Description
The RAPT Pill allows accurate and precise, true real-time specific gravity and temperature logging and control via wifi/bluetooth integration with the RAPT fermentation chamber, RAPT mobile app or RAPT IOT.
The RAPT Pill acts as both a real-time gravity testing hydrometer and thermometer allowing instant gravity and temperature measurements and also logging from inside your fermenter during fermentation.
The RAPT Pill boasts many advantages over other wireless hydrometers and thermometers including tough design, better ergonomics, sanitary design and less susceptible to error as a result of hops, krausen or CO2 bubbles generated from fermentation.
DOWNLOAD THE APP
The web wrapper application will assist in rendering the app.rap.io webpage into your mobile device screen. It also allows for push notifications to work to your mobile device.
The Google Play Android App can be downloaded via the link below.
https://play.google.com/store/
Different housing colours are sold separately on the website allowing customisation of your RAPT Pill. The colours available include:
BLUETOOTH BRIDGE
Although the Pill Hydrometer will work in wifi mode the optimal solution is to use the Pill in bluetooth mode as this has several advantages including:
1. Bluetooth is more power efficient so it saves battery life. This enables the Pill to save battery by only using power efficient as it’s only giving out low energy Bluetooth beacons but then the bridge device that is connected to mains power is doing the heavy lifting and transferring that data to the RAPT web portal. This is by far the most reliable way to use the Pill Hydrometer.
2. Bluetooth signal is better at penetrating through the fermenter more easily especially if you have a stainless steel fermenter or fermenter inside a fridge or fermentation chamber.
3. Bluetooth bridge mode allows you to use the Pill Hydrometer as the temperature probe to get a core fermenter temperature without the need for a thermowell. The onboard Pill Temperature sensor is also very accurate as it’s an onboard digital sensor with no flexible cable. (please not if you have just charged or been in AP mode excessive heat from the battery does effect temperatures readings so wait 30min after charging for the battery temp to reach equilibrium)
To take advantage of the Bluetooth bridge mode you will need to pair the RAPT Pill to either a RAPT fermentation chamber or a RAPT Temperature Controller. Please watch the youtube video on how to do this.
SPECIFICATIONS
*Accuracy: +/- 0.002 SG points
Temperature Range: -20C(-4F) and up to 60C(140F)
Pressure: 0-5bar
Battery: Li-Ion 18650 (we use the EVE Brand)
Size: 37mm Diameter x 125mm Long
Temperature Accuracy: +/- 0.2C (0.36F)
*Accuracy will be effected if solids are stuck to the outside of the pill hydrometer. If you shake the fermenter from time to time this generally helps to wash hops and solid chunks of krausen off the body of the Pill and through the fermentation these will generally drop to the bottom of the fermenter.
LONG BATTERY LIFE
The RAPT Pill has a long battery life and can last 5 months between charges when utilising Wifi. If only using Bluetooth the battery can last 2+ years before needing to be recharged. The RAPT Pill has a USB-C charging port on the circuit board allowing fast charging from any USB-C cable.
60min telemetry frequency – 1.5 years
15min telemetry frequency – 5 months
NOTE: This is the default telemetry frequency is 60 min so if you do not change the settings then out of the box the battery should last 1.5years approximately.
Pill Housing Design
The RAPT Pill housing boasts many advantages compared to other wireless hydrometers such as:
- Made from strong BPA Free Nylon 12 and Polyketone(POK)
Both the clear Nylon 12 and Polyketone plast are food grade, FDA approved, BPA (and free of other types of bisphenol). These are also plasticiser and phthalate-free. They also contain no endocrine disruptors making them a much better choice than polycarbonate that is used in other products. Nylon 12 and POK are also high temperature resistant, chemically resistant and extremly robust. - Greater ergonomics – The shape of the RAPT Pill has been designed for improved usability compared to other wireless hydrometers such that the Pill separates into two pieces at the midline of the Pill rather than requiring a difficult to remove end cap to be unscrewed.
- Sanitary design – The RAPT Pill has no exposed thread and a double o-ring seal which allows for a water-tight seal with reduced risk of infection.
- Less susceptible to error – The larger housing of the RAPT Pill compared to other wireless hydrometers means that the gravity logging is less susceptible to error from krausen, hops or CO2 bubbles from fermentation.
Peter Ashby (verified owner) –
Fairly easy to set up and use. Lets you store individual brews. Agrees with manual gravities. Disagreed with my Inkbird smart immersed temperature probe as to beer temperature. Might have been a level thing with probe deeper & Pill floating. Being able to monitor my more complex Pilsner without actually looking at it was a boon. Just locking it down with an airlock and monitoring it. Will get another one soon since having one in my Imperial Stout for a couple of months might be a nuisance with other brews.
Ben (verified owner) –
I think this is a great way to track the change in gravity over time without having to take manual hydrometer readings, but for my current batch the OG reading (1.056) differs from what I manually measured with a glass hydrometer (1.049). Not really an issue for me as I planned to take manual OG and FG readings anyway. Next time I use it I’ll try and use the advanced calibration option to see if it’s better.
The Pill can also be added to Brewfather which is really helpful, it syncs all the data straight into the app. The temperature reading from the Pill matches my Inkbird +/- 0.1 C. (the Inkbird probe is taped to the side of the fermenter with neoprene to insulate it).
Probably easier to set this up prior to your actual brew day to avoid any issues. and would definitely recommend googling the official instructions to set this to set it up properly. I hadn’t realised there are blue plastic tabs on both sides of the battery (one was hidden), so even though the charging light was on it wasn’t actually charging. This meant it just turned off as soon as it was unplugged for calibration, and it takes around 24 hours to charge. The WiFI connection was also too poor where I setup my fermentation chamber originally, so had to move it closer to the router.