BrewPi Spark DIY Shield

Some weeks ago i got lucky and found a Spark Core for cheap, so i built a DIY brewpi shield for it.

The display was on a slow boat but yesterday it finnaly arrived.

You can find more pics and schematics on my blog:

https://doomlab.wordpress.com/2015/04/15/brewpi-spark-diy-shield/

Please also consider to buy the BrewPi Spark from elco and his team, they invested alot of work and deserve all the credit:

http://www.brewpi.com/

 

Interesting, im most curious about the BrewPi spark as a controller in a HERMS/RIMS Elecctric setup and how that would work..Elco doesnt have much info about it at this point other than some pictures showing the LCD screen with HLT/Mash temps...

 

Yers!! Even though I finally got my shield and Brewpi functional (just waiting for my custom laser-cut acrylic case later in the week to assemble it, mwahaha!) I have a Spark Photon coming in a month or so that I'll try this out with.

 

I have a photon on order as well, though its for another unbrew related project. I'm still a bit torn between this or an Elsinore setup at the moment.

 

are they selling the photon yet?

 

Sort of yes, sort of no. It's available for sale, but the first run is already sold out, so if you order it now, you won't be getting it until May/June.

 

Hey, looks like there hasn't been much activity here. Was wondering If the shield could be used as a standalone device to regulate temperature. I'm trying to cut costs here. Wouldn't be similar to STC-100 but with a dual zone control ?

I like the fact that this has better display and gives finer grain control over regulating fermentor temperatures. I have the arduino shield option too but no display is a deal breaker.

My understanding is that the RPI/desktop would add the logging and web-interface aspect to it. Which is kinda cool. but right now neither is an option as it has to be constantly hooked to Spark/Particle core. Even with the newer phonto though it has wifi capabilities it still need to be wired to the server.

 

Hi Doomy86,

Thank you for replying on your blog. Being a pure software guy i think i would be taking up more than what i can handle with the Core/Photon.

I would probably be more comfortable with Arduino Shield setup and probably use this thread to have a display hooked on to it.
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=510036

 

marker

 

Bump for something that's gone under the radar. Given the fact that the Arduino BrewPi isn't really being updated anymore, this seems to be the future. I'm on the fence about buying one of Elco's ones and would if they offered multi-chamber support (a feature that's been promised, but still isn't available.) Given that many of us have more than one beer going at a time, the commercial version gets expensive FAST with one per chamber.

 

While everything you say is true - there's nothing wrong with continuing to use the Arduino. What updates does it need (for a free solution)?

 

For free, nothing - but as different stuff comes along, it might become an issue. For my personal (and it's just me) use, PWM found in the Spark side of things is needed since I'll be fermenting with glycol coils, and without PWM the temp swings around a lot, since the cooling is so rapid.

Plus, it seems that doomy's method of putting one together isn't that much more expensive than putting the Arduino-based one together?

 

You're going to have multiple fermentation vessels with glycol? And multiple Sparks are too expensive? Surely you jest sir!

I see what you mean though.

 

Haha, well it's not inexpensive - although selling my 14 gallon conical to cover one of the new 1/2bbl ones (well, a chunk of one!) and will be building the glycol pump out of a window AC unit I already have in the garage.

And shouldn't be two Sparks, should just be one - again, Elco's said that multi-fermenter support is on the cards, just not available yet. (Although at the moment it'd be two, which is why I'm thinking building two DIY ones since the off the shelf version is $100+ for one!)

 

What sets the temperature of the glycol? Can't you moderate the temperature of the glycol so that it isn't icy-cold and therefore doesn't cool the vessel so rapidly?