ispindel - Tilt, a better indicator of gravity

[Conners]

The tilt metric seems to be a more reliable indicator of gravity when at times it takes so long for each gravity point to drop.
Does anyone prefer to use the tilt as a more reliable indicator that fermentation is still underway?

 

[peebee]

Do I prefer to use a Tilt ... ? Well I don't use anything but the Tilt, but then isn't that the same thing?

The fermenting beer is inside a stainless steel fermenter, so I don't even see the Tilt or beer until kegging time.

The Tilt is always smack on at the start. But I always calibrate the Tilt to the OG at the beginning (it will have been calibrated in water when the battery was changed) so it has got to be smack on. I also check the final gravity (racking gravity) at kegging. Though the newer Tilt PRO doesn't drift (due to yeast accumulation) like the original version was inclined to. I imagine the iSpindels are also subject to such drift as there is nothing about them to mitigate it (the Tilt PRO achieves accuracy simply by being huge!).

 

[Conners]

Do I prefer to use a Tilt ... ? Well I don't use anything but the Tilt, but then isn't that the same thing?

The fermenting beer is inside a stainless steel fermenter, so I don't even see the Tilt or beer until kegging time.

The Tilt is always smack on at the start. But I always calibrate the Tilt to the OG at the beginning (it will have been calibrated in water when the battery was changed) so it has got to be smack on. I also check the final gravity (racking gravity) at kegging. Though the newer Tilt PRO doesn't drift (due to yeast accumulation) like the original version was inclined to. I imagine the iSpindels are also subject to such drift as there is nothing about them to mitigate it (the Tilt PRO achieves accuracy simply by being huge!).

I wasn't talking about the Tilt device. I was talking about the tilt metric on the iSpindel.

 

[UKSkydiver]

The tilt metric seems to be a more reliable indicator of gravity when at times it takes so long for each gravity point to drop.
Does anyone prefer to use the *ispindle reading* as a more reliable indicator that fermentation is still underway?

Yes - as an indication that fermatation has started / is ending / has ended.

But not as a definitive gravity reading. (If I undersand your question correctly)

* my edit

 

[peebee]

I wasn't talking about the Tilt device. I was talking about the tilt metric on the iSpindel.

Ah, got it! But what I wrote would still be relevant to the question? I believe the info from the iSpindel can be drawn as a graph too. Even without this "tilt metric" business (what's "tilt metric"?) you are getting more than enough information to determine if fermentation has started, is progressing, has ended. What else would you use to make it more useful?

 

[ChrisT]

I've never used a Tilt but I do use iSpindels. I like building stuff, and it was the way I got back into home brewing after a long time!

Does the iSpindel give you a spot on SG reading all the time, well no. Yes, I've calibrated following various guides and advice, but there's always a discrepancy. This is typically attributed to a combination of CO2 bubbles and build of yeast on the Petling. The most successfull way I found was to leave one in the fermenter and periodically measure the SG with a hydrometer, then plug those readings into the calibration spreadsheet.

Still get get some absolute SG errors, BUT whatever the reading you have you can always tell when the fermentaion has stopped because the angle doesn't change. I should also say that I make wine (with the very occational beer), so my requirements are slightly different, I just want to know it's ferementing or it's not. Having said that you can see changes in the graph as the yeast works it's magic!

Whether you use the raw angle or calculated SG, you can definitely see what your yeast is currently up to.

Hope that helps?