1-Wire Fermentation Control System

[tharding]

Over the past couple of years I have put together a fermentation control system that allows me to control the temperature of my fermenting wort.
The system allows me to monitor and control the temperature to 1/10 of a degree of the target temperature using a 1-wire control system.

When I started brewing a few years ago I quickly learned that if you wanted to make great beer you needed to control the temperature of the fermenting wort to get the best qualities of the yeast and to help eliminate the production of off flavors. I am still working towards making great beer, but at least the fermentation process is now automated.

I will go over all the components of the system over the next few weeks, so others can utilize what I have developed.

Homebrewing is about giving back to the community.

Have a great day and I will post again soon.

 

[Zaphod]

Can't wait to see more of this!
From your diagram, I currently don't see anyway to heat your wort, is that correct? I see you have a cooling system going, but can you warm it up?
I'd love to see specifics on the remote monitoring.

 

[tharding]

You are correct there is no way to warm up the wort.. I can ramp up the temperature of the wort simple by setting a higher target temperature.. The temperature of the wort will ramp up at a very slow rate due to thermal loss of the cooler, approx. 1 degree or so every hour. I only ramp up the temperature of the wort at or near the end of the fermentation cycle to squeeze some more life out of the yeast.

When i put the carboy in the cooler I make sure that the temp is within 5 - 10 degrees of my target temperature as it will take a few hours for the temperature of the wort to drop. If I am to far away from the target temperature I will put the carboy in without the yeast until my target temp is reached or throw the carboy in the refrigerator to cool it quickly.

 

[Zaphod]

I guess being in AZ, you don't really have that problem. Whereas I sometimes do being in CO.

 

[tharding]

I actually ferment inside so outdoor temp is not any issue.

 

[dbrewski]

Cool! Tell us more when you can. I was looking at 1-wire components the other day at phidgets.com. it looks a little intimidating, but I'd love to figure it out. I have a lot of old PC's and what not sitting around that could access my wifi so I could remotely monitor...I have a poor man's lagerator out in the garage I'd love to monitor too.

 

[tharding]

Zaphod,

I was thinking about the heating function, the system could be changed to use a carboy heating jacket like Fermwrap. The switchable 110v module could control the on/off cycle of the Fermwrap and you would still use 2 temperature probes. 1 attached to the outside of the carboy and the second one inside the wort. The controller software would need to be changed for a heating function which would not be a big deal.

It also looks like the carboy may fit inside the gott cooler to give some thermal stability to the system.. So at first glance it should not be a big deal to add a heating mode to the system.

 

[tharding]

Here is the gott cooler from HD it is the 10 gal cooler which holds a 6 gal carboy with only a small mod to the lid. You can see in the picture the 1-wire temperature probe which measures the temperature of the wort.

You can also see the 2 rubber tubes which connect to the heat exchanger coil inside the cooler. Between the 2 tubes is the 1-wire temperature probe which monitors the temperature of the bath water.

The lid can be easily removed for visual inspection of the fermenting wort.

 

[Homercidal]

Nice! I had a similar idea but not using a fridge, just another cooler with an ice block in it. Too many projects going to actually build it at this time though.

 

[tharding]

Here you can see the stainless steel temperature probe which monitors the termperature of the wort.

The probe is a 1-wire device that was built using a 16" steel probe from brewers hardware. I had them make me a longer one so it would reach the middle point of the wort. A DS18B20 ic from Maxim just fits inside the tube so it could be inserted all the way down to the tip of the probe. The connections to the ic were heat shrink wrapped to eliminate any shorting of the leads to the shell. I also added some heatsink gup to the device so I would get better thermal conduction between the ic and the probe wall.

The end of the probe was sealed with 5 min epoxy and heat shrink tubing.
The airlock cap is a standard item purchased at any homebrew shop.

The end of the probe looks dirty, but it is just a shadow on the probe it is completely shiny and easy to clean with being stainless steel.

 

[tharding]

Here is a view of the inside where you can see the copper heat exchange coil.
The 6 gal carboy when placed inside the cooler left me with a 1/4 gap all around the carboy which allowed the placement of the heat exchange coil made from 1/4" copper tubing. The outside area the carboy is filled with water and provides a nice even temperature control of the wort inside the carboy.

 

[Nashbrewer]

Suscribed

 

[tharding]

Here is a pic of the heat exchange coil and the temperature probe.
The termperature probe was made from the 1/4" tubing with a end cap soldered
onto the tubing. When I get around to making a new heat exchange coil I think I will increase the number of loops. But for now this works great for fermenting ales.

 

[tharding]

Here is a pic of how the heat exchange coil wraps around the carboy inside the cooler.

Note: With this type of coil wrap, both ends exit the top of the cooler.

 

[tharding]

Nice! I had a similar idea but not using a fridge, just another cooler with an ice block in it. Too many projects going to actually build it at this time though.

The first version of the system I was also using a second cooler with water and ice. However it was a pain adding new ice every 24 hours.. With the kegerator I can set and forget...

 

[dbrewski]

Pretty ingenious use of the kegerator as coolant source, I did not catch that on first glance. It is amazing how inventive people are when there is beer involved!

 

[Homercidal]

The first version of the system I was also using a second cooler with water and ice. However it was a pain adding new ice every 24 hours.. With the kegerator I can set and forget...

I actually have 2 fridges as ferm chambers, so I don't have need for the other project, but it will be a nice thing for someone with not much room, or who doesn't have a kegerator.

Did you use an ice BLOCK for your first system? I haven't tried it, but I thought it might last more than 1 day... Especially if it were kept in a second cooler...

 

[tharding]

Yes, I used ice blocks from the freezer in the first system.. I changed them everyday so the water in the cooler would not get too warm. I wanted a nice temp differential for the water going through the heat exchanger. If the coolant got too warm the cycle time of the pump would increase.

 

[starman]

That looks slick. I'm anxiously awaiting more details on the hardware and software of the build.

 

[tharding]

This is a view of the corny key with the power cord, 2 tubing lines and the 1-wire temperature probe.

 

[tharding]

Here is a pic of the submersible pump that sits inside the keg.. It just fits through the hole in the top.. I bought it at a local big box store..

GeoGlobal Partners - MD11300

 

[tharding]

The 1-wire 110v switch, it socket can be turned on or off independant of each other. The submersible pump is plugged into the socket and switched on and off via the controlling software app.

 

[tharding]

The brains of the device.

 

[tharding]

The design goal was to be able to place everything inside of a standard 110 outlet box.

The 110v sockets are electrically isolated from the dc components by the use of 5v 110v relays. The power for the relays and the 1-wire ic is supplied by the 1-wire network which comes from the 1-wire controller. Therefore no 5v power supplied is needed on the board.

The DS2408 was placed on a daughter board since I don't have the capability to produce a 2 sided circuit board.

The internal fuses limit the amps for each socket to 5 amps.

 

[dbrewski]

wow...amazing, but you're way ahead of anything I could put together. This officially just became a project that I'll have to admire from the sidelines.

 

[tharding]

Thanks for the compliment.. Now remember there is always more than one way to skin a cat. Sorry cat lovers.

You can build a lot of this from off the self parts. I am just showing what I have done.
Hopefully this will spark someones creativity in putting together a system that has the same overall end result.

 

[kwarthe1]

That's a pretty clever setup! I agree there are many ways to skin that cat, but that is very cleanly done. Any chance you could put up that schematic? I'm venturing into pcb etching and this would be a great project to chip my teeth.

 

[tharding]

That's a pretty clever setup! I agree there are many ways to skin that cat, but that is very cleanly done. Any chance you could put up that schematic? I'm venturing into pcb etching and this would be a great project to chip my teeth.

Thanks, I sure can put up the schematic. I will need to clean it up a little, please give me a bit of time to do the cleanup.

I am using Eagle layout editor v5.11.0 which is a free download from the net.

 

[tharding]

wow...amazing, but you're way ahead of anything I could put together. This officially just became a project that I'll have to admire from the sidelines.

ok dbrewski, lets bring you back into the game. I totally forgot about my first versions of the system. In the first version before I developed the 1-wire 10v switch I was using x10 technology to switch the pump on and off.. I used my 1-wire temperature probes to tell the software when to issue the x10 commands to the x10 module which was controlling the pump. This still gives us a wireless connection between the host computer and the pump..

If you don't know about x10, it simply uses your house wiring to send commands to the different modules you have plugged into outlets. This allows you to computer control the pump, fan, light. Whatever you have plugged into the 110v x10 module.

This should bring you back into the game.

 

[tharding]

To utilize X10 in the system, you would need to buy a product called
ActiveHome PC Home Automation System, you can find it at a website called x10 dot com. This basic system gives you 1-3 prong appliance module(AM466), which would be used to control the pump.
It also gives you a module to allow you to interface the host computer to your house wiring and software which allows you to control the appliance module.

A driver is also free to download that allows any software application to send commands to an x10 module. I cant remember how I got the driver software, so I need to research this item.

Edit: For the x10 system you would need the ActiveHome Professional Home Automation Starter Kit with USB Computer Interface, Cable and Software - $50 (CM15A), download for free the ActiveHome Professional SDK, and buy a 3-prong appliance module(AM466) 14.00.

So for 64.00 you would have the necessary pieces.

Hopefully I haven't forgot anything. We can always work out the details before anyone goes out and buys x10 modules...

Summary: Note you can get the interface module(CM15A) and the Active Home Pro Software for 49.00 total.

Components Needed:
Active Home Pro Software
ActiveHome Professional Computer Interface and USB Cable(CM15A) 99.00
3-pin Appliance Module (AM466) - 13.99
Active Home Pro SDK - free