Fermentrack: Fermentation monitoring & BrewPi-www Replacement for Raspberry Pi

[Thorrak]

4.5gal, fermented in a 5gal keg. I have room for 2 corny kegs in a 5cu ft freezer.

...uhh, so it wasn't a trick question then. Based on the fluctuations in the beer temp I was assuming that you didn't have much thermal mass attached to the beer sensor, but that definitely isn't the case. How do you have your beer probe attached?

 

[ShaneB]

...uhh, so it wasn't a trick question then. Based on the fluctuations in the beer temp I was assuming that you didn't have much thermal mass attached to the beer sensor, but that definitely isn't the case. How do you have your beer probe attached?

Taped to the outside of the keg, mid level with metalized duct tape

 

[Thorrak]

Taped to the outside of the keg, mid level with metalized duct tape

That's probably it then. The fact that it's taped to the keg means that you get some measurement of the beer inside, but you're still mostly picking up the ambient temperature inside the fridge.

For what it's worth, I used to ferment in a setup like this. One thing I found helped was to tape/bungee cord a kitchen sponge or styrofoam packing material around the probe if you can. Basically, anything you can do to insulate it vs. the fridge will dramatically lower the "swings" you're seeing.

If you want to invest some (small) money in the setup, I ended up having custom lids made for my corny kegs which have a thermowell port attached. If you're interested in going that route I can dig them out and hook you up with the manufacturer (Hi, @Bobby_M )

 

[ShaneB]

Thanks I'll check that out! What if I'm done fermenting and just need to maintain serving temp, shouldn't the temperature equilibrate?

 

[Thorrak]

Thanks I'll check that out! What if I'm done fermenting and just need to maintain serving temp, shouldn't the temperature equilibrate?

Eh, it will probably get close enough for most purposes. It won't be perfect (you aren't getting a truly "clean" read of temperature, so it won't necessarily stabilize at the temperature you are hoping for) but for serving you can always just adjust the temperature in the moment until it tastes right.

 

[Thorrak]

FYI -- I just released a bugfix for BrewPi-ESP which could cause negative temperatures to render their string representation as positive leading to incorrect log points & incorrect temperatures being displayed on the LCD screen. This should only impact users who use Celsius on their controllers near the end of cold crashing. More information is available over in the BrewPi-ESP thread, but v15b is now available via Fermentrack's firmware upgrade interface, in BrewFlasher, BrewFlasher Web, and on GitHub.

 

[kdw2pd]

I fried my microSD card, so installed Fermentrack on a new one. I'm running into an issue with the adding a new temp controller process. I have BrewPi 0.2.4 revision 0.15 installed on an ESP32-S2. It was working perfectly previously.

However, when I try to add the controller now I get an error message in red: "Board type Select a valid choice. esp32-s2 is not one of the available choices." The program is detecting correctly that the board is an ESP32-S2.

I didn't see anything in this thread or on GitHub. Any suggestions?

Edit: adding it manually works fine, leaving this post here in case anyone else comes across the same issue.

 

[Thorrak]

I fried my microSD card, so installed Fermentrack on a new one. I'm running into an issue with the adding a new temp controller process. I have BrewPi 0.2.4 revision 0.15 installed on an ESP32-S2. It was working perfectly previously.

However, when I try to add the controller now I get an error message in red: "Board type Select a valid choice. esp32-s2 is not one of the available choices." The program is detecting correctly that the board is an ESP32-S2.

I didn't see anything in this thread or on GitHub. Any suggestions?

Edit: adding it manually works fine, leaving this post here in case anyone else comes across the same issue.

Glad to hear you found a workaround, but that definitely sounds like a bug. I’ve added it to the issue tracker on GitHub and will try to get a fix out shortly.

 

[kpietro22]

Hi everyone, I am wondering if you could provide some help. I successfully installed Fermentrack on my Pi 4 yesterday using the semi-automated approach with Docker. After receiving the successful installation message, when go to enter the listed IP into my browser, I see there is nothing there. Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[Thorrak]

Hi everyone, I am wondering if you could provide some help. I successfully installed Fermentrack on my Pi 4 yesterday using the semi-automated approach with Docker. After receiving the successful installation message, when go to enter the listed IP into my browser, I see there is nothing there. Any ideas? Thanks!

Did you get the success message at the end?

What do you see when you type "docker ps" on the command line?

 

[kpietro22]

Did you get the success message at the end?

What do you see when you type "docker ps" on the command line?

Yes...Here is what I saw in the terminal following the install:

::: Done installing Fermentrack!
================================================================================
Review the log above for any errors, otherwise, your initial environment install
is complete!

Fermentrack has been installed into a Docker container. To view Fermentrack
enter http://192.168.1.5:1 into your web browser.

Note - Fermentrack relies on the fermentrack-tools directory to run. Please
back up the following files to ensure that you do not lose data if you
need to reinstall Fermentrack:

- Fermentrack Variables : ./envs/django
- Postgres Variables : ./envs/postgres

- Fermentrack Address : http://192.168.1.5:1

Happy Brewing!

If I type "docker ps" I am seeing:
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
7992d55a179a jdbeeler/tiltbridge-junior:latest "/start /start" 23 hours ago Up 20 hours fermentrack-tools_tiltbridge-junior_1
0fc3dab6bc9d fermentrack_nginx "/docker-entrypoint.…" 23 hours ago Up 20 hours fermentrack-tools_nginx_1
ee78a6b41f85 jdbeeler/fermentrack:latest "/entrypoint /start …" 23 hours ago Up 20 hours fermentrack-tools_django_1
0282a150c10b fermentrack_postgres "docker-entrypoint.s…" 23 hours ago Up 20 hours fermentrack-tools_postgres_1
650e638c602b fermentrack_redis "docker-entrypoint.s…" 23 hours ago Up 20 hours fermentrack-tools_redis_1



Thanks for your help @Thorrak !

 

[Thorrak]

I think you accidentally selected the wrong port (1, in this case.)

Try re-running install.sh in the fermentrack tools directory and type a different port (80, more than likely).

If that doesn’t work, delete the compose directly in the fermentrack tools directory and re-run the install script

 

[kpietro22]

I think you accidentally selected the wrong port (1, in this case.)

Try re-running install.sh in the fermentrack tools directory and type a different port (80, more than likely).

If that doesn’t work, delete the compose directly in the fermentrack tools directory and re-run the install script

Aha yes, I see. Is is possible to utilize an alternate port? I’m currently fermenting a Kolsch and my ISpindel is on port 80 as default. I can switch this once it is kegged but I think the install script will receive an error if I use port 80. Is this correct? Thanks!

 

[Thorrak]

Aha yes, I see. Is is possible to utilize an alternate port?

Yep! I would recommend 81 or 8080 though -- and you will need to include that in the URL when accessing Fermentrack (e.g. http://192.168.1.50:8080 -- the bit after the colon)

That said...

I’m currently fermenting a Kolsch and my ISpindel is on port 80 as default. I can switch this once it is kegged but I think the install script will receive an error if I use port 80. Is this correct? Thanks!

Unless something has changed, there shouldn't be any component of the ispindel installed on your raspberry pi (it's all installed on an ESP8266) so the ports shouldn't conflict.

 

[kpietro22]

Yep! I would recommend 81 or 8080 though -- and you will need to include that in the URL when accessing Fermentrack (e.g. http://192.168.1.50:8080 -- the bit after the colon)

That said...



Unless something has changed, there shouldn't be any component of the ispindel installed on your raspberry pi (it's all installed on an ESP8266) so the ports shouldn't conflict.

Thank you so much for this information! I will try the install again now and follow your advice. I was quite confused when I tried the auto install and got a conflict with port 80, so this is why I assumed it must have been my ISpindel. In any case, thank you for clearing this up!

 

[Thorrak]

If there's a conflict on port 80, you very well may have something else running -- but probably not iSpindel. Feel free to try 81 or 8080 though - just remember to specify the port in the URL when trying to access Fermentrack from a web browser!

 

[kpietro22]

If there's a conflict on port 80, you very well may have something else running -- but probably not iSpindel. Feel free to try 81 or 8080 though - just remember to specify the port in the URL when trying to access Fermentrack from a web browser!

It worked perfectly! Thanks so much! I’ve taken note of all of this for future reference. I also should have mentioned that I wanted to install RPints soon and saw that there will be a conflict so a port other than 80 I thought would be necessary. I’ll look into your documentation before I do the install to make sure I complete things properly! Thank you!

 

[waynerob11]

I have successfully flashed my ESP8266 board for my Fermentrack Controller using the guided script in Fermentrack, however when trying to access the ESP8266 wifi, it shows in my list as BrewPiAP and when I ask to join, it asks for a shared key - What is it??????? - tried brewpiless, brewpi, just hit enter, password - none work. Can someone advise me of the Shared Key to configure the ESP8266 to my router?

 

[waynerob11]

Would you believe the Chat GBT gave me the answer as brewpiesp - and it works

 

[Thorrak]

Would you believe the Chat GBT gave me the answer as brewpiesp - and it works

Huh. I guess it must either include HBT as part of its corpus, or scanned the repo on GitHub. Either way, that’s interesting!

The password pops up on the screen when you first boot — but if you don’t have a screen connected that obviously doesn’t help! This has come up in the past, and I thought I added it to the documentation on the repo, but clearly not. So I don’t forget this time I’ve added an issue to GitHub to track against.

 

[waynerob11]

Thanks for you reply, another query:-

Does BrewPiLess V15 support the use of a 2.8" TFT display?

 

[Thorrak]

Thanks for you reply, another query:-

Does BrewPiLess V15 support the use of a 2.8" TFT display?

Do you mean BrewPi-ESP? BrewPiLess is a different project entirely.

If so, then probably. Do you have a link to the specific display you are looking to use?

 

[waynerob11]

The one I have is from AliExpress - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100...order_list.order_list_main.116.34821802vJpBCo

 

[waynerob11]

ILI9341

 

[Thorrak]

Yep, those should work.

 

[waynerob11]

which bin file do I use to flash

 

[Thorrak]

You can use this one: BrewPi-ESP32 - vv15b - WiFi TFT. Similarly named in BrewFlasher Desktop (and on GitHub if you want to directly flash it)

The trick is in the wiring. I've actually designed a PCB that you can directly solder onto the back of that TFT that maps to those pins to a ribbon cable connector. That then connects to the corresponding connector on the "all-in-one base PCB" I designed. Both are available on Tindie and OshPark.

 

[waynerob11]

OK did all that and wired TFT as shown - temp OK - relays don't work, TFT doesn't work. looked at buying your PCB but they are out of stock.

I have four fermenters which are free standing, insulated and they are all stainless. cooling is carried out using a relay controlled glycol system and Heating is a relay controlled heater wire wrapped around the fermenter body - I also ferment under pressure but it doesn't seem to be a Fermentrack feature. Chat GPT gave me these pin connections which don't work so I altered them to yours, still doesn't work.
Can you recommend any software that controls heat and cool based on actual beer temp in the fermenter, and measures and controls pressure by a restricted outlet on a solenoid valve?

 

[Thorrak]

Apologies for repeating this, but BrewPiLess is a completely different project, and is not compatible with Fermentrack. It’s a really good project and offers a number of interesting features, but it’s not the same/interchangeable with BrewPi-ESP/Fermentrack.

BrewPiLess may support controlling pressure but that’s not a feature I’ve researched. It definitely does support controlling beer temperature similar to BrewPi-ESP.

 

[waynerob11]

No need to apologise - you must get bored with twits like me trying to get a software controlled fermentation system running