Pitch (Tilt Hydrometer tool)

Pitch is an unofficial replacement for Tilt Hydrometer mobile apps and TiltPi software. Tilt hardware is required. It is designed to be easy to use and integrated with other tools like Promethues and InfluxDB for metrics, or any generic third party source using webhooks.

Why

The Tilt hardware is impressive, but the mobile apps and TiltPi are confusing and buggy. This project aims to provide a better more reliable solution, but is focused on more tech-savvy brewers than the official Tilt projects.

Features

The following features are implemented, planned, or will be investigated in the future:

• [x] Track multiple Tilts at once
• [x] Calibrate Tilt readings with known good values
• [x] Prometheus Metrics
• [x] Tilt status log file (JSON)
• [X] InfluxDB 1.0 and 2.0 Metrics
• [X] Multiple logging and metric sources simultaneously
• [X] Webhooks for supporting generic integrations (similar to Tilt's Cloud Logging feature)
• [X] Gravity, original gravity, ABV, temperature and apparent attenuation
• [X] Custom Beer/brew names (e.g. purple tilt = Pumpkin Ale)
• [X] Brewing Cloud Services (Brewfather, Brewer's Friend, Grainfather, more can be requested!)
• [ ] Google Sheets (using any Google Drive)

Installation

Pitch will only work on Linux, with libbluetooth-dev installed. See examples/install/prereq.sh for an example of how to do this using apt-get (Ubuntu, Raspberry Pi, etc).

After setting up prereqs install using: pip3 install tilt-pitch Pitch can be run using: python3 -m pitch

Configuration

Custom configurations can be used by creating a file pitch.json in the working directory you are running Pitch from.

Rate Limiting and Batching

A single Tilt can emit several events per second. To avoid overloading integrations with data events are queued with a max queue size set via the queue_size configuration parameter. If new events are broadcast from a Tilt and the queue is full, they are ignored. Events are removed from the queue once all enabled providers have handled the event. Additionally some providers may implement their own queueing or rate limiting. InfluxDB for example waits until a certain queue size is met before sending a batch of events, and the Brewfather and Grainfather integrations will only send updates every fifteen minutes.

Refer to the above configuration and the integration list below for details on how this works for different integrations.

Calibration

You can calibrate temperature and gravity for each Tilt by color. To do this stop Pitch if it is running in the background, then run the following command:

pitch --calibrate={color} --actual-temp=70 --actual-gravity=1.060

Pitch will run for 5 seconds, and log any readings from the color given along with recommended offsets to gravity and temperature. These can be put in the pitch.json config file to calibrate the Tilt. Recommendations will be positive when a Tilt is reading low, but negative when a Tilt is reading high.

Example output:

pitch --calibrate=purple --actual-gravity=1.070 --actual-temp=50
purple: gravity=1.035, gravity_offset=0.03500000000000014; temp_f=70, temp_offset=-20
purple: gravity=1.035, gravity_offset=0.03500000000000014; temp_f=70, temp_offset=-20
purple: gravity=1.035, gravity_offset=0.03500000000000014; temp_f=70, temp_offset=-20

Running without a Tilt or on Mac/Windows

If you want to run Tilt on a non-linux system, for development, or without a Tilt you can use the --simulate-beacons flag to create fake beacon events instead of scanning for Tilt events via Bluetooth.

python3 -m pitch --simulate-beacons

Integrations

• Prometheus
• InfluxDb
• Webhook
• JSON Log File
• Brewfather
• Brewer's Friend
• Grainfather
• Taplist.io
• Azure IoT Hub

Don't see one you want, send a PR implementing CloudProviderBase

Prometheus Metrics

Prometheus metrics are hosted on port 8000 by default. No rate limiting or batching is used for Prometheus.

For each Tilt the followed Prometheus metrics are created:

# HELP pitch_beacons_received_total Number of beacons received
# TYPE pitch_beacons_received_total counter
pitch_beacons_received_total{name="Pumpkin Ale", color="purple"} 3321.0

# HELP pitch_temperature_fahrenheit Temperature in fahrenheit
# TYPE pitch_temperature_fahrenheit gauge
pitch_temperature_fahrenheit{name="Pumpkin Ale", color="purple"} 69.0

# HELP pitch_temperature_celcius Temperature in celcius
# TYPE pitch_temperature_celcius gauge
pitch_temperature_celcius{name="Pumpkin Ale", color="purple"} 21.0

# HELP pitch_gravity Gravity of the beer
# TYPE pitch_gravity gauge
pitch_gravity{name="Pumpkin Ale", color="purple"} 1.035

# HELP pitch_alcohol_by_volume ABV of the beer
# TYPE pitch_alcohol_by_volume gauge
pitch_alcohol_by_volume{name="Pumpkin Ale", color="purple"} 5.63

# HELP pitch_apparent_attenuation Apparent attenuation of the beer
# TYPE pitch_apparent_attenuation gauge
pitch_apparent_attenuation{name="Pumpkin Ale", color="purple"} 32.32

Webhook

Unlimited webhooks URLs can be configured using the config option webhook_urls. Webhooks are rate limited per URL and per Tilt, the rate limit is configurable.

Webhooks are sent as HTTP POST with the following json payload:

{
    "name": "Pumpkin Ale",
    "color": "purple",
    "temp_fahrenheit": 69,
    "temp_celsius": 21,
    "gravity": 1.035,
    "alcohol_by_volume": 5.63,
    "apparent_attenuation": 32.32
}

JSON Log File

Tilt status broadcast events can be logged to a json file using the config option log_file_path. Each event is a newline. Example file:

{"timestamp": "2020-09-11T02:15:30.525232", "name": "Pumpkin Ale", "color": "purple", "temp_fahrenheit": 70, "temp_celsius": 21, "gravity": 0.997, "alcohol_by_volume": 5.63, "apparent_attenuation": 32.32}
{"timestamp": "2020-09-11T02:15:32.539619", "name": "Pumpkin Ale", "color": "purple", "temp_fahrenheit": 70, "temp_celsius": 21, "gravity": 0.997, "alcohol_by_volume": 5.63, "apparent_attenuation": 32.32}
{"timestamp": "2020-09-11T02:15:33.545388", "name": "Pumpkin Ale", "color": "purple", "temp_fahrenheit": 70, "temp_celsius": 21, "gravity": 0.997, "alcohol_by_volume": 5.63, "apparent_attenuation": 32.32}
{"timestamp": "2020-09-11T02:15:34.548556", "name": "Pumpkin Ale", "color": "purple", "temp_fahrenheit": 70, "temp_celsius": 21, "gravity": 0.997, "alcohol_by_volume": 5.63, "apparent_attenuation": 32.32}
{"timestamp": "2020-09-11T02:15:35.557411", "name": "Pumpkin Ale", "color": "purple", "temp_fahrenheit": 70, "temp_celsius": 21, "gravity": 0.997, "alcohol_by_volume": 5.63, "apparent_attenuation": 32.32}
{"timestamp": "2020-09-11T02:15:36.562158", "name": "Pumpkin Ale", "color": "purple", "temp_fahrenheit": 70, "temp_celsius": 21, "gravity": 0.996, "alcohol_by_volume": 5.63, "apparent_attenuation": 32.32}

InfluxDB Metrics

Metrics can be sent to an InfluxDB database. See Configuration section for setting this up. Pitch does not create the database so it must be created before using Pitch. Tilt events are sent to InfluxDB in batches, data is not sent until the batch size is reached. The batch size does not take color into account, so a batch of 50 purple events works the same as 25 purple and 25 red.

Each beacon event from a Tilt will create a measurement like this:

{
    "measurement": "tilt",
    "tags": {
        "name": "Pumpkin Ale",
        "color": "purple"
    },
    "fields": {
        "temp_fahrenheit": 70,
        "temp_celsius": 21,
        "gravity": 1.035,
        "alcohol_by_volume": 5.63,
        "apparent_attenuation": 32.32
    }
}

and can be queried with something like:

SELECT mean("gravity") AS "mean_gravity" FROM "pitch"."autogen"."tilt" WHERE time > :dashboardTime: AND time < :upperDashboardTime: AND "name"='Pumpkin Ale' GROUP BY time(:interval:) FILL(previous)

InfluxDB 2.0 Metrics

Metrics can be sent to an InfluxDB 2.0 database. See Configuration section for details on setting it up. Pitch does not create the bucket. This integration uses the same batching logic, output format, and configuration as the 1.0 integration above.

Shared configuration values:

• influxdb_timeout
• influxdb_batch_size

Brewfather

Tilt data can be logged to Brewfather using their Custom Log Stream feature. See Configuration section for setting this up in the Pitch config. Brewfather only allows logging data every fifteen minutes per Tilt which Pitch adheres to. Devices will show as PitchTilt{color}.

To setup login into Brewfather > Settings > PowerUps > Enable Custom Stream > Copy the URL into your Pitch config

Grainfather

Tilt data can be logged to Grainfather using their Custom Fermenation Device feature. See Configuration section for setting this up in the Pitch config. Grainfather only allows logging data ever fifteen minutes per Tilt which Pitch adheres to. You must create a custom device per Tilt and save each URL into the Pitch config.

To setup login into Grainfather > My Equipment > Add Fermenation Device > Set the name and save > Press the "i" (info) button next to the device > Copy the URL into pitch.config

Brewer's Friend

Tilt data can be logged to Brewer's Friend using their Custom App Stream feature. See Configuration section for setting this up in the Pitch config. Brewer's Friend only allows logging data every fifteen minutes per Tilt which Pitch adheres to. Devices will show as Pitch-Tilt-{color} as custom devices (they will not appear as Tilts).

To setup login into Brewer's Friend > Profile > Integrations > Copy Api Key

Taplist.io

Tilt data can be logged to Taplist.io using the Tilt Integration feature.

To setup, log into Taplist.io and visit Account > Integrations > Tilt Hydrometer. Copy the Webhook URL value into your Pitch config as taplistio_url.

Azure IoT Hub

Tilt data can be logged as IoT telemetry to Azure IoT hub and processed by a variety of services like Event Hubs, Stream Analytics and Power BI.

To set up, follow the instructions at Microsoft Learn to configure the IoT hub and create a new device to receive your Tilt's measurements.

Examples

See the examples directory for:

• InfluxDB Grafana Dashboard
• Running Pitch as a systemd service
• pitch.json configuration file

Other

Buy me a coffee (beer)

If you like Pitch, feel free to coffee (or a beer) here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/linjmeyer

Name

It's an unofficial tradition to name tech projects using nautical terms. Pitch is a term used to describe the tilting/movement of a ship at sea. Given pitching is also a brewing term, it seemed like a good fit.