New Temperature controller (Brewbit)

Not sure if anyone has seen this, but I thought it looked pretty cool.

Listed on Kickstarter! Check it out and support our fellow brewers!

http://brewbit.com/




Model-T Features:

Open Source hardware and software. You’ll get all the schematics, drawings and software. Hack away and share your work with the BrewBit community!

Wireless connectivity over your WiFi network

Execute temperature profiles loaded via WiFi connection from your account on BrewBit.com.

Control from anywhere with Internet connection

SexyUI (tm)

Dual independent outputs

Dual independent temperature probes

Control one, both, or none (logging only) of the outputs

Associate your data with a defined brewing session.

Wirelessly upgrade your unit when we roll out new software.

Website Features:

Free API for your data and device. Develop your own killer features!

Modify all of your Model-T’s settings and have them applied over WiFi

Check on the units status and readings

Log the Model-T’s data

Display temperature graphs that are updated in real time

Associate temperature readings with a certain brewing/fermentation session.

Get email or SMS alerts when something happens or the unit is having issues

Temperature profiles:

Create and save unique temperature profiles

Load a profile and send it to your device over WiFi.

Set the Model-T to ferment/mash your beer for any duration at a set temperature.

Step the temperature up or down automatically

Add as many temperature/time steps to the profile as you need.

Plus more to come… (feel free to pass on your ideas and suggestions!)

You really cannot control this thing without going through an internet portal?

Cheers!

Looks pretty sweet to me, if the price is right.

I like the idea of the data-logging, Specific Gravity sensor, wireless controls (I can perform temperature steps even while I'm out of town!), etc, but if it costs too much, I'll just stick with my Johnson.

Looking forward to the KickStarter launch.

This is now up on Kickstarter!

day_trippr said:

You really cannot control this thing without going through an internet portal?

Cheers!

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You can control it on the touch screen.

I'm in for 1. Love the ability to monitor fermentation temps when I'm not near the house

and they only need $70,000 more in 30 days? ummm yeah, i'm not going to hold my breath on this one. too bad, it looks like a great product.

itsratso said:

and they only need $70,000 more in 30 days? ummm yeah, i'm not going to hold my breath on this one. too bad, it looks like a great product.

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They just launched this morning and got 10% of their goal by lunchtime. Definitely not impossible

hunter_la5 said:

...but if it costs too much, I'll just stick with my Johnson.

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Words to live by my friend, words to live by.

itsratso said:

and they only need $70,000 more in 30 days? ummm yeah, i'm not going to hold my breath on this one. too bad, it looks like a great product.

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Have you ever participated in a kickstarter before? That's not at all unreasonable.

Hey guys, I am Nick with BrewBit. We are super excited to finally have the KickStarter campaign launched. Let me know if you guys have any questions, we would love to gain you as backers!

nhebner said:

Hey guys, I am Nick with BrewBit. We are super excited to finally have the KickStarter campaign launched. Let me know if you guys have any questions, we would love to gain you as backers!

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I put mine down, with the extra probe!

TechMiller said:

I put mine down, with the extra probe!

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Thanks TechMiller! You are awesome!

Wasn't quick enough to get the Early Bird discount, but I still think its a very reasonably priced product relative to the market for the additional features it has. I only wish I could have it sooner as I am building a new fermentation fridge to increase my production and will need to get temp controls set up

I put my name down today. I forgot to add the extra temperature probe but I'll get that as an add on tomorrow. I really hope this reaches it's goal. I really like this better than both my Johnson and my eBay aquarium controller.

What is everyone waiting for? Sign up for yours too!

I'm putting my name down tomorrow! I'm planning on a new lager chamber and this would be great to keep track of things!

rmullins said:

Wasn't quick enough to get the Early Bird discount, but I still think its a very reasonably priced product relative to the market for the additional features it has. I only wish I could have it sooner as I am building a new fermentation fridge to increase my production and will need to get temp controls set up

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Thanks for the pledge! We wish we could get these to you guys sooner too!

twofieros said:

I put my name down today. I forgot to add the extra temperature probe but I'll get that as an add on tomorrow. I really hope this reaches it's goal. I really like this better than both my Johnson and my eBay aquarium controller.

What is everyone waiting for? Sign up for yours too!

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Yeah, what he said!

will_rouse said:

I'm putting my name down tomorrow! I'm planning on a new lager chamber and this would be great to keep track of things!

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Thanks, you are going to love it!

Nick,


I updated my pledge to get another probe.

This will be open source. I've never dealt with open source stuff so I wanted to ask a few questions. When will all the information be shared with customers? If I broke the case could I print a new one with a file on a 3d printer? Are the electronics sourced from something like ardrino? How would someone update the software? Is there a USB port? Will I need a device to interface it to my PC/Mac? Will Mac be supported?

I'm really excited about this kickstarter! I've got you guys at least one more pledge and I'm working on a few more. Thank you!

Tim

twofieros said:

Nick,


I updated my pledge to get another probe.

This will be open source. I've never dealt with open source stuff so I wanted to ask a few questions. When will all the information be shared with customers? If I broke the case could I print a new one with a file on a 3d printer? Are the electronics sourced from something like ardrino? How would someone update the software? Is there a USB port? Will I need a device to interface it to my PC/Mac? Will Mac be supported?

I'm really excited about this kickstarter! I've got you guys at least one more pledge and I'm working on a few more. Thank you!

Tim

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Hey Tim,

Thanks for your support and help in getting the word out!

We are still tweaking the design based on feedback from the community and our work toward safety compliance, etc, so we are planning to release the sources after the campaign ends once we have the final design locked down.

The CAD files for the plastics will be included in the source release, so yes, you could absolutely use those files to print a new case if needed.

The electronics are all custom, not based on something like Arduino. We did this for two reasons: greater integration and lower cost. That said, the software development environment is fairly easy to use if you are used to something like Arduino.

We are planning to have two channels for software release. The main channel will be the "official" BrewBit channel. This will be based on the trunk of the main BrewBit source repository, and will be automatically distributed through the website. When new software is released, your unit will be notified, and it will ask you if you want to update. When you click yes, it will download the software from the website via WiFi and install it.

The other channel will be the community channel. Since it is open source, people will branch the main channel code and add features for their own application. We will not take part in the distribution of this software, it will be up to the app developers.

Software loading will normally be done over WiFi, but if you modify the software and really mess something up to the point where WiFi loading stops working, it can always be recovered by loading with a JTAG adapter.

Since most of the interface will be web based, the type of computer that you use will not matter. You will just use a web browser.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Thanks for the support!

Nick

Thanks nick! That answers everything. I hope I got you a few more on board. I was showing the kickstarter to a few brewers last night. I really hope this is successful because I want it bad!

Nick, thanks for posting more videos for the model T. This thing is going to change brewing forever. All while changing everything else you can do with it. Wow!

Here are the videos for everyone else:

Dual probe uses


Using it to control humidity and temperature:

I saw this over on the Brewtroller forum and really like it! This would make an awesome Grill/Smoker Stoker for BBQ'ing.

Cool, count me in for one with dual probes. I just signed up for my first Kickstarter project!

I am new to kickstarter. If I "pledge" to buy one of these things, when would my credit card get charged? If you don't meet your overall goal, does this just not get made? Would I lose my pledge money?

Thanks

jackers252 said:

I am new to kickstarter. If I "pledge" to buy one of these things, when would my credit card get charged? If you don't meet your overall goal, does this just not get made? Would I lose my pledge money?

Thanks

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You only get charged if they meet their pledge goal.

hunter_la5 said:

You only get charged if they meet their pledge goal.

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That is correct. Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing deal. If we don't meet our goal, then nobody gets charged, and we don't get anything. If that happens, then we will not be able to go forward with the project. No one wants that, so help us out and back us!

Few questions:
Do I have to connect to the website or does it have a fallback? I would like to connect like I connect to my router. If not is your server back-end also opensource?

Also are you going to have options for multiple PID types built in? You test this thing with lots of devices.

The product looks great, a little metro interface for my taste, but great. I wish there were a few generic I/O included for the future but for the price it fits. You could almost take the head off this thing and talk to it like Google's Chromecast.

Alright, just pledged for the $175 model (two probes). I hope you guys meet your goal. If you don't meet your kickstarter goal, do you think there will be another opportunity down the road?

Just pledged for mine. Down to $20,000 still needed with 8 days left. Tell your friends, or ask your SWMBO for a birthday present.

jackers252 said:

Alright, just pledged for the $175 model (two probes). I hope you guys meet your goal. If you don't meet your kickstarter goal, do you think there will be another opportunity down the road?

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ColoHox said:

Just pledged for mine. Down to $20,000 still needed with 8 days left. Tell your friends, or ask your SWMBO for a birthday present.

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Thanks for the support guys! If we don't end up meeting our goal, we aren't going to give up. We have learned a ton about what works, what doesn't, and how we could improve our campaign that we will work on before relaunching. That said, it would be quite a bit less heartache if we could just make our goal with this campaign!

deavir said:

Few questions:
Do I have to connect to the website or does it have a fallback? I would like to connect like I connect to my router. If not is your server back-end also opensource?

Also are you going to have options for multiple PID types built in? You test this thing with lots of devices.

The product looks great, a little metro interface for my taste, but great. I wish there were a few generic I/O included for the future but for the price it fits. You could almost take the head off this thing and talk to it like Google's Chromecast.

Click to expand...

For now, we are only planning to support device <-> brewbit.com communications. The website will be open source, so it should not be difficult to get it running locally or to create a completely separate local server.

We are planning to support separate control output profiles because as you said, the PID gains for you refrigerator will be different than the gains for your mash tun, etc.

We are planning to break out the few IOs that are left on the MCU, and you can also interface it with something like an arduino over the onewire sensor interface to really expand the possibilities for different sensors and actuators.

Early on we were thinking about offering a headless version, but we decided to just focus on building one product at a time since just one product is hard enough. We may revisit this option in the future.

Just over $10K to go. Come on folks, I just bought a new chest freezer and will want to upgrade my temp controller in a few months!

Can we program fermentation schedules, like for lagering? So if we wanted to slowly ramp temps up or down over a preset time, could we?

Brewbit just hit their funding goal! This will happen folks. Home brewing is about to change forever! I am so excited! If you didn't get on board it isn't too late. 4 days left!

jackers252 said:

Can we program fermentation schedules, like for lagering? So if we wanted to slowly ramp temps up or down over a preset time, could we?

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Yes this is one of the options!

itsratso said:

and they only need $70,000 more in 30 days? ummm yeah, i'm not going to hold my breath on this one. too bad, it looks like a great product.

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Oh ye of little faith

Congrats BrewBit! Looking forward to getting my Model T!

What will cost be? I see they reached goal. Any eta of product? Great idea!!!

Thanks all for the help in pushing us over the line! We can't wait to get these things into production and shipped to you.

Snagg30341 said:

What will cost be? I see they reached goal. Any eta of product? Great idea!!!

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Post Kickstarter, the price will likely go up a to nearly $200, so get in on the Kickstarter price while you can! ETA is March 2014.

March feels so far away...I can't wait to get mine. Congrats on meeting your goal. I wouldn't be surprised if you pass it by almost 10k.

What kind of warranty can be expected?

501irishred said:

What kind of warranty can be expected?

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We are still working out the details, but we will stand behind our product. As long as you use it within the specifications, we will cover any issues that come up.