Tilt Hydrometer Malfunction or Real Change in Fermentation Rate?

[csample]

For the last 6 hours my tilt readings have pretty much flatlined, but I still have good air lock activity (1 bubble in ~3 seconds) and the kraussen has been increasing. Is the flat line in the Tilt data just bad readings or is the specific gravity truly not changing? The brew is a 2.5 gallon batch of cream ale (Spotted Cow Clone), I pitched a half pack (5.7 grams) of rehydrated US-05. Thanks!

 

[3 Dawg Night]

How long ago did you pitch?

 

[matt_m]

Its normal. Look at trends and endpoints, not relatively short periods of time.

 

[Snuffy]

You probably got some yeast goo caked on top of the unit and it's affecting the reading. How long has it been going?
Mine does that, especially if you top pitch dry yeast, and it gives you some up and down stuff sometimes. Goop on the top makes the tilt less vertical and it can read high. Not a lot tho - usually a point or two. You can try giving it a healthy shake but that stuff sticks pretty good.

 

[matt_m]

Its normal. Look at trends and endpoints, not relatively short periods of time.

 

[Konadog]

... and the kraussen has been increasing.

It's probably being held in place by a thick layer of kraussen.

 

[myndflyte]

Krausen will mess with it. Once it dies down, it should start dropping.

 

[csample]

How long ago did you pitch?

48 hours ago

Krausen will mess with it. Once it dies down, it should start dropping.

Based on the air lock activity and the increasing kraussen this seems to make sense.

Thanks!

 

[dmtaylor]

Definitely not done yet. It might even turn a corner now and head straight down.

 

[matt_m]

I tried to upload this picture earlier and the site went down. This is my current beer.

 

[csample]

Thanks for posting data from your current brew, it helps to see what other data looks like. I didn't know how precise the reported values from the Tilt would be, but maybe I was just expecting too much from it. BTW my reported SG has started dropping again. As you suggest I will look at it for longer term trends and end point information.

 

[matt_m]

I love my tilts. But I treat them as an indicator not a precise measurement device. I calibrate at 1.000 every brew day in starsan which isn’t precisely accurate but close enough. Then I calibrate my measured OG. What I’ve found is that a plausible FG is accurate enough for ABV but there are times that it’s obviously many points off because of hop matter or krausen so a measurement is warranted. But knowing that fermentation is slowing and stopped they excel at regardless of whether the numbers are precisely accurate.

 

[dallasd9]

48 hours ago



Based on the air lock activity and the increasing kraussen this seems to make sense.

Thanks!

I love my Tilt and have not had an issue (yet) like what you described but I agree with myndflyte. It makes sense. The attached picture is from my last brew and has been my typical experience using my Tilt. You'll notice a slight increase in temperature near the end as I purposely increase the temperature for the yeast cleanup.

 

[TBA]

What time do you guys use for updates? Mine is at default 15 minutes and is much more jagged than these graphs

 

[matt_m]

I use the default.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

I also use the default (15 minutes). Although, you could probably expand it out to an hour or so and get basically the same trendline. Not much happens fermentation-wise in 15 minutes. Data is cheap, though, so I see no reason to change from the default.

 

[TBA]

Why is mine more jagged?

 

[csample]

My data also looks like

Why is mine more jagged?

My data also looks similarly jagged, I saw the following on the Tilt FAQ page:

Q. How does vigorous fermentation affect the Tilt?

A. You do see a lot of turbulence at peak moments of fermentation, however since data is being collected every few seconds the ability to get a smooth moving average allows for a highly accurate readings. That said, we've come to enjoy reading the non-averaged data because it also tells you how active the fermentation is. In some cases we'll chill the fermentor a little more to prevent blow off and overflow of beer.

From this I can't quite make out if the value reported in the chart is an average of the past data, of if we are just getting a snap shot of the reading at the time the data was up loaded to the chart. I would expect that the average would make a much smoother chart - it would be nice if we could toggle the chart to see both

 

[TBA]

Thanks for the info. My tilt gets covered with yeast. I swirl it sometimes to try and clean it off. Doesn’t really work but does give me something to do...

 

[dallasd9]

What time do you guys use for updates? Mine is at default 15 minutes and is much more jagged than these graphs

I use the 15 minute default. The jagged lines in your graphs are probably due to larger swings in temperature in your fermenter.

 

[Alex4mula]

I have had two Tilts for two years. 21 brews on one and 26 brews on the other all on original battery and still going. Love these things. Specially now that I'm doing lagers it is super convenient to flag you when to start the diacetyl rest. The actual OG/FG may not be accurate but whatever error you get it is 100% consistent across all brews. After so many brews I know mine read about 5pts low on OG and about 3pts low on FG. So I can accurately know the actual OG/FG.
I read every 15 like most and most graphs are bumpy. Sometimes I can see it may get stuck at high fermentation activity with the krausen and I just move the carboy a little and then it cleans up. But that seldom happens. Love that no samples are wasted and once I close the fermenter it never gets opened until putting the cold crash balloon or close transfer cap. Today I'm debating on getting a 3rd one for another lager I want to brew. Current two are in two lagers. As I said, love these things.