Have they improved the Tilt Hydrometer?

[Maylar]

I have one of the original models of the Tilt hydro/thermometer and it doesn't really meet my needs. It's light enough that it floats on top of krausen/foam so the SG readings are worthless. I'm not interested in tracking trends, I need precise SG numbers to time nutrient additions for my meads. I don't use stainless vessels, so their Pro model is overkill. Can anyone comment on the Pro Mini? I'm willing to spend $175 if it'll work for me.

Thanks

 

[Zanatrik]

I cant speak to success with mead but I recently got a pro mini and have used it now for 4 batches of beer. FG on the tilt matched my hydrometer reading. I don't really bother with sampling throughout so I cant tell you if it was accurate throughout the fermentation curve, but I can tell you it matched hydrometer at the end.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

If you ferment in a vessel with a spigot or valve of some sort just bite the bullet and get an anton parr easy dens. If the pro mini is 175 and doesn't do what you want you've wasted more money. An easy dens can measure your gravity with a couple ML of sample. Had a tilt, wasn't impressed.

 

[Broothru]

I've been using an Anton-Parr for a couple of years now, and would never go back to either hydrometers or refractometers. Fast, easy, and accurate. Expensive? Yeah, sure, but what else am I gonna' spend 'retirement bucks' on if not a favorite hobby? Fun toy, that gets a lot of use.

 

[Peebee]

@Maylar: They have improved but some while ago ... from v1 to v2. Don't know if it was a noticeable change accuracy-wise?

But the "Pro" was a BIG change. Pun intended. It is more accurate, but its size makes it far less susceptible to turbulent ferments. The "Pro Mini" I haven't tried, but making it smaller again seems a backward step?

The "Pro" is always spot on for OG ... that's no boast. Though ... First thing I do (every time I use it) is calibrate to One (water) and then OG measured by other means. But it has been unusual to need do this with the Pro. Active fermentation does jiggle them about a little, but far less than the original Tilt. And ongoing readings remain pretty accurate too, all the way to racking SG. (Well within the pathetic accuracy of an average homebrewing hydrometer).

It does have a more powerful BT radio, and I have no trouble with it in a heavy SS fermenter (a proper fermenter, not the tinfoil pretend ones you get today). But that bit's not what you are interested in.


I'd love an EasyDens, but can't really justify the cost. I'll use Refractometer, but only for quick and dirty readings. I scoff at people who think hydrometers are the height of density and SG measuring ... but I have to admit I can't use ordinary hydrometers anyway (vision defect that glasses can't fix). I use Pyknometers ... they give EasyDens a run for the money (a fraction of the money, a pyknometer is only a bottle - 25ml - with a hole in the stopper ... but you do need some decent electronic weighing scales - better than those "drug dealer" postage-stamp toy ones from China - two decimal places of a gram provides me with SG to four decimal places).

 

[Bramling Cross]

Last year one of my TILTs went wonky on me. No matter how hard I tried to get it calibrated it sat stubbornly outside the calibration range in water and it was wildly inconsistent while in the fermenter. It drove me nuts.

Eventually, I pulled the battery out and weighed it, then I weighed a spare battery. The battery in the wonky unit was nearly a half gram heavier than the spare. I swapped in the spare battery and it has been a very well behaved TILT ever since.

Even on its best day the TILT is more yardstick than calipers and it sounds like you need a good set of calipers.

 

[AlexKay]

Here's why I like my Tilts. I changed the battery and didn't bother recalibrating, so of course the numbers are wrong. This beer obviously isn't dipping below 1.000, and it actually started at 1.066. But it's easy to see where fermentation is: mostly done, probably still dropping a gravity point or three over the next few days.

I take SG and FG measurements with a refractometer, which helps me ensure reproducibility of process. I could use it to get a rough approximation of ABV, too, but I don't care about ABV.

 

[Peebee]

I changed the battery and didn't bother recalibrating, so of course the numbers are wrong.

But it's really easy to "recalibrate". You do have to remember you're recalibrating the "client" reading the Tilt (not the Tilt itself).

You appear to be using a Tilt Pi client? Switch those flippin' "trend lines" off! Daft idea. But calibrated, the OG especially. is just as good as a refractometer. How good the FG is depends on the yeast; you seem to be using a quite "relaxed" yeast. Here's a Tilt getting a rougher ride (last year!):

The big drop near the beginning is accumulated yeast sliding off the Tilt so it springs back. This is a "normal" Tilt, not my "Pro" (You can tell because only SG to 3 decimal places, not 4, and the traces are not so smooth).

 

[Nagorg]

I read somewhere on this forum that the Tilt Pro still has connectivity range issues that require the repeater.

Can anyone comment on this?

If I bought a Tilt Pro, it would be inside my Spike CF10 thats sitting inside an upright freezer I use as a fermentation chamber. (Not a glycol guy here..)

Any thoughts on if this would be a problem, with or without a Tilt repeater?

 

[Peebee]

My fermenter is very heavy walled SS, and the Pro fixed all connection dropouts I experience with the "standard" Tilt. But I do have a "Tilt Pi" within 10 feet acting as a bridge from "Bluetooth" (Tilt) onto "WiFi". "Raspberry Pis" are tiny and very cheap (they were designed for school kids) and Tilt makes the "Tilt Pi" software free for all. "Raspberry Pi" devices can have Bluetooth and WiFi built in are also very easy to configure, the letter had worried me previously (download software onto SD card, plug into Pi, switch on!). I'm sure the Pi would be happy inside the fermentation chamber!

"Tilt Pi" is usually controlled/viewed remotely via Web site. It does not need its own screen and keyboard/mouse/touchscreen.