A couple updates.
First the Irish Red, It’s been in the keg for almost a week, so we tapped it. It definitely attenuated a whole lot, and definitely was not infected. NO off flavors, or souring. Nice maleness, but not that hint of caramel-sweetness. I bit too dry, but it doesn’t taste like it’s 0.998 though. I could totally believe 1.008 though.
So I attempted my experiment today. Instead of a simple syrup though, I made another beer. (De Belge Farmhouse IPA, 3-gal if anyone cares.) I brew BIAB kits, but my process is more like the standard cooler-based mash tun, with a batch sparge.
So I compared the Tilt to my glass hydrometer using
- Tap water - exact match: 1.001
- First Runnings - Close enough: hydrometer 1.081 vs Tilt 1.080
- Second Runnings - Fail I didn’t save enough so the Tilt didn’t float
- OG in the fermenter. – This is where it gets interesting.
When I put the beer in the fermenter, in the basement, It read 10 points lower than what I measured with the glass hydrometer. glass:1.064, Tilt:1.054.
Here’s what I put together… When I set up the tilt, and when I did all the experimentation, I was using the App on my phone, BUT when I put the beer in the the fermenter (a 7.1cu ft chest freezer) I have a Raspberry pi running TiltPi. When I double-checked the calibration all the data was missing. As it turns out, the calibration info is stored in the APP, NOT the device itself!! My phone has the data points, but the TiltPi does not. All my readings that matched were on the phone, while all the readings from the Raspberry Pi are 10 points off.
So that’s the answer. The Tilt works fine BUT you need to do calibrations using the exact instance of the app that you intend to use for tracking the fermentation. That AND really attenuated Notty.