Technology never ends - last hydrometer you will ever need

[a_gunslinger]

Enough already ;^)

Anyone seen the Plaato digital airlock/hydrometer? Touted as the last hydrometer you will ever need. Uses the CO2 release as a measure. Release of CO2 being directly proportional to the chemical reaction rate - ie. how fast the yeast works. Although I always thought airlock activity was never a perfect indicator. Interesting, anyway. They really keep trying to get into my wallet.

PLAATO - Digitalising Brewing

 

[NGD]

I’ve been watching since early development days on instagram. Pretty neat idea and the guy was smart enough to include lights and buttons to increase my purchase desire factor. Would like to see more reviews on accuracy. I have a hard time believing its as accurate as a simple hydrometer.

The keg management system looks like a winner for those less inclined to DIY. My patent pending keg management system of sputtering foam all over the place seems to work well enough for now.

 

[a_gunslinger]

I just talked myself into a TilT for Xmas. Only marginally excited about it.

 

[maxr]

The Tilt seems like a better idea than the Plaato. The tilt actually measures fluid density whereas the plaato is measuring something that's only indirectly related to density, requiring an accurate OG measurement to calculate anything meaningful. In my fiew, there's also too much potential for the plaato to get fouled up with blowoff material, and it looks harder to clean and sanitize. The tilt couldn't be easier to use - just sanitize and drop into your carboy. I've been very happy with mine, and it works in my carboys as well as my unitank.

 

[bruce_the_loon]

Tilt's are useful even if they don't give a fully accurate measurement. Being able to see when the gravity drop levels out as fermentation comes to an end without having to repeatedly draw hydrometer samples is useful. Reduces the risk of oxygen or other things being drawn in and saves, in my case, at least one beer as I've tended to waste 3-4 100ml samples in looking for the leveling out.

 

[a_gunslinger]

Tilt's are useful even if they don't give a fully accurate measurement. Being able to see when the gravity drop levels out as fermentation comes to an end without having to repeatedly draw hydrometer samples is useful. Reduces the risk of oxygen or other things being drawn in and saves, in my case, at least one beer as I've tended to waste 3-4 100ml samples in looking for the leveling out.

I might not have spent enough time with my tilt. Does work generally for giving a sense of fermantation. Hydrometer never matches it in the end though, but good general sense of fermentation and whetehr its done (reading ot changing over time). BTW, what are the "Uncalculated" values on tilt. Never figured that out.

My current batch shows:

SG 1.008 (uncal)
1.009 reading

Temp: 69.0 (uncalc)
Reading 67.0 F.

 

[maxr]

I might not have spent enough time with my tilt. Does work generally for giving a sense of fermantation. Hydrometer never matches it in the end though, but good general sense of fermentation and whetehr its done (reading ot changing over time). BTW, what are the "Uncalculated" values on tilt. Never figured that out.

My current batch shows:

SG 1.008 (uncal)
1.009 reading

Temp: 69.0 (uncalc)
Reading 67.0 F.

I think that the cal vs. uncal readings in the tiltpi readout are the actual reading and the value corrected back to 68F.

 

[bruce_the_loon]

I might not have spent enough time with my tilt. Does work generally for giving a sense of fermantation. Hydrometer never matches it in the end though, but good general sense of fermentation and whetehr its done (reading ot changing over time). BTW, what are the "Uncalculated" values on tilt. Never figured that out.

My current batch shows:

SG 1.008 (uncal)
1.009 reading

Temp: 69.0 (uncalc)
Reading 67.0 F.

I think that is uncalibrated, not uncalculated, haven't used the app for ages. Got a Raspberry Pi 3 recording the data at the fermenter instead.

 

[esdill]

I might not have spent enough time with my tilt. Does work generally for giving a sense of fermantation. Hydrometer never matches it in the end though, but good general sense of fermentation and whetehr its done (reading ot changing over time). BTW, what are the "Uncalculated" values on tilt. Never figured that out.

My current batch shows:

SG 1.008 (uncal)
1.009 reading

Temp: 69.0 (uncalc)
Reading 67.0 F.

The uncalibrated value is the "raw" reading that Tilt is reporting. The calibrated reading is the reading that is adjusted based on any calibration values you have entered into the app.

My Tilts are usually within .001 of the final gravity measured by my standard hydrometer, my last fermentation read 1.013 FG on the Tilt, and 1.014 on my standard hydrometer. That's certainly close enough for me.

 

[matt_m]

As the others have said you have to calibrate them. No way around it as the weight varies enough by battery to make a difference. I find it really easy to just calibrate every brew day. Once at 1.000 when its in Starsan, once at my OG after I drop it in the beer.

Sometimes in the middle you'll see weird things like large changes in gravity when something slides off or temporary increases in gravity from floating hop matter but I've found at the end of fermentation (steady state readings), if the reading seems reasonable, its going to be within a point on a glass hydrometer. If its way off, most likely there's a big hunk of hop or krausen matter stuck on it. The number isn't useful then but the fact it has reached steady state was still informative. You also need to use the last reading at normal temps. It will drop a few points when cold crashing as well.

The other case where they read weird is when the battery nears end-of-life. That's probably my only real complaint with the Tilt--wish they'd report battery life. Last dying battery I had it just kept dropping. In that case you just have to do it the old fashioned way unless you really want to open your fermenter and fish it out.

 

[myndflyte]

I love using my Tilt. It's never going to be as accurate for gravity readings but it lets you track where things are at. Especially useful if you are doing hop additions at certain points in fermentation. I like it even more with a tiltpi set up to take readings every 15 min.

 

[SFC Rudy]

I use a calendar to track my fermentation. 14 days and boom, time to package. Prime in bottle and keg. 14 days and boom, time to drink.

 

[bruce_the_loon]

I use a calendar to track my fermentation. 14 days and boom, time to package. Prime in bottle and keg. 14 days and boom, time to drink.

My last two brews, first one was an icy cold winter period and it took 25 days for the fermentation to complete. Second one took 6 days. Would have had bottle bombs on the first and wasted time on the second if I'd done the calendar thing.

The long ferment was an outlier, most of my brews finish way faster than I had expected once I got the Tilt showing the record. It worked out to be a good investment for me.

 

[MikeCo]

I also love my Tilt just for the ability to see when fermentation is nearly done or done without taking physical samples. It is excellent at showing the drop in SG even if the value is not accurate, for those who don't want to add calibration points. As mentioned, it will require calibration to be accurate, which can be done.

 

[Birrofilo]

I use a calendar to track my fermentation. 14 days and boom, time to package. Prime in bottle and keg. 14 days and boom, time to drink.

If you have an infection, 14 days and boom, time to explode

If you want to shed risks, I humbly suggest you bottle into bottles suitable for "mechanical caps", I don't know the English term, this stuff: Tappo meccanico in plastica ⌀29 (10 pz) Vino | Polsinelli Enologia

They will air out any excess pressure and there is no risk of explosion even in case of infection. If you bottle weizen or other "high-carbonation" beer you can put two gaskets.