Issues with Tilt Hydrometer and Tilt 2 app

[J2W2]

Hi,

I'm using a Tilt Hydrometer for the first time and I have a couple of issues.

First, I calibrated the Tilt per instructions with water, 10% and 20% sugar water. I verified the solutions with my refractometer and they were spot on, as was the Tilt (no calibration required). I just brewed a double IPA today and my refractometer and hydrometer say the SG is 1.076. The Tilt says it is 1.063. Any idea why the big discrepancy? I do oxygenate my wort with pure oxygen and an aeration stone, which creates quite a bit of foam on top; could that be throwing the Tilt off?

Second, I realized too late that my old Raspberry Pi 2 does not have Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. I'm ordering a new one, but in the meantime, I'm trying to use the Tilt 2 app to track my fermentation. I have the beer named, 'use device logging' enabled and I've clicked 'Start New Log. It's creating the .csv file, but it's only logging data when I'm actively in the app; as soon as my phone turns off, it stops logging data (see screen shot). It's my understanding that this feature should log data every fifteen minutes (my selected option). Any idea what I'm doing wrong or how to get this to log data every fifteen minutes?

Thanks for your help!

 

[JoeMamasIPA]

You have to leave the app open and phone near the fermenter to get it to log to the file. The foam does throw it off quite a bit especially during high krauzen.

I just replaced my battery and now I have to recal. my tilt as its reading way off. The factory cal was actually dead on.

 

[J2W2]

You have to leave the app open and phone near the fermenter to get it to log to the file. The foam does throw it off quite a bit especially during high krauzen.

I have my old phone near the fermenter, and it only records data while the display is on. I have it set to one hour (the longest it can be), so I'm getting five data points (first one, and four more at fifteen minute intervals) before the display turns off and it stops saving data. As I said, it's my old phone, so no cell service. It's constantly popping up Verizon errors, so that may be the issue. I have a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ on order, so I'll get by with random readings until that's set up.

My IPA is in active fermentation already, and the Tilt must be bouncing around a little (I have a stainless steel fermenter, so no way to see it). The gravity readings are constantly going up and down a point or two. They are pretty consistent though - starting at 1.063 and dropping to a current 1.061, which still seems low. I'll pull a sample in a couple days for comparison.

Thanks for your help!

 

[JoeMamasIPA]

My old phone (iPhone 5) is the same way but I can set it to never turn off and I adjust the display brightness way down to avoid burning the screen. Bouncing around a couple points isn't bad at all; mine will +/-10 points when things are really rocking. I use the Tilt more for start/end points to calc ABV and also to see when gravity is stable. Day 2 of fermentation is just too much for it to handle.

 

[J2W2]

I'd like to see a graph of fermentation to see how fast things happen - mainly just to nerd out - hopefully the Raspberry Pi will solve that. I too am interested in SG/FG. I let my fermentation temps free rise to 70, regardless of what beer I'm brewing, as it nears completion. It will be nice to monitor that, and to know when fermentation is complete without having to pull daily samples. Next time I think I'll throw the Tilt in before I aerate or pitch; hopefully that will give me a more reliable initial SG from the Tilt.

 

[tfrommer]

I know this is an old thread, but it's the closest to the issue I'm having with my Tilt so hopefully someone will see my rousing of it and experienced something similar. My Tilt is new (Christmas present, thank you Santa.) At the time, I had a barleywine near terminal gravity but tossed it in there to play with the new toy. No issues. Brewed an IPA two days ago. Tossed it and got readings via the app...For the first 48 hrs of fermentation. Now the app can't locate the Tilt.

Swiched bluetooth on and off, opened and closed the app from all different distances from my fermenter and nada. I use the Spiedel plastic barrel fermenters so popped out the airlock and don't see the Tilt floating on the surface or amid the krausen. Otherwise can't really see through the opaque plastic where in the fermenter it may be. So just RDWHAHB and it will reconnect to the app some time again? Other ideas?

 

[9Kegs]

Try restarting the device that the Tilt app is installed on.

 

[J2W2]

I know this is an old thread, but it's the closest to the issue I'm having with my Tilt so hopefully someone will see my rousing of it and experienced something similar. My Tilt is new (Christmas present, thank you Santa.) At the time, I had a barleywine near terminal gravity but tossed it in there to play with the new toy. No issues. Brewed an IPA two days ago. Tossed it and got readings via the app...For the first 48 hrs of fermentation. Now the app can't locate the Tilt.

Swiched bluetooth on and off, opened and closed the app from all different distances from my fermenter and nada. I use the Spiedel plastic barrel fermenters so popped out the airlock and don't see the Tilt floating on the surface or amid the krausen. Otherwise can't really see through the opaque plastic where in the fermenter it may be. So just RDWHAHB and it will reconnect to the app some time again? Other ideas?

My Tilt gets pretty gunked up with krausen, which would make it harder to see. I have a stainless steel fermenter, so no way I can look at mine when it's in use. Hopefully that's why you can't see it. The only other explanation I could think of for it to stop working AND not be floating would be if there was a crack or bad seal somewhere and it got wort inside, fried it, and caused it to sink. They appear to be pretty well built, so hopefully this is not the issue.

A second possibility would be if it's gunked up, so you don't see it, and the battery died. That would explain the loss of contact.

You can keep trying to connect, but if it won't you'll just have to wait until you drain the fermenter and inspect it. Then. I'd clean it up and test it in a glass of water to see if it connects. Mine is in use right now or I'd check, but I believe there is an LED that flashes when it is active - i.e., not totally vertical or horizontal. If you continue to have issues (leak, dead battery, etc.), I'd contact the company, from what I've seen they have very good support and would probably either send you a new battery or replace the unit since it's basically brand new.

As I side note, I've been using mine for a year with a Raspberry Pi 3 B+. I really like that setup as I can check on it from anywhere on my phone, or at home on my computer. The setup is pretty straightforward and the Tilt site has all set setup info. Here's the Raspberry Pi kit I ordered last January; not available right now, but there should be other options. It ran $60, plus you need a micro SD card (I just used one I had on hand).

Let me know if I can be of more help. Good luck!

 

[J2W2]

Try restarting the device that the Tilt app is installed on.

40 years in IT, and I can't even suggest a reboot!

 

[Thorrak]

Might I also recommend a TiltBridge.

 

[tfrommer]

Try restarting the device that the Tilt app is installed on.

Sorry for the slow replay, but that seemed to do it!