Why are Tilts so expensive and can you justify the cost of buying them

[kelper]

I own a Tilt but I got it for only £99. I want another but am not willing to pay over £130. The Tilt is slick and has no real competition. I use it with a Raspberry Pi so can access over the internet and am not tying up a phone. I like almost everything about it. I add it to the fermenter after a couple of days to avoid the Krausen Krust. As sais above the SG can bounce around during vigorous fermentation. But this settles down quickly. I also love the temperature monitoring. I recently bought an Inkbird to regulate a waterbath for my FVs and demijohns. The temp of these is often two degrees warmer or cooler than the waterbath temperature. So the Tilt allows better control of wort or must during the phases of fermentation from rapid to slow - and I adjust the Inkbird accordingly. My latest WOW took two weeks to reach 1.000 but I can see that is is still dropping - one point a day, so I hope it gets to 0.995 eventually.

 

[Richie_asg1]

It's an innovative bit of kit, and well packaged so quite a lot of development has gone into this - which costs money. I can see why they are charging what they are at the moment because they want to meet that payback intersection point as soon as possible.
I've manufactured an electronic product recently on sale, but it has taken me just over a year of development, at least 3 failures, a fair bit of cash in components and a learning curve in pcb design & simulation packages. Even getting your boxes or a sticker made and printed takes time effort and costs for a run of 500.

I wouldn't buy one - yet, because as soon as you make something and put it out on the market, you think of improvements. I can see several with this design already. Maybe you can too, so will see what happens as near copies start to emerge.

 

[user 18729]

I think I’ll carry on using the racking arm to draw off the odd sample from my SS brewbucket! £130 will buy a lot of ingredients

 

[HarryFlatters]

I don't take FG readings most of the time, I just assume after 3 weeks it's as done as it'll be and package it

 

[user 18729]

I don't take FG readings most of the time, I just assume after 3 weeks it's as done as it'll be and package it

That’s my kind of brewing in a nut shell! The samples are really just an excuse to try the beer!

 

[MonkeyMick]

My intention onve ive finished building my iSpindel is to use it mainly to monitor temperature in my brewfridge - I work away from home a lot, and the power in the garage keeps tripping.

The plan is that I can then get my missus to reset the power if I see the temperature drop over a couple of hours..

Plus its a gadget, and I can impress folks at work with pretty beer related graphs....

 

[aamcle]

Get a iSpindle much cheaper but neither of them add much to your brewing once you have seen the curve a time of two the device will sit in a draw.


Aamcle

 

[RichK]

I can't answer the poll. I bought one but don't think they're good value. I did consider building an iSpindel but patience isn't always my strong point so bought a Tilt on a whim. I do think the data from the Tilt is useful (I work with data for my job...) but it's far from essential, though I wouldnt (now) want to be without it.

My whimsical analogy is a dishwasher. We managed fine for many years without one. Then got given one. Now we wouldn't be without it. Still got a sink & bowl though which can be used.

 

[kelper]

They are $135 in the States ~£110. If the price here dropped to £99 I think they would become very popular.

 

[SteveB.]

I recently bought the DIY iSpindel kit off a seller on eBay. If you have the DIY skills then it's easy to build and program. The calibration is a bit tedious with the sugar solution but you only have to do it once and your set.
I have set it up with the BrewSpy App for logging data and all works via the WiFi just fine. Yet to test it in a real brew, but that is planned for next week.