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Author Topic: Are TILT hydrometers worth it?  (Read 8171 times)

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: Are TILT hydrometers worth it?
« Reply #30 on: November 13, 2020, 05:19:26 am »
The Tilt is expensive enough, I don't need something even more expensive.  I ain't going pro anytime in this lifetime.  Let some other suckers do that.  Let brewing be fun.
Dave

The world will become a much more pleasant place to live when each and every one of us realizes that we are all idiots.

Offline Wilbur

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Re: Are TILT hydrometers worth it?
« Reply #31 on: November 13, 2020, 12:47:07 pm »
I can kind of see the value of it (the easydens). If you're going to buy a refractometer to check your gravity while you brew ($60), and get two tilt hydrometers ($140*2, $340 total with refractometer) then paying $400 to be able to accurately measure gravity and abv isn't too bad. You can't do it remotely, but if you only need a 2 mL sample you can do it twice a day without crying over lost beer. Personally I don't mind sizing up my batch a few ounces to take a gravity reading though.

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Offline allenhuerta

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Re: Are TILT hydrometers worth it?
« Reply #32 on: November 13, 2020, 12:52:33 pm »
I can kind of see the value of it (the easydens). If you're going to buy a refractometer to check your gravity while you brew ($60), and get two tilt hydrometers ($140*2, $340 total with refractometer) then paying $400 to be able to accurately measure gravity and abv isn't too bad. You can't do it remotely, but if you only need a 2 mL sample you can do it twice a day without crying over lost beer. Personally I don't mind sizing up my batch a few ounces to take a gravity reading though.

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Checking gravity twice a day! Geez. I guess I'm a lazy set it and forget it. I mean, I track it often now that I have tilts, but I just pitched, and didn't come back for a couple weeks in the pre-tilt times. I would just be annoyed with the sanitation aspect.

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Offline Wilbur

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Re: Are TILT hydrometers worth it?
« Reply #33 on: November 13, 2020, 01:27:04 pm »
I can kind of see the value of it (the easydens). If you're going to buy a refractometer to check your gravity while you brew ($60), and get two tilt hydrometers ($140*2, $340 total with refractometer) then paying $400 to be able to accurately measure gravity and abv isn't too bad. You can't do it remotely, but if you only need a 2 mL sample you can do it twice a day without crying over lost beer. Personally I don't mind sizing up my batch a few ounces to take a gravity reading though.

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Checking gravity twice a day! Geez. I guess I'm a lazy set it and forget it. I mean, I track it often now that I have tilts, but I just pitched, and didn't come back for a couple weeks in the pre-tilt times. I would just be annoyed with the sanitation aspect.

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I'm just saying you could do that theoretically. I check gravity once or twice with a hydrometer, I've got a pretty good feel for the strains I use.

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Offline Drewch

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Re: Are TILT hydrometers worth it?
« Reply #34 on: November 13, 2020, 04:42:50 pm »
I will admit that fault of the Tilt -- it wouldn't scale well. 

The EasyDens would def. make more sense if I needed to track several fermenters at once. I don't see myself routinely having more than maybe 2 batches going at once.
The Other Drew

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Offline Bilsch

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Re: Are TILT hydrometers worth it?
« Reply #35 on: November 13, 2020, 11:00:59 pm »
No, they are a waste of money. Save up and get an EasyDens instead. Something that actually works as advertised.

Three times the price and requires extracting a sample... Versus not even having be in the same building to pull a reading. I remain unconvinced by your argument.

How about one gives you an accurate reading every time and the other.. sometimes, maybe.

Offline allenhuerta

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Re: Are TILT hydrometers worth it?
« Reply #36 on: November 14, 2020, 05:02:49 am »
No, they are a waste of money. Save up and get an EasyDens instead. Something that actually works as advertised.

Three times the price and requires extracting a sample... Versus not even having be in the same building to pull a reading. I remain unconvinced by your argument.

How about one gives you an accurate reading every time and the other.. sometimes, maybe.
Different strokes, different goals. Even on even pricing, I like the decision I've made and wouldn't change it. You've made yours and you also would not change that. Let's just have fun sharing our hobby

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Offline BrewBama

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Are TILT hydrometers worth it?
« Reply #37 on: November 14, 2020, 05:36:09 am »
How about one gives you an accurate reading every time and the other.. sometimes, maybe.

That’s true. If accuracy is required the Tilt is not the toy for the job.

The Tilt gives an indication of when activity starts, progress of that activity trend, and when activity is finished.  It doesn’t provide an accurate SG at any point IMO.

Different strokes, different goals. Even on even pricing, I like the decision I've made and wouldn't change it. You've made yours and you also would not change that. ...

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+1

Some folks enjoy driving a beat up 12 yr old Ford truck (me) while others require the latest, fastest, shiniest Corvette on the road. Both get you from point A to B.

Some folks need to have a home brewery that would rival some small commercial operations. They are beautiful to look at. ...but some folks make great beer in a cooler and plastic bucket. Nothing to see but a good pint.

It’s just a matter of disposable resources and personal desire.  After all, it’s just beer.

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« Last Edit: November 14, 2020, 07:42:17 am by BrewBama »

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: Are TILT hydrometers worth it?
« Reply #38 on: November 14, 2020, 06:24:22 am »
I found that after I calibrated the Tilt with at least 3 different gravities (or was it 4?), it became accurate vs. a regular hydrometer within about 0.002, which to me is good enough.  During fermentation especially during and after high krausen, I rock the fermenter to shake off much of the schmutz as well.  Since I have glass fermenters I can see when this occurs.  Otherwise yes the readings will be way off if you allow the schmutz to stick and dry on there.  But just a good rock twice a day for a few days will keep most of it from clinging.
Dave

The world will become a much more pleasant place to live when each and every one of us realizes that we are all idiots.

Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Are TILT hydrometers worth it?
« Reply #39 on: November 17, 2020, 05:11:29 pm »
No, they are a waste of money. Save up and get an EasyDens instead. Something that actually works as advertised.

I like my Tilts and no sampling is needed, but I am not using mine for absolute accuracy.  Close enough for homebrew is close enough for me.  But, there is a big sale on the Easy Dens at More Beer, making it reasonably a bit cheaper:

https://www.morebeer.com/products/easydens-anton-paar.html
After fallowing a rabbit hole of tilt and iSpinle I just bought EasyDens meter.

I do not have it yet but to my understanding it does not measure beer ABV.

There is supposed to be new version by the next year. You can already pre order it.

https://www.easydens.com
Na Zdravie

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http://www.lazymonkbrewing.com

Offline dannyjed

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Re: Are TILT hydrometers worth it?
« Reply #40 on: November 17, 2020, 06:29:37 pm »
The Tilt is expensive enough, I don't need something even more expensive.  I ain't going pro anytime in this lifetime.  Let some other suckers do that.  Let brewing be fun.
This is on the same wavelength of my thinking. Why ruin a fun hobby!


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Dan Chisholm

Offline Kevin

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Re: Are TILT hydrometers worth it?
« Reply #41 on: November 18, 2020, 11:54:01 am »
No, they are a waste of money. Save up and get an EasyDens instead. Something that actually works as advertised.

Three times the price and requires extracting a sample... Versus not even having be in the same building to pull a reading. I remain unconvinced by your argument.

Forget about being in the same building, I can't even get a reading from mine unless I'm in the same room as the fermenter.
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Offline BrewBama

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Are TILT hydrometers worth it?
« Reply #42 on: November 18, 2020, 12:31:21 pm »
When out of range I can’t actually see real time data in the Tilt app like I can at home.  I see the google sheets page up to the last time the app updated the sheet.

To check on progress while away from home the app has to be open and connected to the device ...and  google sheets has to be selected in the app with a good address so it will log to the sheet. I simply leave my iPad open to the app during the entire ferment so it logs to the sheet.


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Offline allenhuerta

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Re: Are TILT hydrometers worth it?
« Reply #43 on: November 18, 2020, 12:36:26 pm »
When out of range I can’t actually see real time data in the Tilt app like I can at home.  I see the google sheets page up to the last time the app updated the sheet.

To check on progress while away from home the app has to be open and connected to the device ...and  google sheets has to be selected in the app with a good address so it will log to the sheet. I simply leave my iPad open to the app during the entire ferment so it logs to the sheet.


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I set up a TiltPi for like $20 and I know a guy to 3D print me a case for it. It's maps 24 hours a day.

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Offline Wilbur

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Re: Are TILT hydrometers worth it?
« Reply #44 on: November 18, 2020, 12:49:02 pm »
When out of range I can’t actually see real time data in the Tilt app like I can at home.  I see the google sheets page up to the last time the app updated the sheet.

To check on progress while away from home the app has to be open and connected to the device ...and  google sheets has to be selected in the app with a good address so it will log to the sheet. I simply leave my iPad open to the app during the entire ferment so it logs to the sheet.


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I set up a TiltPi for like $20 and I know a guy to 3D print me a case for it. It's maps 24 hours a day.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
Any tips on keeping raspberry pis from crashing? I had a brew pi temp controller for a while but it kept going out. After a while the aggravation wasn't worth the novelty and I switched to a $25 ink bird.

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