HOWTO - Make a BrewPi Fermentation Controller For Cheap

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I'm in the same boat. Four months off and I'm out of beer. I'm brewing next weekend and the weekend after to get the kegs on the way to full again. I have three fridges and only commercial beer.
 
I am about to add a LCD Shield to my BrewPi setup, I am going to use a whole new memory card when I do this and just wanted to confirm, if things go bad and I cannot get it working I should be able to just remove the shield and new memory card and put the old one back in and it works as always correct?

Not sure how to do the backups on my computer so figure a whole new memory card is a fail safe as well.

Thanks,
Jeff
 
If you create and test boot a clone of your current card you will have a functional parachute if needed.

If you're using Wheezy the best live cloning program I've found is RPI-Clone at https://github.com/billw2/rpi-clone.
A single command line
Code: 
$ sudo rpi-clone sdc -f -v
followed by some confirmations and it's off and running to conclusion (if you don't use the -v verbose switch it will run totally silent until the very end).
Note that the device sdc is system specific - your reader may appear as sda.

If you are using Jessie it comes with an SD backup tool that is easy to use and makes perfect clones. SD Card Copier can be found by digging into the desktop program menu and can be added to the desktop from there. Very easy to use.

I do not know what Stretch comes with if anything, but then I don't know if BrewPi will work on Stretch anyway...

Cheers!

[edit] I found a reference that indicated Stretch comes with the same gui-driven SD Card Copier program as well as the command-line piclone application.
 
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This one has me scratching my head.
Big ass 107 point imperial stout, pitched Sunday evening, took off before I woke up Monday morning, rocked the casbah right up to 4pm today, when the beer flatlined at target 67°F. And hasn't moved a tenth in three hours.

cstout_01.jpg


I'm assuming the beer is producing just enough warmth to hold it there against the 66°F ambient which apparently has the chamber temperature at pretty close to the same. But it still looks weird to have it flatline so quickly considering how active the chamber was right before...

Cheers! ("It's a mystery" :drunk:)

[edit] fwiw, 3 hours later things got active again. Go figure...

cstout_02.jpg


Looking at the Beer curve I suspect the foam insulator over my Beer probe has compressed to where the Fridge temp is having undue influence. Gotta remember to fix that today...
 
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Minion MK3...now with Reset button :D

minion_mk3_01.jpg


The button restores the symmetry that was disturbed with the MK2 rotary encoder addition. My inner OCD sufferer prefers symmetry.

Cheers!

[edit] In case anyone's wondering...

Minion MK1

brewpi_satellite_01.jpg


Minion MK2

minion_upgrade_02.jpg
 
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Looking really good, reminded me I bought a LCD Screen for my brewpi. There are so many pages at this point was hoping you could point me in the right direction to get my LCD Screen working.

Have all the components listed for the standard brewpi and it currently is functioning. I purchased a Sainsmart LCD2004, here is a amazon link https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0080DYTZQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20.
 
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Well, there's a problem. That version LCD has the I2C "backpack" attached to what otherwise is the same parallel interface the classic BrewPi design expects to "see".
If the backpack can be removed you should be back in business. Also, I'm vaguely remembering someone had hacked a BrewPi firmware build to use the I2C version display, but it would take some digging to find it, and I couldn't help with the implementation very much having no experience with that firmware version.

Amazon is extremely liberal with exchanges/returns/refunds. This is the version display I use on all of my BrewPi implementations...

Cheers!
 
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My brewpi just crapped out on me in the middle of holding a fridge constant. I noticed that the web interface would no longer work. I restarted it several times and tried three different power supplies, but no luck. The red and green leds on the Arduino stay lit and the red led stays lit on the pi. If I hook it up to a monitor, I see a bunch of stuff that means nothing to me anymore since I built this thing years ago. Does anyone know where I can start poking around?

0IOv3kj.jpg
 
I'd start with the "No file system could mount root" bit. Well, actually, the "I/O error on device mmcblk0" stuff, but it's all pointing to a corrupt SD card.

"Got Backup?"
 
Thanks for the reply. Of course I don't have a backup!

I have never deleted any of my brews over the last few years. Are they stored on the SD card? Is it possible that it's too full? Is there any way to test the SD card?
 
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The data for each brew is stored using two formats, .json and csv. You would find them under /home/brewpi/data/<brew name> assuming a vanilla installation. Whether you can mount the sd card on something that understands the file system is the big question now...

Cheers!
 
New guy with a RPI I'm trying to setup with BrewPi for fermentation. I'll admit I know NOTHING about programming. I'm the guy who buys the parts and needs the simplest explanation and if it doesn't work by copy/paste I'm lost. I installed Raspian using NOOBS and have wifi up and running.

I noticed the php5 has been updated to php7 after trying to do the automated install. I tried going through the manual install using the posted script and got the "test" page when using the "your rpi-ip" page but now I don't know where I'm going wrong. I try running the auto install files but it still tells me php5 is missing. I am pretty sure I installed all 5 python modules and the arduino core. I plugged in all the user scripts as well but I don't see anything like a BrewPi icon I can click on to start the program.

I don't have my arduino or temp probes yet and just wanted to get BrewPi installed because it seemed like it would be an easy thing to do. Any assistance or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
 
DurtyChemist said:
New guy with a RPI I'm trying to setup with BrewPi for fermentation. I'll admit I know NOTHING about programming. I'm the guy who buys the parts and needs the simplest explanation and if it doesn't work by copy/paste I'm lost. I installed Raspian using NOOBS and have wifi up and running.

I noticed the php5 has been updated to php7 after trying to do the automated install. I tried going through the manual install using the posted script and got the "test" page when using the "your rpi-ip" page but now I don't know where I'm going wrong. I try running the auto install files but it still tells me php5 is missing. I am pretty sure I installed all 5 python modules and the arduino core. I plugged in all the user scripts as well but I don't see anything like a BrewPi icon I can click on to start the program.

I don't have my arduino or temp probes yet and just wanted to get BrewPi installed because it seemed like it would be an easy thing to do. Any assistance or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

It's because you're probably on the latest version of Raspbian, which is Stretch. PHP5 doesn't work with Stretch and you'll drive yourself crazy trying to get BrewPi working with PHP7. You've got two solid choices here. One, instead of using NOOBS installer to install Raspbian, go out and download an image file (.img) of Raspbian Jessie and load that onto your SD card instead of Stretch. Then follow the BrewPi setup instructions pretty much as indicated. Or, choice two would be to go to www.fermentrack.com and use Fermentrack instead of BrewPi. Fermentrack is a replacement web interface for BrewPi. It uses the same hardware as BrewPi, so whatever supplies you've purchased will likely work interchangeably. Fermentrack works on Stretch. Given that you're a self-proclaimed Newb, that's the route I'd recommend.

Either way, there are many folks ready to help here to guide you through the process.
 
CadiBrewer said:
Or, choice two would be to go to www.fermentrack.com and use Fermentrack instead of BrewPi. Fermentrack is a replacement web interface for BrewPi. It uses the same hardware as BrewPi, so whatever supplies you've purchased will likely work interchangeably. Fermentrack works on Stretch. Given that you're a self-proclaimed Newb, that's the route I'd recommend.

Either way, there are many folks ready to help here to guide you through the process.
Click to expand...

If you get a weird message (or something other than the Fermentrack website) when you visit there, it's because I'm in the process of migrating fermentrack.com to a new server. Sorry about that.

Full instructions are also available on GitHub and full documentation is available on readthedocs.
 
http://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/images/raspbian-2017-07-05/

Is this the only place to get an img file of Jessie? 1.6 gigs compressed turns into a pretty big file.

Oh and now trying to format my 32 gig memory card I've turned it into 41.6 megabytes. I'm so pissed. I've used every single form of formatting and reformatting I can find and it's still showing up on my laptop as 41.6 mb.
 
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Yes Raspbian is pretty big, although if you can downlaod a lite verison if you're OK with command line, which is a bit smaller

in terms of formatting, take a look at https://etcher.io its the formatter recommended by Raspberry Pi org and seems to work well across multiple platforms, so that's worth taking a look.
 
I got Raspbian reinstalled and went with fermentrack. Since the pi is all I currently own and there is nothing to communicate with I assume that is why nothing comes up when I type the 192.168.x.xx into my browser.
 
No you should get a setup walkthrough when you type in the ipaddress to the web browser, sounds like something has gone wrong during the install, probably better to take a read of the last few pages of this thread. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...no-arduino-needed.586476/page-47#post-8269810 i think there has been a few issues with the install on Jessie, but you should be able to find the answer there.
 
DurtyChemist said:
I got Raspbian reinstalled and went with fermentrack. Since the pi is all I currently own and there is nothing to communicate with I assume that is why nothing comes up when I type the 192.168.x.xx into my browser.
Click to expand...

It should work/look like this if you type the IP address you were given in immediately after running the one line installer:


Just make sure you’re attempting to access it via http and not https.

If you aren’t seeing anything come up, that sounds like there was potentially an installation issue. I haven’t tested with Jessie lately, but I know it works with Stretch.
 
Fermentrack up and running. I re-ran the one line install. THANKFUKLLY it worked. I appreciate the input and now I know the newest format of NOOBS can't work with Brewpi but this does the exact same thing. Totally thought I smoked the memory card and ruined the whole project.

Now to figure out if I can get this to control my beer fridge and fermentation chamber with one RPI and Adurino and a 4 channel relay.

Oh yeah, I'm posting this from my RPI plugged into the TV. It's awesome.
 
DurtyChemist said:
Now to figure out if I can get this to control my beer fridge and fermentation chamber with one RPI and Adurino and a 4 channel relay.

Oh yeah, I'm posting this from my RPI plugged into the TV. It's awesome.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, you’ll need two Arduinos/2-channel relay boards, but Fermentrack will allow both to be controlled from the same Pi.

Glad to hear it’s working - good luck!
 
Thorrak said:
Unfortunately, you’ll need two Arduinos/2-channel relay boards, but Fermentrack will allow both to be controlled from the same Pi.

Glad to hear it’s working - good luck!
Click to expand...

Can you explain why I'd need two Unos? I've seen christmas light setups using one Uno so I figured the 4 channel relay could control 4 outlets separately each with a probe (theoretically) for on/off. I thought the Uno controlled all the channels it's connected to.
 
Each Uo has a separate instance of the BrewPi firmware running on it. Fermentrack or the original BrewPi web interface sends updated control info to the Uno, but the Uno runs standalone waiting for further input from the software. Due to that limitation you need an Uno for each chamber. But you can use the 4 channel relay instead of two, two channel relays.
 
By the way, don't look at having two separate controllers as necessarily a bad thing. Depending upon the physical layout of your space, often times it is more convenient to have your controller attached to your fermentation vessel and not physically attached to your raspberry pi. You can use Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and have your raspberry pi anywhere it is convenient.
 
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CadiBrewer said:
By the way, don't look at having two separate controllers as necessarily a bad thing. Depending upon the physical layout of your space, often times it is more convenient to have your controller attached to your fermentation vessel and not physically attached to your raspberry pi. You can use Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and have you raspberry pi anywhere it is convenient.
Click to expand...

I'm very much hoping to use bluetooth and wifi as much as possible with the UNOs. I could put the RPI either in the garage at a different location, or on the other side of the wall inside the house. If the signal is strong enough this will become important for the next living quarters.
 
Unless you already have the second Uno, I'd look at using an esp8266 d1 mini or the like. @Thorrak has made setup on those little guys flawless. You can get Bluetooth to work on the Uno with a separate Bluetooth chip, but it can be a little fiddley.
 
I s aw the ESP8266 builds but honestly, I couldn't really follow it and didn't see much of a "how to build" sheet. It looked like the boards have to be manually constructed then added with whatever else they need. I'll look into it more but for some reason it seemed harder to go that way to use the Raspberry Pi through wifi and bluetooth than the Uno.

I haven't bought anything. Someone gave me the Pi and I figured I'd use it for fermentation before I realized how cool of a thing it is. I've only looked into a few projects with it.
 
The BrewPi controller is a great first build for a Raspberry Pi. You can make it as easy or as complicated as you want. If you want to go easy, get an Uno or an esp8266 and all of the parts listed on the first page of this thread. You can even use wire nuts instead of the wiring block shown in the picture. You can then connect that via USB to your Pi and you're off an running. If you want to go wi-fi, it is a bit more difficult getting the esp to be seen correctly by your wi-fi, but it really is very simple. You don't need one of @Thorrak's boards for an easy build, you can just connect your probes and the relays directly to the Uno or esp. It only really gets a bit complicated if you want to add an LCD and or a rotary encoder (a push button dial that you can use to set parameters on the controller without going into the web interface). If you do either or both of those, you'll need a PCB board and some soldering. It is still a novice level thing to accomplish and many here have. Whatever you do, enjoy. It is a fun project that will surprise you at how accurately it can control your brewing temps.
 
I think I’m going to do the UNO with USB connection to the pi with a 4 channel relay to control 4 outlets and two probes. 1 won’t be used. The other three outlets would be fermentation cooling (upright freezer), fermentation heating (heat wrap) and my kegerator. I’m assuming the pi will recognize 1 probe for fermentation temperatures, and 1 probe for kegerator just like having two fermentation chambers. Kegerator probe says it’s too hot so cooling turns on. Fermentation probe says too cold so turn on heat.


Am I wrong in my thinking of how this will work?
 
DurtyChemist said:
I think I’m going to do the UNO with USB connection to the pi with a 4 channel relay to control 4 outlets and two probes. 1 won’t be used. The other three outlets would be fermentation cooling (upright freezer), fermentation heating (heat wrap) and my kegerator. I’m assuming the pi will recognize 1 probe for fermentation temperatures, and 1 probe for kegerator just like having two fermentation chambers. Kegerator probe says it’s too hot so cooling turns on. Fermentation probe says too cold so turn on heat.


Am I wrong in my thinking of how this will work?
Click to expand...


Yes, unfortunately. Each uno can only control one fermentation chamber (including in your case, kegerator). You can use a 4 channel relay in theory, but in practice you would be using it as if it were two 2-channel relays - with 2 channels being controlled by each of the unos.
 
Correct. The firmware running on the Uno represents just one chamber worth of math and control which is able to keep the chamber running even if the web host dies a horrible flaming death.
So, one needs (n) UNOs to control (n) chambers, which at $5 per UNO plus a couple of bucks for a wall wart is hardly punitive, and they can all be run from the same web host, and share sections of multi-channel relay modules.
The cold side of my humble brewery currently has two ferm fridges, one carb/conditioning fridge, and a keezer, all controlled by a set of four UNOs managed by a single BrewPi web host running on an RPI2B, three of which linked via Bluetooth and the keezer UNO running on USB.

When sharing multi-channel relay modules between UNOs, try to power the module with an "always on" source to allow powering down one UNO without affecting another UNO's control functionality...

Cheers!
 
My minion fleet uses Philmore PB130 boxes I stumbled upon locally years ago.
phipb130.jpg

It's a tight fit cramming everything into that volume but I really like the small footprint...

Cheers!
 
Ordered everything off Alibaba today. We shall see when it arrives and what kind of quality I get from $11 of stuff that was closer to $60 on Amazon.
 
Edit: Apparently I must not have had my order processed. Reordered for less than $10. I'll need to buy a power cord, wall outlet and something to put this in when it gets here. 20-39 days and everything but the resistor came from the Fruit Pi store.
 
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