Tilt Hydrometer issues

[Eric G]

Just unwrapped a new tilt hydrometer and dropped it into a glass of 60.2F tap water to test. SG reads .998; Temp reads 6750F. Yes, six thousand seven hundred degrees. I’m thinking it’s defective and need to send it back for a replacement.

Anyone else had similar issues? I tried calibrating but that doesn’t seem like a reasonable solution as calibration should be a degree or two.

 

[mongoose33]

Just unwrapped a new tilt hydrometer and dropped it into a glass of 60.2F tap water to test. SG reads .998; Temp reads 6750F. Yes, six thousand seven hundred degrees. I’m thinking it’s defective and need to send it back for a replacement.

Anyone else had similar issues? I tried calibrating but that doesn’t seem like a reasonable solution as calibration should be a degree or two.

Did it come with a battery already installed? I can't recall how mine showed up, but I suspect that when the battery goes readings become...problematic.

You might try reinstalling the battery and make sure it's correct and getting good contact. A new battery might be worth a shot as well.

 

[Eric G]

Did it come with a battery already installed? I can't recall how mine showed up, but I suspect that when the battery goes readings become...problematic.

You might try reinstalling the battery and make sure it's correct and getting good contact. A new battery might be worth a shot as well.

Thanks for the suggestion. Came with the battery installed. It’s worth a shot going thru the replacement steps to see if that’s the issue. If it truly is defective I can’t imagine they would refuse to replace if I’ve taken it apart, since battery replacement is a user serviceable task.

 

[mabrungard]

Do contact them directly. They have been pretty responsive to my questions in the past. I believe they will make it right or figure out what's wrong.

 

[mongoose33]

Thanks for the suggestion. Came with the battery installed. It’s worth a shot going thru the replacement steps to see if that’s the issue. If it truly is defective I can’t imagine they would refuse to replace if I’ve taken it apart, since battery replacement is a user serviceable task.

It's under warranty. One issue is that it's, well, a tilt. The way you get it to shut off the battery is to store it so it's positioned vertically. During shipping it may or may not have been, and if it's not vertical, then it's sending and wearing out the battery.

If it were me, I'd replace the battery, see what you get. If it doesn't solve the problem, put the original battery back in and send back (assuming they can't resolve the issue).

One thing on batteries: I struggled with my tilt for a while, put in brand new Energizer batteries. Well. I will never put Energizer batteries in it again. I had weird readings, and the Tilt struggled to even send a signal through the side of my conical.

I bought some new Ray-o-Vac batteries and they are terrific. Energizer? Never again.

 

[Eric G]

It's under warranty. One issue is that it's, well, a tilt. The way you get it to shut off the battery is to store it so it's positioned vertically. During shipping it may or may not have been, and if it's not vertical, then it's sending and wearing out the battery.

If it were me, I'd replace the battery, see what you get. If it doesn't solve the problem, put the original battery back in and send back (assuming they can't resolve the issue).

One thing on batteries: I struggled with my tilt for a while, put in brand new Energizer batteries. Well. I will never put Energizer batteries in it again. I had weird readings, and the Tilt struggled to even send a signal through the side of my conical.

I bought some new Ray-o-Vac batteries and they are terrific. Energizer? Never again.

Tried swapping out with a brand new Duracell. Same exact issue. When it wakes the led blinks 3 times red (change battery) with either battery. I’ll wait for tilt to reply via email.

Thanks for the tip on ray o vac. I will probably return these Duracell’s and look for the ray o vac for a replacement in the future.

 

[mongoose33]

Tried swapping out with a brand new Duracell. Same exact issue. When it wakes the led blinks 3 times red (change battery) with either battery. I’ll wait for tilt to reply via email.

Thanks for the tip on ray o vac. I will probably return these Duracell’s and look for the ray o vac for a replacement in the future.

Oh, I have no idea how Duracell is. No reason to think it wouldn't work. It's the Energizer with which I had issues.

 

[LeeH]

Yes I had the same. It was replaced with no issues.

 

[Eric G]

Do contact them directly. They have been pretty responsive to my questions in the past. I believe they will make it right or figure out what's wrong.

Reached out to Tilt and they are sending me a replacement. Thanks all.

 

[beernutz]

Reached out to Tilt and they are sending me a replacement. Thanks all.

I have a Tilt as well, thankfully with no problems in 4 months, but it is good to hear the seller is responsive to problems.

 

[jaymosbeershack]

Mine was faulty too, but marcus was super helpful and i will have a replacement tomorrow. I hope we are just the 2 unlucky guys and it isnt a bigger issue

 

[eric19312]

Mine started reading temp 999 during a brew. I am suspecting the battery but won't be able to look at it until I keg this batch in a week or so. Seems like the faulty temperatures are corresponding with faulty gravity readings. Any thoughts?

 

[lagniappe_gus]

I just had a 2nd generation Tilt show some anomalies. Since I have three of them I put another 2nd generation Tilt in the same fermenter and let them both report. They started off fairly close after I had to calibrate the "odd" one to correct it's 0.018 difference. They began to drift fairly quickly with the "odd" Tilt showing much more accelerated fermentation eventually tracking to 1.000 while the other was at 1.009. I did notice that the one that was "odd" was reporting to the 9th decimal place while the "good" one was reporting only to the 3rd. I sent an email in to Support. I will update this thread with the reply.

 

[tmschmal]

I've been having problems getting my Tilt to connect to my phone. It's in a Spike stainless conical and even with a variety of phones, it won't pick up a signal consistently. Strangely, the best device I've found to use is a Kindle Fire that is 3-4 years old.

I've had a couple emails with support, but nothing useful yet. Anyone else have trouble with it connecting to any device?

The good news is, the data seems accurate when I get it.

 

[Bassman2003]

I think stainless is an issue for the Bluetooth signal. I use a SS olive oil container for fermenting and have to lay my tablet right under the wine fridge to get a decent signal. So I am looking for options to have an old device permanently setup there for the Wifi transfer. Someday I might get a "My Brewbot" to control the wine fridge using the Tilt data but I want to use the Tilt for a while to get used to it. Only one brew so far!

 

[Alex4mula]

My phone can pick my Tilt signal while being inside an Anvil SS fermenter inside my cold crash freezer. Phone is outside next to freezer. Old Android Motorola phone.

 

[jeremy0711]

I have three of them. I use a chest freezer for fermenting. I have to bump the beer to move the tilt to get it to send a signal. Most of the times it seems to work better with the freezer door open. Factory batteries on second gen units. That Bluetooth part doesn't work as well as it should.

Do you guys have constant signal to your tilts every time to open the app? Does it show your readings right away?

 

[beernutz]

My tilt is in a Speidel fermenter in a 10 cf chest freezer and it connects to a RPi zero w running tiltpi located about 5 feet away from the tilt. I get readings every few seconds with this setup and the signal is strong.