As a relative homebrewing rookie, I first learned about Tilt hydrometers through the wise and experienced pundits on the Forum. After reading so many positive reviews I decided to use some Christmas gift money to invest in one. I used it on several batches and really appreciated the chance to get a good sense of the status of the fermentation cycle through the reliable data it produced. Then tragedy struck. I accidentally dropped it while removing it from my fermenter and it began to malfunction. So I contacted the manufacturer, Baron Brew Equipment, explained what I’d done and inquired about whether it could be repaired. After a couple of email exchanges, they offered to simply replace it with a brand new Tilt hydrometer. They even sent me the first-class postage to cover the cost of shipping the broken hydrometer to them. I don’t think any of us could expect better customer service from an equipment manufacturer. I strongly recommend Tilt hydrometers both for the valuable tool they are and for the integrity of their business operations!
I dropped one of mine into wort and feared that it would be damaged, when it sounded like it hit the bottom of the fermenter pretty hard…but it survived in good working condition, luckily. Glad to hear that the mfg stands behind its product, even when it was involving some user error. I am pretty hard on equipment, so I try to be mindful when working with sensitive items.
Enjoy your Tilt!
I also had a good experience with a problem - I couldn’t calibrate the Tilt, and finally contacted them for help. Apparently it’s necessary to delete all of the previous calibration info before calibrating for a new brew. Did what they said and it worked fine again.
I will add that it’s great for monitoring the gravity during fermentation and for help in determining when the beer is done fermenting. A check with a glass hydrometer at the end will usually show a point or two of gravity different than the Tilt, so the Tilt doesn’t always give a good reading for the FG. I use the Tilt in my Ss Brew Bucket and it works fine in there.
Glad to hear their customer service is good. I’ve been happy with my TILT so far. I’m thinking about picking up another color when the hobby budget allows.
That’s been my experience, too. I trust it to be internally consistent and determine when the gravity has stopped changing, but I always check FG with another instrument for ABV calculations.