TILT Hydrometer - What they aren't telling you - Raspberry Pi - Tilt Pi Set Up
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- Опубліковано 18 жов 2024
- PATREON - / thehomebrewnetwork
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I just set mine up yesterday for the first time, I as well didn't like that I needed a dedicated device because I was not leaving my phone. However, I repurposed one of the kids ole android tablets and turned on pinning and developer mode so that I could keep the screen on. Going to mount this on the wall next to my fermenter once I get a 10 foot cable for it. It is currently working without issues for me. I may however build out the TiltBridge so that it does not have to use bluetooth but can connect directly to my router. Had I known all of this though I would have just gone with the Paato Airlock for the same price which already supports wifi.
Welcome to the world of TILT, yes, you have gone through all the pains I went through. Be brave, it does get easier. The biggest problem I had was it wouldn't send through my stainless steel kegmenter. Meant I ended up getting a TILT Repeater which solved that problem. The biggest improvement was not to read it every 15 min and settle down to about every 4 hours. After 9 brews, I have now got comfortable with it and can't live without it.
Thats great to hear, I hope my experience turns out the same! Cheers and thanks for watching!
Great video Gash. I've got 2 Tilt 2's which I've been using for around 8 months now without any problems so far. Same batteries and they've been in constant use over that time. I check my readings every day by holding my iphone over the fermenters and recording it in Beersmith. I always have to calibrate at the start of each ferment. I'll be looking at logging via a raspberry pi after seeing your video. Thanks.
I just bought a Tilt Pro; it's in its first batch of beer right now. It worked well for me out of the box, so no complaints there. A couple of alternatives for putting a Tilt onto your network:
1. TiltBridge is custom firmware for an ESP32 microcontroller which will pick up the Bluetooth broadcast from the Tilt and send it to any of a number of targets--Brewfather, Google Sheets, Home Assistant, etc. It also has a web interface that shows the current readings from any Tilts it's receiving, but it doesn't log those readings over time. If you don't have a Raspberry Pi, this will be the cheapest method, costing as little as US$10 (but closer to US$20 if you want a display on the device itself).
2. If you do have a Raspberry Pi you want to use for this, Fermentrack. On a rPi, Fermentrack will use the Bluetooth hardware to pick up the Tilt and log it directly. Fermentrack can also control temperature of your fermentation with the appropriate hardware.
Logging the data directly into brewfather is great too - all the info in one place.
Thanks for putting this video. Sorry to hear your not impressed by the device. I have 2 Tilt hydrometers that run in parallel when I have 2 brews fermenting. Both provide accurate readings via the raspberry pi sitting on top of my fridge. I find it helps to calibrate the Tilt with a hydrometer reading post boil. I bought my first Tilt 2 years ago and have never had a problem with it. It also integrates easily with Brewfather which I have found to be priceless. Keep up the great work with the vids.
I have two of them. Love em. No issues with mine. I used an old android phone I had laying around works great.
Thanks for this honest review! I would also have done it with a raspberry pi ...you are the first reviewer that i havevseen that really talks about the problems of devices like this
yeah thats why I felt it needed to be said. Cheers!
Excellent video. I've been tempted to get the Tilt but now seeing how quick and easy it is to setup a raspberry pi to collect the data from it I'm sold. Just ordered the tilt and a Raspberry Pi Zero W (kit). I use a Inkbird temp controller that has WiFi to control temps on a freezer chest I use for fermenting. Now I can just sit at my desk view fermentation info and raise temps for diacetyl rest without having to get out of my chair. :D
Don't work hard. Work smart 👌
Super valuable and honest review. I am enamored with the Tilt, but I realize it truly only provides temp and gravity, so it is limited usefulness. It's geeky and if you're into tracking ferments, it's the stuff. Good use for the rPi Wireless Zero - I'd want to embed it in my fermentation fridge door. CHEERS!
This is such a perfect video of what exploring technology is like. Starts with brewing a beer and gets to SD cards in Internet dongles. 😂 great video.
I know, right? hahaha Cheers!
I'm a fan of the Pi, I'm just getting mine set-up. But for anyone that still wants to use an android phone, use DEVELOPER MODE to keep screen on while plugged in. You can also pin the app full-screen using the security features. This is what I used until getting the Pi. You can keep it on at all times without having to rely on 3rd-party apps, worked great
Hi Gash, just thought I see if you're still using the Tilt or have you shelfed it. I had a Float, but it would not connect to my router, was in contact with the local NZ distributor and we could not get it going; sent it back. I'm now wondering if I want to tackle the frustration of a Tilt. Thank you.
Great vid Gash. When I started using mine I did it was you said but didn't really get the full benefits until I set up a TILTpi. As you said, fun but not essential. I like using for trend rather than absolute value.
Cheers Stass, thanks for taking a look mate!
Regarding the idea of having a phone constantly beside the device, i don't think that is really the intention of the phone app or device. It's more to replace the step of taking a sample from your beer by just walking up with your phone and and opening the app. For constant logging that is something where you really need a raspberry pi running either TiltPi or Fermentrack. On it's own it at least removes the need to take a manual reading with a hydrometer.
I've been using for over a year love it. I use an old android phone sitting beside my bucket. Key I found is calibrate every time. First batch I compared with manual. I mainly care about temp since my efforts are at ambient temp. I use the wet t-shirt with fan trick to keep it cool. My fg's are on point. I have a 2and for wine. As to the pi love them. You can get a cheap hipchat wireless antenna for those pins if you have that option.
Thanks for the info, cheers mate!
I DON'T have to leave the screen on to get readings. I think you have a problem there Gash which is not common to everyone. I use an old phone left plugged in next the the fridge and it works fine. The Tilt app does have to be on top but the screen does not have to stay on. I get through a whole ferment without loosing any data.
I do the same and no issues
Another awesome production...😍😎
If you have problem with the Tilt, contact them. They replaced for free one unit I had go bad. My two never hiccup. I also use the raspberry PI Tile os. Works great.
Would love to see the iSpindel set up using the same gear!
Ive tries with my ispindel a few times and I cant get it to work, I havent given up though... one of my latest vids you can probably see it floating around.. Cheers!
So here my problem statement: I ferment in my underground cellar. It’s in an appartement building. No wifi there (this excludes the competition I believe). I have electricity though. How would you set that up? For now I only want to know when fermentation done and when to move temperature. Don’t want to throw 200 bucks against the wall as that’s half a keggerator
It can log to your phone just when you are near it, so if you go down once a day it will log it to your phone, I believe if you put a memory card in it can log to that as well, then when you connect your phone you can download it, as far as I know. Cheers!
Good video. I'm going to say this. The tilt is not really designed to be awake and constantly read to a pi....I mean it can but
A: it uses and wastes a lot of battery. Think about it, it's on bluetoothing all day and night.
B: You can swing by your fridge when you wake up and take a quick reading, and same again in the evening. Twice a day is more than enough to get a decent understanding of where your brew I at. I'll put it to you, before you used tilt, did you require a hydrometer reading every day?...or every 15 mins?
C: it is not a replacement for a hydrometer....for some styles you will still need to take hydrometer readings. I make mostly apa, neipa, IPA. I usually don't have to take hydro readings. But if using kveik and I want assured readings there's no replacement.
I'd like to see if you use constant graphing in about 10 brews. And I mean actually use it. Not just look at it but go, thank God I've got this running 24/7 because if I didn't X would happen. I'm not trying to be a prick, I like watching your videos and appreciate what you do. I just think that this one of setup is total overkill...and hey it's probably fun to play with pi, but I don't think there's any benefit on setting this up like this, other than being able to take a reading remotely i suppose...but what good would that be.
If you just Chuck the thing in, and take a few readings, you'll enjoy the tilt. They're brilliant. They're fantastic if you want to figure when your ferment is ready. If you spend money and time dicking around figuring out that reading from 3am to 7am was correct or wonky then you'll be frustrated I'm sure. Anyhow, not trying to be a dick, just offering feedback cos I bloody love my tilt and will buy another when I can afford one.
I totally understand what you are saying, but the price and the "sell" make it seem quite different, cheers and thanks for watching!
@@HomeBrewNetwork mate I'm going to have to say I'm totally embarrassed, yup they have a link to the pi software on their site and that indeed would imply the 2 marry up seemlessly and I didn't look into the blurb, but yup the sell implies that the tilt is more than capable of being read by pi. That doesn't detract from the (possible) wastage of battery due to logging constantly... personally d hate to run out of battery near the end of a brew or something...and if constant logging contributed to that then that would be something I would want to avoid...but look, these statements I suppose are all about how I would want the tilt to work, and that's different to how you like it setup.
The price...well when I bought my tilt2 there was no ispindel, just the plaato airlock. So price was...not saying it isn't now...moot. if you wanted remote hydro readings it was these 2.
I'm in New Zealand so by the time an Ispindle ships and lands, taxes are paid, batteries are bought, setup has occured, I might as well spend the extra 50 bucks and get a tilt. So price is dependent on situation and location....imo. bloody good vid, love the honesty
I realize this comment is three years old, but that isn't the way the Tilt works--it broadcasts the data via Bluetooth (Low Energy) whether anything is listening or not. There's therefore no impact on its battery life to having a device listening to it constantly (in my case, a TiltBridge rather than TiltPi--but more on that in another comment).
I just bought a Tilt Pro a couple of weeks ago (it's in its first batch of beer right now), but I built a couple of iSpindels last year. And you're right that I don't have a bona fide *need* for near-real-time fermentation monitoring. But my fermenters are in a separate building 50+' away from my house--not the other side of the world to be sure, but I'm not out there every day, much less twice a day. The Tilt (or iSpindel, or Rapt Pill, or whatever) let me keep an eye on what's going on. I know if the temperature's staying where it ought to be, I can tell how fermentation is progressing, and I can tell when it's stopped. I don't count on it to give me an exact reading, but it does a great job of showing trends.
Another honest and unbiased review. Cheers mate
Cheers mate!
I dont want to alarm you but there is a severed hand behind you!! Great video. I think ill go for it and get a tilt for my saison brewing. Im not worried about adding oxygen when taking samples because i bottle condition but its a pain.
Hey Gav, I’ve been making iSpindel kits now and it might be worth checking them out. IMO they are better than a tilt as they connect directly to your WiFi without needing to connect through another device. They integrate in Brewfather the same as what a tilt does. I have sent you a message on FB if you want to check some out, and I’ve got some tutorials on my channel with more to come
hey mate, just found this comment in my spam folder for some reason, youtube didnt like the comment for some reason.. I have actually seen your videos on them, great videos by the way. I watched them last week as I've had nothing but troubles with my ispindel and I'm about to swap out the D1.. Its never stayed connected, the mini usb and reset switch fell off, looked like barely no solder at all.. besides all that I find them a real time waster, the calibration which can be messed by by a accidental knock etc I didnt like the tilt at first, but after having both for getting close to a year, the tilt is just no trouble, I just throw it in.. ispindel is too much tinkering.. this one has one more chance.. if it survives the new D1 board and flashing etc.. I'll give it another go otherwise its going in the bin lol just too much tinkering.. I feel bad because it was sent to me for review last october or something and I havent been able to give it one positive video yet... but I'll try again! Your videos are great mate, great work! Maybe you were spamming channels with comments? "spamming" you know what I mean.. anyway hopefully any other comments dont end up in the spam folder! Cheers mate!
I maybe in touch next week when trying to salvage it, im hoping it all goes smoothly and just works this time! lol Cheers mate
The Home Brew Network hmm that’s weird - nope you’re the only one I sent a message / comment to! Let me know if you need a hand fixing it or any parts. I generally find you have to make the fit in the tube pretty tight and then it will keep its calibration quite a while. The newer v4 PCB’s generally seem to be pretty consistent with balance
Nice video mate great info on the how to etc.. well done
Great video.
i used an old phone without a sim card sitting on top of the fridge.
Yeah thats what I used, it mostly worked, but had issues as mentioned, Cheers Ian!
This Equipment was for me like NASA project... Cool vid Gash!
hahahaa be awesome if I could ride in the ferment fridge to the moon lol
hehehehehe.. gotcha LOL
Thanks for all this info mate> I think Ill wait a bit and see what else develops
My guess for the weird reading is that the pressure rises, the liquid is displaced and therefore compressed, increasing its density and giving you higher readings.
Probably the most important advice for the Tilt is to not attempt to calibrate too soon. The thing is extremely sensitive. You can tell that from the way the SG graphs fluctuate so much during fermentation. However, the "curve" is usually very accurate. If you calibrate less than half an hour after pitching and putting your fermenter in the fridge etc. The wort is still moving about, the tilt hasn't quite equalised temperature etc. I put it all in the fridge, I leave it an hour, then I set the temp and SG for calibration.
Great advice. Cheers!
Question for you: you talk about your inkbird controller being different but you dont have a Thermowell probe in your Fermzilla. How are you measuring your temps?
It wasn't very different at all, so close i'm very happy. Its a probe taped to the side of the fermenter and insulated with a piece of neoprene (stubby cooler) Cheers!
I have 7-8 brews on mine and I have never had it stick like you showed. I immediately set it up on a Raspberry Pi as I knew the phone would sleep and not log the interval. I don't think anyone would be successful using it without a pi if they want a full log of the SG/Temp for the whole fermentation. As others have implied, I wish the Tilt had wifi on board and was able to log by itself without external devices (phone, Raspberry Pi).
Yeah that would be great, I know one issue would be battery life, it would lessen greatly on wifi, like the ispindel, but it is a small price to pay. Cheers!
I really only use mine to determine when FG has been reached, I have noticed that Krausen and Dry Hopping can collect on the top and throw off the reading. I've done at least 5 brews with it and its just started to flash that the battery is going; I do a lot of Lagers so it hasn't done too bad.
You should get a heap more brews out of it, maybe the battery was a bit old, unless your doing very long ferments. Hopefully your next battery will last longer, cheers mate!
Great vid Gash thanks for sharing your knowledge.
because of the issues (controlling the behaviour of an old android phone) I switched to an raspberry pi4 with the free image provided by tilt - works just fine!
The PCB from the tilt seems to be 1:1 from the wii controllers by nintendo - hence no local cashe that could store the readings for a up to 4 weeks on a 1MB chip easily
Mine worked great til I changed the battery - even with calibration the readings seem a bit off, the counterweight in there looks a little rusted too unfortunately. I'd still buy another one though! (ideally for a lower cost...)
Quality once again GASH!🍻
Cheers Birdy mate!
Incredibly interesting and useful. Question, why would you need to read the hydrometer every 15 minutes? Few hours would be enough surely. A good tutorial for the Pi also.
Yeah, you don't need too, but if its what its supposed to do, you kind of want it work! Lucky I cut the bit out where I set it to take a reading every .1 of a minute lol was just testing. Cheers!
As you mention using a device like a Raspberry pi is definitely to recommend. Im running tilt pi and fermentrack for ispindel on the same raspberry.
I was wondering about that and going to look into it. Any tips? Thanks mate. Cheers!
@@HomeBrewNetwork actually I do have some. Install raspian (operating system). That way you can install the applications you want. Next is to install tilt pi as package/software same goes for fermentrack for ispindel. I've got all the commands on my desktop at home. I'll share them once I have access to my computer
@@Zeggi81 That would be great, thanks mate!
@@HomeBrewNetwork im trying to figure out best way to share it other than a message/Facebook. What's best. I applied to join the group on FB just to share the details.
Nice video. I am thinking of getting one myself.
I find they all need adjusting,and thy get messed up.during very active ferment and dry hopping but you know it is cool to see and watch whats going on, and even if it isn't exactly accurate you can see when its slowing and finished and when to dry hop etc.. its fun. Cheers mate!
@@HomeBrewNetwork Thanks I will definitely get one for the fun of it.
Does the Raspberry PI setup allow to logging remotely, or do you have to be on the same network to login? If remote logging is a possibility, i'm seriously going to consider getting one. Good video, honest review!
You can run a VPN to connect whatever local network it's attached to and access it remotely from there.
you can access the Rpi from your network or the internet with a simple port forward. it will log remotely to many different websites (beersmith, brewers friend, brew father, etc) or google sheets.
Keen for the iSpindel video. Considering buying one. Any ETA on that video?
hopefully test it out in the next week. Cheers!
Great product
I need to up my game with technology in general. Fascinating video really enjoyed it. Cheers😎👍
Thanks for watching old mate! Cheers!
Thanks for the video. I was wondering if it is possible to access the raspberry pi via a browser to re-run the setup.html file? Or do you need to remove the SD card from the pi, connect to pc, re-run the setup, remove from pc then insert back into pi each time you want to log data for a new brew?
Yeah you can, there will be a link in the email it sent you when you set it up. It may be this hang on..
tiltpi.local:1880/ui
Thanks. I seem to be having a couple of technical issues, namely I already have the Tilt in my fermenter which is a fair distance from my wireless router. I did receive an email link to the Google sheets but not the email to the ...tiltpi.local:1088/ui... address. Seems it didn’t setup properly. I’ll try again. Cheers
How many Tilt hydrometers can you connect with the Rasberry Pi?
Any chance of an update now you have had time to use it a bit?
Posted after kegland revealed they had their own in the works, even though I doubt this is coordinated but it's good for them
Not sure when theirs will be ready, but at least I'll be able to compare them all. Cheers!
Great video did you end up reviewing the ispindel?
Cheers Gash, have looked at these myself they look the business too, and cheers for sharing the raspberry pi info as well, on another note not that I'm checking out your home or anything (don't want to sound like some weird stalker lol) you have a mean line of stone beer bottles on your shelf in the vid, I must try and scoop some to try also, cheers Mate, Mike 🍻🍻
ha yeah, they are fairly old now, but Im sure you can still get most of them, the only real reason I still have them is because I'm a hoarder, lol but I've chucked most bottles I use to have, these I kept due to them being painted bottles, not stick on labels, they've stopped doing the painted bottles as far as I know. I did have grandiose plans to make like a string of lights out of them, chuck some LEDs in them.. Maybe one day :) Cheers Mike!
Sounds like you got a buggered unit. I have one, have had it for a couple years now, used it dozens of times and I’ve never had an issue.
Thanks for the Vid mate helped me out a lot!!!
Sorry you've had problems with it more than me. I've had lots of minor issues and have been using the version 1 (2 of them) for well over a year and still have minor issues all the time. Overall I still love them compared to anything else and yes I use a Raspberry Pi of course otherwise I'd get really frustrated.
Thanks very much mate. Cheers!
I was going to get one until i saw it's only bluetooth. I have an iSpindle now and that's wifi so it's all uploaded directly to my brewers friend account.
The temperature and SG measurements are taken near the surface of the liquid in the fermenter.
Cheers Petra!
Do you have to format the card in order to see the files? I am having problems I think once I formatted the disk.
Format will wipe everything on the SD card, use the etcher to etch the SDcard, and the files will be on it. tilthydrometer.com/blogs/news/introducing-tilt-pi-an-sd-card-image-download-for-your-raspberry-pi-3-or-zero-w Cheers!
Where can I get an iSpindel from? Loving your videos!
Kits are available on ebay!
If your fermenting under pressure, as soon as the CO2 begins to dissolve into solution, you won't get accurate reading of SG. The beer needs to be de-gassed for accurate readings.
Tilt claims that it is able to handle this scenario in the 3rd to last answer here - tilthydrometer.com/pages/faqs - Maybe because the entire fermentor is under the same pressure it does not change the readings?
So this thing doesn’t actually record data like a proper data logger? You actually have to read from it manually?
It will record data, well its sends data to be recorded if you give it the means to, as in a raspberry pi or phone connected to a network. It doesn't store data on itself. Cheers!
@@HomeBrewNetwork That seems rather odd for a device that costs $140USD.
Clearly the tilt needs to come with its own inbuilt memory that can be downloaded over wifi when you next log on so you dont have to have a continuous connection
Pretty sure you can log directly to the TILTpi (raspberry pi) then download the log when ever you wish. But that kind of defeats the purpose.
Yeah I think it should too, not sure if that would lower battery life, guess it wouldnt be much though. I know the choice of bluetooth over wifi is for power reasons. Ispindel battery needs replacing or charging much more frequently. Cheers!
Nice review, ya just need to hook it up with Brewfather to take full advantage.
I did but rarely use brewfather.. trying to love it :) Cheers!
Hi
I don't get it surely the tilt is WiFi enabled so you don't need your phone on Bluetooth or as a hotspot. I made my own in fermenter hydrometer and temp sensor connected to WiFi and using Cayenne (mydevices) to log the data and it works perfectly, cost £20. Only issue there is, and I believe this is the same with the tilt, is that if any yeast or crud sticks to it the reading is affected since it is such a sensitive device.
Can't believe they get away charging that much for it.
Nah just bluetooth, I know only one reason bluetooth is better, battery life, but thats about it, wifi would be much more handy. Cheers!
If anyone is interested I will put my design onto my channel for all to build and use.
@@dr.t6034 You should mate! Cheers!
Where I can found a raspberry PI?
emilio antichi where do you live?
The Home Brew Network Italy
Arrive the tilt Pi now proceeds to install
Love Rancid.
So do I :) Cheers!
As always. Great video. Was thinking about getting a tilt. I always wanted to get into raspberry pi. So now I have a reason haha
I should of added that, it's an F'ing great excuse to play with Pi s :)
If your running a pi don’t forget to setup a pihole, dns level adblocker 👍
On the false reading front, it seems like they've been lazy programming their firmware. There should be a shitload of error checks built in. Sensor readings that are either changing wildly or not changing as expected should be picked up and actioned. It's a pain in the arse but makes up 90% of the software running things.
Yeah you would think so, I'm not sure what it would do after it sensed it though, hmm maybe some sort of warning and a reset or something. Cheers!
@@HomeBrewNetwork If the current sensor reading is above or below a given range, discard the reading and read again. If this happens x times in a row, throw up a warning to the user saying things have gone haywire. At that point it might be a firmware/sensor problem and the thing needs a reset or perhaps the unit has been pushed to the side of the fermenter by yeast activity and is stuck at a wrong angle, throwing things off. Regardless, you need to know ASAP to avoid rooting a whole batch of good beer.
@@ttjarrett Sounds like a good thing!
Woody Harrelson doing some reviews... funny!
Yew! Gash!
Boooyah Cheers! :)
Fermentrack is much better than tiltpi, also free 👍🏻
9mins in and the tilt doesnt work is because it doesn't work under pressure.
ua-cam.com/video/S6Gpdg8vCCQ/v-deo.html
well its supposed too, version 1 had issues, version 2-3 should be fine, especially under the bees dick pressure I use, and it did work till it farted, think you'll find many are using it just fine under pressure, pressure didn't seem to be a factor in my testing either, Cheers mate!
Works fine @ 15 psi. No issues. My unit has worked flawlessly for over a year.
They work just fine under pressure. It works by reading the tilt...literally. pressure has no effect on the gravity of wort
They work just fine under pressure. It works by reading the tilt...literally. pressure has no effect on the gravity of wort
Too old for this stuff
So am I hahaha Cheers!
That poor Biden commercial. Sheeeesh... Trump will eat that poor soul.
Junk and completely unreliable. An inaccurate novelty, nothing more.