BeerBug Review - Early build impressions

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safetydan

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Hey everyone, I've seen some interest in the BeerBug that was launched via Kickstarter last year on the forum and thought I'd post my review of the BlueTooth version of the device that I got back in June.

If you have any further questions about it let me know and I'll do what I can to answer them.

I did the review in two parts, one for brew day and one for really using the device and software as well as my overall impressions and conclusions.

Part 1 - Brew Day
Part 2 - Use and Conclusions
 
Thanks for being a guinea pig on this. The product looked really interesting, but I was concerned about the accuracy of it. Looks like they're on the right track, but have some issues to work out. I'll wait and see how the results on the retail version are to make a better decision.
 
When setting the Bug up - on let's say a carboy - do you have to adjust the length of the line that holds the probe to match up with the wort level? Ie, would you need to change the line length from one batch to the other if the first was say 5 gallons and the next was 5.25 gallons?

Cheers!
 
VERY interested in this bug. I've not heard of it yet and it sounds like it could be really promising. Any ideas as to when they are going with full release of the final product?

Say goodbye to broken hydrometers for sure.
 
Those are really cool and would be a major convenience, but there is so much else I can get I probably need more in that price range.
 
This one is interesting. How much are they going to charge? (I checked their site and I didn't see the price..so it was probably in a large flashing font in front of my nose).
 
A few answers...

You should not need to adjust line length for fermenters of similar depths with batches of any size large enough to nicely submerge the torpedo.
Different line lengths would be needed only if you are using the bug in a way that your current line either lets the torpedo hit the bottom or doesn't submerge it deeply enough. A little variation is fine though.

As far as I know ParasitX hasn't released a date or price for the final device and I won't try to guess. If I do hear anything in those fronts I can pass it along.

Edited: phone typos.
 
Definitly let us know, if they can bring it in under the kicksarter prices enough it becomes much more interesting
 
I was at a homebrew club meeting in Virginia last year and there was a ParasitX rep there giving some information about the BeerBug. The product he showed us, however, didn't look anything like what was in the pictures you put in your review. The product I saw was a floating contraption that looked quite similar to a tampon. Did they change the design since Feb '12?
 
LabRatBrewer said:
This one is interesting. How much are they going to charge? (I checked their site and I didn't see the price..so it was probably in a large flashing font in front of my nose).
Click to expand...

You can preorder it for $175 for the Bluetooth or $199 for the Wifi

http://www.thebeerbug.com/buy.php

Honestly i think at that price point its just too much of a novelty, especially if not even accurate without a ton of calibration...and at this stage it sounds like its not even accurate after doing that.

Hopefully they figure something out, and can at some point get the price down.
But at $200 this would probably be the absolute last thing i'd buy for brewing, after i have a keezer, kegs, fermentation fridge, stir plate, CFC/Plate chiller, etc...IE things that actually make better beer. It takes 60 seconds max to get a sample of beer and look at the hydrometer.
 
FuzzeWuzze said:
You can preorder it for $175 for the Bluetooth or $199 for the Wifi

http://www.thebeerbug.com/buy.php

Honestly i think at that price point its just too much of a novelty, especially if not even accurate without a ton of calibration...and at this stage it sounds like its not even accurate after doing that.

Hopefully they figure something out, and can at some point get the price down.
But at $200 this would probably be the absolute last thing i'd buy for brewing, after i have a keezer, kegs, fermentation fridge, stir plate, CFC/Plate chiller, etc...IE things that actually make better beer. It takes 60 seconds max to get a sample of beer and look at the hydrometer.
Click to expand...

Wow. Not even remotely interested at that price.
 
nukebrewer said:
I was at a homebrew club meeting in Virginia last year and there was a ParasitX rep there giving some information about the BeerBug. The product he showed us, however, didn't look anything like what was in the pictures you put in your review. The product I saw was a floating contraption that looked quite similar to a tampon. Did they change the design since Feb '12?
Click to expand...

Apparently so. What you're describing sounds more like the BrewBit concept that didn't work out. Though it's very possible that was an early beerbug concept since that was before I started following the project.
 
FuzzeWuzze said:
You can preorder it for $175 for the Bluetooth or $199 for the Wifi

http://www.thebeerbug.com/buy.php

Honestly i think at that price point its just too much of a novelty, especially if not even accurate without a ton of calibration...and at this stage it sounds like its not even accurate after doing that.

Hopefully they figure something out, and can at some point get the price down.
But at $200 this would probably be the absolute last thing i'd buy for brewing, after i have a keezer, kegs, fermentation fridge, stir plate, CFC/Plate chiller, etc...IE things that actually make better beer. It takes 60 seconds max to get a sample of beer and look at the hydrometer.
Click to expand...

I don't think they intend that page to be active right now. In their front page it says:
Orders/Pre-Orders for the Bluetooth and WiFi BeerBug™ will be avaiable here soon!

We recently completed our BeerBug™ Kickstarter. We are currently working to fill our KickStarter orders.
Please sign up below if you'd like to be added to our pre-order list.
Click to expand...

But even if having it available is a mistake I'm sure the prices aren't. Hopefully they aren't final..
 
I remember seeing the kickstarter and thinking the price wasn't reasonable enough for me to purchase this luxury (if you want to call it that). IMO, its one more thing to sanitize, clean, calibrate etc. and doesnt add enough to the quality of my beers to justify $200. My Refractometer plus Hydrometer is working fine.

I did back the Brewbit however, now that is a good tool. Ferm temp control>gravity readings.
 
The other question is when they are more cost effective, would the software support multiple BB's as well as act as a temperature probe? I know I rarely brew one batch at a time, and it would be nice to be able to log temp as well as gravity.
 
I received an email yesterday. They said they were taking pre-orders for the first 1500 people and the first 200 for the next two weeks if I read it right. Also the price has gone up instead of down to like 240 bucks. Oh her is the letter so you can read for yourself.

Hello,

Long ago, you emailed us showing interest in the BeerBug, the world's first digital and cloud based hydrometer.

It’s been a long time coming but we’re finally ready to take new Pre-orders!

You were one of the first 1500 people to request a pre-order or more information. We are now accepting your Pre-order, should you still be interested! Quantities are still limited so we will only be accepting 250 Pre-orders over the next 2 weeks.

We're glad you found us. We're sorry for the wait. We can't wait to take your order, send your Bug, and watch the awesome data flow in!

If you aren't aware of all the updates or just want to read up, head over to www.thebeerbug.com to see how things have progressed.

Pre-ordering is currently only available to you and your group of the first 1500 requesters. Therefore you must have an account on thebeerbug.com, using the email you provided us.
(if you would like to use another email or have any other email issues please email [email protected])

If you’ve not yet registered please follow the url below.
- http://www.thebeerbug.com/register/

After doing so and once logged in, go here to place your order - http://www.thebeerbug.com/products/
(You may need to refresh the page once you are there, due to caching. If refreshing does not work, please log out and log back in. Then please try once more. Again, due to rapid changing of the site and caching.)

You should see the web page below.


If you have any issues please let John ([email protected]) and I ([email protected]) know!
 
Am I reading your review right? You have to push a button on top of the beerbug then go to your PC to get the readings? do you have to push that button every time you want to take readings? or was that just a first push to sync the bug to the PC? Not much point to Bluetooth or WiFi if you have to push a button on the device to take a reading every time.

I was interested in the product since I saw the Kickstarter but, to be honest, the price is a bit high and i'd much prefer just a LCD readout in the device. Not every frickin thing on this planet needs to sync with a smartphone or PC.
 
^ I got the email too. At $240, I will wait for more reviews. They really did bump up that price as far as I can recall.
 
I would almost be more interested in a functionality where it could linked to a temp controller. If it is micro-USB compatible, I would think an attachment to a temp controller would be possible, a la a temp probe.
 
I got my email, $250. It seems to be getting more expensive by the minute. I must say I'm really disappointed by how this great idea turned out. What happens to your investment if the company/guy behind it decides that he does not want to do this any more or goes broke and stops paying for his cloud service? Then you sit up with $250 device that does not do anything. They should have stick with their initial idea of a device that measures the fermentation and reports to a local device. This internet of things is getting out of control IMO.

regards, HJ
 
I just got my WiFi BeerBug today... I guess I missed it on kickstarter when they said it would only work with this cloud... I too am worried someday I'll have an expensive paper weight... In my initial water test I found over the course of several hours the SG being reported was steadily climbing. At first I thought it was because the water was 48F and was warming up... but It eventually got up to 1.007 at 60F from the tare when it was 48F. Just doesn't seem to make sense... I threw it in a melomel I have fermenting and we'll see what happens...
 
So far it seems fairly accurate in my mead. Granted it's only been about 17 hours. I didn't want to modify my fermenter (stainless) so I have the external temp probe on the outside of the feremnter with some insulation outside of it. It's pretty accurate when compared to a reading from my thermopen. Less than a degree off. I have not compared the SG with an SG reading from my hydrometer or refractometer as of yet but the readings it's sending me back are consistant with what I would expect. It was dropping very slow over the first 7 hours but it was also reading teh temp as 45F... I raised it 5 degrees and it has started dropping more quickly. I do wonder on the 'torpedo'. The fermenter I'm using is a 14 gallon capacity. I only have a 7 gallon batch of mead in it so the torpedo is only about half submerged. The readings it is sending me back are right around where I would expect the mead to be at though.

I think if you create an account you can view other's charts... Here is my mead:
http://www.thebeerbug.com/main/index.php?id=20000c2a69044686

The big dip in it will be joined by others. That's what happens when I take the lid off to degas and it happens to take a reading while the 'torpedo' is sitting in sanitizer.
 
Oh one other things about my readings... They are suppose to be taken every 10 mins but you'll see some gaps bigger than that in mine... The fermenter is in an upright freezer in my basement. I live in a condo on the 2nd floor. I normally get a low signal in the basement but usable... I can only guess the freezer blocks even more. I'm just glad I get any readings from within it. :D
 
Blergh. I was super excited about this until I saw the price, and then mortified by the subsequent price increases. Oh well, maybe in a few years the technology will be cheaper? Right now it's just too rich for my blood. I'll stick with my $8 manual hydrometer....
 
I think what I'm most looking forward with it is tracking trends in temp vs gravity for different shape fermenters. Hopefully it will work for that... a few of my fermenters won't work with it as they don't have grommet holes.
 
hunter_la5 said:
Blergh. I was super excited about this until I saw the price, and then mortified by the subsequent price increases. Oh well, maybe in a few years the technology will be cheaper? Right now it's just too rich for my blood. I'll stick with my $8 manual hydrometer....
Click to expand...

Leave glass float hydrometer in the fermenter
Install webcam to bottom of fermenter lid and use that to check gravity.
Profit?
 
What I really want to know is the longevity of this device. I looked through the sensor design and it looks easily damageable. I do like the concept though. I had caught on to the website not to long ago but was put off by it for a few reasons. One (though I admit this is fairly snotty of me) was the design of their actual website. It looked like a as seen on TV add to me. Two was simply that they didn't seem to be actively pursuing their new product. I didn't see anything relating to "coming soon" or please order now listed. I check around and didn't see anything to being able to buy the silly thing. Last, and as others have noted, is their complexity of the device. Not that I'm saying it would be difficult to use, but I would have liked to seen a few different price bases for their product. I would have been interested in what they are selling if it really simply monitored the gravity of the beer and nothing more. If something like that were priced for $50 buck or less I, and was accurate within +- 2% I probably would have bitten the hook. What they are selling seems fully featured, but is way more than what I am looking fore.
 
Weezy said:
Am I reading your review right? You have to push a button on top of the beerbug then go to your PC to get the readings? do you have to push that button every time you want to take readings? or was that just a first push to sync the bug to the PC? Not much point to Bluetooth or WiFi if you have to push a button on the device to take a reading every time.

I was interested in the product since I saw the Kickstarter but, to be honest, the price is a bit high and i'd much prefer just a LCD readout in the device. Not every frickin thing on this planet needs to sync with a smartphone or PC.
Click to expand...

The prototype I reviewed did have to have a button pressed, the retail version will automatically upload data every 10 minutes.

I'll have a review of the retail version in a few weeks. It seems to be quite a bit better than the prototype in a few ways.
 
The button only needs to be pressed if you want an immediate reading or if you want to tare it in water. Mine is pretty much trash so far... the readings have absolutly 0 reliability.
 
Well Taylor from BeerBug contacted me after seeing this thread. He helped me out with some issues I was having with the SG readings being off. Turns out I was right that the BeerBug won't have an accurate reading if the torpedo is not fully submerged. My issue was that I extended it using a lightweight cheapo aluminum carabiner. This may have proved to be too much weight still. I extended it with some fishing line and it seems to be taking an accurate final gravity reading of my mead now. I'll update when I have a chance to use it in a brew from start to finish to see how the readings are... But at least the FG readings are correct now.
 
hreidar said:
I got my email, $250. It seems to be getting more expensive by the minute. I must say I'm really disappointed by how this great idea turned out. What happens to your investment if the company/guy behind it decides that he does not want to do this any more or goes broke and stops paying for his cloud service? Then you sit up with $250 device that does not do anything. They should have stick with their initial idea of a device that measures the fermentation and reports to a local device. This internet of things is getting out of control IMO.

regards, HJ
Click to expand...

Totally agree on this... It's been too cold to brew anything since I received my beer bugs (wifi) after waiting 14 months (after I paid ) for them to get them manufactured.. Would have never purchased if I would have known that I'd be tied to their company website to be able to read my beer bugs. I've been using them to monitor a cold cellar in my basement for the last few cold months... and then the other day they decided to change their website and I lost all of the temperature logging that was going on.... Thankfully I didn't have something fermenting then. During Kickstarter they said the API would be available with the beer bugs, but they changed their minds on that.

I hope that they can be successful, but I think they don't understand the homebrewing community - by using bait and switch and limiting beer bug users to their website.
 
Like I said earlier, it'd be real handy if this thing just had an LCD readout on the top. Push a button to get a reading, write down number, move on. Not every damn thing needs to be internet ready and tied to an online account

I wonder if there is any recourse through kickstarter?
 
Unfortunately Kickstarter could give a rip... The risk is up to the kickstarter supporter (aka Sucker)....
 
digging up old post, but so glad I read this. Was considering buying one and I guess I am going to pass now.
 
They have made some refinements and improvements. I bought one a couple weeks ago and have used it once. I like it so far. I like that I can check what's going on with my beer from anywhere. I ramped up my ferm temp at the end of fermentation and I was able to check from work how long it took to go from 65*-70*. I thought that was pretty cool. I'm going to do a more extensive review on it once I've used it in a few beers.
 
I was working on a project similar to the Brew Bug. Mine was a web enabled temp controller. Guess I should of had worked faster.....
 

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