tick marks for odd numbers..

 

[RPh_Guy]

That tilt is as accurate as any triple hydrometer...

No, it's not that simple.
When a human takes a reading, it's from a fresh sample where there less likely to be debris or bubbles attached to the hydrometer and the human makes sure it is free floating. The tilt (or similar) hydrometer is much more affected by the build-up of bubbles and krausen debris since it is constantly in the beer, and without human eyes to fix any issues.

If you look at a graph or spreadsheet from these types of devices you see the readings are highly irregular.

 

[don_bran321]

I know it's pretty darn accurate when it is clean and free of debris. I have matched it with my glass hydrometer and refractoometer several times.

I did notice that it had a substantial amount of krausen built up on the top of it but in my mind that would make the reading lower as opposed to higher since the hydrometer is sitting lower in thr liquid meaning a gravity with less sugar or oser to water.

I was just curious if this happened to anyone else. I'm sure it drop back down as it finishes through week 2.

 

[RPh_Guy]

I was just curious if this happened to anyone else. I'm sure it drop back down as it finishes through week 2.

It happens to every single person using it.

Don't believe me; I'm just a random guy on the internet. Google image search tilt hydrometer graph. You'll see readings can be all over the place, usually off by at least a couple points.

Here's one that's particularly crazy (Kveik yeast):

You can see at one point it's at ~1.003 and then jumps to 1.032.

It's a useful tool because it shows trends. However individual readings are just not very accurate.

Cheers

 

[clearwaterbrewer]

I am thinking C02 worked out of solution... but I will say that of the krausen was on the top and pushed the top lower, the bottom will compensate and float higher, indicating a higher gravity...

We often remove, clean, sanitize, replace the tilt on our 100 gallon rum washes after three days when we also do a ph check...

now a tilt with a pH probe on the bottom, sign me up!!!

 

[don_bran321]

I am thinking C02 worked out of solution... but I will say that of the krausen was on the top and pushed the top lower, the bottom will compensate and float higher, indicating a higher gravity...

We often remove, clean, sanitize, replace the tilt on our 100 gallon rum washes after three days when we also do a ph check...

now a tilt with a pH probe on the bottom, sign me up!!!

I can't imagine how I could get it out without risking mass infection and oxidation.

I never thought about the tilt.... Tilting more because of the Krausen. That's super interesting.

 

[clearwaterbrewer]

I can't imagine how I could get it out without risking mass infection and oxidation.

yeah, we have 12" openings on the top and you can see it when you open them, CO2 blanket is undisturbed, and we are distilling it 3 days later, but yes, much greater concern for infection.

 

[don_bran321]

yeah, we have 12" openings on the top and you can see it when you open them, CO2 blanket is undisturbed, and we are distilling it 3 days later, but yes, much greater concern for infection.

Very nice. I want to get into distilling myself but it's a little frowned upon.

 

[pocketmon]

Yes. It must be co2 bubbles and krausen. I have a iSpindel instead of Tilt, and I commonly see the rise of gravity around end of high krausen.

My brew logs: https://vitotai.github.io

 

[Smellyglove]

It's a gadget, so you still need a hydrometer for precise reading, as every tilt owner fermenting beer has experienced.

 

[clearwaterbrewer]

you mean a $7 un-calibrated homebrew hydrometer with only .002 resolution for a precise reading within .001???

 

[Smellyglove]

you mean a $7 un-calibrated homebrew hydrometer with only .002 resolution for a precise reading within .001???

No I mean a proper hydrometer

 

[clearwaterbrewer]

curious, what model do you use?

 

[Smellyglove]

curious, what model do you use?

I have this which I use primarily. http://grauhall.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=494

I also have one which is 1.050 to 1.100, or such. And also one which is for "heavy liquids", it's more accurate than a normal hydrometer when I do long heavy 1.115 boils where the wort ends up like thick oil-ish, sort of. All of them are calibrated according to what it says inthe link.

 

[clearwaterbrewer]

I have this which I use primarily. http://grauhall.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=494

I also have one which is 1.050 to 1.100, or such. And also one which is for "heavy liquids", it's more accurate than a normal hydrometer when I do long heavy 1.115 boils where the wort ends up like thick oil-ish, sort of. All of them are calibrated according to what it says inthe link.

NICE, much better resolution than the typical homebrew store one with .002 resolution... more homebrew stores should carry those..

 

[Smellyglove]

NICE, much better resolution than the typical homebrew store one with .002 resolution... more homebrew stores should carry those..

No you can't use those. If you pick 10x, you'll most likely read at least 5-6 different values. I've tried, but just from one brand though which is popular where I live in plain water. Also some of they brands have an offset which is not linear up the scale. So, yeah.. you get what you pay for.

 

[bwible]

Bump on this old thread. I put together an apple cider in the afternoon yesterday, finished and pitched yeast about 4 pm. Mixed everything well. The Tilt read solid 1.056 for about 10 hours then it started gradually rising to 1.069. I checked the carboy and there is no giant head of foam or anything.

All I can think is gas bubbles. Don’t wine and cider gas up during fermentation? People always talk about having to degas wine before taking readings. I guess that could apply to cider too?

I swirled the carboy a bit and I saw it go back to around 1.053 and then a few minutes later it started going up again slowly. I’m figuring it must be gas in solution affecting its angle. I never used this in a cider before - first time.

 

[Skeeter686]

I don't own one, but I've considered it numerous times. I wouldn't think that cider would be any different from beer, except maybe at the very end where a cider would tend to end up drier. Then again, I also have very little experience with ciders. (You can thank me later for all the expert help. )

It does seem a little weird that swirling brought it down temporarily, only to climb back up again. Do these maybe need occasional extra cleaning to prevent nucleation points on the surface (maybe mineral deposits or something)?

Overall, how do you like the Tilt? It sounds very handy if you understand its limitations.

 

[bwible]

I make beer 99% of the time. I like the Tilt.
Its never done this with a beer. It might vary by a few points, not 13 or 14.

Its small and it floats in the beer while its fermenting. It determines the gravity by the angle it floats at. Sometimes krausen or crud from the fermentation will stick to it in a clump and skew the reading. Like you said just have to understand the limitation.

It is nice to be able to get a gravity reading without opening the fermenter. Even if its not exact it gives you an idea when its done. I have mine logging through an old iphone we don’t use anymore. There’s an iphone app.

 

[bwible]

Overall, how do you like the Tilt? It sounds very handy if you understand its limitations.

The app also makes a nice chart for you to show the fermentation. Here’s one from a Vienna lager I made. The blue line shows the gravity over time and the red line shows the temperature over time. Temp goes up at the end because I did a diacetyl rest.