Conical Fermenter Chiller/Heater Build

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JasonO

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Joined
Apr 19, 2011
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Hey guys, thought I'd start up a thread showing my heater/chiller build for my conical fermenter. My plan is to use an Arduino Uno for all the control. I have an old water chiller I got from a scrap yard years ago that I will be using for the cold side. On the hot side I have an aquarium heater that will sit in the reservoir I made a while back for the chiller.

For the last week of so I have been playing around with the Ardunio board and made a pretty good controller circuit/program.

2XzXQ.jpg


After that I moved everything to a prototype Arduino shield

eM6O7.jpg


Here's a quick shot of the chiller in it's current state,

63aRV.jpg


You can see a small power supply stuffed into the left side of the chiller. This will be used for powering the Arduino and the relays. On the right is the reservoir i made out of copper.

Over the next few weeks I'll be working on this project and posting updates as I go. I can't wait to get this working!

-Jason
 
Also here is a quick shot of my first attempts at the webpage that will show status and have control of the fermenter.

qFJ8w.jpg


-Jason
 
nice! I would so do this with one of my spare NetDuino's if I could find a reasonably priced chiller.

Is your conical SS or plastic? how are you going to transfer temp to that? wrap the glycol lines around it if it is SS?
 
nice! I would so do this with one of my spare NetDuino's if I could find a reasonably priced chiller.

Is your conical SS or plastic? how are you going to transfer temp to that? wrap the glycol lines around it if it is SS?

I've got a 14 g Blichmann, I'm still 50/50 if I will wrap it with a coil or make a stainless coil that will live inside the fermenter similar to the brewhemoth imersion chiller.

I think I spent 40 dollar on that chiller a while back. They had a pallet of them sitting on the lot. I walked away smiling :)

-Jason
 
I have my first conicle one the way, if you can dumn this down when your finished i will probably try and copy if you donr mind
 
I think I spent 40 dollar on that chiller a while back. They had a pallet of them sitting on the lot. I walked away smiling :)

Nice.. I've been thinking about just putting a plate in my new Keezer build and just using a pump to circulate through to the fermentor. I mean heck I'll already be paying to chill the keezer :p
 
Small update today, working on the arduino code some more. It's still pretty rough at this point but I got it tweeting its status hourly!

Also I finished the ATX wiring harness that will be used to power all the low voltage gear. Now I'm waiting for UPS to deliver some more parts :(

ExWWa.jpg





-Jason
 
Yep, subscribing to this. As a web designer and software techy, I have to see where this is going!
 
Subscribed. Where did you find the chiller?

I got real lucky a few years back. I was looking through my local scrap yard and they had about 20 of them sitting on a pallet in beat up boxes.. It was a good find.

-Jason
 
Can't wait to see how this comes out, I see a conical in my future.... distant future, but I will have one at some point. Hahaa
 
I can share also my experience with the same problem for cooling 30L conical fermenter.

P1040724.JPG


I have used a solid state TEC peltier coler with air-water heat exchanger controlled by PID regulator
I use an internal stainless steel immersion chiller

picasa web album
https://picasaweb.google.com/109693051818481428547/FermentatoreTroncoConicoControllatoInTemperatura?authuser=0&feat=directlink


Here a complete report..in Italian…but form the picture I hope you can understand my assembly and design


http://mysobry.org/wordpress/?cat=552

enjoy
Davide
 
Sorry for the delay on this guys. I ended up brewing a stout and making the fermenter unavailable to finish this. The good new is that I'll be transferring the beer tomorrow to a carboy so I can finish this!

As of right now I've been using the controller to monitor the fermenter temp : http://twitter.com/#!/OhMyGoshBrewing


-Jason
 
Any updates?

Hey sorry for the delay here, been busy all summer. I ran into some snags on getting a stainless coil for inside the fermenter. Also not too much downtime for the fermenter, lots of thirsty friends lol!! Hopefully I'll have some update soon. Up until now I have been using the reporting from this controller to monitor the fermenter via twitter.

-Jason
 
Finally! Last parts have been ordered from StainlessBrewing and I should have this running shortly. I've been stuck looking for the right stainless coil for the cooling/heating loop for a while. Stumbled onto their thread in the vendor showcase. Great guys, quick responses in email and can make exactly what I need. I should have some pictures when things show up.

-Jason
 
Parts are getting delivered today! Can't wait to start working on this tonight. I should be able to post some pictures later.

-Jason
 
Stainless coil should work nice, now I just need to get the right compression fittings and get the lid welded.

gWFbf.jpg

MjNSs.jpg

fWcOt.jpg

qOCzG.jpg
 
Today's update. Correct hardware has arrived! I will be able to install the loop in the fermenter tomorrow (see pic below)

Also I have been thinking of ways to access and record the data. Using a powershell script I am parsing the webpage created by the arduino and importing the data into a sql database. From there I will be creating a reporting page and soon control hosted by IIS.

Test data in the SQL table
wxu50.png


Compression fittings for loop
JJSz2.jpg
 
you might want to try silver soldering those fittings in the lid. also, you might want to just use a POST or GET method from the arduino to a webserver on the local network. seems a bit more legit than scraping the data with a script. :)
 
My plan is to have the historical data stored in SQL so I can work on some charting. The powershell script is quite simple and runs every 5 minutes on my server.

I am also thinking about being able to setup a fermentation profile on the site, the arduino will pull the thermostat setting from there and the site store the profile in a separate sql table.

I was reading about the solder method but I have a friend who can weld stainless. I'm planning on brewing Sunday so for this batch I may just attach the compression fitting with a nut while I work on adding the fittings to another lid.

-Jason
 
so would you be storing the times/temps for the profile on the server and have the arduino query where it should be periodically? or query once at the beginning of the cycle once and then just use that data for the ferm schedule? if you pull it once i could see problems with power cycles of the device causing it to start over. you'd want to breadcrumb your results so you start where you left off or run off a time server to ensure you know when in the fermentation profile you are.

i would love to tell my fermentation chamber "hey, run this on WLP051 pattern: 67 for 5 days, then 68 for a day, 69 for a day, 70 for 2 days, then email and let me know my beer is ready for transfer".
 
so would you be storing the times/temps for the profile on the server and have the arduino query where it should be periodically? or query once at the beginning of the cycle once and then just use that data for the ferm schedule? if you pull it once i could see problems with power cycles of the device causing it to start over. you'd want to breadcrumb your results so you start where you left off or run off a time server to ensure you know when in the fermentation profile you are.

i would love to tell my fermentation chamber "hey, run this on WLP051 pattern: 67 for 5 days, then 68 for a day, 69 for a day, 70 for 2 days, then email and let me know my beer is ready for transfer".

So that is exactly my plan, the time/temp will be stored in a sql table and a webpage will host that for the arduino to grab. I'll set the timeout on the arduino to 5 minutes and it will grab the correct setting for that point in time. I won't have that up and running day 1 (tomorrow) but shortly after.

-Jason
 
Well, tried soldering the 2 fittings to the keg lid today. First attempts did not go so well. I cleaned up everything and am going to try again tomorrow. My one main issue was getting everything equally heated.

The good news is on the software side. The logging script have been running since yesterday and have pulled data from the Arduino to SQL every 5 minutes perfectly.

-Jason
 
Failed to get the hardware complete today before brewing, hopefully some time this week it will be done. I've been playing around with a reporting website. Here is the very rough early start.

XG7KI.png


-Jason
 

Funny I was just reading that thread. So my friend uses this to monitor his home hvac. I think I may play around with this a bit. I don't have much free space on the Arduino now but I am going to try and squeeze something in.

Also small update today, Lid is finished and tomorrow I am hopefully going to get everything testing.

bJuhk.jpg


-Jason
 
I've been wiring up everything this afternoon. I'll be doing a dry run on a keg full of water tonight.

Rough wiring
v3Ovz.jpg


Slowly getting there
gv1gc.jpg


-Jason
 
So what sort of control loop are you thinking about. I think just plain time based boundary control would be sufficient.
 
Starting the testing now. Basement is currently 68 degrees, set the temp to 72. I should have some nice numbers on the chart shortly.

BrewGeek_Ohio, as for control I can set things on the arduino at the moment and I have a .5 degree buffer from the set temp between the heater and chiller running. I also have a compressor timeout in the code. I'm guessing this will need some tweaking as I collect data.

DOJPJ.jpg


-Jason
 
Slowly editing the heating and chilling settings to hold a steady temp. Almost there.

Rq5P9.png


-Jason
 
JasonO said:
Starting the testing now. Basement is currently 68 degrees, set the temp to 72. I should have some nice numbers on the chart shortly.

BrewGeek_Ohio, as for control I can set things on the arduino at the moment and I have a .5 degree buffer from the set temp between the heater and chiller running. I also have a compressor timeout in the code. I'm guessing this will need some tweaking as I collect data.

-Jason

I wonder what the temp swing limitation really needs to be. I'm sure +/- 1 degree is plenty tight. It would be nice to get the definitive answer from the yeast supplier. Sounds like a mission, I may just start asking that question to them today.
 
• Ales: 62°F – 75°F (17°C – 24°C)
• Lagers: 46°F – 58°F (8°C – 14°C) *Note: Lager fermentations can be started warmer (~60°F, 15.5°C) until signs of fermentation (gravity drop, CO2 production, head formation) are evident. Cool to desired fermentation temperature once signs of fermentation are observed.
• Wheat and Belgian styles: 62°F – 85°F (17°C – 29°C)

Got this from wyeast, Seems like a very broad spectrum. Pick a middle point, calculate a high and low standard deviation and bobs your uncle you got a perfect fermentation!

With a temp swing like this i can see a +/- 3 degF is a nice and tight control.
 
So my plan is + or - 1 degree but for testing right now I'm seeing how tight i can make it without cycling too much. This week I'll be setting up the server side piece to host the temp the arduino should be set to. It will be really cool to be able to pitch @ 64 degrees then bring things up to 68 then cold crash when complete. Also I'm going to see how far down I can keep the fermenter. Being able to lager would be really cool.

-Jason
 
Getting closer on the control. Yesterdays changes fixed both cycles fighting, the last thing I am going to do is all a relay to the pump to turn it off in between cycles. That should stretch the time between cycles.

Last night I set things much lower and it pulled down correctly. This morning I set things higher and it worked well too. In real world use I would not be going this crazy but I now know I can pull the fermenter down to a lower temp easily for pitching yeast or possible lagering.


8Exqn.png


-Jason
 
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