HOWTO - Make a BrewPi Fermentation Controller For Cheap

[wbarber69]

If you went from wheezy to Jesse then the apache sub folders are different. The raspberry.local site could be as simple as a DNS issue with your router. Try rebooting your router as it could be holding on to the naming.

 

[Brewski_59]

Try typing the ip address of your raspberry pi.

 

[pnerboso]

If you went from wheezy to Jesse then the apache sub folders are different. The raspberry.local site could be as simple as a DNS issue with your router. Try rebooting your router as it could be holding on to the naming.

Thanks, just tried resetting the router and typing in the RPi IP address to no avail.

I did go from wheezy to Jesse. Not sure what is going on though. This is what the browser says when I type in raspberrypi.local:

404 NOT FOUND
The requested URL/was not found on this server.
Apache/2.4.10 (Raspbian) Server at raspberrypi.local Port 80

What's weird is when I log into my router I'm able to bring up the IP's in the "Windows Shared Folder" of my other RPi's that run Kodi. When I click on my brewery RPi address I get the same 404 message.

This part of computing is over my head. Not sure what to do from here. You mentioned some of the subfolders were different...should I start there?

 

[NeoBrew]

For what it's worth, I got the same thing on my load that I did this morning. Hopefully someone here can point us in the right direction.

I am running Jesse as well.

 

[BBQnBEER]

I have a couple problems. My Rpi keeps killing SD cards, I'm on #3 now and its about 3 months old! Anyway I got everything up and running, brewed this morning and nothing happening. No matter what beer temp I try setting it at it doesn't change. Just says idling and counts up and up and up. I googled and theres a post but the link is dead. I did notice that the arduino sees 3 sensors, and is using 4 slots, but I only have 2 sensors plugged in. One is listed twice. No matter what I do I can make one 'unassigned'. So before the beer goes bad from being too hot. Any advice?

 

[BBQnBEER]

Heres some screen shots

 

[virgil1]

Heres some screen shots

Looks like two of your probes are showing the same address. I would remove them all and start the install over.

 

[BBQnBEER]

So wipe the Rpi and reinstall? I tried reinstalling the wiring/sensors. How about the Arduino?

 

[day_trippr]

Remove all of the probes in the Device setup, then restart the Arduino and add the probes again...

Cheers!

 

[wbarber69]

Thanks, just tried resetting the router and typing in the RPi IP address to no avail.



I did go from wheezy to Jesse. Not sure what is going on though. This is what the browser says when I type in raspberrypi.local:



404 NOT FOUND

The requested URL/was not found on this server.

Apache/2.4.10 (Raspbian) Server at raspberrypi.local Port 80



What's weird is when I log into my router I'm able to bring up the IP's in the "Windows Shared Folder" of my other RPi's that run Kodi. When I click on my brewery RPi address I get the same 404 message.



This part of computing is over my head. Not sure what to do from here. You mentioned some of the subfolders were different...should I start there?

Try typing in the IP address followed by the folder name of the folder that the brewpi site resides in

 

[BBQnBEER]

Remove all of the probes in the Device setup, then restart the Arduino and add the probes again...

Cheers!

OK so stupid questions. How do I remove then in device sertup? I tried changing them to unassigned but it never stuck they were always assigned after refreshing

 

[pnerboso]

Try typing in the IP address followed by the folder name of the folder that the brewpi site resides in

Thanks. Gave it my best shot, but still nothing. I wish I knew if it was something that simple and unique to my setup or whether it has to do with Jesse.

I'm curious if others are running Jesse on a Raspberry Pi B+ and having success? If so, how are you accessing the Brewpi interface?

 

[Brewski_59]

I know I had seen this problem myself so I searched the brewpi forum for the solution.
Found it here.
https://community.brewpi.com/t/solved-brewpi-on-debian-jessie-cant-access-web-interface/478/2

To save you a little time I copied the most helpful post here.

"Ok I was having a heck of a time figuring this out but I finally did. If you are having an issue with the webpage not popping up after your initial install change the apache2 000-default.conf file which is located at /etc/apache2/sites-available. Edit the DocumentRoot /var/www/html line to read DocumentRoot /var/www Do not clone the www files into the /html file like I did you will not be able to log anything and any new profiles you create will not work either. Hope anyone else who is having this issue will find this."

 

[pnerboso]

I know I had seen this problem myself so I searched the brewpi forum for the solution.
Found it here.
https://community.brewpi.com/t/solved-brewpi-on-debian-jessie-cant-access-web-interface/478/2

To save you a little time I copied the most helpful post here.

"Ok I was having a heck of a time figuring this out but I finally did. If you are having an issue with the webpage not popping up after your initial install change the apache2 000-default.conf file which is located at /etc/apache2/sites-available. Edit the DocumentRoot /var/www/html line to read DocumentRoot /var/www Do not clone the www files into the /html file like I did you will not be able to log anything and any new profiles you create will not work either. Hope anyone else who is having this issue will find this."

Thank you! I'll give it a try tonight.

 

[wbarber69]

Thanks. Gave it my best shot, but still nothing. I wish I knew if it was something that simple and unique to my setup or whether it has to do with Jesse.



I'm curious if others are running Jesse on a Raspberry Pi B+ and having success? If so, how are you accessing the Brewpi interface?

Did you install brewpi after the fresh rpi install?

 

[BBQnBEER]

I'm such an IDIOT!!!!! I've been focusing so much on the sensors that I never thought to assign the relays. Made the changes amd it popped right into Cooling. Too bad I'm at work right now and have the freezer running on STC, tonight I'll plug everything in and confirm I've fixed it.

 

[day_trippr]

Sounds like you're all set. Sorry I didn't respond re: removing temp sensors from the Installed devices list, been a busy day.

To remove a Device I change everything that can be changed to "Unassigned" or "None", then hit the Apply button. When you get into the situation where you have a ghost probe, or a probe listed twice, the expeditious way is to remove everything, reboot the Uno and then configure everything again...

Cheers!

 

[pnerboso]

I know I had seen this problem myself so I searched the brewpi forum for the solution.
Found it here.
https://community.brewpi.com/t/solved-brewpi-on-debian-jessie-cant-access-web-interface/478/2

To save you a little time I copied the most helpful post here.

"Ok I was having a heck of a time figuring this out but I finally did. If you are having an issue with the webpage not popping up after your initial install change the apache2 000-default.conf file which is located at /etc/apache2/sites-available. Edit the DocumentRoot /var/www/html line to read DocumentRoot /var/www Do not clone the www files into the /html file like I did you will not be able to log anything and any new profiles you create will not work either. Hope anyone else who is having this issue will find this."

So...I found the file and was able to edit the line to remove "/html". It's a Libre read-only file. No matter what I do I keep getting denied permission to save. Tried making a copy, but the folder denied permission for that too. I right clicked to try and change the permissions and it won't accept that either. Says the owner is the only one who can edit.

Do I need to go about this through the terminal somehow? Sorry for such a novice question.

 

[pnerboso]

Did you install brewpi after the fresh rpi install?

Yeah, I made sure to do a fresh install.

 

[wbarber69]

So...I found the file and was able to edit the line to remove "/html". It's a Libre read-only file. No matter what I do I keep getting denied permission to save. Tried making a copy, but the folder denied permission for that too. I right clicked to try and change the permissions and it won't accept that either. Says the owner is the only one who can edit.

Do I need to go about this through the terminal somehow? Sorry for such a novice question.

Use sudo nano fileyouwanttomodify

After you're done hit CTRL-X then y to save changes.

 

[Brewski_59]

Use sudo nano fileyouwanttomodify

After you're done hit CTRL-X then y to save changes.

Do this in terminal

 

[pnerboso]

Do this in terminal

It worked!!! I can finally see the interface. Thank you guys. Couldn't have done it with out you.

For the other novices with a similar problem. Here is exactly what I did.

Open a terminal >>> type in: sudo nano /ect/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

This takes you to the editor screen. Arrow down to this line "DocumentRoot /var/www/html" Delete the html from that line. Hold the control button and hit "o". This will write out the change. Then hit enter. Then control x to exit.

Finally reboot and the fix should work when you type http://raspberrypi.local into your browser.

Of course now my LCD reads "Cannot receive LCD text from Python script"

I tried reprogramming the Arduino with a hex C file and the progress box reads "Cannot open log file /home/brewpi/logs/stderr.text"

Ideas?

 

[wbarber69]

You need to run fixpermissions script

 

[Austinjs0102]

Thanks for doing this.

I myself built something based off this. I am using an arduino mega R3, with an Ethernet shield on my system. I have used the relay and have also set it up so after the temp hits 64, run the heater to bring the heat to 66 and then stop. The reason i am doing it this way is i live in north dakota and my basement is generally pretty cold so in this case i need to run heat instead of cooling it.

I also have created my owner website that i can access that shows charts, current temp for the past 48 hours, current temps and much more.

i want to say thanks for showing these diagrams and a lot of the steps and item list. It has helped immensely.I most likely will post mine as well once i have completed it all.

adding in a quick shot of current work.

 

[NeoBrew]

You need to run fixpermissions script

I'm having the same problem. I ran fixPermissions successfully. It seemed to read that the directory had been corrected to not include "html". (If that is what it was supposed to do)

I'm still having the LCD problem. The button in the upper right says "Script not running"

Any help would be appreciated. Has anyone got it running on Jessie yet?

 

[wbarber69]

My test system runs Jesse. But its on a laptop and I run custom manual install. Maybe try to install manually. Or check to make sure the cron job has been created.

 

[GrogNerd]

I did a dumb thing.

luckily, this is still in building phase, testing as I go. so, this isn't such a HUGE problem, but I'd still like to remedy. it's been a relatively pain-free experience, no major problems - other than trying to get BrewPi running in the first place, but even that wasn't such a chore.

latest tests were
- switching from PC in office to laptop in basement. under VirtualBox, I was able to import/export the Pi portion of the build with almost no problems
- measuring my fridge/freezer/basement temps

now, here's the dumb thing: I closed my laptop, which put it to sleep. I was heading to the homebrew club meeting, all giddy about showing off my system and I just closed my laptop. Normally don't, but this time I did.

this morning, I woke the laptop, opened the minimized VBox and BrewPi was sitting there, wouldn't load the script, so I restarted the VBox.

when it was back up, I noticed the date/time stamps on BrewPi (and the top of Wheezy) said Oct 20 6:30 PM, when the actual time was Oct 21 6:50 AM. When I went to change it, I clicked on the + part of the day and it skipped ahead to the 28th. I fixed it by typing in the 21, fixed the clock and got out

when I went to view BrewPi, I immediately knew it had taken a reading for the 28th.

now... how do I clear out that/those entry(ies) for the 28th?

 

[wbarber69]

I don't think there's really much you can do, other than start a new beer from where you are currently. It shouldn't (hopefully) have any negative effects on the process. But next time you'll know better.

 

[GrogNerd]

I don't think there's really much you can do, other than start a new beer from where you are currently. It shouldn't (hopefully) have any negative effects on the process. But next time you'll know better.

thought so.

it's called "learning"

and, like I said, luckily this happened in the building/testing phase. not that it would have ruined a beer or anything, I know the Arduino would just continue chugging along

ooh... and it gets uglier

 

[gromitdj]

You could probably pause the logging and ssh into the brewpi server and edit the log files. Removing anything with the 10/28 date. Refreshing the web page when done. If I am not mistaken, they are just text files.

Proceed at your own risk, however. This may be bad advice.

 

[jhenry]

So I successfully set this bad boy up (I owe pics!), brewed my first beer with it, then set the brewpi to keep my fridge at a nice constant 45 degrees F. I stuck the chamber temp probe in a glass of water to keep the temp more or less controlled.

I noticed 2 things that aren't working great now:
1) in Fridge Constant Mode, the prediction algorithm doesn't seem to be working. The temp will fluctuate way more than it ever did in Fermentation. Is there a better way to keep it at 45? Should I just put the beer probe in the water and setup a new beer profile?

2) Unrelated, but one of my probes just up and died suddenly. Could something in the software cause this? Luckily I was able to replace it fairly quickly with a new probe. Does this happen a lot?

 

[wbarber69]

You shouldn't put the chamber probe in anything but the open air in the chamber. Problem number one solved. I'm guessing it was the chamber probe that died. So if that's true then this will also fix the second problem.

Also you shouldn't put the beer temp probe in the beer either. It should be in a thermowell in the beer. Otherwise stick it to the side of the carboy and cover it with some foam or something.

 

[GrogNerd]

You could probably pause the logging and ssh into the brewpi server and edit the log files. Removing anything with the 10/28 date. Refreshing the web page when done. If I am not mistaken, they are just text files.

Proceed at your own risk, however. This may be bad advice.

CLOSE! but I did figure it out. thanks for the point in the right direction! :rockin:

not edit the log files, just delete the .json files for the bogus dates from var\www\data\fr5dge%20test folder.

there were 4 of them for 10/21, but was able to figure out which one was the correct one

 

[Finny62]

I'm having trouble turning on the beer constant. This is on my initial setup. It automatically reverts to temperature control disabled after I hit apply when I change the beer constant. Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[wbarber69]

Did you set the temp before hitting apply. If you go from Celsius to Fahrenheit it stays on 20 degrees. And that's way below what brewpi will allow itself to be set at.

 

[Finny62]

I did switch to Fahrenheit. Just tried it at 45F and it works...Thank you so much, I've been sitting here checking the wiring and cron job for the last 3 hours

 

[jhenry]

You shouldn't put the chamber probe in anything but the open air in the chamber. Problem number one solved. I'm guessing it was the chamber probe that died. So if that's true then this will also fix the second problem.

Also you shouldn't put the beer temp probe in the beer either. It should be in a thermowell in the beer. Otherwise stick it to the side of the carboy and cover it with some foam or something.

Nope, it was the beer probe that died, and at the time it was in the air in the fridge since the fridge currently is holding bottles. I got water proof probes, FWIW. Had no problems during Fermentation, when the beer probe was in the thermowell.

I've been putting the fridge probe in water bc the damn unit can't keep 45 F constant in Fridge constant mode. It's like the PID isn't working or something.

 

[rappell]

Brew Pi noob here. I completed my build all the way to the point of loading the hex file for the Arduino and the programming script says "could not find compatible device" then says Cannot receive version number from controller and says I must be running a very old version of brew Pi please upload a newer version. Isn't the newest version the one that would be downloaded by following these instruction? Sorry if these are stupid questions, I have no programming experience.

 

[day_trippr]

Those messages are rather generic, but they all point to the same issue: the host is not able to communicate with your Arduino at all.

Are you using an Uno or Leonardo, or something else?
And what type of host system are you using - an RPi or something else?
And finally, if an RPi, what version OS did you install?

Cheers!

 

[rappell]

Those messages are rather generic, but they all point to the same issue: the host is not able to communicate with your Arduino at all.

Are you using an Uno or Leonardo, or something else?
And what type of host system are you using - an RPi or something else?
And finally, if an RPi, what version OS did you install?

Cheers!

Day. I'm using an uno with r Pi. How do I tell which version? I used the install instructions at the beginning of this thread.