KegLand - RAPT Pill Hydrometer/Thermometer - Preview

Check out our Hands On Review of the RAPT Pill

Along with the next iteration of their BrewZilla - another KegLand product that's no doubt generating a lot of interest is their Rapt Pill. The Rapt Pill is a wireless hydrometer/thermometer aimed squarely at the homebrewing market and has surely been created as an alternative to the Tilt Hydrometer (or iSpindle).

The product is currently on the KegLand website as out of stock with an expected availability date of 15 November, 2021.

https://www.kegland.com.au/rapt-pill-hydrometer-thermometer-wifi-bluetooth.html

Here are some of the key features being touted for the unit;

• Real time gravity and temperature testing
• Less susceptible to error caused by hops, krausen or CO2 bubbles attaching to the unit due to the larger housing design
• Readings can be logged via the RAPT mobile app, or the RAPT IOT hub on a windows/mac device
• Long battery life - 2-5 months between charges when utilising wifi. If only using bluetooth then battery may last up to 2 years
• USB-C charging port
• Optional upgradeable external antenna
• Made from BPA free plastic
• Pill is joined/screwed together in the middle as opposed to having a cap on one end
• No exposed thread and double o-ring seal making easy to clean/sanitise
• Different housing colour options (red, blue, green, yellow)
• Can be used in any fermentation vessel (plastic, steel, carboys etc) - including pressurisable fermenters like the FermZilla

The price point of the Pill is currently $49.95 on the KegLand website and presents a significantly cheaper option when compared to the Tilt Hydrometer (retailing for around AU$200). There is also the iSpindle which is another cheaper alternative to the Tilt Hydrometer but is open source, requires assembly and more work/effort to get up and running.

We expect the Rapt Pill to be fully plug and play - except for a simple calibration that needs to be done prior to use which makes it incredibly appealing - especially at the currently advertised price point.

All the known features/points listed above indicate a very promising product with great functionality. The external antenna is also a great idea since many homebrewers use converted fridges for fermentation chambers (including us) which act like a faraday cage by not letting wireless signals pass in or out very easily. This causes problems with wifi connectivity for devices inside the fridge - especially if your wifi router is located a long way from the fridge.

The RAPT Pill will form part of the RAPT ecosystem that KegLand are currently working on - the overall idea is having all of these RAPT products integrate with one another. An example scenario could be that once your RAPT pill hits the expected final gravity for the fermenting beer - it could communicate with the RAPT fermentation chamber and begin cold crashing the fermenter - all automatically. Pretty cool and exciting stuff.

Other RAPT compatible products include the recently released fermentation chamber and temperature control box. We expect the next BrewZilla to form part of the RAPT ecosystem and there's whispers of a gas controller and a keg volume level checker.

One question that remains unclear is whether the Pill will be 'locked' to the RAPT ecosystem so can only be used/connected with the RAPT IOT hub/app. KegLand have confirmed in a forum post that they are working on an API for their RAPT range that will allow integration with 3rd party applications such as Brewfather.

In any case we're very much looking forward to the release of the RAPT Pill and will post a detailed review shortly after release.