Tilt hydrometer

[Brewing1976]

Does anyone use a tilt hydrometer? How do like it?

 

[mongoose33]

I have one. It's uneven in its performance. I have the newer version so it's not the original to which they have made improvements.

 

[PhillyBrewDoug]

I got one for my birthday last year and have used it a couple of times. It’s great for watching when fermentation starts and also seeing that it’s finished without having to take multiple samples. You still might want to take a final sample at bottling/kegging to just ensure you have the right FG. Some people have had the Tilt report much lower FG than actual.

Making sure to calibrate it before your first use can help with that, though. It’s more than just putting it into distilled water. Getting a few different solutions of known gravity points helps make it more accurate.

 

[redarmy990]

I also have one of the newer versions too, i find it great to get you into a ball park area during fermentation, but dont trust the reading, always take a sample.

 

[mongoose33]

I got one for my birthday last year and have used it a couple of times. It’s great for watching when fermentation starts and also seeing that it’s finished without having to take multiple samples. You still might want to take a final sample at bottling/kegging to just ensure you have the right FG. Some people have had the Tilt report much lower FG than actual.

Making sure to calibrate it before your first use can help with that, though. It’s more than just putting it into distilled water. Getting a few different solutions of known gravity points helps make it more accurate.

I may try that with different solutions; I made up a sugar solution that measures out at 1.050 and use that to calibrate, in addition to calibrating in water.

My last beer had an OG of 1.062; tilt reported 1.055. But toward the end, it reported 1.011, and that's what it came in at.

Do you use multiple sugar solutions? Any suggestions for different concentrations to use?

 

[PhillyBrewDoug]

I may try that with different solutions; I made up a sugar solution that measures out at 1.050 and use that to calibrate, in addition to calibrating in water.

My last beer had an OG of 1.062; tilt reported 1.055. But toward the end, it reported 1.011, and that's what it came in at.

Do you use multiple sugar solutions? Any suggestions for different concentrations to use?

I don’t normally brew higher than 1.060 beers, so I just used a solution of distilled water and table sugar, adding more sugar at .015 steps for the readings.

I have found that the higher the gravity the less likely it is to be accurate.

 

[Alex4mula]

I have two. Love them to see what exactly is happening with ferm and temperature. I haven’t calibrated mines. They are usually 4-6 points lower.

 

[GoeHaarden]

I have one, and I really like it. I don't really take gravity readings after fermentation anymore as there is really no need. The the first few batches I used it on I took hydrometer samples to verify, and they were always +/-0.02. Which makes no difference to me, and whose to say that your hydrometer isn't off!? I do re-calibrate mine before every brew...

 

[Amadeo38]

I asked for one for my birthday coming up this month. After reading this thread, I’m pretty sure I’m going to do a three solution calibration. Distilled water, 1.035 sugar solution, and 1.070 sugar solution. Just like a with a pH meter, that triangulation should give me a good range of accuracy among common gravities, I hope.

 

[Tbagger]

I have a couple newer versions and absolutely love them! I don't like brewing without them anymore. An OG and FG hydrometer reading is still needed to accurately get the ABV, as no matter how many times I calibrate them, they can be off by up to 10 points. Even with that down side, being able to track fermentation trends and see any problems asap is amazing.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I really like mine. It's not dead nuts on the readings, but I use it for trends. It really helps monitor the fermentation, know when to add biotransformation dry hop additions, and I plan to use it to help know when to transfer to a keg for my next IPA so that I can naturally carbonate with a spunding valve.

 

[beerme70]

I may try that with different solutions; I made up a sugar solution that measures out at 1.050 and use that to calibrate, in addition to calibrating in water.

My last beer had an OG of 1.062; tilt reported 1.055. But toward the end, it reported 1.011, and that's what it came in at.

Do you use multiple sugar solutions? Any suggestions for different concentrations to use?

Why do different solutions? Your standard "analog" hydrometer should read 1.000 in 68* distilled water. The Tilt should be calibrated in the same fashion. Everyone I have talked to that use one say that their results are within the +/-.002 margin.

 

[LeeH]

I prepare my iSpindel V4, it as accurate but seems to produce a much smoother curve, it’s WiFi and rechargeable.

 

[mongoose33]

Why do different solutions? Your standard "analog" hydrometer should read 1.000 in 68* distilled water. The Tilt should be calibrated in the same fashion. Everyone I have talked to that use one say that their results are within the +/-.002 margin.

I guess, then, that I'm unclear why it allows for calibration of known-concentration solutions.

It always seems to read a bit high at the outset, but I'm not all that concerned at that point; it's the lower end that's more important to me, so I can attempt to time when I seal up the fermenter for finish spunding.

 

[gavinr]

I just switched from BeerSmith3 to Brewfather, and the app lets you have a Tilt log directly to Brewfather. This has got me using my tilt again. It is great for watching trend, and to inform you when fermentation is done (or stalled). As others have pointed out, a good hydrometer is critical for accurate FG measurement. I'm using a tilt with a Raspberry pi for continuous logging, which was a breeze to set up, and also connect to the Brewfather cloud. Only downside for me is the very limited communication range when I am using my stainless fermenter. I'm thinking of getting the Tilt Repeater, but $60 seems a bit steep. Krausen and dry hopping will skew readings, but if you anticipate this it is no problem.

 

[Amadeo38]

Figured I’d use this thread for my question rather than start a new one since I’m already subscribed:

My past three brews have been Benjamin Buttoning. The gravity is increasing as fermentation moves along. I thought maybe it was debris, hops and trub causing the issue since the first beer was an IPA. However, the second two have been ciders with just juice, so now that seems unlikely.

Any idea why it’s going backward? It’s about the tenth brew I’ve used it with. Could it be the battery dying?

 

[PhillyBrewDoug]

Usually for me, it just stops sending signal when the battery is dying.

Are the readings staying higher than OG more than three or four days? When was the last time you calibrated it?

 

[Amadeo38]

This is day 2 where it has been steadily increasing. I hadn’t calibrated it since the first brew because each time I put it in some wort or must, it matches close enough to what the hydrometer was reading for the OG.

 

[PhillyBrewDoug]

This is day 2

Ive noticed that when fermentation starts, and is really active, that the reading goes up because of all of the activity. Basically, the extra CO2 and the yeast floating up push the Tilt up a bit so the reading is skewed.

If it’s still showing as higher than starting OG once the activity has calmed down (can be a bit depending on the yeast), then you might want to contact BaronBrew.

I had an issue getting mine to open to replace my battery and he was very helpful.

 

[TennBrewer]

I just switched from BeerSmith3 to Brewfather, and the app lets you have a Tilt log directly to Brewfather. This has got me using my tilt again. It is great for watching trend, and to inform you when fermentation is done (or stalled). As others have pointed out, a good hydrometer is critical for accurate FG measurement. I'm using a tilt with a Raspberry pi for continuous logging, which was a breeze to set up, and also connect to the Brewfather cloud. Only downside for me is the very limited communication range when I am using my stainless fermenter. I'm thinking of getting the Tilt Repeater, but $60 seems a bit steep. Krausen and dry hopping will skew readings, but if you anticipate this it is no problem.

Have you looked into Tilt Pi for Raspberry? It logs the Tilt readings and uses your local WiFi to post the values to Google Sheets.