Brew Bubbles: Web-Enabled Airlock

[LBussy]

However you are flashing it is not loading the filesystem. I spoke to John this morning about Brewflasher - that will be the easiest way to fix it.

 

[ChrisThomas]

Sorry this is one I should have done first.

 

[ChrisThomas]

Sorry messages crossed over. Just to calrify, I'm following instructions that you referenced in earlier message, I don't get any errors reported. I did do an erase first.

I'll revert to 2.0.0. for now

 

[LBussy]

Okay!

Found lots of things that tripped me up, and talked John into changing the backend of Brewflasher a bit. The end result is 2.1.1 is now available for online upgrade (may take a couple of hours because of CDNs caching information) as well as via Brewflasher.'

Thanks for bearing with me.

To recap: Anyone that installed the initial 2.0.0 (which reported itself as 1.0.0) may run into an unintended issue with the upgrade. If that happens, using Brewflasher again (without erasing) will get you sorted, but will reset your configuration.

 

[ChrisThomas]

Just done a bit of testing. Using Brewflasher to install 2.1.1 all works fine. OTA upgrade from 2.0.0. or 2.1.0 fails.

 

[LBussy]

Yeah, those version numbers were sketchy so I can't say what happened. Apparently I had a minor stroke when typing or something.

 

[ChrisThomas]

My excuse is age, possibly clouded by homebrew?

 

[LBussy]

Well, I've been brewing for 30 years if that gives you a clue about my age.

 

[wd16261]

I updated one of my Brewbubbles with Brewflasher to version 2.1.1 and it works fine. Also the reporting to brewfather is OK.
I tried the update first with OTA but this failed.
Once my other 2 Brewbubbles are free I will try to update them also.
Thanks again for the good work!

 

[LBussy]

I'm sorry the OTA broke in the middle somewhere there. The best-laid plans of men ....

 

[LBussy]

I added a ambient sensor and it works great but even tough I don't have a vessel probe connected it shows a value:

I am currently unable to reproduce this issue. Is it still a problem?

 

[ZeSlammy]

Hey there.Many many thanks to @LBussy !
I just built my first BBubbles but I'm sort of stuck trying to send info up to BrewFather.
I've set it up in the WebPage on the ESP but when I check logs, I still see "BrewFather not enabled".

15:03:28.503 -> 2020-09-10T13:03:28Z V: Triggered Brewfather push.
15:03:28.503 -> 2020-09-10T13:03:28Z V: Brewfather not enabled, skipping.

Any ideas ?

 

[ZeSlammy]

Hey there.Many many thanks to @LBussy !
I just built my first BBubbles but I'm sort of stuck trying to send info up to BrewFather.
I've set it up in the WebPage on the ESP but when I check logs, I still see "BrewFather not enabled".


Any ideas ?

Nevermind, rebooted, installed it on my fermenter and I now have information flowing to BFather

 

[LBussy]

Well, that was easy.

 

[ZeSlammy]

yeah
Now onwards onto writing a CraftBeer Pi Plugin.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

yeah
Now onwards onto writing a CraftBeer Pi Plugin.

OT: What's the story on CBPi? I keep hearing rumors that it's not being supported anymore.

 

[ZeSlammy]

OT: What's the story on CBPi? I keep hearing rumors that it's not being supported anymore.

Well it is working once you install it and there is quite a community but yes, the trunk has not been updated for a while. That being said, there is a Python3 version being worked on. But also a lot of people moved on to Red Node

 

[LBussy]

There will always be lots of churn like that in our world. Ultimately you're talking about something someone else made and gave away for free - so you get what you pay for in many cases. BrewPi for instance was something that became a labor of love for me because I just like how it looks and feels. The uplift of MANY applications from Python 2 to 3 was more than the average homebrewer made programmer could or would handle. That's also the benefit of open source. All you have to do is fork it and fix it (easier said than done!).

 

[LBussy]

We're famous now guys:

Homebrewing DIY Episode 54 – Brew Bubbles with Lee Bussy

 

[day_trippr]

How you gonna keep them on the farm now?

 

[ChrisThomas]

And more teasing about this new project, evil man

 

[wd16261]

Do we really have to wait one year to find out about this new project?

 

[LBussy]

I doubt it will be a year.

 

[LBussy]

Okay, let's see who is awake.

I have a couple of Brew Bubbles stickers for the next five people who send me a PM. I'll edit this when I've hit five.

This will be US addresses (including APO/FPO) only, please. Maybe I'll do something for our non-US friends next.

ETA: All stickers have been spoken for.

 

[ChrisThomas]

 

[wd16261]

 

[LBussy]

I'm like the David Hasselhoff of Brewing Electronics.

 

[ZeSlammy]

Hey boss. Have a question. My first BB worked fine went I installed it on my first brew, showed ton of activity.
I switched it to a new brew, same controller, thought I had no activity because BB reported zero. I went down to check there is a lot of bubble activity on my airlock yet the BB light stays solid as if it does not see anything. If it take it off and put a piece of paper between the prongs it flashed alright but no dice with the airlock/vodka combo. Any idea ?

 

[LBussy]

I switched it to a new brew, same controller, thought I had no activity because BB reported zero. I went down to check there is a lot of bubble activity on my airlock yet the BB light stays solid as if it does not see anything. If it take it off and put a piece of paper between the prongs it flashed alright but no dice with the airlock/vodka combo. Any idea ?

I suspect it's the sensitivity of the sensor. There's been a few posts here about how folks have addressed it (and it might be time for a FAQ):

• Explaining the light and the sensitivity of the sensor
• Initial trial with a cardboard collimator
• Heatshrink collimator
• Details on using cardboard as a collimator
• Details on using heatshrink as a collimator

I still have some gels to try, actually, they are sitting in an envelope not 3 feet away. So many things to do, so little time!

 

[ZeSlammy]

Well I just made a cruise colimator with some antistatic bag, a sewing needle and some tape and the result is a lot better. I went all the way up to 1000 BPM now I'm back around 20/50. Thanks. I will definitely tinker with a 3D printed holder and colimator.

 

[LBussy]

Would love to see some charts from folks who do a batch with Brew Bubbles. I have some partials but none showing a whole ferment.

 

[ZeSlammy]

Not a complete one as I only corrected around 3PM on Sunday :/

 

[James_42]

Hello, I was just about to order an octocoupler for another less complete bubble counting setup when I found this. I have read most of this thread and the documentation and I wasn't clear how specific the hardware needs to be, especially the sensor. Do you really need to source individual components and solder them onto a custom PCB or could you use something like the two sensors below? Having to pay shipping from several vendors and the substantial markup for living in Canada makes the little modules below pretty desirable. Thanks!

https://www.amazon.ca/Ecloud-Photoe...1&keywords=Optocoupler&qid=1601556805&sr=8-24
https://www.amazon.ca/LM393-Measuri...DXCT8NRH243&psc=1&refRID=E4X3M9GPFDXCT8NRH243

 

[LBussy]

Do you really need to source individual components and solder them onto a custom PCB or could you use something like the two sensors below?

There is nothing magical about these parts, no. The board will count any 3v3-safe signal it receives. I used something similar when I was developing the system.

Why do a PCB you ask? Well, I said somewhere around here that I don't think something is "done" unless it removes any interpretation. If I present a project, you should be able to follow my exact steps to reproduce exactly what I got (collimator discussion notwithstanding). The form factor of that PCB was right, it made a very simple connection setup, and I needed a place to stick the resistors for the probes. Also, the capacitors are an added belt and suspenders item for the power supply. That said, I used a wire and tapping a contact in my breadboard for the first go.

Before you order, you might wait and see if anyone else offers any ideas. I know there was a homebrew club in Canada that did a group project, maybe they have some extras. There are also ESP8266 shields you can buy which might be a good way to go.

 

[James_42]

Wow, thanks for the quick reply. I really appreciate the work you've done on this.

I've been trying to figure out a smaller iSpindel/weeSpindel/Brew Home/Floaty hydrometer that would fit in my glass carboys when I stumbled accross the bubble monitoring idea, which didn't have to fit through the carboy openings. And I already had some of the parts for (arduino uno) for the less complete idea I found. It would be handy if I could get parts that could work for either (floating hydrometer or bubble monitoring). Is your project specific to the Wemos D1 Mini - ESP-12F or would it work with ESP-01 or ESP-32 (other than the obvious form factor differences)?

After I sent the last message I realized I already have some photointerupters I salvaged out of something, but it turns out they are 5mm. Maybe I can use them to play with the idea before I buy more parts

 

[LBussy]

I have never compiled Brew Bubbles as it sits on anything other than the various ESP8266 dev boards I have here. That said, there's a LOT of common components between that and a few ESP32 projects I work on so while there would be work, it would not be horrible. WiFi and Web libraries are different for sure and would need some tweaking. Also, the current version is on LittleFS so it would need to be moved back to SPIFFS.

So, maybe an hour of work to port it over? Always happy to answer questions on it if that's the direction you want to go. I highly recommend using PlatformIO since the project is a drop-in for that ecosystem.

Once the "supporting cast" is working, the core functionality should just be a matter of switching to the right pin(s). There's only one pin for the counter, and one each for the ambient and vessel temp if you use those.

 

[James_42]

Thanks again for your quick response. I will try not to bug you too much for variations outside of the complete solution you have provided (but if I find something that works I will try to remember to share).

 

[LBussy]

If you find a reasonable way to accomplish what you want, feel free to drop in a PR. If one person uses it, there could be more.

 

[sheggy012]

Hello folks,
many thanks to LBussy for making this possible. My first Brewbubble is in use for 2 days right now (a sugar wash). I also had to put a heatshrink around the sensor to detect the bubbles. Since then it looks good. But in the meantime I have the problem that my values shoot down/up towards 0 or 60k. Is this known or has someone else already measured something like this? Values are requested via the API interface and are shown in a grafana. Unfortunately I wasn't present at the triggered wrong values so far, to take a look at the LED or Webinterface.

 

[LBussy]

Well, that's interesting. I'd love to have the underlying data if you could pull that out? If you can, shoot it to me in a PM.

I've never seen that before, so I can't think right offhand what it might be. The drops could be something like the buffer getting zeroed out (there's a circular buffer to help smooth the values.) The peak, well, no idea on that one yet. I'd love to think the thing could discriminate 60k bubbles per second, but that's not within the realm of possibility.

I'd been thinking about adding some debug information to the web UI. Maybe this is the time to look at that more seriously.