So long automation....

So I finally got my Strange Brew Elsinore software installed and running on my Beaglebone Black along with the pH meter and a hall-effects flow meter. Assembled a controller for my 15 gal system and found it made brewing boring. I guess it was the tinkerer in me that needed to be satisfied. Back to my PID based hands-on system and sight gauges. The process was fun, but in practice, I like the hands on. I may keep my RPI v2 and one-wire sensors for monitoring my fermentors and make my pH sensors a standalone arduino app. It's been fun and a challenge at times, but on to another task.

The Professor on Gilligan's Isle would have Marianne riding a bike hooked to the grain mill, Ginger manning the bellows for the HLT and the boil, then the Skipper and Gilligan would pursue zany antics trying to cool the wort. Meanwhile, the Howells would sip Martinis asking how long it will take to get a good beer on this island.
Sometimes too tech is too much...random thought and totally off topic.

Just to be clear, this is in no way the fault of SBE. Building the system was more fun than actually using automation.

I think that last point is very insightful. Automation can be really consuming in terms of both time and money, and it has a accelerating diminishing returns. At some point the brewer just ends up chasing the automation, spending more time managing it than actually brewing. Unless your goal is for total hands off brewing, I think each of us needs be honest with the amount of automation we should take on. This is a personal issue I often struggle with. I keep thinking about implementing the next phase and how cool it could be without considering if I even should.

Anyway, rant done. Carry on...

-BD

I have zero automation and I love it. I crush my grains in a corona mill with no motor or drill attacked. All elbow grease, baby Brew days leave me a touch whooped, but it feels kind of good and is totally worth not having a billion pieces of equipment laying around. At least for me. To each their own!

I don't mind some automation and I don't mind manual but I do not like having my face in the mash tun/kettle stirring. This I want to automate!

I built up a Hosehead system and I am slowly moving toward automation. It is nice to dial in temps and have it deal with it. Now to make an automated stirring device...

I guess off topic but why need to stir? If you recirc you probably only need to stir once or twice.

-BD

BrunDog said:

I think that last point is very insightful. Automation can be really consuming in terms of both time and money, and it has a accelerating diminishing returns. At some point the brewer just ends up chasing the automation, spending more time managing it than actually brewing. Unless your goal is for total hands off brewing, I think each of us needs be honest with the amount of automation we should take on. This is a personal issue I often struggle with. I keep thinking about implementing the next phase and how cool it could be without considering if I even should.

Anyway, rant done. Carry on...

-BD

Click to expand...

Speak for yourself, I love my brewery. While I do agree that there is a limit, and past that limit you will put more time into the equipment vs the beer. The trick is to automate enough that it will allow you to focus on better beer.

I totally get the "more time into automation" thing. I probably 12+ hours planning, acquiring parts for, and building my BrewPi. It was fun though and now I know how it all works- as far as ferm control I don't think it can be beat.

On the brewing side, I love my wort maker (PicoBrew) - sweating over a mash tun trying to get my temps right does nothing for my soul. Yes that machine was bought, not built, but I'm inspired by it to see how I can scale it up if I do get around to building my own and go to a full scale nano brewery.

Don't get me wrong, I still use my PID based controller for my RIMS, so no keeping my face in the mash tun. What I was getting away from was the RPI or BBB controlled devices and WEB interfaces with integrated flow monitors and bells and whistles.

Bassman2003 said:

I don't mind some automation and I don't mind manual but I do not like having my face in the mash tun/kettle stirring. This I want to automate!

I built up a Hosehead system and I am slowly moving toward automation. It is nice to dial in temps and have it deal with it. Now to make an automated stirring device...

Click to expand...

Just an FYI regarding the stirring device. You can easily make one using an electric ice cream mixer. The mixers have slow speed high torque motors that drive a set of paddles. Easy to mount on top of a MASH Tun you just need to modify the paddle shaft for depth of you vessel.

Yes you need one even with a RIMS as the wort will follow the path of least resistance unless you choose to stir frequently especially with big grain bills.

Thanks. I will check that out.

Interesting observation. Having built my system, electric kal clone with triclamp tanks, I wish I had gone further with the automation.

November said:

Interesting observation. Having built my system, electric kal clone with triclamp tanks, I wish I had gone further with the automation.

Click to expand...

Its never too late to build a BCS

I gave up the idea of automating a while back. I have found that the most automatic way to brew beer is to buy it. It's extremely easy, no capital cost, high quality, and tons of variety, and 100% automated. I just have to swipe my credit card and the beer is automatically malted, mashed, boiled, fermented, and bottled, instantly.

I like the manual part of my setup, and prefer doing things this way.

Now if someone has a way to automate all the cleaning/sanitising and bottling....

Full automation is just not resonable. And by full I mean punching in the recipe and it weighs out ingredients, mills, mashes, sparges, lauters, boils, chills, ferments, bottles and most of all cleans all by itself.
Cleaning is the worst, and the spent grain needs to be handled, so I am also fine with having to do some actual brewing tasks.
But I do think a little bit of automation goes a long way. Just to free myself up enough to to some cleaning and stuff while brewing. I really like having a thermostat controlled HLT, so I can just set it and forget it and a timer just to keep me from forgetting additions is good.
Apart from that I'm fine with stirring and opening valves.
With this said, I like tinkering, so even if I'm fine with manual interaction, I want to automate, just for the fun of it