Its easy to look at a system like Kladue's and become overwhelmed by the amount of work it would take to get there. Since you are learning electronics and programming as you build your system this makes it even more of a daunting task.
I personally do not have the patience to build a complete automate ebrewery in one big effort. I decided to break down my efforts into stages that provide me with some sort of benefit at each step.
1. I first built an eKeggle and cobbled together some firmware for a PSOC dev kit to drive it. Initially I just had PWM control, but I now have added a temp sensor and can switch between manually and automatic modes. The benefit from this step was to be able to do a full volume boil and do 10 gallon batches. Previously I was doing partial mash in a 5 gallon pot on a turkey fryer burner.
2. The second step was to jump to all grain. I dual purposed a picnic cooler I already had by building a CPVC manifold and buying a cooler bulkhead and valve. In the long scheme of things the CPVC manifold will hopefully be the only throwaway work as I plan to use another keg for a mash tun in the future. When I am not brewing I can take out the manifold and bulkhead and place the original drain back in it to go camping.
3. My next step is to convert the second keg into a mash tun and assemble a RIMs tube. This will allow me to have finer temp control and to do step mashes.
I am in the process of switching jobs so I have been really busy with that and I haven't had much time to work on the brewery but I am finding some time here and there to switch over to the Arduino. As I will be leaving my company next week I need to return the PSOC dev kit and I am not a huge fan of it so I decided to switch to a different micro/platform.
Eventually I want to add a second pump, automated valve control, HLT and who knows what else, but by staging it in such a way that I get some sort of benefit from each step this makes it easier to take on such a large project.
I personally do not have the patience to build a complete automate ebrewery in one big effort. I decided to break down my efforts into stages that provide me with some sort of benefit at each step.
1. I first built an eKeggle and cobbled together some firmware for a PSOC dev kit to drive it. Initially I just had PWM control, but I now have added a temp sensor and can switch between manually and automatic modes. The benefit from this step was to be able to do a full volume boil and do 10 gallon batches. Previously I was doing partial mash in a 5 gallon pot on a turkey fryer burner.
2. The second step was to jump to all grain. I dual purposed a picnic cooler I already had by building a CPVC manifold and buying a cooler bulkhead and valve. In the long scheme of things the CPVC manifold will hopefully be the only throwaway work as I plan to use another keg for a mash tun in the future. When I am not brewing I can take out the manifold and bulkhead and place the original drain back in it to go camping.
3. My next step is to convert the second keg into a mash tun and assemble a RIMs tube. This will allow me to have finer temp control and to do step mashes.
I am in the process of switching jobs so I have been really busy with that and I haven't had much time to work on the brewery but I am finding some time here and there to switch over to the Arduino. As I will be leaving my company next week I need to return the PSOC dev kit and I am not a huge fan of it so I decided to switch to a different micro/platform.
Eventually I want to add a second pump, automated valve control, HLT and who knows what else, but by staging it in such a way that I get some sort of benefit from each step this makes it easier to take on such a large project.