I've been away from home brewing for the past two years while I've lived internationally, but I'm moving back to NYC this month so I'm starting to plan out my future system.
I've wanted to build an electric system for a while since I'm an apartment dweller and it just seems better to me than propane (especially considering how hard it is to get a tank in Manhattan), but I decided to take a different route from a physical control panel and design an Arduino and webpage based control and monitoring program.
I've reached a point where I feel that I can share the results, as I'm happy with the functionality and I feel ok about the design (could probably use some work there) so I'm posting this out here for feedback and offering up the code for anyone with an Arduino who wants to try it out (just on a prototype board, let's not get too crazy).
The screenshot below shows the system in action. It's controlling a live board on my home network, that's hooked up to some relays and LEDs to test the features. With this system, you can tell the equipment what elements/pumps should be on, control a PID for the HLT/MLT, adjust boil power settings, monitor temperatures and also set a timer. There's a calculator for preheat/mash-in settings too.
The most recent version of the webpage is available at this link. It works, but it isn't controlling anything. I think the site looks best in a 4:3 resolution, specifically an iPad, which is what I aimed for when setting up the layout.
http://c9.io/jlvnyc/brewboard/workspace/index.htm
And finally, the workspace below has the access if you'd like to see the Arduino code as well as the HTML/CSS/Javascript. It's probably not even remotely good code, but this is the first time I've done any programming since high school C++. Unfortunately, I think you may need to sign up for Cloud9 to view the code. I'll move it to google code or github at some point, but that's another project for another day. You can still view the webpage (the link above) without signing up.
http://c9.io/jlvnyc/brewboard/
Happy to hear any feedback or comments about the idea/execution/etc... I'm really looking forward to getting back to brewing (and building a system), but I wanted to share the idea as I've learned a lot from the things I've read from all the experienced homebrewers here.
Cheers!
Justin
I've wanted to build an electric system for a while since I'm an apartment dweller and it just seems better to me than propane (especially considering how hard it is to get a tank in Manhattan), but I decided to take a different route from a physical control panel and design an Arduino and webpage based control and monitoring program.
I've reached a point where I feel that I can share the results, as I'm happy with the functionality and I feel ok about the design (could probably use some work there) so I'm posting this out here for feedback and offering up the code for anyone with an Arduino who wants to try it out (just on a prototype board, let's not get too crazy).
The screenshot below shows the system in action. It's controlling a live board on my home network, that's hooked up to some relays and LEDs to test the features. With this system, you can tell the equipment what elements/pumps should be on, control a PID for the HLT/MLT, adjust boil power settings, monitor temperatures and also set a timer. There's a calculator for preheat/mash-in settings too.
The most recent version of the webpage is available at this link. It works, but it isn't controlling anything. I think the site looks best in a 4:3 resolution, specifically an iPad, which is what I aimed for when setting up the layout.
http://c9.io/jlvnyc/brewboard/workspace/index.htm
And finally, the workspace below has the access if you'd like to see the Arduino code as well as the HTML/CSS/Javascript. It's probably not even remotely good code, but this is the first time I've done any programming since high school C++. Unfortunately, I think you may need to sign up for Cloud9 to view the code. I'll move it to google code or github at some point, but that's another project for another day. You can still view the webpage (the link above) without signing up.
http://c9.io/jlvnyc/brewboard/
Happy to hear any feedback or comments about the idea/execution/etc... I'm really looking forward to getting back to brewing (and building a system), but I wanted to share the idea as I've learned a lot from the things I've read from all the experienced homebrewers here.
Cheers!
Justin