Digital sight glass

[zakleeright]

Also might mention that I'm a bit torn between DIY and "semi-DYI" using the brewtroller. Those are very reasonable prices for those components, and would save a lot of dev time that could be devoted to brewing. Still going back/forth on that. Thinking about a mash-up of ideas from "TheElectricBrewery", Brewtroller, other sites, and mods of my own.

 

[Zaphod]

I've uploaded my crude code here.
http://code.google.com/p/arduino-brew-poc-v1-0/downloads/list

I'm not a programmer, so critique, better methods, etc are very welcome.
cheers

I appreciate you posting that zakle! I haven't gotten to look at it much yet. I recently snagged a OpenLog microSD datalogger from sparkfun and have been messing with that in my limited spare time.

 

[cswank]

I tried a pressure sensor like this, but I had to go to something else because the pressure reading was fluctuating so much during the mash that I couldn't trust it.

I have a three tier system, and the hlt on top has a float switch. When the hlt is full, I know how much water is in it. I use that volume and an equation I found for water flowing through a hole to put a given amount of water in the mash tun. It has been working very well.

Just in case someone is interested: I control my brewery with a beagleboard and a python package that I wrote pyrobot.brewery. I've brewed about 10 batches so far with it and it is working well. It might be hard for someone besides me to use it because I don't have very good documentation so far, but if someone is interested in trying it out, I'd be glad to help. It would be a good excuse to document how to get it all set up.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Although the concept worked, I skipped this idea in favor of a simpler system. I finally decided I didn't need a completely automated brewery. I use a "calibrated" stick to measure volume. It works great, and the datalink from the stick to my eyes to my brain is pretty reliable.

 

[zakleeright]

I'm thinking of both, kind of. A brew friend has that pressure sensor/bubbler idea working fairly well, but I always like to "have a compass along with my GPS".
1. SS float attached to a rod.
2. Rod protrudes up out of vessel, held to a calibrated "backer-board" w/ screw eye-hooks.
3. Backer-board is calibrated in 1/2-gal marks
3. pointer on rod indicates fluid level by sight, So you have this real-time, old-school "stick-to-eye datalink", but it is at a glance, any time you care to look.
4. Point could also be used to trip hi & lo limit switches if you wanted to add some automation.
I haven't tried this yet, but thinking of trying it w/my new 25-gal electric brew system, about 70% complete
Cheers