Thank you to HBF Contributor Aaron Nord for this hands on review! Aaron is an advanced award winning brewer, a long time reader and a serial tipster!
Updated: October 10, 2024
iSpindel
Having the ability to precisely control fermentation temperatures was the change to my brewing setup I credit with one of the largest improvements in my finished beer quality. Being able to dial in specific temperatures for lagers, perform diacetyl rests for both ales and lagers, and cold crash a finished beer helped me to better control what was happening inside my fermenter. One of the data inputs that informed when to change the fermenter temperature was the gravity of the fermenting wort. At various times through the fermentation, I would test a sample to know where the wort was on its journey to become beer. Taking multiple samples was time consuming and it resulted in a loss, albeit a small loss, of the finished product due to the number of samples I was taking.
Enter the electronic, submersible hydrometer – a tool that can read out not only the gravity of a fermenting liquid, but also its temperature all from inside the fermenter, relieving the need to take numerous samples throughout the fermentation process. In addition, many of these devices could connect to an external source and log the data for the user to read in real-time. The brewer and technologist in me were both excited to see what one of these tools had to offer.
The iSpindel is one of a few offerings to homebrewers today in the category of an electronic, submersible hydrometer which also include the Tilt and Float products (I do have experience with the Tilt, which I will discuss later, but will focus on the iSpindel primarily in this review). All products rely on a sensor that can measure the angle of the device in order to calculate the gravity of the liquid. The iSpindel was born out of a desire to make a more cost-effective version of an electronic tilt measurement-based hydrometer, according to the creator, as the other offerings on the market are typically above the $100 mark.
I purchased my iSpindel on eBay from a seller in Canada for roughly half the price of the other devices available:
https://www.ebay.com/usr/wilbrod45
Prebuilt iSpindel:
RARE Deal on TILT Bluetooth Hydrometer! – $114.75 at Amazon w/Coupon!
Continue reading →
Thanks to John for the 
