The Untappd Kegerator

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jkarp

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Need to do some better lighted pics for the final project writeup, but here's my finished Untappd enhanced kegerator.

How it works:
An interrupt routine on the Arduino calculates the RPM of flow meters installed in the tap beer lines. Once it notices a tap flowing, it performs a beer "checkin" API call to api.untappd.com, lights the corresponding LED, and begins a 5 minute "lockout" timer to prevent multiple check-ins (from topping off a pint, etc). If the connection to api.untappd.com fails for some reason, the LEDs will flash alternately to signal the fault and the lockout will be cleared. For kegerator maintenance (or pouring a pint for the neighbor), a button can be pressed to also suppress check-ins for 5 minutes. Both LEDs light in this case to signify the bypass. The Arduino also serves out a simple web server to the LAN for conveniently changing the Untappd beer IDs currently on each tap. Updates are saved to EEPROM.

Future enhancements:
There's lots of other cool Untappd API calls. I'd really like to have a small display (maybe Chumby sized?) on top of the kegerator, showing my Untappd friends beer check-ins in real-time. Also got an eye for Adafruit's PN532 RFID shield. It would be cool to hand out RFID tags to friends so the kegerator could recognize and check-in their pulls too! Some sound effects for Untappd badge awards would also be fun (and easy) to code.

Here's the Arduino code, if you happen to feel like building your own untappd kegerator: http://pastebin.com/i2nBqicg Pretty much all the parts, including the flow meters, are available from Adafruit Industries.

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What flow meters are you using? Are they specifically "food safe"?
 
how the hell do you get started with these Arduino things... i bet some really cools stuff could be done with them...

How do you know which Arduino product you need to use? Where do you get accessories for it? etc..etc..
 
They're made of nylon, including the pinwheel. 2.0MPa max pressure, which is more than plenty for kegged beer.
 
how the hell do you get started with these Arduino things... i bet some really cools stuff could be done with them...


If you want to get into the Arduino, just do some looking online. www.arduino.cc has a lot of great info to get started. This is a great TED talk that one of the Arduino creators gave recently: http://www.ted.com/talks/massimo_banzi_how_arduino_is_open_sourcing_imagination.html


How do you know which Arduino product you need to use? Where do you get accessories for it? etc..etc..

The important thing to remember about the Arduino is that it's not really made to be part of an "Arduino line of devices". It's essentially just a microcontroller and the parts you would normally use to support it. You interface with it much like you would any other microcontroller.

That being said, a few companies have come out with modules that are made to work with the Arduino or other development boards. Check out http://www.seeedstudio.com, www.sparkfun.com, and www.adafruit.com.
 
how the hell do you get started with these Arduino things... i bet some really cools stuff could be done with them...

How do you know which Arduino product you need to use? Where do you get accessories for it? etc..etc..

Pick up an Uno, a small breadbaord, some 1K ohm resistors, and momentary switches - all can be had from your local Radio Shack. That's enough to get started with learning the code, blinking some lights, reading button presses, etc.

Once you're comfortable, Adafruit and SparkFun are outstanding places to buy sensors and more advanced goodies from because they do such an outstanding job of documenting their stuff. Limor Fried writes example Arduino code for just about every product Adafruit sells.

Oh, and if you've never done any C coding, you'll probably want to work through a couple tutorials on the Net.
 
Also got an eye for Adafruit's PN532 RFID shield. It would be cool to hand out RFID tags to friends so the kegerator could recognize and check-in their pulls too!

This would be awesome when we start seeing NFC enabled smartphones. Just being able to tap your phone against the keg, then pull a pint and have it checkin for you. The smartphone could handle the untappd api stuff and all the keg would need is the rfid with the beerid on tap.

Cool stuff, thanks for sharing!
 
The Untappd Kegerator project has been updated to support the new Untappd V4 API. V3 starts shutting down in a few days.

The latest tweak I'm working on is to squeeze another web server page into the Arduino to present an iPad friendly display of the current beers on tap (along with pour counts) and an auto-refreshing scroll of my friend's beer check-ins from around the world. Should have the code ready for primetime in a week or two.
 
Still finishing up the code. It's a simple web page so any device with a web browser will do. I'm using an old 1st gen iPad that will hang on the wall above the kegerator.
 
Well done! This is freakin' awesome. I could also see the benefit in switching it to a "monitor" mode where you turn off the override button and untappd check-in and turn on a camera to capture any unauthorized withdrawals :)
 
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