TILT troubles!

[PeeBee]

As the author of the extensive review viewtopic.php?f=6&t=81861&start=90 I thought I'd be immune to these shenanigans, but confidence fell apart when I returned home last night to:

1849Porter.JPG (49.17 KiB) Viewed 4229 times

Hell's teeth! Is this one of those stuck fermentations folk complain about? But they don't happen to me!

But resisting the urge to panic (too late, I'm panicking!) and interfere, I left it alone and went to bed.


Next morning I could see this was an extreme example of a TILT not acting as expected. Notice the huge jump in SG yesterday (17th) morning? This is obviously the TILT getting caught up in the yeast cap. You can see a small sharp drop in SG after I rocked the fermenter, but after that it's "flat lined" again. As I've said before, a TILT caught up in the yeast mat will remain caught up for a while. My conclusion this morning is the fermentation finished yesterday morning, and the SG will be around 1.018 (it's a historic recipe and "designed" to finish high).

So, this is an extreme example of what a TILT can do, and more reason not to rely on them for final gravities (perhaps if using pathetic yeasts you can get away with it - but I'm British and want to use manly British yeasts ). So the beer is not interfered with and left safe from panic induced introductions of unwanted bugs (I avoid opening fermenters unless absolutely necessary). Hopefully this new TILT PRO I've acquired will be free of such error (when I get around to using it).


Assuming my analysis of the situation is correct?

[Carnot]

I thought you hated hydrometers?.

What about you pycnometer?

Or are you seeing the light! Enter the real wolrd. Nothing is perfect.Better start calulating the error bars

[PeeBee]

Pyknometer calculations (OG):

1849 Whitbread's Porter Wort ... (sample should be close to 20C)
46.12 - 18.28 = 27.87g ....... wt. full bottle - wt. empty bottle = wt. sample
27.87 / 26.37 = 1.057g/ml .. wt. sample / vol. sample = sample density, g/ml @ 20C
1.057 / 0.998 = 1.059 SG .... sample density / water reference density @ 20C = SG

I'll do the same for FG, but the beer is happier if I don't take the lid off just yet. Meanwhile this dodgy TILT was to fill in.

A few folk have these TILT things, they might be interested in what the things can get up to and perhaps avoid the un-necessary panic they can cause.

I don't hate hydrometers: I don't possess one to hate.

[LeeH]

Have you seen the new tilt pro peebee?

[PeeBee]

Have you seen the new tilt pro peebee?

Guess you mean one of these:

20210720_084328_WEB.jpg (99.15 KiB) Viewed 4164 times

... (beside old V1 for comparison - the new ones are huge!). [EDIT: Parallax issue with that piccie; the TILT Pro is an iceberg - the base is 1.5x wider than the top.]

Had to purchase direct from US, but arrived in 3 days and no postage costs added. I was expecting the "import duty", etc. to be required at the door, but it arrived in a letter a few days later (I thought I'd got away with it!). These are the charges that are anybody's guess, but no import duty and only "token" VAT (don't know how they work that out), although the courier charging £20 "administration" was a rip-off.[EDIT: Oops, it wasn't £20, it was £12 which maybe isn't a rip-off?]

Not ready to use it for the current brew, so it's a V2 I'm griping about here. I'll probably rig up a sampling tap later and see what's really going on (a recent racking modification is making sampling "awkward"). I'll admit to being a bit optimistic and know I might be disappointed with the "real" FG - I've used predominantly Chevallier barley malt and I know it is not a straight forward malt, but took off all the precautions using it here because I wanted it to finish high (the records say 1.018). It's time I got knocked back a peg ... but then maybe I haven't been?

[IPA]

How on earth do I manage without one. ?

[PeeBee]

Sorted out sampling from my current fermenter. And so took the opportunity to test the gravity with a refractometer. Not my favourite tool (there is good reasons to suspect the readings from them), but it came back with ...

I'm a brewing genius.

A veritable god!

A … barefaced liar!


Ah bums!

So stuck at 1.027. And it does taste pretty sweet. The Porter gets a bit of rousing (authentic) and half a packet of S-04 (unauthentic! But a yeast happy having a go at dextrin). The surface of the beer (and the TILT) was devoid of any floating rafts of yeast.

[LeeH]

How on earth do I manage without one. ?

Very well I presume, but what is your point?

[MashBag]

How on earth do I manage without one. ?

Very well I presume, but what is your point?

I'll try.

Beer had been around long before the internet and technology.

I certainly prefer myself and others to learn lifeskills - listen to what the beer tells you, rather than watch a screen.

We will soon have a generation which won't be able to brew, without a pc.

[PeeBee]

I'll try.

Beer had been around long before the internet and technology.

I certainly prefer myself and others to learn lifeskills - listen to what the beer tells you, rather than watch a screen.

We will soon have a generation which won't be able to brew, without a pc.

Luddite!

But possibly right? These forums for instance. Watching screens and failing to listen to what other people tell you. We've probably already got a generation who can't hold a conversation (never mind brew a beer) without a pc or mobile 'phone …

[Carnot]

Might be worth mentioning that you might be pushed to get any reading in a ss fermenter. As it uses wifi then then a ss fermenter will be an excellent Faraday cage.

So no much used for me. Thank goodness for hydrometers- the old fashioned type.

A further note. I bought a pycnometer with a thermometer, the sort that PeeBee dislikes. I was amazed that the thermometer uses mercury. Mecury thermometers have been banned in the UK for years.

"Since European Union directive 2007/51/EC came into force on 3 April 2009, the UK Health Protection Agency (HPA) reported that mercury thermometers could no longer be sold to the general public"

There is an alternative alloy available- Some manufacturers use galinstan, a liquid alloy of gallium, indium, and tin, as a replacement for mercury.

[PeeBee]

Might be worth mentioning that you might be pushed to get any reading in a ss fermenter. As it uses wifi then then a ss fermenter will be an excellent Faraday cage. …

I did used to think that. And the "V1", which I had "on loan" was a bit sketchy in a Grainfather fermenter. But reading about "Faraday Cages" did suggest they do not make for such a perfect screen after all. Depending on distances, frequencies, etc. Sure enough the "V2" functions fine in the GF fermenter, and pretty well out of my "heavyweight" 70L fermenter. But I also got a "Raspberry Pi" and loaded it with the free "TiltPi" software to be fixed near to the fermenters. TiltPis also allow display on a PC screen so I can take a glance and ... nope, my Porter is still at 1.027 (ish), but it's only had the remedial actions for 15 hours (and has 3-4 months before sampling proper).

The "Pi" is quite geek-free - which being designed for kids is what you'd expect.

I got the Tilt Pro 'cos it does have a more powerful radio (it's big enough to have two AA batteries which last years apparently) and have no bother reading it in the "heavyweight" 70L fermenter. Tils only transmit, not receive, and I think that is important through SS vessels?

[PeeBee]

… A further note. I bought a pycnometer with a thermometer, the sort that PeeBee dislikes. I was amazed that the thermometer uses mercury. Mecury thermometers have been banned in the UK for years. …

You're right, I don't like 'em. They appear even more fragile than the hydrometers I moan about. They wont last long in my hands!

But mercury too? Eeek. No thanks!

I'll update that earlier post of mine: All those seemingly random numbers should be labelled …

[IPA]

How on earth do I manage without one. ?

Very well I presume, but what is your point?

On a brewday I use refractometer during the mash and the boil. Once the wort is in the FV I take a sample and use a hydrometer to confirm the OG. During the fermentation I use my eyes to see how things are progressing and after 50 years of brewing I can judge pretty well how things are progressing. After the tranfer to the secondary FV I take another sample and use the hydrometer once again. Usually the gravity is one or two points above the projected FG. It usually takes a between two to four days to reach the the projected FG. I then transfer to the bottling/barreling vessel and prime with disolved cane sugar then bottle or barrel. At this stage the beer appears to the eyes to be crystal clear.
Quite simple really and it works. Without any need for electronic wizardry.
Just for the record I have more than the average amount of brewing equipment.
20 litre Braumeister + all the extas
50 litre Braumeister + all the accessories
2 SS conical fermenters
5 × 60 litre plastic FVs
4 30 litre plastic FVs
And lots more beside
My motto is spend the money on essential equipment and not on boy's toys.

[MashBag]

Luddite!

Microsoft and Cisco certified Luddite! please