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One of the joys of Mac. It kills the power to the usb if the plug is drawing too much current. They're also built for pretty high current, to charge those power hungry iphones. This definitely needs a better power source, but... I'm lazy. Or, more to the point, I spent too much time rebuilding...

As much trouble as that d*&N thing has been, I didn't want to risk melting it :D Also my dad ( a petrochemist) scared the hell out of me regarding the flamability of propane, so I'm trying to keep everything as far apart as possible.

So, v0.1 is done :) At least all the components are there. It still needs a lot of tuning, I'm sure. I shot a quick video of the system, though I could only get it at full tilt, since my phone crashed (twice) while the system was reducing or increasing the heat :/...

It seems that PID control should account for some non-linearity. If temp << setpoint, go to high; as temp < setpoint, a bit less; temp ~ setpoint, very low; temp>setpoint, off That could be replicated pretty easily in code, but there's already a handy PID library, so why reinvent the wheel? :)

Well the servo is fixed, and attached to the regulator (of somewhat haphazardly). Initial tests show the servo responding to the pid input pretty well. Once I have the temperature probe made (I don't have any thin enough wire) I can start tuning the pid parameters. :-)

So... it seems there's some more servo weirdness going on. The servo seems to respond to write microseconds or angle, but it's not repeatable once attached to the regulator knob. On opening of the servo case it seems teh board is actually a hitec Hs755HB. So, i'm just not sure what the heck is...

I got a chance to work on the integration of the sensor/pid/servo last night, and it seems to be working. It's very basic - just moving the servo and writing some output to the serial monitor, but it's there. Next step is to start working on the physical aspects (sensor waterproofing, mounting...

yes, i've been using 1000-2000 uS, and that gives me 4 rotations. Once I work out the exact number of rotations I need, it should be good-to-go. That particular servo seems pretty torquey, which is great, since it should allow for full off-on rotation of the regulator.

Awesome, give it a go! I'm not sure the servo is exactly what it purports to be. Mine seems to be a continuous rotation servo ... or something has broken within it :) However, using write micoseconds() does seem to get consistent positioning. I'm currently working on integrating the...

My pilsner has been fermenting for 4 weeks now. 2 weeks in the secondary. I was hoping that it would be ready to bottle soon. Unfortunately, it's still very cloudy. I've added one pack of gelatin (last week) and I've got about 1/2" of clear at the top. Can I add more gelatin? I don't keg so...

Okay. That makes me feel better. I hope my yeast don't look like that under the microscope :-P

Got a 15 minute pale ale brewing for the past week. I'm using San Diego super yeast. I haven't opened the bucket for the week, but decided to be curious tonight. I saw this weird cinnamon like substance floating on top. Please tell me it's nothing horrible... I tasted the beer and it tastes...

Thanks for the advice thus far, gang. The maxim integrated Ds18b20 came today, and my winch servo came in earlier this week. I'll try to find some time to play with these things this weekend and let you know my progress.

I've been using PBW to clean all of my equipment, and it works really well, but it's a bit pricey. We use borax around the house for cleaning things, and I just wondered if it would substitute for pbw, and if so, what quantities do you use?

Definitely, getting the heat measured correctly and uniform throughout the water or wort is important, but that's not unique to gas heat. I'm thinking of using one of these guys...

Ok, that makes sense, however, a new electric system >$ than my current propane system, so I'm willing to forge ahead! Any thoughts on temp measurement devices. You mention thermistors , how about a nice long thermocouple - would that work to give accurate readings without averaging, or am I...

What's this mass flow controller thing? I've never heard of such a thing, but now I'm intrigued. What model/brand are you using? They seem to be quite expensive. The analogwrite() function of an arduino can be used with a low pass controller to create an analog voltage for control of that type...

No doubt, they are essentially doing a PWM control when a PID is used to control an off/on electrical system. However this isn't actually PID control, it's PI. The D (derivative) control comes with the ability to control gradations in the input (whether that's heat, electricity, or gas). The...

The Bayou classic needle valves are probably better quality and more 'reproducible' because they can be added on to existing systems (I believe). Unfortunately, I think they require more torque to turn. Could the valve knob be removed and replaced with a gear, perhaps? ColoHox, the reason...

The gas valve I'm using is my adjustable regulator on my turkey fryer (at least for version 0.0) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0FU0DY4544&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleMKP&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleMKP-_-pla-_-BBQ+Grills-_-9SIA0FU0DY4544 My idea is to attache the motor to the regulator knob...