Seems like if they just made the tilt with the upper portion like a cone, it will not get hub and use debris on it and be much more accurate.
Mine is pretty accurate as is. My OG and FG are usually spot on. I have done a 2 point calibration: one point in typical OG range and one point in the typical FG range. Mine doesn’t get a lot of schmutz on it and the amount is fairly consistent. I think the common amount of schmutz is built into my calibration.
I’ve been using two Tilts (love how the App can upload to Google Docs every 10 minutes and I can check progress and temperature from anywhere in the world …). I find them to be “accurate enough” for my home brewing use, but I would like to chime in on the “schmutz” collecting on top of the unit. Yes, that’s real. During high krausen you’ll probably won’t even see your Tilt floating in the fermentor, and yes, when the fermentation slows down, some of that foam will dry up on the little cap of the thing.
BUT, the Tilt doesn’t measure gravity by weight, but by the angle (tilt … get it) of the unit as it floats in the liquid. The small amount of dried up foam on top of it barely effects how much the bottom of the unit wants to tilt up or down. The vast majority of the plastic tube is below fluid level and the accumulation of gunk on top appears to be a negligible force compared to the buoyancy of the tube below the surface of the liquid.
The shape of this graph does not inspire me with confidence. I think I’ll have to pull out the floating hydrometer if I want to know the FG for this beer.
This was a ferment with Verdant IPA yeast which is pretty vigorous yeast. In the middle there it looks like the yeast had too much sugar and started barfing it back into the wort- steadily increasing the SG. Then the big drop is probably from me swirling the fermenter- not sure. Then the Tilt lost connection with the Raspberry PI (and maybe turned off) for two long periods. Now it’s back on like nothing ever happened.
PS. I don’t mean to dis the Tilt. The batter is probably low. I really like my Tilt.
The curve is still curving. It’s not finished yet. Wait at least another 3-4 days before even thinking about measuring FG or packaging.
Thanks for the tip 
If you want to see a goofy batch, this recent one just about takes the cake, for me. I finally just bottled this a few days ago after it spent nearly 2 whole months in the primary. This is a Belgian patersbier (a.k.a., single), which totally stalled for a full month!, after which I finally decided to add Belle Saison and some more sugar, which kicked things off again for a true secondary fermentation that ended at a much lower FG than the stall. It tastes very good… so… overall, a success!
But yeah, I find that it pays to wait a few days before packaging, particularly with Belgians, as very often, they’ll keep going, like the Energizer bunny.
Agree! The benefit of the Tilt output, is not its accuracy, but its trend. The curve is the only thing you should look at. As it flattens, that’s when you might consider spunding. But when its flat, that’s when you know its done.
Yep. That’s another very interesting graph. I’m glad you were able to get it going again.
I bought something similar from another board. I is called the Ispindel. I think it is very similar to what you all are talking about. I have not had much luck with it, but it has been accurate. I guess what I am trying to say is that the last time I used it it did not read anything. Now, this could totally be user error as I am not a very good tech person, and it was a cool gadget that I thought might help. I am going to try it again in my next brew, but to me, the hydrometer has been pretty good. I just hate wasting all that beer. LOL. I might look into a refractometer and see how that works. Either way, I think the Ispindel is pretty cool.
I get those spikes from time to time as well. I just chalk it up to robust fermentation.
Every now and then my Tilt reports all zeros or I get a ‘cloud error’ message mid ferment. It usually comes back to reality shorty thereafter but if it doesn’t I ‘reset’ it by toggling the ‘use cloud URL’ off then back on. That usually fixes it straight away. If it actually logged the zero, I just go into the data tab and delete that row to sanitize the graph.
I have a finish hydrometer to give me FG but to be honest I quit using it at least five batches ago, …maybe more. I am far more interested in when the yeast is finished (or near finished so I can spund) than actual FG. I know the beer’s approximate ABV and FG. I have tapped the keg for a sample and let it sit out to decarbonate to get a reading but I haven’t done than in a while. It’s just not that important to me anymore.
This is my latest ferment:
Disclaimer: Any comment I add is simply the way I brew beer. I am not paid or sponsored by anyone. There are certainly other ways that can be equally effective which other brewers may contribute. This is what I’ve found that works for me using my equipment and processes so I offer this for your consideration. YMMV