Calibrate iSpindel

[Cheyne_brewer]

Thanks @kelper I will carry on taking hydrometer readings and see if it corresponds with the ispindel, I don't mind ignoring the first days reading but want to know if both readings agree further on into fermentation.

I don't take the iSpindel readings as any more than an approximation - the calibration curve would need a lot more points to be any more than an interpolated result - and to see when the gravity drop levels out. Once it's obviously finished I take a hydrometer reading. Of course, the hydrometer could also be out but you need one fixed point of reference.

 

[zeptobrewer]

I calibrated my iSpindel in a 5l jug. Started with 3l of water and 780g of sugar for ~1.1SG and simply diluted from there, occasionally emptying some down the sink and topping up again. I took readings with a hydrometer along the way as well as keeping track with a set of scales so I could work it out later, but the hydrometer was accurate.

One point - make sure you calibrate at around 18C or whatever you ferment at. I found temperature had a significant impact on the hydrometer iSpindel that couldn't be accounted for just by thermal expansion.

I think I could come up with some protocol that allows me to derive the curve for the accelerometer at various temperatures and gravities - but not really worth the effort for my use case.

 

[dearleuk]

That's really useful. Thank you.

I make wine and beer, so I'm guessing wine has a higher starting SG?

 

[lupinehorror]

c

That's really useful. Thank you.

I make wine and beer, so I'm guessing wine has a higher starting SG?

calibrate up to 1.100 for wine at least.

 

[zeptobrewer]

I've never made my own wine, but a quick google suggests 1.10 could give you a 13.6% wine. I suppose it would be different for a stronger/sweeter wine?

Play around with a calculator until you find a SG about what you'd start with - Vinolab - Gravity/Density/Sugar Conversions - Calculator

Do you own a regular hydrometer? It'll make the process go a lot faster and you should probably use it in addition to the iSpindel at least for the first few batches.

 

[dearleuk]

Do you own a regular hydrometer? It'll make the process go a lot faster and you should probably use it in addition to the iSpindel at least for the first few batches.

I do and I have refractometer on the way.

Thanks for the useful info

 

[hoppyscotty]

Thanks for that. It's far more complicated than I ever imagined.

I did this the other week. It seems complicated but really isn't. I started a thread so might be worth you looking it up as there were some really good contributions. I used the Woolley YouTube video linked above. I found the volumes got ridiculous as you diluted but you just decant out and keep checking the gravity with your refractometer or hydrometer. The two online calculators recommended in the video are good.

Also I did the 25 degree calibration and had to faff about attaching small nuts to the bottom to get it to float at 25 degrees-ish. Not hard, just a faff. But everything did work and I experienced no issues and it logged perfectly in the first brew I used it in.

 

[dearleuk]

I did this the other week. It seems complicated but really isn't. I started a thread so might be worth you looking it up as there were some really good contributions. I used the Woolley YouTube video linked above. I found the volumes got ridiculous as you diluted but you just decant out and keep checking the gravity with your refractometer or hydrometer. The two online calculators recommended in the video are good.

Also I did the 25 degree calibration and had to faff about attaching small nuts to the bottom to get it to float at 25 degrees-ish. Not hard, just a faff. But everything did work and I experienced no issues and it logged perfectly in the first brew I used it in.

I'll have a look for the post. Thanks for the tip

 

[nordberg]

Hi Guys,

I had a late night date with a bag of sugar and a fermentation bucket last night...I've had better nights!!

I started at 1.080 and worked my way down to 1.030 before running out of bucket. I suppose I could've emptied some water off, but that would've involved calculations that my little brain neither had the energy nor capacity for at the end of a rubbish day yesterday..

So, I have my 3 formulas that are created in the spreadsheet linked earlier in this post. Now what? Where do I input them? In the Ispindel somewhere? In Ubidots? Where?

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

You need to link your Ispindel to your wifi.

This has a set up function

I used this video because he talks about linking it to Brewfather



But whatever software you are using he talks about how to set up the Ispindel using your wifi

Have a look and see if it helps

If you are still stuck - do ask again

 

[nordberg]

You need to link your Ispindel to your wifi.

This has a set up function

I used this video because he talks about linking it to Brewfather



But whatever software you are using he talks about how to set up the Ispindel using your wifi

Have a look and see if it helps

If you are still stuck - do ask again

Thanks. That's the video I followed. I got to the end where he talks about future videos on linking the Ipsindel to Brewfather, but I don't have/want Brewfather, I just have Ubidots. I have the Ispindel updating Ubidots at the moment, but the gravity value seem like nonsense so I presume this is related to needing the do something with the formulas? What do I do with these:

Degree 1: 0.9515751150159129 + 0.00181313289472553 *tilt
Degree 2: 0.9583759053855003 + 0.0014845001433373523 *tilt + 0.000003629994040239279 *tilt*tilt
Degree 3: 0.900718931874429 + 0.005729807816944189 *tilt-0.0000936073612429659 *tilt*tilt + 7.053266941606348e-7 *tilt*tilt*tilt

 

[hoppyscotty]

I used the YouTube video above and used a big stock pot. As you work your way down the gravities you have to add a hell of alot of additional water so will need to keep discarding water and getting the dilution right. And each reading takes time. Any amount of swirl or motion in the water causes the iSpindel to move around giving erratic readings so takes a good few minutes for each reading to wait for things to settle down enough to get a stable reading. And if it settles against the side and you nudge it out then you start all over again waiting for things to settle and the reading to stabilise. Its a big faff and you'll end up with sticky water on every surface and a big clean up task. But you'll get through it.

However I've found using it in anger the readings are a bit low compared to hydrometer. My last beer it had my FG reading at 1.000 but hydrometer had it at 1.012. Not sure if my calibration is out (wasn't during the calibration process) or if stuff in the fermenter affects the reading - you do get a collection of trub on the lid especially around that lip that protrudes....perfectly designed to catch any trub or dry hop matter, so could we weighting the top of the iSpindel a bit and affecting the tilt giving a false reading compared to your calibration - though weight at the top of the spindle will increase gravity reading but something is going on in the fermentor that wasn't taken into account during calibration. So I just tend to use it to monitor the trend of the falling gravity during fermentation and once fermentation is over use a hydrometer to get my official FG reading.

Also found the temperature reading to be out compared to the thermometer in the FV vessel.

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

Thanks. That's the video I followed. I got to the end where he talks about future videos on linking the Ipsindel to Brewfather, but I don't have/want Brewfather, I just have Ubidots. I have the Ispindel updating Ubidots at the moment, but the gravity value seem like nonsense so I presume this is related to needing the do something with the formulas? What do I do with these:

Degree 1: 0.9515751150159129 + 0.00181313289472553 *tilt
Degree 2: 0.9583759053855003 + 0.0014845001433373523 *tilt + 0.000003629994040239279 *tilt*tilt
Degree 3: 0.900718931874429 + 0.005729807816944189 *tilt-0.0000936073612429659 *tilt*tilt + 7.053266941606348e-7 *tilt*tilt*tilt

I found that (and I have seen others saying the same) that the Degree 3 is not usuable - I changed mine to Degree 2 and it worked fine

Sorry if it's an insulting question but have you used the Ipsindel's own wifi to input the formula?

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

I used the YouTube video above and used a big stock pot. As you work your way down the gravities you have to add a hell of alot of additional water so will need to keep discarding water and getting the dilution right. And each reading takes time. Any amount of swirl or motion in the water causes the iSpindel to move around giving erratic readings so takes a good few minutes for each reading to wait for things to settle down enough to get a stable reading. And if it settles against the side and you nudge it out then you start all over again waiting for things to settle and the reading to stabilise. Its a big faff and you'll end up with sticky water on every surface and a big clean up task. But you'll get through it.

However I've found using it in anger the readings are a bit low compared to hydrometer. My last beer it had my FG reading at 1.000 but hydrometer had it at 1.012. Not sure if my calibration is out (wasn't during the calibration process) or if stuff in the fermenter affects the reading - you do get a collection of trub on the lid especially around that lip that protrudes....perfectly designed to catch any trub or dry hop matter, so could we weighting the top of the iSpindel a bit and affecting the tilt giving a false reading compared to your calibration - though weight at the top of the spindle will increase gravity reading but something is going on in the fermentor that wasn't taken into account during calibration. So I just tend to use it to monitor the trend of the falling gravity during fermentation and once fermentation is over use a hydrometer to get my official FG reading.

Also found the temperature reading to be out compared to the thermometer in the FV vessel.

Same here - the key for me is the fall in SG

You can easily offset the Ispindel readings to match your hydrometer - and hence it gives a correct reading

 

[nordberg]

I found that (and I have seen others saying the same) that the Degree 3 is not usuable - I changed mine to Degree 2 and it worked fine

Sorry if it's an insulting question but have you used the Ipsindel's own wifi to input the formula?

Input it where? Somewhere in the Ispindel's configuration? This is the bit I'm missing and haven't seen mentioned anywhere!

I'm not insulted, just puzzled :)

 

[Cheyne_brewer]

You need to reset the iSpindel (short out the reset pins with a few taps of a metal spoon haggle etc). When the blue led flashes look for the iSpindel WiFi access point at 192.168.1.4 (I think...) and access the configuration page. The formula you want to use should be pasted in. You’ll find the tutorials will assist in trimming the raw formulas.

 

[nordberg]

You need to reset the iSpindel (short out the reset pins with a few taps of a metal spoon haggle etc). When the blue led flashes look for the iSpindel WiFi access point at 192.168.1.4 (I think...) and access the configuration page. The formula you want to use should be pasted in. You’ll find the tutorials will assist in trimming the raw formulas.

Into the Polynominal field?

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

Input it where? Somewhere in the Ispindel's configuration? This is the bit I'm missing and haven't seen mentioned anywhere!

I'm not insulted, just puzzled :)

It's complicated

Your Ispindel has its own wifi. This is only used to set it up and is not used once it is up and running normally

But first you need to use the Isoindel's wifi to callibrate and tell it what your wifi is, password etc

Take a device phone, tablet, laptop etc that has wifi capability

Detach it from your main wifi

Turn your Ispindel on and then ask your device to find wifi networks - the Isindel should appear as one - connect to this and you will have a set up window

If the set up window is idle for 5 mins plus the I will switch off - so be quick

Give that a try and message again

 

[nordberg]

It's complicated

Your Ispindel has its own wifi. This is only used to set it up and is not used once it is up and running normally

But first you need to use the Isoindel's wifi to callibrate and tell it what your wifi is, password etc

Take a device phone, tablet, laptop etc that has wifi capability

Detach it from your main wifi

Turn your Ispindel on and then ask your device to find wifi networks - the Isindel should appear as one - connect to this and you will have a set up window

If the set up window is idle for 5 mins plus the I will switch off - so be quick

Give that a try and message again

Thanks.

I've already connected to the device, 90deg calibrated, 25deg calibrated and taken my gravity readings from the sugar wash. I input those readings into the spreadsheet and produced the formula. My question is, what do I do with that formula? Do I put it into the Polynominal field on the Ispindel configuration as suggested above? What about Ubidots? I've read that I should create a Derived Variable based on the formula as well?

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

Thanks.

I've already connected to the device, 90deg calibrated, 25deg calibrated and taken my gravity readings from the sugar wash. I input those readings into the spreadsheet and produced the formula. My question is, what do I do with that formula? Do I put it into the Polynominal field on the Ispindel configuration as suggested above? What about Ubidots? I've read that I should create a Derived Variable based on the formula as well?

Yes put it in the p field - but if I were you I would use the degree 2 not 3

Can't help with Ubidots - I use Brewfather which is easy Brewfather

You would have to pay for premium - which is $19 per year!