HOWTO - Make a BrewPi Fermentation Controller For Cheap
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BrewPi just lists them in Maintenance Panel - Device Configuration.
You have to assign the probes to the desired functions, just like you have to assign your relays, etc...
Cheers!
You have to assign the probes to the desired functions, just like you have to assign your relays, etc...
Cheers!
This is how I currently do mine. One of mine is in secondary at that point, but it has worked fine and is usually only a degree or two off.
Pick up a few carboy caps, they have a hole for a thermowell and a tube. I exclusively use blow offs and even with active fermentation they stay put. I was nervous at first but they work fine. Someone else said taping it to the side with thick foam will help, that didn't work for me at all. I had 3" insulation foam covered with a towel and I was getting terrible temp swings. Use a thermowell.
Mine stay in the fridge until I am ready to keg.
OP
OP
FuzzeWuzze
I Love DIY
As BrewerJack mentioned, if you use carboys you really should get some carboy caps that have thermowells.
One of the main benefits of this setup is its precision, which you throw out the window by measuring through the fermenter, and as he said your going to experience some pretty bad under and over swing on your temp settings.
So after slogging through the manual BrewPi installation I have RaspberryPints and BrewPi peacefully coexisting together. The only conflict I found along the way was both use the default index.php for their web pages, so I changed the one for BrewPi to brewpi.php. Otherwise, even though I could spend an entire day revising their instructions to harden them up, I've dealt with worse.
Device configuration was a bit interesting. The BrewPi site shows devices with "Device type" fields with something other than "None", unlike all of my devices. It's surprising the ds18b20s show up as "None" as they actually have device type codes embedded, but there's no way that BrewPi could identify the relay channels (just a GPIO pin sinking current through an opto-isolator that switches a transistor that energizes a relay coil - there isn't anything that's going to answer the question "What are you?"). Which makes me wonder where the "Temp Sensor", "Switch Sensor" and "Switch Actuator" values shown on their web site images for the device configuration are coming from.
Anyway, I figured out what was hooked where and assigned the sensors and relays in a generic manner. Still, at the start I had the two relay circuits set to non-inverted and then sat there like an idiot wondering why the LEDs on the relay card for both the cool and heat circuits were on simultaneously. Duh.
So with this running on my office desk I'm most likely torturing the control algorithms, as the relays obviously aren't hooked to anything and the two probes are laying on my desk. But I've been having fun scrambling BrewPi's senses playing with the temperature probes and changing the temperature goal. I have a feeling I'm going to be looking for a "Global Reset" function to make the poor thing unlearn whatever it thinks it's learning
Cheers!
[edit: it appears the one could indeed get BrewPi to run on an AlaMode without much issue as it appears the program supports all kinds of serial links. That said, if the intent of having an AlaMode is to manage the flow sensors for R'Pints V2 then BrewPi has to be run on its own Uno anyway.]
Where did you get that little break out board for your temp probes? I need that!
Ok guys my parts have started to arrive, and the remainder are scheduled to arrive early next week.
Here's what I have or will be delivered:
Raspberry Pi with sd card arrived yesterday
Brewpi shield and sensors scheduled to arrive Monday
Arduino scheduled to arrive Monday
Thermowell scheduled to arrive Tuesday
Will a 5v 1A power supply work for the RPi? and do I need to power the arduino separately? if so, how?
Other than that, I need a monitor with hdmi cable, and a usb keyboard. Is that all? I have a soldering iron and solder already.
I'm going to go back through this thread this weekend to refresh my memory on things. But I'm guaranteed to have more questions.
Here's what I have or will be delivered:
Raspberry Pi with sd card arrived yesterday
Brewpi shield and sensors scheduled to arrive Monday
Arduino scheduled to arrive Monday
Thermowell scheduled to arrive Tuesday
Will a 5v 1A power supply work for the RPi? and do I need to power the arduino separately? if so, how?
Other than that, I need a monitor with hdmi cable, and a usb keyboard. Is that all? I have a soldering iron and solder already.
I'm going to go back through this thread this weekend to refresh my memory on things. But I'm guaranteed to have more questions.
Leaving out the accounts of many folks who have conducted experiments comparing chamber regulation performance using thermowells vs externally applied and thermally isolated probes - and just going by my own experience over the years - I see no compelling need for thermowells. Once I switch over my fermentation fridge from a Love TSS2 to BrewPi I may feel differently...
Cheers!
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Better temperature control without overrun is one of the reasons I may go the BrewPi PID route rather than the STC1000+ route--self adjusting temperature control to alleviate overshoot. It requires a computer, where the STC is less setup. The Arduino itself could be use, there is a PID algorithm lib for the Arduino.
But the BrewPi is the complete package, and has the cool factor of logging, web presence, sexy graphs, hot and cold running maids, a user selectable genie with 3 wishes...
Those are home-brewed One-Wire "bridge" cards. I made them out of 100mil perf board, glued the through-pin header strips down, added the 4.7K pull-up resistor, then wired them all up in the back. There's one for the 'Pi that can handle the maximum of five DS18B20 sensors and another bridge for the Uno that can handle four sensors. They take about 20 minutes to make.
Excuse the crappy extreme-closeup shots
Cheers!
Those are home-brewed One-Wire "bridge" cards. I made them out of 100mil perf board, glued the through-pin header strips down, added the 4.7K pull-up resistor, then wired them all up in the back. There's one for the 'Pi that can handle the maximum of five DS18B20 sensors and another bridge for the Uno that can handle four sensors. They take about 20 minutes to make.
Excuse the crappy extreme-closeup shots
Cheers!
Fantastic, thanks. I may run by radio shack and grab some perf board and do this before final construction.
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Day_trippr--why a 4 line breakout, using pullup 4.7K to 3.3v for the DS18b20? Most wiring diags I've found for multiple DS18B20 sensors use the 4.7K pullup to 5v, which requires only 3 wires going Arduino-to-Sensors.
Day_trippr--why a 4 line breakout, using pullup 4.7K to 3.3v for the DS18b20? Most wiring diags I've found for multiple DS18B20 sensors use the 4.7K pullup to 5v, which requires only 3 wires going Arduino-to-Sensors.
If you pull a GPIO pin to 5V on a RaspberryPi you're flirting with blowing up the SOC. Otoh, a 3.3V pullup on an Arduino GPIO pin works fine. I want to be able to use the bridge cards anywhere and this is the most flexible solution.
The connectors for the actual sensors are just three pins each 5v/IO/gnd...
Cheers!
Hey Fuzze
How many chambers could be controlled by a single raspberry pi setup (assuming seperate arduino for each)?
awesome thread and awesome project
wouldn't it be possible to control two fridges with a single arduino if you use one probe as fridge1 and one probe as fridge2.. and then top outlet for fridge1 and bottom outlet for fridge2?
I don't see why that wouldn't work.. it would just need the code to be rewritten some.. which is probably beyond my skill level unfortunately
wouldn't it be possible to control two fridges with a single arduino if you use one probe as fridge1 and one probe as fridge2.. and then top outlet for fridge1 and bottom outlet for fridge2?
I don't see why that wouldn't work.. it would just need the code to be rewritten some.. which is probably beyond my skill level unfortunately
oh maybe you don't even need to change the code.. maybe it's just creating a second instance of brewpi (like on the multiple arduino link) and then linking the appropriate devices
that sounds really doable.. or does that confuse the arduino (running two things on the same one?)
The problem is that the arduino is just a microcontroller, not a full SOC. You'd confuse the arduino
OP
OP
FuzzeWuzze
I Love DIY
As of now you need one arduino per chamber, how many you can run per rpi I dont know. Two at a min, I dont see why not 3 or 4 using a usb hub, but no idea.
If you go through the Github history (and I think it's also mentioned on the BrewPi site) they squeezed every last byte of resources out of the Arduino to fit the current version microcode. I don't see adding multi-chamber to the Arduino, and greatly respect that they provisioned the 'Pi side code to run multiple Arduinos...
Cheers!
Cheers!
fwiw...I've been setting up my 'Pi to be able to eventually send out emails under various alert conditions that will be associated with my keezer temperature logger and BrewPi controlling my fermentation fridge. As part of that I installed an outgoing smtp service that "talks" through gmail.
As soon as I installed this, cron started using it to report job status. With my temperature logger using a cron task that runs on a five minute period, that got a good flow of email messages going. But BrewPi has a task that resubmits every minute - so by the time I checked my gmail account there were hundreds of messages waiting for me
So, for anyone thinking of doing something similar, plan on editing /etc/cron.d/brewpi
And change this line:
* * * * * brewpi python $scriptpath/brewpi.py --checkstartuponly --dontrunfile; [ $? != 0 ] && python -u $scriptpath/brewpi.py 1>$stdoutpath 2>>$stderrpath &
To this:
* * * * * brewpi python $scriptpath/brewpi.py --checkstartuponly --dontrunfile > /dev/null 2>&1; [ $? != 0 ] && python -u $scriptpath/brewpi.py > /dev/null 2>&1
And if you happen to have grabbed my temperature logger:
$ sudo crontab -e -u www-data
Change this line:
*/5 * * * * /usr/lib/cgi-bin/monitor_xsensor.py (where x = 1 or 2)
To this:
*/5 * * * * /usr/lib/cgi-bin/monitor_xsensor.py > /dev/null 2>&1
That'll stop the email avalanche...
Cheers!
[edit] I just noticed the change to the brewpi crontab also suppresses log window messages in its browser.
That's a bit curious to me - does that mean the gui restarts its crontab every time you poke at a setting?
As soon as I installed this, cron started using it to report job status. With my temperature logger using a cron task that runs on a five minute period, that got a good flow of email messages going. But BrewPi has a task that resubmits every minute - so by the time I checked my gmail account there were hundreds of messages waiting for me
So, for anyone thinking of doing something similar, plan on editing /etc/cron.d/brewpi
And change this line:
* * * * * brewpi python $scriptpath/brewpi.py --checkstartuponly --dontrunfile; [ $? != 0 ] && python -u $scriptpath/brewpi.py 1>$stdoutpath 2>>$stderrpath &
To this:
* * * * * brewpi python $scriptpath/brewpi.py --checkstartuponly --dontrunfile > /dev/null 2>&1; [ $? != 0 ] && python -u $scriptpath/brewpi.py > /dev/null 2>&1
And if you happen to have grabbed my temperature logger:
$ sudo crontab -e -u www-data
Change this line:
*/5 * * * * /usr/lib/cgi-bin/monitor_xsensor.py (where x = 1 or 2)
To this:
*/5 * * * * /usr/lib/cgi-bin/monitor_xsensor.py > /dev/null 2>&1
That'll stop the email avalanche...
Cheers!
[edit] I just noticed the change to the brewpi crontab also suppresses log window messages in its browser.
That's a bit curious to me - does that mean the gui restarts its crontab every time you poke at a setting?
My brewpi is doubling as a webserver too... But I'm hoping to change that soon, just have to figure out Apache's reverse proxy capabilities.
One other thing I think I'm going to have problems with if I let brewpi actually control the chamber - I've got a window AC unit for a cooler and if I let it run too long, it ices up the evaporator. I'm considering using an STC-1000 as a freezstat to interrupt the cooling when the coils start building ice. See any problems with that? (I was reading on the brewpi sight that they might add this functionality in the next rev..)
One other thing I think I'm going to have problems with if I let brewpi actually control the chamber - I've got a window AC unit for a cooler and if I let it run too long, it ices up the evaporator. I'm considering using an STC-1000 as a freezstat to interrupt the cooling when the coils start building ice. See any problems with that? (I was reading on the brewpi sight that they might add this functionality in the next rev..)
I'm getting stoked! my RPi just shipped. should be here late next week. May just run and grab one at Microcenter so I dont have to wait. I almost have all the parts. My probes should be here wed. The others i ordered from amazon won't get here until june, so i grabbed to more from ebay. I hope to get it all set up on the bread board and have it ready to program when the RPi shows up.
Thanks for all the posts! i have been stalking and following this thread along. its been a learning experience.
Thanks for all the posts! i have been stalking and following this thread along. its been a learning experience.
Does BrewPi have any mechanism for retaining all of the device settings so they can be reloaded (like, after the 'Pi has been powered off)?
Cheers!
Cheers!
Hey guys
Quick ? about the chamber I'm using.
I got this fridge from my sister and brother-in-law
https://www.danby.com/en/US/our_products/refrigeration/dbc120bls
It just has a knob to control the temp. Do I need to bypass the thermostat somehow and make it "always on", so that when brewpi wants to turn it on it immediately comes on? Or if I turn the control knob all the way down to as cold as it will go will it work? for just ale fermentation?? and what about for lager ferm temp and lagering temps?
I just received the fridge and turned it on the coldest setting to see how cold it will get, so I'll check back later this afternoon.
Thanks
Quick ? about the chamber I'm using.
I got this fridge from my sister and brother-in-law
https://www.danby.com/en/US/our_products/refrigeration/dbc120bls
It just has a knob to control the temp. Do I need to bypass the thermostat somehow and make it "always on", so that when brewpi wants to turn it on it immediately comes on? Or if I turn the control knob all the way down to as cold as it will go will it work? for just ale fermentation?? and what about for lager ferm temp and lagering temps?
I just received the fridge and turned it on the coldest setting to see how cold it will get, so I'll check back later this afternoon.
Thanks
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Most folks turn it to "Get Danged Cold", plug into the 'cold' relay, and BrewPi flips that relay on when it needs to add cold to teh chamber
OP
OP
FuzzeWuzze
I Love DIY
It really depends how cold it gets, im going to guess it will get down to 40-45F which should be fine for maintaining any ale..
*edit*
The website says 43F...so thats your limit...you can still do lagers easily at that temp.
Yes, it's written to a JSON file.
No comments? I guess I'll try it and tell you all about it. Save myself the $300 bucks that a CoolBot would costs - The coolbot is nothing more than a thermostat with a freezestat.
I did get the reverse proxy working. The pi isnt a webserver anymore...
Ohhh kay, you hooked me: what is the name of the file, where is it located, and how would one reload it's content into BrewPi so I don't have to re-do the configuration every time I reboot the 'Pi?
Cheers!
Thermostats can be bypassed.
Considering all the magical stuff going on in this thread, that one should be a no-brainer
Cheers!
flippedcracker
Well-Known Member
What about posting a message to twitter instead of emails?
flippedcracker
Well-Known Member
I don't mean for other people, I mean for personal information sake. I have a media server that posts to a private twitter whenever it downloads a movie to tv show episode so I know what's going with it. Doesn't clog up my email and it's only for my eyes. Just a thought.
Sorry, that was my inner curmudgeon speaking
I assume, however, that said "private twitter" account would still require actually registering with a social media site. I'm unmoved to do so.
I have a myriad of email accounts for various needs, including one for my home appliances to talk to me...
Cheers!
I assume, however, that said "private twitter" account would still require actually registering with a social media site. I'm unmoved to do so.
I have a myriad of email accounts for various needs, including one for my home appliances to talk to me...
Cheers!
RutherfordBrave
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I have nearly everything to start my ferm chamber upgrade, including the newest revision (C) of the BBB running debian. Pretty fun little computer out of the box, and I'm looking forward to having everything up and running over the long weekend.
For those of you who want to see the BrewPi interface without setting up your own webserver, handling emails, twitter, etc., Dropbox has been my favorite for hosting low volume personal websites for a while. A symlink of your BrewPi /var/www/index.html (or wherever your page is hosted from) file in the /Public Dropbox directory can be viewed by anyone so long as they have the address. Security by obscurity, though -- it's publicly available to anyone who stumbles across that folder.
For those of you who want to see the BrewPi interface without setting up your own webserver, handling emails, twitter, etc., Dropbox has been my favorite for hosting low volume personal websites for a while. A symlink of your BrewPi /var/www/index.html (or wherever your page is hosted from) file in the /Public Dropbox directory can be viewed by anyone so long as they have the address. Security by obscurity, though -- it's publicly available to anyone who stumbles across that folder.
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