Brewie

HarkinBanks · Sep 25, 2019

My timing is about the same but I set everything up the night before for my brewie. When I wake I hit the start button and monitor the action with my phone. My only hands on time is about 15 mins at the end to transfer and clean in place.

For my robobrew, I really dislike the lift basket sparge process. It is heavy and messy. I also don't like waiting around for the boil and then timing hop additions and then adding a chiller. Then you have to clean everything in the slop sink, which is also messy. I realize this is brewing, but with a family, it is a major time commitment for me. The brewie let's me do so many other things and still brew when I want.

Nate R · Sep 25, 2019

Still Brewn said:
My B+ works after I did the fan mod and wire replacement so I am good to go for many years. I take very good care of my possessions and unless a circuit board goes out mine should work for 20 years. I wouldn't trade it for anything else on the market today. I might buy a couple and give them for gifts after I make sure they work.

My birthday is in January. I will PM you my address. No need to wrap it!

kh54s10 · Sep 25, 2019

HarkinBanks said:
My timing is about the same but I set everything up the night before for my brewie. When I wake I hit the start button and monitor the action with my phone. My only hands on time is about 15 mins at the end to transfer and clean in place.

For my robobrew, I really dislike the lift basket sparge process. It is heavy and messy. I also don't like waiting around for the boil and then timing hop additions and then adding a chiller. Then you have to clean everything in the slop sink, which is also messy. I realize this is brewing, but with a family, it is a major time commitment for me. The brewie let's me do so many other things and still brew when I want.

Pray that your expensive boat anchor keeps working... It may be that once these Ebay leftovers are gone you will be out of parts and you MIGHT be able to find something that will work.

Still Brewn · Sep 26, 2019

Nate R said:
My birthday is in January. I will PM you my address. No need to wrap it!

Well, I was thinking of all three of my boys and one of my nephews, but.....

Still Brewn · Sep 26, 2019

kh54s10 said:
Pray that your expensive boat anchor keeps working... It may be that once these Ebay leftovers are gone you will be out of parts and you MIGHT be able to find something that will work.

It could and might.... it is just a chance I will have to take. And since I have traced a problem and repaired a circuit board before and have one of them to spare I doubt I will have much problem.

Still Brewn said:
Time for one of my long posts, again.
My new brewie+ MCU Board showed up today. I got my new lower powered fans and connectors installed and my new board installed. For anyone wanting to power their boil kettle fan and mash tun fan that you installed with the switched connections of the case fans the plugs you need are the ones I originally purchased. Micro JST connectors. I'm very sorry if you already ordered the wrong parts. I will correct my post if I can.
All the parts went if almost flawlessly. There is some thread locking material on the bolts of the case fans and it was hard to get the nuts off. I used my impact screwdriver and actually broke one of the bolts. The nuts are 7mm and you will need a good screwdriver to remove them.
Here is a picture of the repair I did on my old board. The object in the lower left is the point of a sewing pin just for reference.
View attachment 616066
Picture of the power supply
View attachment 616067
Labels for reference

View attachment 616068
Wiring completed

View attachment 616069

If anyone needs better picture let me know. I actually remembered to take a few this time. Hope this helps anyone wanting to upgrade their cooling system.

kh54s10 · Sep 26, 2019

Still Brewn said:
It could and might.... it is just a chance I will have to take. And since I have traced a problem and repaired a circuit board before and have one of them to spare I doubt I will have much problem.

That is good in your case. But, I am not talking of you personally. Rather, all Brewie owners....

I would bet that 99% of Brewie owners could not diagnose and fix a circuit board. And what about all the other parts. You might be able to replace them. If you have bought the Ebay units for spare parts you should be OK for a while. If not you might be up the creek.

macgyuver · Sep 26, 2019

kh54s10 said:
That is good in your case. But, I am not talking of you personally. Rather, all Brewie owners....

I would bet that 99% of Brewie owners could not diagnose and fix a circuit board. And what about all the other parts. You might be able to replace them. If you have bought the Ebay units for spare parts you should be OK for a while. If not you might be up the creek.

My opinion is that most, not all, people in the home brew hobby have some mechanical ability to be able "Tinker" and fix things. Maybe not repairing traces on a circuit board or replacing components on the board. But Most would be able to diagnosis and replace "swap" bad parts fairly easy. This hobby makes you pick these skills up fairly quickly. There is also a depth of knowledge available to everyone to reference to out there. Example is this forum here.

kh54s10 · Sep 26, 2019

macgyuver said:
My opinion is that most, not all, people in the home brew hobby have some mechanical ability to be able "Tinker" and fix things. Maybe not repairing traces on a circuit board or replacing components on the board. But Most would be able to diagnosis and replace "swap" bad parts fairly easy. This hobby makes you pick these skills up fairly quickly. There is also a depth of knowledge available to everyone to reference to out there. Example is this forum here.

Agreed as long as the parts are available. I don't know how many parts in a Brewie are proprietary. Can they be sourced? I don't know.

Then, unless some software company or geek takes on the project, you are stuck where they got to. And from what I read there are still problems in the software. At least some limiting of what you can do.

cubsfan16 · Sep 26, 2019

Has anyone placed an part order from (https://univision-taiwan.wixsite.com/univision/...wer-supply) yet? Fortunately, I haven’t had any issues with my + unit but figured I would pick up some parts when something does fail.

I actually enjoy the tinkering aspect of the hobby and will enjoy breaking the machine down to make repairs. If something happens and the unit becomes a paperweight....I’m not going to cry about it, I knew the risk going into the purchase. It was the same risk that I had buying a Zymatic which for what it’s worth, with mine, had more issues than my Brewie in the same time period.

HarkinBanks · Sep 26, 2019

Not sure this has been posted before, but the 3.0 software has a debug menu similar to dev mode. You punch in !#43373# in the recipe search field and the test menu comes up. You can open and close all valves and test the pumps and heaters independently. Just don't put both heaters on at the same time like I did last night. I am pretty sure I blew the fuse and now I have both tanks full of water! I will sort that mess tonight.

Ajes · Sep 26, 2019

Reading through this forum, you find several mods and fixes that people in here have done and documented.
I actually think that the only thing that couldn't be replaced by other/similar products is the controller.
However, as I've mentioned before, I don't think it's that difficult to replace it with a brewpi/brewpiless/craftbeerpi type setup.
I recently built a diy version of the brewpi spark, and it works fine with the "brewblox" software - which is both free and very powerfull in the way that it can be tailored to your specific equipment.
Yes, not all people are diy'ers, but it seems there actually is quite a few of them in here.

Nate R · Sep 26, 2019

Blown Fuse on Brewie (B20)
Hey all- in case it helps.
I had a blown fuse on my original B20- here is what I got from Mate to change:

~~~~~
Brewie Support, Tuesday 13. November 2018. 14:20
Hello Nathaniel,

If the machine does nothing (no beep, no clicking noises, no light) then I think it is the fuse that got blown. Please remove the bottom plate, and have a look on it. The fuse is located on the high voltage PCB close to the power cord. Let me know how it looks.

Please find attached the documentation about how you can turn the the machine upside down securely.

If it is broken please try to find a
- slow acting
- 15-20 AMP
- ceramic fuse with
- high temp operating range (well above 100C/212F)

I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

Regards;
Máté

macgyuver · Sep 26, 2019

The only things that I have seen that are not off the shelf parts are the weight sensors, the load cells that are connected to them, circuit boards, and the weird flow control boxes for the liquid. Of course the software I would expect but most of the other internal parts I have searched for are off the shelf.

kh54s10 · Sep 26, 2019

macgyuver said:
The only things that I have seen that are not off the shelf parts are the weight sensors, the load cells that are connected to them, circuit boards, and the weird flow control boxes for the liquid. Of course the software I would expect but most of the other internal parts I have searched for are off the shelf.

Sounds like plenty of parts that would be pretty difficult to impossible to replace - hope they last for you all.

cubsfan16 · Sep 26, 2019

macgyuver said:
The only things that I have seen that are not off the shelf parts are the weight sensors, the load cells that are connected to them, circuit boards, and the weird flow control boxes for the liquid. Of course the software I would expect but most of the other internal parts I have searched for are off the shelf.

Are you aware if anyone has started a parts list? I went back to the Taiwan/Mongolian site and it appears to be down now...it was up this morning.

Still Brewn · Sep 26, 2019

cubsfan16 said:
Are you aware if anyone has started a parts list? I went back to the Taiwan/Mongolian site and it appears to be down now...it was up this morning.

They probably got a cease and desist order from Brewie.

Still Brewn · Sep 26, 2019

Amazon has a lower price on new units now and got more in. If I remember correctly Maté said Brewie sets the the price on amazon. Down to 999

HarkinBanks · Sep 26, 2019

cubsfan16 said:
Are you aware if anyone has started a parts list? I went back to the Taiwan/Mongolian site and it appears to be down now...it was up this morning.

Looks like it is back up, at least for me.

https://univision-taiwan.wixsite.com/univision/store

I am very tempted to email them to buy a few valves, maybe the LCD screen. I have purchased a ton of things through Alibaba and Aliexpress, always sketchy but the stuff shows up eventually. I imagine the experience would be about the same.

Cavpilot2000 · Sep 26, 2019

I'm gonna make some beer this weekend. I hope my wife gives be a brewie while I'm at it...
:ban:

cubsfan16 · Sep 26, 2019

HarkinBanks said:
Looks like it is back up, at least for me.

https://univision-taiwan.wixsite.com/univision/store

I am very tempted to email them to buy a few valves, maybe the LCD screen. I have purchased a ton of things through Alibaba and Aliexpress, always sketchy but the stuff shows up eventually. I imagine the experience would be about the same.

Yup back up for me too. I haven heard of anyone placing an order yet though. I might place a small order and see how it goes.

c06u · Sep 26, 2019

kh54s10 said:
Pray that your expensive boat anchor keeps working... It may be that once these Ebay leftovers are gone you will be out of parts and you MIGHT be able to find something that will work.

LOL well a plus is you can always have that "CoffeeFather" to use when your Kurig breaks down I guess, I have some Keggles you can use for boat anchors....

Ajes · Sep 26, 2019

silly question:
When I see people refering to pouring in an amount of water or other stuff, they seem to always provide it in an X-X format.
Like: "pour 5-5 liters of water into each tank" or "total of 4 grams of holps into the hop tanks (1-1 into each).
I'm a bit uncertain whether this is just a way of emphazising 5 into each, or....??

Nate R · Sep 26, 2019

Ajes said:
silly question:
When I see people refering to pouring in an amount of water or other stuff, they seem to always provide it in an X-X format.
Like: "pour 5-5 liters of water into each tank" or "total of 4 grams of holps into the hop tanks (1-1 into each).
I'm a bit uncertain whether this is just a way of emphazising 5 into each, or....??

It is because not all countries are on the Best Measurement System Ever- ours! (American Standard).
I think the - is like a decimal.
So 5-5 is 5.5
1-1 is 1.1
Etc. Etc.

Someday the entire rest of the world will join America in the best method.

Still Brewn · Sep 26, 2019

Ajes said:
silly question:
When I see people refering to pouring in an amount of water or other stuff, they seem to always provide it in an X-X format.
Like: "pour 5-5 liters of water into each tank" or "total of 4 grams of holps into the hop tanks (1-1 into each).
I'm a bit uncertain whether this is just a way of emphazising 5 into each, or....??

I would guess you are trying to use the unclog on the brewie....?
I think it is suppose to be 5 liters or about 5 quarts ..... it doesn't have to be perfectly accurate.
I had to use it this weekend, I either left the bag partially unzipped or it unzipped a little while I was stirring . Either way I got a clog on the mash side. Just keep running until the crap comes out then cancel the process.

Anyway.... I saw the same thing and was confused by it also. Says something different on another screen.

Still Brewn · Sep 26, 2019

HarkinBanks said:
Not sure this has been posted before, but the 3.0 software has a debug menu similar to dev mode. You punch in !#43373# in the recipe search field and the test menu comes up. You can open and close all valves and test the pumps and heaters independently. Just don't put both heaters on at the same time like I did last night. I am pretty sure I blew the fuse and now I have both tanks full of water! I will sort that mess tonight.

Yeah, that should blow a fuse really fast. If it does not it should blow your circuit breaker. If it doesn't then you will have fire somewhere unless you are on a 30 amp circuit and that should have a different outlet.

HarkinBanks · Sep 26, 2019

Still Brewn said:
Yeah, that should blow a fuse really fast. If it does not it should blow your circuit breaker. If it doesn't then you will have fire somewhere unless you are on a 30 amp circuit and that should have a different outlet.

Thankfully the 15amp internal fuse blew quickly. Got a new one and back up and running tonight. Still working out and testing this eBay B20 unit. So far everything checks out mechanically.

Still Brewn · Sep 26, 2019

macgyuver said:
The only things that I have seen that are not off the shelf parts are the weight sensors, the load cells that are connected to them, circuit boards, and the weird flow control boxes for the liquid. Of course the software I would expect but most of the other internal parts I have searched for are off the shelf.

Pressure sensor instead of weight sensor for B+ ..... 4 wire. Pressure sensors are pretty common in the automotive industry and other areas like weather instrumentation and fluid transfer. Pretty common part overall just have to find out the resistance changes and the voltage, which I think was 5 volts when i looked at it.

Still Brewn · Sep 26, 2019

HarkinBanks said:
Thankfully the 15amp internal fuse blew quickly. Got a new one and back up and running tonight. Still working out and testing this eBay B20 unit. So far everything checks out mechanically.

Very nice, I'm wondering if the weight sensors can be replaced with the pressure sensors on those. Would make moving the thing much less of a pita.... I'm thinking order available stuff from Mongolia, unit from Ebay and upgrade the thing. Maybe too many sketchy things in that sentence.

macgyuver · Sep 27, 2019

Here is the heart behind the B20. The system on a chip/board setup that is.

https://www.olimex.com/Products/SOM/A13/A13-SOM-256/

I wonder if you picked up the 512 variant if it would run any better?

HarkinBanks · Sep 27, 2019

macgyuver said:
Here is the heart behind the B20. The system on a chip/board setup that is.

https://www.olimex.com/Products/SOM/A13/A13-SOM-256/

I wonder if you picked up the 512 variant if it would run any better?

More information here hacking in.

http://think.gusius.com/brewie-sniffing-the-control-board-uart/

Credit and kudos to the user. Maybe they are already a member here?

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