BruControl: Brewery control & automation software

[Chokpish]

Hi @oakbarn , what would a shunt look like (schematic)? I have no idea !!

 

[oakbarn]

I was googling and saw something about a shunt to convert 4-20 ma to voltage, but maybe something like this would work?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1351191055...4F9zdJuxXG+6w06XApM56Rf9ozg=|tkp:BFBM2puXiuhk

 

[oakbarn]

Yep, passing through a Global element does work to trick it into respecting precision! That seems like a lot to go through to format a string but now that I'm actually using the scripting language I'm noticing how peculiar it is at times.

Thanks for the note on names... I can see that being one of those bugs you sit there and curse your screen for an hour before you realize you're an ***** . So the best practice for brucontrol is to name your elements using a unique, descriptive name that is NOT a phase you would ever want to use as part of an English sentence.

I found the same issue somewhat with times:

If you have a string you want to set a time, you CANNOT use a time variable but you can pass it to a global time element.

I discovered this when I was trying to set a time for the transfer of sparge water from the HLT to the MLT based on flow rate x gallons I wanted.

The flow rate was seconds per gallon. I needed to transfer 13.3 gallaons which should take 250.510 second.
250.510 / 60 = 4.175
4.175 - .5 = 3.675
You subtract .5 to so you do not Round up when passing to a global if is over x.5.
Passd 3.675 to a global precision 0 value type get minutes which is 4.


to get remainder seconds:
4 x 60 = 240
250.510 - 240 = 10.51
Pass 10:51 675 to a global precision 0 value type get seconds which is 11


So 4 minute 11 seconds is the estimated time to transfer.

Conjugate into a time format using string variables 00:04:11 and pas to a Global Time

 

[exoticatom]

Happy holidays, everyone! I can't help but feel a little sad about my last bookmark:

 

[Klooid]

Happy Holidays / Merry Christmas and hope everyone will have a great 2025.

Also, does anyone know what will be to status of Brucontrol in 2025?

All the Best.

 

[CDCTx]

Happy Holidays / Merry Christmas and hope everyone will have a great 2025.

Also, does anyone know what will be to status of Brucontrol in 2025?

All the Best.

A very good question... it has concerned me as well. I've been temped to either start an open source project for a replacement control software using Node.js (making it able to run in any system with a web-based React UI) or at least build out a Node-RED module and dashboard with the same benefit. But I'd like to avoid that since I really like BC

 

[oakbarn]

I think BruControl is fairly solid in its present state. my main issue is the Globals and the sql database. I cannot use the
Local sql as mine gets to multi GBs and crashes my computer badly. I could create a node red for what Lilttle data I might want to save. I do have lots of globals where I keep a lot of data like transfer times and volumes that if store externally like in sql, I would want only read once. The only other regular data might be the mash profile ( once a minute is enough). And fermentation where once every 2 hours would be fine.


My only other wish was to have a script command to change the path of
Background 1. And Fileindex 1. That way, any element could have unlimited backgrounds and an Alarm unlimited wav sound files

 

[CDCTx]

I think BruControl is fairly solid in its present state. my main issue is the Globals and the sql database. I cannot use the
Local sql as mine gets to multi GBs and crashes my computer badly. I could create a node red for what Lilttle data I might want to save. I do have lots of globals where I keep a lot of data like transfer times and volumes that if store externally like in sql, I would want only read once. The only other regular data might be the mash profile ( once a minute is enough). And fermentation where once every 2 hours would be fine.


My only other wish was to have a script command to change the path of
Background 1. And Fileindex 1. That way, any element could have unlimited backgrounds and an Alarm unlimited wav sound files

If you are handy with Node-RED (NR), you can have your data go to Supabase (its POSTGRES insteal of SQL, but from NR, you use a module and JSON format). It is free for basic, low-volume use, and it works as my backend for my mobile app. You'll just need a way to uniquely identify a batch so you can access the relevant data you need (perhaps beer name and brew date, or an index table where each brew gets a row, and the row's ID serves as the unique identifier).

 

[exoticatom]

I could think of many improvements:

• Switch to web interface instead of RDP.
• Integrate iSpindel (Brundog missed to bring it in the official release).
• Add toggle for logging globals to DB.
• UI improvements (this is story for itself)
• Adding integrations
• bug fixes, new sw versions etc?

But these are just empty wishes...

Any options, or are we stuck?

 

[oakbarn]

What UI improvements. I can do almost everything I want with the existing ui.

 

[exoticatom]

I am not ungrateful, but..
Apart from the outdated and unattractive UI with unusable themes (in my opinion),
it's more about what you can't do than what's possible.
I need to remember what I found, but for sure some controls are inconsistent and need rework. I’ve reported everything directly to Brundog if I am not mistaken.
Nothing I found is "show stopper".

These are some examples:

• When setting the timer, the keyboard doesn't appear, and you have to scroll, which is difficult with a touchscreen.
• You can't set the background or color of buttons.
• You can't align objects on workspace, and it’s frustrating to manually set the same size and alignment for multiple objects.
• Duplicating objects isn’t possible. I required it so many times...
• Sizes of some objects (when there are many) are lost after a restart, and restarting the app resets them to the original values.
• etc.

There are inconsistencies in the interpreter too. I get errors, but the line numbers are wrong, which always set me back. How about PID (auto) tuning wizard?
But honestly, why discuss it if there’s no development? It just feels like a waste of time.

With respect, I am unsubscribing from the thread 'missing features or bugs'.

 

[oakbarn]

I am not ungrateful, but..
Apart from the outdated and unattractive UI with unusable themes (in my opinion),
it's more about what you can't do than what's possible.
I need to remember what I found, but for sure some controls are inconsistent and need rework. I’ve reported everything directly to Brundog if I am not mistaken.
Nothing I found is "show stopper".

These are some examples:

• When setting the timer, the keyboard doesn't appear, and you have to scroll, which is difficult with a touchscreen.
• You can't set the background or color of buttons.
• You can't align objects on workspace, and it’s frustrating to manually set the same size and alignment for multiple objects.
• Duplicating objects isn’t possible. I required it so many times...
• Sizes of some objects (when there are many) are lost after a restart, and restarting the app resets them to the original values.
• etc.

There are inconsistencies in the interpreter too. I get errors, but the line numbers are wrong, which always set me back. How about PID (auto) tuning wizard?
But honestly, why discuss it if there’s no development? It just feels like a waste of time.

With respect, I am unsubscribing from the thread 'missing features or bugs'.

All of that is true;

I do not use buttons becuse of the way they behave, so I use switches instead. You can set just a border (not really the border but it looks like one) around a button with color but sotra lame.

I would love an alignment tool, I use the x y (height, witdh) fields to do that and it is a pain.

I would love to duplicate ojects.


Sizes do change. It is very frustrating. I found that if you increase the size of the Script window, this is a constant issue. I do have one element that takes up the whole screen that is always resized.


I will add to the "wishlist"


Switch the intrerface type easily. I would just as soon have ALL Wiring Diagrams the same rather than gaining one GPIO for WiFi. You should be able to switch between Serial and Ethernet quite easily.

Have a "lock" at the Element Level.

Script Attributes for Background and Foreground of Text.


Script Attributes to move and resize and Element.

In scripting: Internal easy conversion from Value to Time and Time to Value.

I still have Hope.

 

[ethan44]

Hi Team,

I'm looking at adding 2 flow sensors to my set up, mainly just to keep a loose eye on the flow when sparging lautering. I've got 2 Sea YF-201, cheap jobbies that look exactly the same as the little black Adafruit ones (828).
Could someone please guide me on how to get them working. ATM I've hooked them up to 12V and have the signal going to my MEGA 2560 interface pin/port 2.

I know I need to use a counter, but a bit unsure after that. Any guidance would greatly be appreciated.

 

[CDCTx]

Hi Team,

I'm looking at adding 2 flow sensors to my set up, mainly just to keep a loose eye on the flow when sparging lautering. I've got 2 Sea YF-201, cheap jobbies that look exactly the same as the little black Adafruit ones (828).
Could someone please guide me on how to get them working. ATM I've hooked them up to 12V and have the signal going to my MEGA 2560 interface pin/port 2.

I know I need to use a counter, but a bit unsure after that. Any guidance would greatly be appreciated.

I came across this post from BrunDog over on the brucontrol forums. Maybe it can help you:

https://brucontrol.com/community/scripts/brewery-code/#post-35

 

[ethan44]

I came across this post from BrunDog over on the brucontrol forums. Maybe it can help you:

https://brucontrol.com/community/scripts/brewery-code/#post-35

Very helpful. Thank you.

 

[CDCTx]

My mobile app I created to let me interact with BruControl from anywhere made it into Zymurgy! Even cooler, another member from my club was also featured for a simple-yet-effective means to close-add biofine to a keg. We joked that we made it for the most- and least-techie brew gadgets.

I wish I could make a more generalized app to work with BruControl, but with Globals being the only interaction points (+script) and everyone's setups being different, that is near impossible...

 

[exoticatom]

My mobile app I created to let me interact with BruControl from anywhere made it into Zymurgy! Even cooler, another member from my club was also featured for a simple-yet-effective means to close-add biofine to a keg. We joked that we made it for the most- and least-techie brew gadgets.

I wish I could make a more generalized app to work with BruControl, but with Globals being the only interaction points (+script) and everyone's setups being different, that is near impossible...
View attachment 866960

Fantastic, well done mate! SCNR

 

[oakbarn]

My mobile app I created to let me interact with BruControl from anywhere made it into Zymurgy! Even cooler, another member from my club was also featured for a simple-yet-effective means to close-add biofine to a keg. We joked that we made it for the most- and least-techie brew gadgets.

I wish I could make a more generalized app to work with BruControl, but with Globals being the only interaction points (+script) and everyone's setups being different, that is near impossible...
View attachment 866960

You could create a list of all the hardware and a copy of the .brucfg file for the BruControl side.

I do not have an android phone, but maybe it would work on a Fire Tablet?

 

[CDCTx]

You could create a list of all the hardware and a copy of the .brucfg file for the BruControl side.

I do not have an android phone, but maybe it would work on a Fire Tablet?

Hard part remains all the scripts so the app can change a global and then trigger the other events... a configuration file with a set consistency is a good approach though. I'll look into this a bit.

And Fire Tablet is based on Android, so it should. Also, I built this with React Native, which can transpile into Android or iOS native code. Hard part is Apple makes testing on iPhones incredibly tough (but they offer emulators), and there's no side loading, so the app has to be distributed in the store. Android allows for third-party/side load installs.

 

[oakbarn]

One of the strengths of BruControl is also an issue. A good example is Port 10 in the configuration of BruControl, depending on the Firmware. In my mind, it would have been better to have it act the same regardless of Ethernet or not. It is not easy to change from Serial to Ethernet or WiFi.

 

[Hannabrew]

Does anybody have an issue with their ESP32 connected via wifi going offline in brucontrol often even though the device is connected to wifi consistently and pings continue to succeed even when the brucontrol is saying the interface is offline. Sometimes rebooting the esp32 will fix it, sometimes it doesn't.

 

[CDCTx]

Does anybody have an issue with their ESP32 connected via wifi going offline in brucontrol often even though the device is connected to wifi consistently and pings continue to succeed even when the brucontrol is saying the interface is offline. Sometimes rebooting the esp32 will fix it, sometimes it doesn't.

I do. I can't nail down a cause other than some electrical interference in the boards I'm using (ESP32 boards with 4 relays, so perhaps some back-power spikes).

Most of the time, they come back online, but since sometimes they don't without a reset, I plugged each one into Sonoff S31 WiFi smart plugs that I reflashed with Tasmota firmware. I then had to set up a BC script to detect if an ESP32 was offline and start a timer if so. When the timer hits 1 minute without the element coming back online, the script changes a global that my Node-RED server picks up and sends a reset trigger to the Sonoff.

Not pretty, but I couldn't find the cause, so I set up a safety mechanism

 

[MightyOz]

Does anyone know where @BrunDog went?

 

[Chokpish]

Does anyone know where @BrunDog went?

Négative - I haven’t heard anything. Did you try communicating with him ?

 

[exoticatom]

Does anyone know where @BrunDog went?

No one knows. No messages. I heard he was responsive over brucontrol website.
The last software update was in July 2022. Pretty depressing...

I'm thinking this might be the end of the road. Any other options? I really liked BruControl.

I don’t need to switch right away, but it’s smart to prepare and migrate while there’s still time. Imagine waking up one day, the license server is gone, and you can’t brew. My confidence is really low. If no further development is planned, @BrunDog should release the software for those who already paid, without needing a license server.

What do you all think?

 

[CDCTx]

No one knows. No messages. I heard he was responsive over brucontrol website.
The last software update was in July 2022. Pretty depressing...
View attachment 869064
I'm thinking this might be the end of the road. Any other options? I really liked BruControl.

I don’t need to switch right away, but it’s smart to prepare and migrate while there’s still time. Imagine waking up one day, the license server is gone, and you can’t brew. My confidence is really low. If no further development is planned, @BrunDog should release the software for those who already paid, without needing a license server.

What do you all think?

That would be nice for ease since I really like BruControl. I've been tempted to start an open-source, operating system-agnostic solution either as a Node.js app or a Node-RED plugin. In either case, the idea would be a web-based UI and either a websocket or UDP setup for communication between the app/server and the devices, keeping ESP32s and Arduinos as device options.

But if BruControl is slotted to stay active, at least for those who paid, I'd be happy to stick with it (though, I really looked forward to BruControl firmware for the fantastic ESP32S3)

 

[MightyOz]

No one knows. No messages. I heard he was responsive over brucontrol website.
The last software update was in July 2022. Pretty depressing...
View attachment 869064
I'm thinking this might be the end of the road. Any other options? I really liked BruControl.

I don’t need to switch right away, but it’s smart to prepare and migrate while there’s still time. Imagine waking up one day, the license server is gone, and you can’t brew. My confidence is really low. If no further development is planned, @BrunDog should release the software for those who already paid, without needing a license server.

What do you all think?

The hunt continues, I have an idea that might produce an answer, I will let you know if it pans out.

 

[swimIan]

I’m still very happy with Brucontrol, even without active development. Brewery automation very niche not everyone NEEDS it. I think the program is very stable and it does everything I need it to do. Last summer, I bought a Mega Unishield (not installed yet…) that I’m looking forward to implementing soon. All in all, I’d still recommend it.

 

[Tartan1]

Same sentiments as @swimIan, very happy with Brucontrol and for my purpose it has a lot more built into it than I would ever use. Even if it turns out to be the end of the road for further development I think what @BrunDog brought to this project, getting any bugs that showed up quickly attended to, and all the updating of special requests, I am very happy with it and would say it is still a viable option for automating a homebrewery.

​

 

[CDCTx]

Same sentiments as @swimIan, very happy with Brucontrol and for my purpose it has a lot more built into it than I would ever use. Even if it turns out to be the end of the road for further development I think what @BrunDog brought to this project, getting any bugs that showed up quickly attended to, and all the updating of special requests, I am very happy with it and would say it is still a viable option for automating a homebrewery.

​

Yeah, I'd much rather keep it if it stays alive for years (or Windows updates) to come