HOWTO - Make a BrewPi Fermentation Controller For Cheap

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looks sweet............guess i have to read the whole 48+ pages of the thread to find out whats going on with this fermenter controler
 
stewart194 said:
Thanks guys. I really appreciate the advice and guidance as this is completely new territory for me.

SO basically, if I understand this correctly, once this is all wired up...the refrigerator plugs into one of the sockets and the heater plugs into the other correct? You don't need to hard wire anything into the electrical system of the refrigerator itself?

If this is correct, then really the only things that need to be ran into the inside of the refrigerator are the temp probe (which attaches to the arduino) and the power cable going to the heater? All of the other components can be mounted outside of the refrigerator?

If this is correct, where is the best place to drill a hole in the fridge to get these things inside?

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

Yes those are the only two things, you dont need to drill a hole you can just snake the wires in through the door. My stand up freezer has no issues closing properly with a few tiny wires going under the outside seal.

If your using thick wires and your having issues closing it for whatever reason, try to snake the wires between the door hinges, i found atleast on mine this gives the greatest compression on the seal so no air leaks out and the door doesnt get stuck open.

But i dont think it will be an issue unless you use some really beefy wire for your heater...the probe wires are tiny, think telephone wire.
 
Just making sure I didn't misunderstand, but it is 2 temp probes that go into the freezer, correct? One for the freezer temp and then the other into the thermowell/beer.

FuzzeWuzze said:
Yes those are the only two things, you dont need to drill a hole you can just snake the wires in through the door. My stand up freezer has no issues closing properly with a few tiny wires going under the outside seal.

If your using thick wires and your having issues closing it for whatever reason, try to snake the wires between the door hinges, i found atleast on mine this gives the greatest compression on the seal so no air leaks out and the door doesnt get stuck open.

But i dont think it will be an issue unless you use some really beefy wire for your heater...the probe wires are tiny, think telephone wire.
Click to expand...
 
My first Brewpi controlled fermentation is under way..

http://clovercreekbrewery.us/brewpi/public.php

Impressive out of the box... It should start ramping up in a few days.

DSCN1136.jpg


View attachment Fermtroller_and_refer_controlle.pdf
 
Another quick question for you guys. If this device isn't hard wired into the refrigerator wiring...and maybe even if it was, this device can really only turn the cooling / heater on and off correct? It can't make the cooling system get colder / work harder can it? It's either heating or cooling or off?

And isn't that what the STC-1000 controller does? If so, this device with it's Linux OS is just better at "learning" when to turn the heater / cooler on and off?
 
stewart194 said:
Another quick question for you guys. If this device isn't hard wired into the refrigerator wiring...and maybe even if it was, this device can really only turn the cooling / heater on and off correct? It can't make the cooling system get colder / work harder can it? It's either heating or cooling or off?

And isn't that what the STC-1000 controller does? If so, this device with it's Linux OS is just better at "learning" when to turn the heater / cooler on and off?
Click to expand...

Yes, the benefits over a standard STC1000 are

Higher Precision
Pretty graphs
Remote access from any web browser

I could be in the Bahamas and access my network and set my fermentation chamber in Oregon if i wanted too. Granted this takes a small bit of work to make sure your webserver is on the internet, but its not that difficult if you know how to setup your router.
 
Being able to access it over the internet is definitely what sold me. Those questions were really just me trying to figure out how everything works still! Thanks again!
 
FuzzeWuzze said:
[...]
I could be in the Bahamas and access my network and set my fermentation chamber in Oregon if i wanted too.[...]
Click to expand...

I actually was on Exuma for two weeks in April and really enjoyed/appreciated being able to keep tabs on things back home at the brewery.

Plus it's like the ultimate smart phone trump card at the bar...

Cheers! :D
 
got this up and running. logs temp, powers relays, etc but i still haven't figured out how to access it while not on the network, or how to make it shareable like fuzze and some of you other guys.

thank again for the thread this is a fun project.
 
Dolomieu said:
got this up and running. logs temp, powers relays, etc but i still haven't figured out how to access it while not on the network, or how to make it shareable like fuzze and some of you other guys.

thank again for the thread this is a fun project.
Click to expand...

Here is how I did it. (Kinda...)

#1 - Register a domain at Godaddy.com "mybrewery.com"
#2 - Sign up and get paid dynamic DNS service at dyndns.org so that mybrewery.com is pointed at your home IP address
#3 - Turn on dyndns on your router so that it reports your IP back to dyndns.org - most routers do this.
#4 - Setup public.php as in page 9 of this thread.
#5 - Also setup .htpasswd server level passwording on the index.php file of your brewpi installation. you probably dont want just any Tom, Dick, or Harry playing around with your fermentation... (Also page 9)
#6 - Setup the firewall in your router to forward all port 80 requests to the IP of your brewpi.

and thats it in a nutshell... Not too hard to do, and there might be free dynamic dns services you can use too.
 
You can optionally just do what i do and skip step 1...

I just have the dynamic dns pointed to my router and my router forwards any incoming requests for port 80 to my RPI.

This obviously doesnt work if you have other webservers internally you use.

Its really up to you have you want a custom domain name or are on with a no-ip or dyndns url..personally i dont care..maybe in the future.
 
atoughram said:
You can use Apache's reverse proxy ability to have multiple servers on one IP address - that is also how I've done that. The brewery webserver is on old P3 dell I had laying around with Debian Wheezy loaded on it.

Check out this page on how to setup the reverse proxy.
http://jaykhimani.blogspot.com/2010/04/setting-reverse-proxy-with-apache2-on.html
Click to expand...

I guess i shouldnt have said cant...i meant it more if you know how to setup a reverse proxy you probably already know how to get it on the internet in the first place ;)
 
Thank you both! this is all new to me so i really appreciate the directions you have given. I'll get this part of it figured out when my lady has her bachelorette party maybe. I've held off brewing until I can get this running and grab a new freezer. My last chamber died on day 6 of fermentation. luckily it was cool enough in the garage that it didn't hurt the beer. Also this wedding stuff take up way more time than I thought.
 
Hey everyone! I skimmed through about half of this thread. New to this particular forum, but some google searches brought me here. I'm not a home brewer (although I do love beer!) but I'm working on a project for controlling a meat smoker and this software looks like out of the box it might suit me just fine. Everything will be labeled wrong, but I might dive into the code and clean it up once I get my hardware up and running the way I want it to. Just wanted to pop in and say thanks for the help so far! As of this moment I have my rPi running and have uploaded and image to my arduino. I have an 8-relay board that I had laying around and I'm just waiting on a temperature probe. Possible future purchase would be a food probe, but without doing much research I imagine I'll have to go the thermocouple route with that, but I will look.

Happy brewing!
 
FWIW, it works. No surprise really but there was some speculation a while back about whether Wheezy was required when going the laptop route. I used the install.sh script with the rpi-update part taken out of the code. I had to upgrade the ancient T23 Thinkpad to a later version of Ubuntu (went all the way to 12.04) to get the arduino-core package to install. So, If you're using a laptop or desktop instead of a RPi and want to use a Linux flavor other than Debian, here's a proof of concept.

Todd
 
perpetual said:
Hey everyone! I skimmed through about half of this thread. New to this particular forum, but some google searches brought me here. I'm not a home brewer (although I do love beer!) but I'm working on a project for controlling a meat smoker and this software looks like out of the box it might suit me just fine. Everything will be labeled wrong, but I might dive into the code and clean it up once I get my hardware up and running the way I want it to. Just wanted to pop in and say thanks for the help so far! As of this moment I have my rPi running and have uploaded and image to my arduino. I have an 8-relay board that I had laying around and I'm just waiting on a temperature probe. Possible future purchase would be a food probe, but without doing much research I imagine I'll have to go the thermocouple route with that, but I will look.

Happy brewing!
Click to expand...

I see no reason it wouldnt work for a smoker thats electric. You would be the reverse of us, everything you do heats it up....i doubt you'd need a way to chill. 8 Relay is way overkill but it'll work.

The only issue with this is its basically hard wired to work with the DS18B20 probes. Like you said you really need a food probe to get down into the meat, you'd have to make your own food probe using a DS18B0 sensor.
 
Would you guys mind looking over my final parts list? I'm still a little fuzzy on some of this. I'm sure I have the correct Arduino board and 2 way relay board, but here is the questionable stuff.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Z7QGWC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Are these what I need for the two similar looking components in Fuzze's MS Paint diagram?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Z7XWNS/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Is this the correct 4.7 resistor?

Do I just solder the wire straight to the pins on these things? Do I then need to wrap everything with electrical tape so nothing is touching?

Also, what gauge size of wire should I use?

Thanks!
 
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stewart194 said:
Would you guys mind looking over my final parts list? I'm still a little fuzzy on some of this. I'm sure I have the correct Arduino board and 2 way relay board, but here is the questionable stuff.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Z7QGWC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Are these what I need for the two similar looking components in Fuzze's MS Paint diagram?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Z7XWNS/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Is this the correct 4.7 resistor?

Do I just solder the wire straight to the pins on these things? Do I then need to wrap everything with electrical tape so nothing is touching?

Also, what gauge size of wire should I use?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

No those are transistors, not even close :)
You want something like two of these
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AZFERPO/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Just go to a Radio shack if you have one nearby to buy the 4.7k resistor, dont buy the one you listed that is a ripoff with $6 shipping. You can get a pack of 5 for $1.50 at any Radio shack. And technically even that is a ripoff, resistors are usually maybe 1-2 cents each when you get them in 100+ box's.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062328

The premade sensors are much easier to work with if you are not proficient with soldering. If you arent i wouldnt attempt building your own cables from the bare DS18B20's, they are very finicky i found.

Others can probably chime in on the wiring, personally i just used some 18 gauge wire i had laying around for my inter connects, and harvested the end of my extra PC power cable and pulled out the 14 gauge wire it had inside to do the high voltage stuff from the relay to the sockets.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks Fuzze. What are the transistor looking things in your diagram then? The ones you have labeled wires going to "VCC", "Data", and "Ground"?? Are those the two temp probes?

And the 4.7k resistor on Amazon, I'm buying everything on Amazon at once so shipping should matter too much. Plus it saves me a trip to Radio Shack...if we even still have one in my city. We might still but I haven't been there for a really long time. That being said, is the one I listed the correct one?
 
Yes those are the sensors, what they look like if you buy them and make your own cable, I should probably just update the image to use a premade sensor since thats what everyone will likely use.

If your buying on amazon, atleast get a better deal
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B5RCX6Q/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

You can get 25 of them for $3 and free shipping, dont touch that one that sells you a single resistor for $7.50...its beyond a ripoff. Its like paying someone $7.50 to send you a single penny.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks man. So, does one end of the premade temp sensor go inside the "thermowell" you list here? http://www.brewershardware.com/Straight-Wall-Thermowells/

Which one should I get for a 6 gallon glass carboy? Where do I find a cap for it that will hold a blowoff tube and the sensor at the same time?

Do I just hang the other probe from the ceiling of the fridge? (The one that takes the temp of the inside of the fridge)

Thanks again!
 
Yes the premade sensors fit down the thermowell listed. Just dont get the .25ID one, all the others should be .305" Inner diameter which is big enough because the sensors are 6mm(0.236")

As for putting it in you can just use a standard carboy cap, if you dont have one
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Q6AQKW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I'd measure your carboy to see how tall it is from the neck down into the bottom center area of it...even though their the same price you might not need the full 16" one...im not sure i dont use carboys. Too big doesnt matter really though, just more sticking out of the neck...and it's best if your not buried down in the bottom trub...if you do get one that goes all the way to the bottom of your carboy, when you put your probe in shove it to the bottom and then pull it up a bit so you know the sensor isnt just sitting at the bottom in all the trub instead of the liquid. Probably doesnt make much difference, but i do it anyways.

You'll end up with something like this.
fermenter-cap.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
stewart194 said:
Thanks man. So, does one end of the premade temp sensor go inside the "thermowell" you list here? http://www.brewershardware.com/Straight-Wall-Thermowells/

Which one should I get for a 6 gallon glass carboy? Where do I find a cap for it that will hold a blowoff tube and the sensor at the same time?

Do I just hang the other probe from the ceiling of the fridge? (The one that takes the temp of the inside of the fridge)

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

Get the 16”. I have a 6gal glass carboy and it works perfect.

Get one of the orange fermenter caps from amazon or more beer.

Hang the fridge probe in the center of the fridge about 6" from the side of the freezer.
 
Thank you everyone... i have final read all 51 pages and pulled together all parts i needed from my spare equipment to build this... i love it

I built the 3 probes with cat 5 cable and the bare ds18b20's.

2014-05-27 15.25.24.jpg
 
petewa said:
Thank you everyone... i have final read all 51 pages and pulled together all parts i needed from my spare equipment to build this... i love it

I built the 3 probes with cat 5 cable and the bare ds18b20's.
Click to expand...

Looks good, i originally started building my cables out of phone wire, similar to Cat5 just thinner.

Ended up with what i think is 4 wire sprinkler system cable.....lets me keep the wire thin to fit through my fridge seal easily ;)
 
So we had less than "outdoorsy" weather much of the Memorial Day Weekend which gave me plenty of play time.

First lab experiment on my agenda was to try to get BrewPi to run on an Alamode. This did not go well. Even with the required changes to the various configuration files, BrewPi's built-in programmer doesn't want to deal with a serial port connected "Uno". I fought to overcome that for awhile before conceding and programming the AVR on my actual Uno over its USB connection (which, ironically, uses a USB-to-Serial convertor to talk to the AVR over its native serial port...but I digress)...

With the programmed chip installed on the Alamode BrewPi could "see" it and tried to talk to it, but it kept connecting and then disconnecting to the two temperature probes and never got its act together, so I couldn't even check to see if it could control the two relays, either.

I'll get back to this on another rainy day, as I have to believe it can be made to work. An Alamode is every bit an Uno - except for that stand-alone USB-Serial converter on the Uno. It uses the same AVR (heck I've been swapping mine from Uno to Alamode and back the last couple of weeks) and all of the IO is set up identically which is all that should really count...

Second experiment was to resolve the problem I had after using the manual BrewPi installation (I kept the SD card image before using the automatic installation script). After reviewing my build log I realized I had used a Windows-based programmer to write the BrewPi hex file to the Uno instead of using the BrewPi built in programmer - and it apparently did not properly reset the AVR serial eeprom. There's a note in the BrewPi installation page that warns of the symptoms of such a problem: the Uno can't save the device configuration (or pretty much anything else). So I'm pretty sure that one's on me and the actual manual installation procedure as documented is sound.

Finally, I wanted to hook up another Uno and get a second instance of BrewPi running and see how the loading on the 'Pi scales atop RaspberryPints and my temperature logger base load (another reason for the Alamode experiment). But the handful of temperature probes I bought on the 13th are still bobbing along their way from China (arrrgh!) and as I found out, if the AVR can't talk to the probes nothing much else is going to happen.

<sigh>

I need a beer...

Cheers! ;)
 
Spent quite some time trying to troubleshoot this over the last day, and I'm still coming up short. I ended up ordering a Sainsmart Nano v3 (same specs as the Uno, just smaller), and it works fine on OSX but is not recognized by debian. The latter recognizes other usb devices fine (flash drive, wifi dongle), but absolutely nothing happens when I plug in the Arduino.

The easiest way I've been able to verify nothing is happening is $cat /var/log/messages, which identifies other devices mentioned but does absolutely nothing when the arduino clone is plugged in. I'm stumped. Will borrow another arduino when I get a chance, but this is a stupid problem standing in the way of getting this up and running.

For reference, I'm running this on BeagleBone with the 2014-04-23 image, and have recently run updates. Suggestions welcome, but I have scoured as many arduino and debian related troubleshooting searches as possible with no workable solution... Everything else seems to work great, for the record!
 
so are you guys putting your probes into your fermenting beer or just hanging it inside the freezer. It seems that since we are actually trying to adjust the liquid temp, the beer would be better.

Edit: Duh, thermowells. Do you have it long enough to enter the liquid? Sorry, I'm a visual guy and not seeing much on pics.
 
njenabnit said:
so are you guys putting your probes into your fermenting beer or just hanging it inside the freezer. It seems that since we are actually trying to adjust the liquid temp, the beer would be better.

Edit: Duh, thermowells. Do you have it long enough to enter the liquid? Sorry, I'm a visual guy and not seeing much on pics.
Click to expand...

Yes preferable in the middle of the liquid. I have a 10" one going from the lid and into the beer, that way I don't have to worry about leaks and it's only the stainless steel pipe that contacts the beer, so less risk of infections. :)
 
FuzzeWuzze said:
I see no reason it wouldnt work for a smoker thats electric. You would be the reverse of us, everything you do heats it up....i doubt you'd need a way to chill. 8 Relay is way overkill but it'll work.

The only issue with this is its basically hard wired to work with the DS18B20 probes. Like you said you really need a food probe to get down into the meat, you'd have to make your own food probe using a DS18B0 sensor.
Click to expand...

I know an 8-way relay is overkill, but I already have it on my desk. :) I can always wire in some lights and stuff to show me when the heaters are on. I still need to figure out how to get into the code, both on the rPi and the Uno to see what I can mess around with. I have 2 heaters now, ideally I'd like to have both of them on when the temp is below a certain point, then use only 1 when it gets closer to the set point, generally 225F or so. I have what I think is a 100K ohm thermistor-type food probe that I might play with. Still waiting on my other temp sensor to arrive in the mail. I haven't gotten the BrewPi to realize I have my relays hooked up, but I haven't dove into it yet. I figured when my temp sensor(s) arrive I will play around more then.
 
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