Tilt Hydrometer

[Vicat]

I just bought this new tool. I plan to brew a blonde ale with lychee fruit soon. My question is if anyone has used the Tilt in a secondary with fruit and if so how did it work? I'm concerned since fruit floats at the top of the fermenter it will skew the Tilt readings. Any thoughts?

 

[hotbeer]

Even if they are skewed a little bit it's probably more accurate than not knowing. And for finishing fermentation, I'd think the relative SG more important than the actual number.

You'd double check the FG with a standard hydrometer before you bottle or keg any how won't you?

 

[DuncB]

You will see a change when you add the fruit, but you will also continue to see the trend of fermentation on the tilt. When the fermentation is finished there will be no more changes of the gravity. Even if it seems off from your prediction if it's a static gravity for a day or so then it's done. The floating devices are sensitive and a bit of krausen, fruit, hops or pressure change if pressure fermenting will all affect the angle in the beer.

 

[jdudek]

Agreed, a tilt is fun and looking at the graph refresh is my favorite waste of time. However it's main benefit is to show a finished fermentation by reading a stable FG for an extended period of time (or maybe a 1 point oscillation over an extended period of time). If you want to be sure on the FG, check with a hydrometer.

I've had one instance where the readings were way off, and I believe it was because a thick krausen goo just deposited itself on top of it, messing up the angle. I could imagine it getting squeezed between a few pieces of fruit and giving out the wrong reading...

Still, throw it in and see what happens.

 

[Vicat]

Even if they are skewed a little bit it's probably more accurate than not knowing. And for finishing fermentation, I'd think the relative SG more important than the actual number.

You'd double check the FG with a standard hydrometer before you bottle or keg any how won't you?

Yes, I will check the final before kegging. I was just curious of how it floats in the beer and if the fruit would keep it from doing it's thing. I agree with you though, it is more accurate than not knowing.

 

[Vicat]

Agreed, a tilt is fun and looking at the graph refresh is my favorite waste of time. However it's main benefit is to show a finished fermentation by reading a stable FG for an extended period of time (or maybe a 1 point oscillation over an extended period of time). If you want to be sure on the FG, check with a hydrometer.

I've had one instance where the readings were way off, and I believe it was because a thick krausen goo just deposited itself on top of it, messing up the angle. I could imagine it getting squeezed between a few pieces of fruit and giving out the wrong reading...

Still, throw it in and see what happens.

Cool...thanks for the feedback.

 

[Jag75]

Yes, I will check the final before kegging. I was just curious of how it floats in the beer and if the fruit would keep it from doing it's thing. I agree with you though, it is more accurate than not knowing.

I've only used Blueberries and Mangos fruit wise . Those start to float after a bit. That would cause issues with the tilt. Unless you bagged the fruit and weighted.

I use the tilt for Lagers . Its great to know roughly when to start raising the temp towards the D rest. Its been great in that regards.

 

[Vicat]

So, I put my Tilt in my Blonde Ale yesterday for primary and I'm getting readings like its floating in water. Any ideas on how to fix this?

 

[hotbeer]

I wouldn't fix it until you've taken an SG reading with another hydrometer. You did take it out of the plastic tube it's stored in for protection didn't you?

 

[Vicat]

I wouldn't fix it until you've taken an SG reading with another hydrometer. You did take it out of the plastic tube it's stored in for protection didn't you?

Yes, I took it out of the packaging. I just brewed yesterday, so I will give it another day to see if it rights itself.

 

[hotbeer]

I'd doubt it's going to correct itself. Unless it is something stuck on the low side of the Tilt that is making it float instead of doing what is implied by it's name.

I'd be inclined to remove it and just fall back to methods used in a less technological age or maybe just leave it in there and use the old fashioned methods.

I'd just be too curious and pull it out to play with and determine what up with it. Mean while the beer can be doing what beer has done long before Tilt's were in the scene.

You do positively know that you do have it paired to your phone or whatever you are monitoring it with don't you?

 

[jdudek]

Like hotbeer said, the beer will do its thing. The tilt is a fun gadget but doesn’t help make better beer in anyway.
If it was me I’d pull it out and troubleshoot. If you haven’t gone through the bulk of fermentation you could even thrown it back in if you figure out the issue.

 

[Vicat]

Like hotbeer said, the beer will do its thing. The tilt is a fun gadget but doesn’t help make better beer in anyway.
If it was me I’d pull it out and troubleshoot. If you haven’t gone through the bulk of fermentation you could even thrown it back in if you figure out the issue.

I'll let it ride for now. It's not hurting anything in the carboy. I will just take my normal measurements as I normally do. Yes, I understand that beer still does it's thing. I was mainly curious if anyone had experienced this as well.

 

[Craiginthecorn]

It can definitely be affected by debris or fruit floating at the surface, and to a lesser extent, by dissolved CO2. I really like my Tilt 2s, but on rare occasion, they can give you very inaccurate readings. For example, I am currently fermenting a Festbier with an OG of 1.055 at 52F. I pitched a large and vigorous starter of Omega OYL114 Bayern 3 nights ago. My Tilt claims the current gravity is 1.041. I took a 4ml sample this morning and checked it with my Anton Paar EasyDens, which is near laboratory-grade. 1.026, not 1.041. I suspect that there's a small pile of hop matter on the cap, but significant rocking of the fermenter hasn't resolved the issue. No big deal. It doesn't dampen my enthusiasm for the Tilt, but does illustrate how they can sometimes cause a bit of panic from folks who don't get understand it's inherent limitations.

As an aside, I have to share my love of Blichmann's new sanitary sample valve. It's brilliant and eliminates every concern I have had about just how sanitary those sanitary sample valves actually are. Essentially, it is one of their excellent linear flow control valves with caps on the top and bottom of the body, behind the closure. You fill it with maybe 1/2 oz of Stars. To pour a sample, you remove the lower cap to drain the sanitizer, then take your sample. Remove the second cap on top and spray in some sanitizer. Replace the lower cap, fill with sanitizer, then replace the top cap.