[Stevie]

That doesn't sound right. I can't see the co2 causing that big of a swing.

[WattsOnTap]

I've got two Tilts going right now.  Both are in the same base juice for hard cider.  One batch is in a 3 gallon glass carboy, the other is in a standard plastic fermenting bucket.  Pitched with different yeasts.  I got the juice fresh off the press, and it measured 1.056 (temp corrected) at that time.  My home hydrometer and refractometer both read 1.057 the next day.  I did a water cal with the Tilts, but didn't cal them in the juice when I first added them.  One read 1.057, the other read 1.058 (1.057 uncal), so I just let them go.  I'm using the Google Docs export function to track activity, and probably could have done a little more before hand if I had thought about running some experiments with the Tilts.

Yeast was pitched a day and a half ago, fermenting room is right about 64F.  Cal temp for the Tilts was 65F.

Fermentation had been slow to start, with just a little airlock activity on the bucket when I left the house at 06:30 this morning.  Looks like it really kicked off around 08:00!  Both Tilts have and SG and temp increase, peaking between 9-9:30.  Especially in the 3 gal carboy.  Temperature ramped up from 65.0 to 70.0 and SG peaked at 1.081.  Temp has dropped back to 69.1 and holding for the past 3 hours, and SG has fallen to 1.068.  The 5gal bucket peaked at 1.079 overnight, but didn't have the temp ramp until this morning.  It's now down to 1.058, on a trend of falling .001 per hour.

I'm guessing it will settle out over time.  I wasn't planning on opening up the fermenters until ready for secondary, so I haven't measured with a hydrometer for comparison.

From the Tilt FAQ:
Q. How do bubbles from CO2 affect the Tilt?

A. We recommend putting the Tilt in your beer prior to pitching yeast, this will ensure any bubbles will not affect initial readings. Bubbles from dissolved CO2 may cause higher than expected readings for a short time if placed in an active fermenting brew. However, this can be sped up if washed with alcohol (i.e. Everclear).

[scook13339]

I have two and love them. I am frequently on the road but I can monitor the ferment and direct my co-brewer to make adjustments.

That said I still use a hydrometer to determine SG and FG.

Even after calibration the readings are not stable enough to tightly control temps. But for determining when you've crossed some gravity threshold- great!

[WattsOnTap]

The Tilt in the glass carboy was definitely in the middle of a bubble patch.  It was also up against the glass right at the shoulder.  I moved the carboy around a bit to get the Tilt away from the glass.  We'll see if that makes any difference.



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[WattsOnTap]

Even after calibration the readings are not stable enough to tightly control temps. But for determining when you've crossed some gravity threshold- great!

And that's really what I got them for, we want to stop cider from going below 1.005 if we can.  Hopefully this will get us in the ballpark without manual sampling.

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[scook13339]

Even after calibration the readings are not stable enough to tightly control temps. But for determining when you've crossed some gravity threshold- great!

And that's really what I got them for, we want to stop cider from going below 1.005 if we can.  Hopefully this will get us in the ballpark without manual sampling.

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I guess I wasn't clear enough. It is the Temp reading that is a little unstable. It is influenced by the ambient air. The gravity readings are much more stable, although you can get an occasional weird reading.

I think it will do what you describe.

[hike20]

Co2 bubbles

Yep.  Gravity is now reading 1.070 after 24 hours.  The guide says the Tilt should not be greatly influenced by CO2 bubbles, but it looks like it is.  We'll see if this settles out in a day or two, or if it only reads true once activity slows.

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I'd talk to the guy who makes these. He's good with standing by his product. I've never had my readings go up after pitching yeast, much less 10+ points. Usually I see a slight drop at pitch because I always have a little starter wort that goes in with the yeast.  The first Tilt I bought started giving me weird readings and they replaced it for me without a hassle.

The temperature reading lags behind because the sensor is inside of a container with air in it. But over time I have found it to be pretty close to if not dead on. Certainly close enough for the ramps I do.

[WattsOnTap]

I have two, and have written some code that allows me to use a Raspberry Pi to monitor and store the data on an SD Card, and display it on a local webpage. Works great.

Thanks for the R-Pi idea!  I set one up with an Android load so I could use the Tilt App and Beersmith on my new "brewhouse computer".  I've got two Tilts reporting to Google Docs spreadsheets.  Pretty slick little data trackers!

[waltsmalt]

So after reading about these I'm intrigued.  I ferment in a 16 gallon sanke keg (with a corny keg kid welded in) and use a chest freezer to control temps.  Would I have any problem with connecting the Tilt to something sitting outside of the chest freezer?

[Stevie]

So after reading about these I'm intrigued.  I ferment in a 16 gallon sanke keg (with a corny keg kid welded in) and use a chest freezer to control temps.  Would I have any problem with connecting the Tilt to something sitting outside of the chest freezer?

Possibly.

[BrewBama]

So after reading about these I'm intrigued.  I ferment in a 16 gallon sanke keg (with a corny keg kid welded in) and use a chest freezer to control temps.  Would I have any problem with connecting the Tilt to something sitting outside of the chest freezer?

From their FAQ page: "The Tilt will interact with your smartphone or tablet from up to 25 feet. We have hundreds of customers using the Tilt in a variety of SS fermenters. You will have reduced Bluetooth range and will need to place your smartphone/tablet closer to your fermenter to receive data."


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[waltsmalt]

Anyone have experience with their return policy, i.e. if this doesn't work in my current setup, will they take it back?

[figgysbrew]

I just purchased one and will be using it next weekend. Can't wait!


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[scook13339]

So here is some interesting TILT behavior.

I was fermenting a Belgian IPA with WLP 510 a very sticky yeast. Just as it approached high krausen the TILT began to read about 8 SG pts low. When I racked to keg the tilt had huge globs of yeast stuck to the top throwing of the buoyancy.  Suspected that was the issue. In water it read at 1.000.

[PharmBrewer]

Cool!  Gonna have to consider getting one!  Thanks for sharing!