I use a Pi 2B for testing. The Zero W works as well. That said, these are not expensive computers and many things are more enjoyable with a little more. I'd recommend the 3B+ as a basis for these projects, just because having the WiFi and Bluetooth on the board is easier, and after all, faster is faster, right?
-- Ok, I'm going to check prices. like you say, it's not a lot of money. Even between 3+ and 4 is little difference. I study it and start by buying one of them. As soon as the investment is made there is no going back.
If you set the timezone in raspi-config, it should update on boot. There are two choices to keep it synching, either ntp or systemd timesyncd. Check both of the following and see which one is running:
Bash:
sudo systemctl status ntp
or
Bash:
sudo systemctl start systemd-timesyncd
When you figure out which one, a little Googling should help figure out what's going wrong, or you can tell us what you find.
-- I test these commands and how they work. Thanks.
I recommend
remote.it for the Raspberry Pi.
-- I study this service. I read it in an entry on your blog and had this pending issue.
Yes, BrewPi Remix can do this (as well as others). You still need a controller per chamber (but only one Pi.)
I am biased of course, but I am pretty familiar with both. Fermentrak and BrewPi Remix will use the same controllers, so it is ultimately about which interface you prefer. BrewPi Remix will treat each chamber separately (although on the same Pi) and Fermentrack uses a completely different system.
Both systems will also run on the same Pi although you would need to install Fermentrack first and then BrewPI Remix, as otherwise, Fermentrack will clobber the installation.