Monitor for Tilt hydrometer

[cheesebach]

Ugh ....so your saying it's not accurate and not to buy it? I've been watching this thread as my intrest in the tilt has grown. No not so sure.

If you're relying taking manual readings a few times a day (i.e. opening the app and noting the number), you may not be happy with the accuracy that the Tilt provides. IMO,the Tilt really shines when you have it set up with a Tilt Pi or something that continually records readings at set increments. This helps to average the variation and see the overall trend to know when your active fermentation has started, how fast it's progressing, when it's beginning to slow down, and when it's finished. I've been completely satisfied with mine for monitoring all of the above. I don't use it in place of taking a final gravity reading with a hydrometer. The only thing I've noticed that can really mess with the trends is adding dry hops during active fermentation.

Here's an example of the fermentation profile from my most recent batch (a german pils), so you can decide whether the data it's capable of providing would be useful to you:

 

[Jag75]

Thanks for that info . I thought it would be great for monitoring a Lager. Once the fermentation reaches 75% complete I start raising the temp .

 

[cheesebach]

Thanks for that info . I thought it would be great for monitoring a Lager. Once the fermentation reaches 75% complete I start raising the temp .

Yep, it's perfect for that - that's exactly what I did with the beer above. I also like it for helping me to spot a good time as fermentation is winding down to switch to my spunding valve for beers that I spund.

For another data point, the following is from an NEIPA fermentation I did with active fermentation dry hops. The large dip at the tail end of active fermentation is where the dry hops went in - you can see that it really messed with the readings, but you can still kinda tell by the overall stability in the data when the fermentation has finished.

 

[Maylar]

I bought it to tell me when it's time to rack my cider and when to add nutrients to my meads. I don't expect it to be dead on accurate, but seeing SG go UP by 30 points when fermentation starts is a bit much to accept. I'll try washing the krausen down into the must and see if the tilt gives me more realistic numbers. But so far, I'm not impressed.

 

[Maylar]

After stirring the cider and getting the foam down it seems to be giving reasonable numbers now. I have the batch in a plastic bucket wrapped in a Cool Zone heater and insulator jacket. I'd really like to extend the range of the signal so I can keep the tablet upstairs in my office. I see that they have a repeater for $60 but that's intended to re-transmit a signal that's blocked by SS fermenters. Dunno how effective it'd be just extending the signal another 20 feet. Anybody use one?

 

[Gozie Boy]

I'm just now getting into Tilt, and have some stupid questions to ask, as I'm a real noob at this sort of thing. I see that I will need a dedicated local device, such as a Fire Tablet, smart phone or Raspberry Pi, close to the fermenter (since I have a SS CF10, I assume it will be REAL close). I would like to have a local display at/near the fermenter (e.g. on the Fire tablet), and also ability to record continuously to cloud. Now the stupid stuff:

1) I assume that the tablet device or R-Pi will receive data from the Tilt via BT. I assume that either can then send data via my wifi service to a cloud recorder (e.g. Google Sheets).
2) What are the advantages/disadvantages of a cheap tablet vs. R-Pi? If they do the same thing, then how could an R-Pi be preferred, especially as a tablet will have a built-in display? Yet I see many people go that route, so there must be some advantage.
3) I assume that I can then access the data/plots via Google Sheets from wherever I am, via my laptop or everyday phone?

Just want to make sure about these basic assumptions before I go out and start buying a tablet or an R-Pi.

Many thanks!

 

[day_trippr]

Your basic premise is correct, you need some kind of agent to continuously "listen" for the Tilt BT beacon broadcasts, capture same and essentially forward them over a more robust network transport (wifi).

But there is a nifty and wicked cheap solution to be had: TiltBridge. Check it out.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...lt-to-wifi-device-for-tilt-hydrometer.664368/

Cheers!

 

[bruce_the_loon]

The advantage, to myself and some others who are of an IT bent, of the RPi over a tablet is that the RPi is a fully accessible operating system that we can customize for what we need it to do. Also, I don't like cloud storage.

With a phone or tablet, you're limited to what the Tilt app can do. On my RPi, I modified someone's python script to log to a time-series database and then strapped a graphing engine over the top of that. Now I have a local database of temp and SG data that I can do what I want with. With the addition of a couple of relays, I can use that data to drive a fermentation chamber temperature controller using the temp sensor in the Tilt. I'm an IT chap and I like fiddling like that.

It is more work to set up the RPi, quite a bit more work to be honest, and if you're happy with what the Tilt app provides, (check it out on your phone first if you haven't), then a cheap tablet or phone will just do the job out the box.

 

[Gozie Boy]

Your basic premise is correct, you need some kind of agent to continuously "listen" for the Tilt BT beacon broadcasts, capture same and essentially forward them over a more robust network transport (wifi).

But there is a nifty and wicked cheap solution to be had: TiltBridge. Check it out.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...lt-to-wifi-device-for-tilt-hydrometer.664368/

Cheers!

Thanks. I have seen this site, and like it. But it's still a little beyond my non-existent IT skills to deal with at this time. I am hopeful that

Your basic premise is correct, you need some kind of agent to continuously "listen" for the Tilt BT beacon broadcasts, capture same and essentially forward them over a more robust network transport (wifi).

But there is a nifty and wicked cheap solution to be had: TiltBridge. Check it out.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...lt-to-wifi-device-for-tilt-hydrometer.664368/

Cheers!

Thanks. I have seen this site, and like the tool. But it is still a bit beyond my limited IT skills, and am hopeful that Thorrak's soon-to-be-released updated firmware may get me up to the line. I can follow drawings and recipes, but if I need to deal with coding/editing/debugging on my own beyond very simple items, then I am a blind person in a maze at night without a map. But I'm reading all I can, even if a lot of it looks like Chinese, maybe some of it will begin to sink in via osmosis...!

 

[Saunassa]

I have been a pcb designer and tech for more then 30 yrs. By the end of the the day I have had enough bit bucket stuff. Due to this I took the easy way out using a spare fire tablet. It logs to Brewers Friend so I can check on it from anywhere yet no bit twiddling or coding needed.
Tilt bridge looks good but more then I wanted to deal with.

 

[Tom R]

Will a 1st generation Fire tablet work with the Tilt? I see them used on Ebay for about $20.
I'm not tech-savvy, and am trying to keep this simple and cheap.

Thanks!

 

[Saunassa]

Amazon has fire 7s used $30. If the 1st Gen has blue tooth and you can download the Tilt 2 app from Amazon app store it may work.
My fire 7 is a few years old and is a 5th Gen.

 

[Tom R]

Amazon has fire 7s used $30. If the 1st Gen has blue tooth and you can download the Tilt 2 app from Amazon app store it may work.
My fire 7 is a few years old and is a 5th Gen.

It looks like 3rd Gen and up has Bluetooth, so I'll look for one of those. Thanks!

 

[day_trippr]

Is there a dependency on Bluetooth LE as well? Might want to check, iirc there is a need to be BTLE compatible...

Cheers!

 

[Tom R]

Is there a dependency on Bluetooth LE as well? Might want to check, iirc there is a need to be BTLE compatible...

Cheers!

Oh geez, this is starting to get above my pay grade. I'll see what I can find online.

 

[day_trippr]

Ok, sorry for any freakout.
Felt bad so I checked the specs, and the Fire 7 Tablet does indeed sport a BTLE interface, so you're good to go

Cheers!

 

[Tom R]

Not quite freaking out, mostly just spinning in circles...
All I found was that the Tilt needs Bluetooth 4.0+ or higher.
Didn't find anything about BTLEs, BeeTLEs, BotTLEs or BeaTLEs.

I appreciate the help getting my Tilt functional.