Tilt Pro

[FLYPacNW]

Thinking about a Tilt Pro in my 2 stainless 14-gallon fermenters for cider. I'm curious if the Tilt Pro or the conventional Tilt with the repeater would be the way to go. I would set it up with a Pi and a spare computer we have to log it to a cloud doc so I can monitor it while I'm traveling for work, which is frequently.

Curious if anyone has tried the Pro and what sort of success they've had in this sort of configuration.

 

[Golddiggie]

I had to go with the Tilt Pro PLUS repeater in order to connect up to the Tilt Pi (less than 5 feet away from the stainless [conical] fermenters) without dropping. I'm also connecting the Pi to my network switch since the wifi inside a Pi sucks for signal strength and range. From basement to second floor isn't happening (1980's house construction). You won't need the computer part if you do the Tilt Pi. I'd just make sure you have a LAN cable, or your router is a lot closer than mine is. Maybe one wall between the two.

I did try the 'standard' model first and while they would connect for a couple of days, after that forget about it. Even once fermentation was done, they still didn't connect up (even with the repeaters).

 

[hout17]

@Golddiggie What are your thoughts on the precision of the tilt pro verse the regular tilt? After a couple of brews my tilt gravity is pretty close to my hydrometer + or - .002. I saw the tilt pro had precision out to another decimal.

 

[Golddiggie]

First batch seemed off on the OG (Tilt showed lower). Second batch was spot on for the OG. I compared with a digital refractometer. Will see how the coming batches read. I plan to continue comparing with the digital refractometer until there's enough history to prove reliable.

I have the black in use now, and the red waiting for one conical to get emptied (later today).

I did try moving the repeater all over the place to get it to connect to the standard model. As mentioned, after the first couple of days it failed no matter what. Which is why I went and did the upgrade to the Pro version. At least THAT (coupled with the repeater) has shown it can stay connected. Still, makes for an expensive way to monitor. Part of why I'm using them is to check the temperature of the beer during it's process. Since I control the fermentation temperature, then chill to harvest yeast before chilling more to carbonate. Seeing what the Tilt shows for temperature is more of a 'sanity check' against the sensor for the glycol chiller. Granted the Tilt can drift closer to the chill coil so it could be a bit different on the reading.

From what I saw on the standard version, it was never spot on for the OG. At least the Pro is better in that aspect (so far). As mentioned, I won't officially call it such until I've used them in several more batches.

 

[FLYPacNW]

I had to go with the Tilt Pro PLUS repeater in order to connect up to the Tilt Pi (less than 5 feet away from the stainless [conical] fermenters) without dropping. I'm also connecting the Pi to my network switch since the wifi inside a Pi sucks for signal strength and range. From basement to second floor isn't happening (1980's house construction). You won't need the computer part if you do the Tilt Pi. I'd just make sure you have a LAN cable, or your router is a lot closer than mine is. Maybe one wall between the two.

I did try the 'standard' model first and while they would connect for a couple of days, after that forget about it. Even once fermentation was done, they still didn't connect up (even with the repeaters).

Interesting. Our house is a 1967, built like a battleship and at times it seems just as big...it's also not optimized for wifi signals. We do have the EERO wifi system so I could easily just add another Eero unit (which has LAN ports) in the cider room to provide the signal needed. I'll stop there because I need to learn more about the Tilt Pi and/or the Raspberry Pi and how they all work together with a computer or ipad or whatever and how to set them up.

Is Tilt Pi used WITH Raspberry Pi or is it one or the other? What does the LAN cable plug into? As you can see, I still have plenty of homework to do. My idea for using the computer is because we actually have an extra one that's still perfectly good and useful.

In regards to the repeater you'd think they could develop an antenna module sort of deal that mounts to the outside of the fermenter that stays connected to the Tilt that is inside thus boosting the integrity of the signal. It might even have power cable to boost its power. But what do I know? Thanks for the input. It's very helpful!

 

[Golddiggie]

Tilt Pi is the OS for the hardware (the Rasp Pi). You don't need anything else to bridge with it. Just set it up and go. You do need to pick if you want to have a display connected, or not. I went with the headless (no display) version for the hydrometer display part of things. You can still connect up a display to it for admin level work. Once setup, you just go to the IP address of the Tilt Pi, or url if you have a DNS server on your network (I do the url since I DO have a AD DC at home due to being in the IT field). The page loads and shows which color items you have and such. From there it's pretty straight forward.
IF you want to use the wireless part, you'll need to edit a file on the microSD card (they say to do it before you get the item running, you could console in and do it later most likely). When I plugged in the ethernet cord to the PI, it just picked up an IP address without doing anything. I've already told the people at Tilt that they need to add that bit to the instructions. Since I wasted time making the mod for wifi that failed to work at all.
BTW, I have zero issues connecting other items to my wifi network from that same room. My cell phone and tablet work without issue. The Pi, nope.

As for something booting the signal, that's what the repeater is for. I found with the Tilt Pro, I can put the repeater on the chill coil and it maintains the connection to the Pi and the Tilt. That didn't happen with the standard Tilt. The standard Tilt doesn't have enough signal strength to work (well) with the conicals I have (Spike CF10 units). Even putting the repeater on the lid, where there was less stainless, didn't help any. Only by getting the Pro version did it work reliably for the entire time. IMO, they should add a charging port to the repeater so that you can better maintain the battery that way. You could simply charge it on brew day, and then not worry. Even if it's sat idle for an extended time.

The Pro uses two AA Lithium Ion batteries, so it has a better power source than the standard model. Also easy to get and swap. Negative for the pro is how it's 1.7" in diameter. Which means you won't get it through a 1.5" TC port. First time I used the Pro, I dropped it into the fermenter by lifting the chill coil cap (4" TC) then putting the coil back into position. I'll probably need to do that while I'm using the fermenters I have. At least I can run Starsan through the CIP ball after that to make sure everything's good to go.

Do note, that you don't want to put either Tilt into PBW solution. It specifically calls out to NOT do that.

Once I decide about getting conical #3, I'll need to order the Tilt Pro and repeater for it. Another $310 out the door. I'll have to pick which color I want to use. I'll probably pick blue, since I have black and red. I need to make sure the colors are different enough for me to tell. The red and orange are a bit too close for me (color blind).