Lets talk about Hydrometers, Refractometers, Plaato, iSpindel, Tilt, Floaty, Floaty 2 and Pills!

[@KegLand]

Thanks Gash. Great video and good to have a video like this that covers all the different types. Top work.

[@makebreakrepeat]

Great video! I appreciate how thorough you are. I've been using a handful of iSpindels with pretty good results. The calibration really is tedious, but it was a good price and since moving from beersmith to brewfather, seeing the data is way easier. If you have a spindel, give GravityMon a look. It's much better than the stock firmware.

Thanks, nice overview. During mash and boil, I use a refractometer, before pitching and before kegging I used to use a hydrometer, but for my birthday I upgraded to Easy Dens 2 it is convenient not to throw away 300ml of beer. I also bought and made Ispindel on my own but never ended up using it. Just thought of putting a battery in beer convinced me to forget about it for now.

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

I am considering an EasyDen, keep your eye out :) Cheers!

[@NikitaVorontsov]

Nice comparison! Gotta admit the Tilt was a complete game changer for me. Took brewing from obsessing about daily gravity measurements (just in case) to leaving it going and being able to track via the spreadsheet!

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

So much fun, I didn't expect :) Cheers mate!

[@beecherhoward]

The exact video I needed! Was looking over refractometers and the tilt and couldn't decide

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

Thanks for taking a look mate!

[@pawwaldner8628]

Does the DIY ispindel hydrometer fit into the hole of a glass carboy...??

[@stephensizer9917]

Great video Gash. I love using my tilt. I think the key with those types is to accept that the trade off for the convenience is that they're an indication, rather than a completely accurate absolute value. Btw, the tilt goes to sleep vertical and horizontal

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

Totally agree! Cheers mate!

[@LeJimster]

I just did my first brew in years and I was using my refractormeter thinking it was dialled in. When my cider got "stuck" at 1.015, I was trying all sorts of things to get the fermentation going again. It was only when I tried using my old hydrometer that it said I was at 1.000 that I realised I'd screwed up and my refractormeter wasn't correctly calibrated. I'm now looking at get an iSpindel for future brews so I can have an idea of whats going on without having to take samples every day.

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

Refracs don't work with alcohol in the mix, need to use calculators to convert the readings, refracs are in their element on brew days, small sample, easy to cool fast. Cheers

[@LeJimster]

@@HomeBrewNetwork I never knew that. 😂 thanks for the info!

[@andvil01]

Have you used the pill, tilt, or floaty in pressure fermenting? In what pressure?

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

all of the above, I dont normally ferment over 10psi, but thats for other reasons. They have all worked fine. Cheers!

[@andvil01]

@@HomeBrewNetwork Thanks. I use to pressure ferment at 1,5 bar and 15 degree C. Works fine for the lagers in a 30l keg. At work (I am process technician at a large brewery) we have 15 m high tanks, so the pressure in the bottom is about 1,5 bar. Cheers

[@UnitBeerMonsta]

Hey with the rapt pill how do you reset it for a new brew?? I have no idea how to with mine

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

You can run a profile. Or otherwise its just setting the dates of the brew. The Rapt portal is continually being updated. On the main page you can use the grey squares over the timeline and slide them to adjust graph. I'm not completely up to date with it right now. Cheers!

[@irish1759able]

Only ordered the new floaty during the week. Can't wait for it to be delivered 🍻

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

I reckon it'll be great!

[@Skid-Baxter]

I'm convinced your fish was mocking you at times! Like others have said, you covered the topic well. Outstanding video Gash. Cheers mate!

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

Yeah lol I noticed it was being weird when I was editing the video lol it was like it was looking at the camera too lol its the cat bowl for you fish!

[@SimpleHomeBrew]

Nice bit of info, I have been trying the plaato and have had problems using it with my WiFi (keeps disconnecting) I feel it may be my connection so I can't rely on it every time it disconnects it resets it's configuration and start from scratch. I will be testing it more.

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

What a bugger, I hope it sorts itself out mate!

[@letsbrewbeer]

I'd like to get one of those tilt hydrometers or digital refractos. The pill looks handy too

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

They are a good little toy! Cheers!

[@benone2three]

Can any of these be used whilst pressure fermenting or would this just skew the readings in any case?

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

They can all be used in pressure fermenting. Cheers!

[@hardyardsbrewers1225]

Thanks Gash really in depth look into SG readers, I use an Anton Paar meter at the brewery but a floaty type device that shows real time readings would be great 👌 cheers Mate, Mike 🍻🍻

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

there may or not be an anton paar device in the near future, not like yours .. but.. :)

[@joeleklom4591]

Hey Gavin the container the devices fit into it’s called a pre-form made here in Australia they are used for PET bottles

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

They are hard to get your hands on! If you have any contacts that would be awesome! Cheers

[@joeleklom4591]

No worries Gav just give me the hight and OG of the neck

[@TheChemicalOli]

Thanx for this great overview. If u are into accuracy, then u have to try the easydens.

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

Thanks for the tip! I have one on the way :) Cheers!

[@unclefester9229]

Hi Gash - Did you follow up on the plaato? Are they worth using? Cheers, Fester

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

I didnt try it to be honest, they are stopping making their stuff, think they are done mate. cheers!

[@unclefester9229]

@@HomeBrewNetwork I have had one for 2 years, never got around to using it - the same as you, Ive been pretty much pressure fermenting everything. Ill set it up with something that I use US05 with and compare it's Co2 bubble count to the hydrometer. stay well.

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

@@unclefester9229 Let me know how it goes mate, I'd totally forgotten about it!

[@aidanw2980]

Hey Gavin have you noticed the Kegland PIL to be out as i calibrated mine in water before using it and i’m seeing a difference of about 7 points between it and my hydro sample so not sure which one i should be taking as accurate. It still works to give me an indication of how the ferment is going but annoying there is such a big difference. maybe i need to calibrate again between this and the next batch.

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

What some do, is do the two step calibrate, so you have it some star san or something on brew day, zero it out in that, and then you add it to your fermenter that you know the OG of, let it settle 5 mins and use that as the second step in the calibrate. That should get you really close.. Then if you dont drop it or mess around with it, it should be good for a good few ferments, its not always going to be perfect none of mine are in any brand, but it should be close, and then you can join it to brewfather or something and add the adjustment of points in there so it all looks good on your graph.

[@stripeyjoe]

Hi Gash, great video. Shame you’ve had no joy with the iSpindel, I’ve got two and they work great. I bought them built and pre-calibrated for about £40. Couple of points… Not sure about Australia but in the UK you can buy them pre-calibrated and even connected up to your brewing app of choice. Makes life a lot easier! You don’t need to remove the board at all, the battery is recharged from the USB port at the top, all you need to do is take the lid off. With all of them, if you move the PCB then you’ll need to recalibrate as the balance will have been altered, not sure how easy it is to get the PCB back exactly the same position. Cheers!

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

G'day Joe! yeah I didn't want anything to do with them for a long while, but after making some myself and getting the hang of things, I realise they will work, I just had other types that worked without the troubles, but that's just lucky/unlucky lol Cheers mate!

[@richardwilkinson77]

Agree with this. No need to remove the board to charge the iSpindel battery. Charge via the USB connector at the top of the board when you remove the cap. In fact better not to remove the board as the calibration process is the biggest pain in the bum with these. Took me less time to build mine than to calibrate it!

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

@@richardwilkinson77 it was faulty, nothing was was working right, so I kept removing to try and spot a bad solder or something, I did study as a digital technician for over 2 years full time, used to make my own circuit boards etc, but I never spotted the faulty surface mounts which is what we think it was. Since they just fell off after a while. Besides all that all the other models that have come after the ispindel have tried to improve things the ispindel though it’s had a couple, just seems to be left behind. Cheers!

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

@@richardwilkinson77 as I said, just unlucky, but the other designs make more sense to me.

[@speedy0987654]

I've got the Ispindel, it's been great with the brewfather app until I did a cold crash and it stopped recording. Found it had condensation on the inside of the tube which must have shorted out the board. Anyone else had this issue?

[@oliverhooper6017]

Nice overview. One thing you didnt mention is instead of using the same hydrometer for OG and FG you can get hydrometers for OG and ones for FG with a more accurate scale giving a more accurate reading.

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

Gday Oliver, to be honest I haven't seen a "before" and "after" hydro set for beer? That's interesting! I think my spirits set has something like that. Cheers!

[@BitterRealityBrewing]

I was like 27 minutes? You really did a great job covering a ton of hydrometers in record time in my opinion as I'd taken over an hour or two. 😂 Cheers and keep up the great work!🍻

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

I hear you mate, and a lot ended up on the cutting floor lol cheers!

[@chriselliott3984]

Thanks for the video Gash. I just got a few RAPT pills to go with my RAPT fridge, looking forward to your video. I have used a tilt, but the lack of wifi is a pain. I've been tempted to get a digital refractometer, but it's a lot of coin to drop. Do you reckon it's been worth the upgrade for you? Northern brewer sells hydrometers with larger scales just for beer which I think would make it easier for my failing eyes to read accurately. I'd love to get one, but haven't been able to find any in Aus and they don't ship international. Is there anything local you've seen?

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

The coopers ones have a much larger scale so if you don't soak them they might help. I've got one here you can try or have, probably not worth posting it, but if your close you can have it. Otherwise you can buy them from coopers. If you look here its about double the normal size. ibb.co/W5vzN4c . Cheers!

[@chriselliott3984]

@@HomeBrewNetwork thanks mate. I’m in Canberra, so a bit far to go for a Cooper’s hydrometer 😂

[@StassBrewing]

Cheers Gash! Great vid

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

Thanks Stass!

[@aussiejas6599]

Gret stuf Gav

[@kermets]

Hay Gash do any of the pills use windows programs to record and graph the readings ? cant be bothered mucking around with a app on a small screen like my phone cheers Brett

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

They connect to the wifi and then you can read them from any browser with internet access. Cheers!

[@jonburchell2760]

Thanks Gash. Good overview. I myself have been using a couple of ispindels for a few years. Bit of hassle to setup but once done I have found them to be very reliable and surprisingly accurate. I wouldn't mind having a go at a floaty next. Are you selling those 3d printed chassis by any chance?

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

I was going to offload some, things are just very busy here at the moment. I'll be back onto those as soon as possible. Cheers mate!

[@andy1982222]

Great video

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

Thanks Andy, Cheers mate!

[@benfuller3073]

Great stuff mate. Just waiting for kegland to get the Pill back in stock. Didn't know about the floaty so that's another possibility.

[@o3ville1]

Cheers mate, was really waiting for the pill to finally be released but now the floatie looks like a good contender... Thanks for the video 👍

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

No problem 👍 Pills are good too, either or! Cheers mate!

[@rumontap5052]

Was really looking at getting the floaty hydrometer till it was almost.$200aud. so think I'll wait for the pill to come in stock at less then half the price

[@jameration]

Density meters might be expensive but they are the best solution for gravity readings. Anton Paar's product, EasyDens is a good solution for homebrewers.

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

I will try one soon, they look awesome! Cheers!

[@janhanchenmichelsen2627]

Ispindel is very cheap as a kit. Not that hard to build, but it seems like every kit is different and the instructions are often just VERY vague guidelines. On my kit I had to flip the main chip upside down ;-) Then you do need to fiddle a lot with flashing, balancing (sand down the edges and use a foam strip to friction-fix the PCB), various settings and calibrations. But mine does work in a way, and Brewfather is nice as connected software. Reliable? Not really. Accurate. Well … not really. But nice for monitoring temp changes (when fermenting in the cellar) and to get basic info for when the yeast activity is slowing down. Recommended as a fun project, REALLY NOT recommended if you hate tinkering and time consuming problem solving.

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

Exactly Jan, thanks for taking a look. Cheers mate!

[@janhanchenmichelsen2627]

@@HomeBrewNetwork You welcome. Just a friendly "warning" to those who want to try building. Do it for fun, not to save money. Patience and some electronic and computer skills also required. ;-)

[@98pharaoh]

Gash checkout the Brewbrain Float. I'm pretty happy with mine.

[@bulldog9708]

Big fish, small tank

[@HomeBrewNetwork]

That fish, just 2 months ago was in a tank maybe a 1/4 the size.. I upgraded the tank and it exploded, its just a pet shop goldfish... lol it's incredible it's lived this long... I used to keep massive tropical tanks etc.. I sold them all.. but the kids wanted a goldfish.. we bought 2.. one died, this one is insane. lol