A ESP32-based [Tilt Hydrometer](Tilt Relay to Brewfather
graph LR
A[Tilt<br/>Hydrometer] --->|Bluetooth LE<br/>iBeacon<br>gravity / temperature| B
B[ESP32<br/>microcontroller] --->|WiFi<br/>http POST<br/>json| C[brewfather.app]
- Tilt
- Tilt Pro
- BrewFather Custom Stream
The bluetooth signal from the Tilt Hydrometer is not strong enough to get throught stainless fermenters (e.g. kegs) inside a metalic fermentation chamber (e.g. a freezer). This means the default brewfather integration for the Tilts might now work properly without additional hardware.
Several solutions exists but the cheapest one is to use a microcontroller inside the fermentation chamber (e.g. freezer) to listen to the bluetooth signal and then relay it, using more powerful WiFi, to the brewfather app.
- A ESP32 microcontroller
I used a M5StickC. It's main advantage is that it comes pre-installed inside it's own case. It also has a small screen (not really needed for this project) and comes with a short USB cable (more useful to develop than for a permanent installation). Sadly it's now EOL and any supplies are likely be limited.
There is a newer M5StickC Plus model with a larger screen. However it's pricier, does not come with a USB cable and provide no additional/useful features for this project.
A cheaper option is the screen-less Atom Lite but, from other projects, I found it's WiFi antenna is less powerful and you might have issues (from inside a freezer) to connect it to your WiFi network. YMMV.
- Install VSCode
- From VSCode install the PlatformIO extension
- Clone this repository
- Include your own
private.hfile with your WiFi credentials and your BrewFather Custom Stream URL
#ifndef __PRIVATE_H__
#define __PRIVATE_H__
#define DEFAULT_SSID "wifi-ssid"
#define DEFAULT_PASSWORD "wifi-password"
#define BREWFATHER_URL "/stream?id=XXXXXXXXXX"
#endif- Build the project
- Deploy to your ESP32 microcontroller