Tilt Hydrometers

[MHB]

There are a number of tilt type hydrometers on the market.

I have a few questions about how well they perform. Have kept my eye on some of the related treads and looked at the graphs people have posted, some of them don’t look very accurate.

How do people find them? Are they accurate enough, do the reported gravities match up with a good hydrometer.
Does a bit of krausen foam drying on top of them affect the readings?
I like the look of the Hydrom Anyone have one and can report on how it goes.
Mark

 

[Meddo]

I've only used the tilt - it's not at all accurate in my experience, but it's an excellent tool for monitoring progress of the fermentation as it will clearly show the change in gravity over time even if the reported gravity itself can't be trusted. I use one in every brew and use the graphed outputs to inform the timing of temperature changes, dry hopping, and packaging. Check everything with a hydrometer for real gravities.

Edit: when I say not at all accurate, it's usually within a couple of points if calibrated so not ridiculous but definitely not good enough to rely on for calcs - it seems to be affected by temperature, pressure and floaties.

Edit 2: here's an example of a chart in my brew log sheet that's hooked into data from the tilt - the temperature readings are pretty good but the gravities are a bit out (it was calibrated in water prior to fermentation), and you can see how the drop to -0.5 deg affects the reported gravity. The jumps in gravity early on are from drauflassen additions so they're real. This was for a pilsner (yep, it finished high) so no hops in the fermenter affecting the tilt. Not pressure fermented either but from memory I would have started adding pressure at some stage of the drop to lagering temperature to have it carbonated for serving. You can see that there's enough info there to be making decisions around fermentation progress.

 

[Grok]

I used to do readings and record the info, but then I realised that for a home brew set up, just stick the blow off pipe into a bottle of satanised water and listen to the bubble popping speed is just as good.
Now I don't measure the fall, the "Popping" tells me all.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

iSpindel for me, when calibrated properly and treated with care, they can be very accurate (within 1 point of hydrometer).

 

[Ballaratguy]

I’ve got a couple of tilts. Have found that they are not accurate at all (haven’t calibrated them)
I pressure ferment and have just used Grainfather GCA to keep track of the ferment (last brew that I did)
Interestingly the grainfather GCA with the tilt linked showed up reasonably accurate whereas the tilt on sheets was way off
I’ve only ever used the tilts to show me when the ferment had finished and always took hydrometer readings

 

[Neil Buttriss]

Hi Mark, I have been using Electronic Hydrometers for a few years now and have used tilts , the tilt pro and have also

There are a number of tilt type hydrometers on the market.

I have a few questions about how well they perform. Have kept my eye on some of the related treads and looked at the graphs people have posted, some of them don’t look very accurate.

How do people find them? Are they accurate enough, do the reported gravities match up with a good hydrometer.
Does a bit of krausen foam drying on top of them affect the readings?
I like the look of the Hydrom Anyone have one and can report on how it goes.
Mark

Hi Mark, I have been using electronic hydrometers for a few years now first they are not point to point accurate close but not quite. I have used both the small tilt and the tilt pro, I have built and used an Ispindel and I just recently bought the Hydrom from Keg King, I like the Hydrom its big, it has been fairly accurate maybe a point or 2 out at the beginning of ferment but has been spot on at the end, I admit I leave my ferments go 12/14 days for Ales and as long as needed for Lagers.
The main reason I started using the electronic hydrometers was that I worked over in the Pilbra and by using Brewersfriend I could monitor the ferment while at work, I also bought the Inkbird WiFi model for this reason as it allowed me to adjust temperatures while away when doing a lager.
I do find that by using the electronic device I can follow my ferment and this has also helped me understand how different yeasts and fermentation temperatures act among other things.
If you were interested in purchasing one I know that you have very good knowledge and as such would also use it in conjunction with the manual hydrometer then I would recommend the Hydrom, its versatility in use with other brewing software or just bluetooth is very good.