Tilt Hydrometer and what is going on?

[myndflyte]

So I got a Tilt hydrometer for Christmas and was excited to use it for my current brew. I calibrated the temp and tared the gravity in water and when I threw it in the wort, I got a gravity of 1.053 as opposed to my hydrometer which was 1.052. Not bad.

Day 2 morning: 1.052
Day 2 evening: 1.015 - Ok, maybe this is what happens and it really blows through it?
Day 3 morning: 0.998 - Ok well something is wrong here

And now 5 days later, I can't connect to it anymore even while standing next to the bucket. Whereas 5 days earlier, I could connect to it while being a floor above it.

Does it sound like the battery just died on me?

 

[augiedoggy]

They are not all that reliable as many owners have stated in many threads here including the big tilt review thread... all it takes is a little krausen to make them read off. Awesome idea but unfortunately cant be trusted for more than reference.

 

[myndflyte]

They are not all that reliable as many owners have stated in many threads here including the big tilt review thread... all it takes is a little krausen to make them read off. Awesome idea but unfortunately cant be trusted for more than reference.

Yeah I figured the krausen would throw it off but not being able to connect to it anymore already kind of upsets me more. I'll have to check out the other thread but is it required to float? Like could I attach a weight to it with a string so it floats somewhere in the middle of the bucket?

 

[schmurf]

No I think it needs to be floating, as I understand it it's the angle of the device that makes it able to calculate the gravity.

 

[aaron_b]

Perhaps you got an old unit with a low battery. Maybe try putting in a new battery. As schmurf stated, you shouldn't attach anything to the Tilt, as any kind of weight on it will further skew the reading.

 

[Jtvann]

If you have any problem at all, contact Tilt customer service. I have two of their original versions from nearly two years ago. They both work great.

The newer versions have only improved on the older ones.

A person who wants hydrometer precision every second of every brew is unrealistic. It works very good most all of the time within a few thousand points. It nearly always works to show a specific trend.

Contact them if you aren't satisfied. They will make you happy.

 

[RiverCityBrewer]

Can you see the Tilt in the beer? If it was reading .998 it had to be nearly vertical, which when it is vertical for more than a minute or so, it shuts off. The only way I can think that it could do that is if there was a bad gasket on the unit and it filled up and sunk and likely landed vertical.

That said, I have a first gen unit and a second gen unit and have never had an issue like that. If that did happen, like Jtvann said, contact Tilt and they will fix the issue.

Joe

 

[Jtvann]

The unit is still on a pretty good angle at 1.000. I doubt you could even get it to go vertical in any beer.

 

[augiedoggy]

The unit is still on a pretty good angle at 1.000. I doubt you could even get it to go vertical in any beer.

if the krausen was aggressive and thick enough maybe especially if theres dryhopping of some other adjunct in the beer floating. this is what seems to cause the whacky inaccurate readings from time to time reported.

 

[aaron_b]

The unit will only shut itself off if vertical and upside down, which is not likely to happen when floating in liquid.