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

[shtank]

I had to drop down to a lower wattage reptile ceramic heater. 100w to 50w. I ferment in a corny keg inside a small dorm fridge. 25 watt would be ideal for my set up

I will try and get something similar. Thanks

 

[shtank]

Pretty much this. I've heard even a 40W bulb spits out too much heat.

Is there a way to reduce the time the heater runs once the target temperature is reached?

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw I run 40w bulbs in 17cf top-freezer fridges with stirring fans and located in an unheated downstairs, and even with ~11 gallons of beer in the carboys those bulbs produce respectable ramps that can cause overshoot and some cycling before it settles out again. When one of those bulbs dies I'm going to try a 25 watt appliance bulb...

Cheers!

 

[gromitdj]

Does anyone think that it would be possible to use a dimmer on a larger watt bulb to reduce the heat output? Or is this a bad idea? It's an idea I've been contemplating. I bought a 100 watt reptile bulb and fear it's probably too much. I suppose it would probably cost less to replace the bulb...

 

[day_trippr]

Old school dimmers are designed to do exactly that, and a single 100w bulb isn't going to overload one of those (not even close).
Not a bad idea actually - I have a few of those that were decommissioned when I installed a crap ton of recessed LED lighting - which isn't compatible with old school dimmers. I might give that a go

Cheers!

 

[MacDee]

My Fermentrack is dropping the temperatures to "none" after it has been running ok. A few times it ran for days OK then all three sensors dropped. I thought it might of been me moving wires but I just rechecked my connections and this time they dropped to "none" after only about an hour and then came back 45 minutes later.

 

[MacDee]

My Fermentrack is dropping the temperatures to "none" after it has been running ok. A few times it ran for days OK then all three sensors dropped. I thought it might of been me moving wires but I just rechecked my connections and this time they dropped to "none" after only about an hour and then came back 45 minutes later.

I think my issue is solved. First removed a connection I had made from earth ground to Uno ground that I had seen on an old schematic. I figured I might have some kind of ground loop interfering with One-Wire sensors....... but this had no effect. Then I plugged in the Uno's own DC wall wart in addition to the power it was receiving thru the USB to the Pi. Sensors have been operating normally since yesterday with a nice decaying sawtooth on my beer fridge control.

 

[Thorrak]

Does anyone think that it would be possible to use a dimmer on a larger watt bulb to reduce the heat output? Or is this a bad idea? It's an idea I've been contemplating. I bought a 100 watt reptile bulb and fear it's probably too much. I suppose it would probably cost less to replace the bulb...

Wow that's a good idea. If you try it, let us know if it works.

 

[PeteZA]

Firstly, this software is awesome, really love the interface. Seems my DIY skills are pretty poor however and a connection came loose on the fridge relay... Its pretty obvious where this happened in the graph. Anyway, I couldnt find anything to indicate that this had been implemented, but what about setting some sort of notification or alarm if fermentrack cannot get the temp into a pre determined range?

 

[Xned]

Hello!

I’m an on and of hobby brewer and have been making bad beers for close to 10 years now. I also have a hobby-level interest in programming and microelectronics and to my girlfriend’s dismay have been filling up our house with all manner of weird and wonderful Arduino and Raspberry-Pie devices.

We just replaced our fridge and freeze and got a big freeze box spare. So now it's my turn to build a fermentation chamber

I have previously heard about the BrewPie project but when I did some research for the build this weekend I stumbled across Fermentrack and I’m happy I did.
I have done a few “automated” Linux installation before and there is always something that fails so that you need to dig through the logs and figure out what failed and why in the world It failed. But Fermentrack just worked! Even the built-in flashing tools worked without a hitch! I went from nothing to having a working Fermentrack installation talking over WiFi to a wemos with two temp sensors on my test bench in less than 3 hours! Including soldering time!
So just wanted to drop a line here to say that this is an amazing piece of software and I really appreciate that it exists

 

[Thorrak]

Hello!

I’m an on and of hobby brewer and have been making bad beers for close to 10 years now. I also have a hobby-level interest in programming and microelectronics and to my girlfriend’s dismay have been filling up our house with all manner of weird and wonderful Arduino and Raspberry-Pie devices.

We just replaced our fridge and freeze and got a big freeze box spare. So now it's my turn to build a fermentation chamber

I have previously heard about the BrewPie project but when I did some research for the build this weekend I stumbled across Fermentrack and I’m happy I did.
I have done a few “automated” Linux installation before and there is always something that fails so that you need to dig through the logs and figure out what failed and why in the world It failed. But Fermentrack just worked! Even the built-in flashing tools worked without a hitch! I went from nothing to having a working Fermentrack installation talking over WiFi to a wemos with two temp sensors on my test bench in less than 3 hours! Including soldering time!
So just wanted to drop a line here to say that this is an amazing piece of software and I really appreciate that it exists

Thank you! I’m glad it was as easy as you say - that’s the goal. If you have any questions/issues, don’t hesitate to ask - happy to (try to) help!

 

[schloop]

My fermentation setup is just attaching a fermwrap to my brew bucket and storing it in my cellar. Is there a special configuration I should use for only using a heater with no fridge? I'm a bit overwhelmed with the control constants.

 

[Thorrak]

My fermentation setup is just attaching a fermwrap to my brew bucket and storing it in my cellar. Is there a special configuration I should use for only using a heater with no fridge? I'm a bit overwhelmed with the control constants.

Nah, just use it as it comes. It should learn your setup after a few cycles. Don’t worry about the control constants at all - they’re there more for power users.

 

[MrCippy]

Hey @Thorrak!

I sent a message on Reddit, and then realized you said you don’t check your messages on Reddit that often.

I recently stumbled upon Fermentrack when browsing the BrewPi forums. After reading up on it, I immediately switched from a BrewPi install to Fermentrack and connected my Arduino Uno. Everything just.. worked. And it’s amazing. Tilt integration is what really sold me on all of it.

Since then, I have been reading up on using an ESP8266 board over Wi-Fi to try and clean up my install and make things a little bit more manageable. However, some of your comments on Reddit have confused me as to what I’d really need. In particular, you reference a PCB a few different times. Is that required? My thinking was to take an ESP8266 (this one, to be exact: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010N1SPRK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20), connect it to Wifi, flash it, and then connect the corresponding Dupont wires to the appropriate pins — without the PCB. I don’t need/want an LCD display, and that particular board comes with the Dupont pins/connectors.

Essentially, what I’m asking, is that with an Arduino already setup and wired — couldn’t I swap that out with a programmed ESP8266? Or is there more to it that I’m missing? As I’m sure you know, I cannot find a wiring diagram to verify all of this.

A couple more small questions and then I’ll quit rambling:

• Is there a way to remove various items from the graph? I don’t care what the fridge temp is set to. I just want to see what the current temp and gravity is.
• I’ve seen mention of a way to begin temp ramp when X gravity is reached with Tilt integration. Is that live?

Thanks a bunch!

 

[CadiBrewer]

Nope, no need for the PCB. If you have the arduino working, you could indeed swap it out and it will work fine.

Removing stuff on the graph is easy. Just click on them on the legend and they will be removed from the graph. The legend stays the same with all of the options, but the graph gets cleaned up.

As of right now, I'm not aware that there is integration with the Tilt that allows profiles based upon gravity, but Thorrak can verify that if I'm wrong.

 

[MoonBrewer]

Has anyone ever seen problems with the web page displays after an upgrade? My error log is littered with warnings such as this:
WARNING:django.request:Not Found: /img/favicon.ico

The colored boxes are not showing on any of the web pages, seems that all my .ico files are missing. I am hoping I don't have to rebuild this controller.

 

[MrCippy]

Nope, no need for the PCB. If you have the arduino working, you could indeed swap it out and it will work fine.

Removing stuff on the graph is easy. Just click on them on the legend and they will be removed from the graph. The legend stays the same with all of the options, but the graph gets cleaned up.

As of right now, I'm not aware that there is integration with the Tilt that allows profiles based upon gravity, but Thorrak can verify that if I'm wrong.

Awesome. Thanks.

I’ve tried clicking on the legend a few times with no luck. I’ll give it another try. Thanks!

 

[Thorrak]

Nope, no need for the PCB. If you have the arduino working, you could indeed swap it out and it will work fine.

Removing stuff on the graph is easy. Just click on them on the legend and they will be removed from the graph. The legend stays the same with all of the options, but the graph gets cleaned up.

As of right now, I'm not aware that there is integration with the Tilt that allows profiles based upon gravity, but Thorrak can verify that if I'm wrong.

Nope, you're right. It's coming, but as to "when" depends on when I get some additional free time.

Has anyone ever seen problems with the web page displays after an upgrade? My error log is littered with warnings such as this:
WARNING:django.request:Not Found: /img/favicon.ico

The colored boxes are not showing on any of the web pages, seems that all my .ico files are missing. I am hoping I don't have to rebuild this controller.

Hmm. There should only be a single .ico file which is the favicon (the one that appears next to the page title in the "tab" of your browser, for most browsers). If you're missing the other icons, that sounds like you may have some filesystem corruption (or alternatively - have run out of disk space, and therefore files weren't properly copied over when you last upgraded). It's worth taking a look at your Pi to make sure free space is available, then potentially running the "more forceful" upgrade within Fermentrack.

 

[MoonBrewer]

Nope, you're right. It's coming, but as to "when" depends on when I get some additional free time.





Hmm. There should only be a single .ico file which is the favicon (the one that appears next to the page title in the "tab" of your browser, for most browsers). If you're missing the other icons, that sounds like you may have some filesystem corruption (or alternatively - have run out of disk space, and therefore files weren't properly copied over when you last upgraded). It's worth taking a look at your Pi to make sure free space is available, then potentially running the "more forceful" upgrade within Fermentrack.

Thanks Thorrak, I had run out of disk space. Deleting large error logs and forcing upgrade to different branch resolved the issue.

Is there any way to manage (clear) log files or old brews from the web interface? Risky to do it from command line?

 

[Thorrak]

Thanks Thorrak, I had run out of disk space. Deleting large error logs and forcing upgrade to different branch resolved the issue.

Is there any way to manage (clear) log files or old brews from the web interface? Risky to do it from command line?

No, but there really should be. I'll add an issue on GitHub to track this feature against. (tomorrow though, because it's late and I'm tired)

There's not much risk to doing it from the command line unless you inadvertantly nuke one (but not all) of the files associated with a currently logging brew. Even then Fermentrack should continue to work (and should regenerate the missing files) -- but that beer's graphs may not display/may look very strange.

 

[greebo]

Thanks for the great software. I can't wait to get this going. I am setting up my first build. I'm running a virtualbox with stretch and the arduino build. I'm using an external power source for the arduino.
I've flashed the brewpi hex onto the board, and managed to get the arduino setup in Fermentrack. I'm now trying to configure the sensors and receiving the following error:

"Failed to write the configuration to the controller. If this continues try resetting the EEPROM on the controller."

I am setting the device function to Chamber or Beer Temp and calibration to 0.
I have no idea how to reset the EEPROM to be honest, I'm tried resetting the arduino and unplugging it.
https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/EEPROMClear ?
And then do I need to put the hex file on again?

Under available devices the two OneWire temp sensors both have unique addresses, so I guess they must be connected ok?

Thanks!

 

[CadiBrewer]

Thanks for the great software. I can't wait to get this going. I am setting up my first build. I'm running a virtualbox with stretch and the arduino build. I'm using an external power source for the arduino.
I've flashed the brewpi hex onto the board, and managed to get the arduino setup in Fermentrack. I'm now trying to configure the sensors and receiving the following error:

"Failed to write the configuration to the controller. If this continues try resetting the EEPROM on the controller."

I am setting the device function to Chamber or Beer Temp and calibration to 0.
I have no idea how to reset the EEPROM to be honest, I'm tried resetting the arduino and unplugging it.
https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/EEPROMClear ?
And then do I need to put the hex file on again?

Under available devices the two OneWire temp sensors both have unique addresses, so I guess they must be connected ok?

Thanks!

You can reset the EEPROM in Fermentrack. Select the device that you are trying to control (whatever you named your fermentation chamber), select Configure Control Constants, and go to the very bottom. There is a button go reset factory defaults/reset EEPROM.

 

[Thorrak]

Thanks for the great software. I can't wait to get this going. I am setting up my first build. I'm running a virtualbox with stretch and the arduino build. I'm using an external power source for the arduino.
I've flashed the brewpi hex onto the board, and managed to get the arduino setup in Fermentrack. I'm now trying to configure the sensors and receiving the following error:

"Failed to write the configuration to the controller. If this continues try resetting the EEPROM on the controller."

I am setting the device function to Chamber or Beer Temp and calibration to 0.
I have no idea how to reset the EEPROM to be honest, I'm tried resetting the arduino and unplugging it.
https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/EEPROMClear ?
And then do I need to put the hex file on again?

Under available devices the two OneWire temp sensors both have unique addresses, so I guess they must be connected ok?

Thanks!

Honestly, I need to just make it so you can click that error message and it will just do it.

 

[greebo]

You can reset the EEPROM in Fermentrack. Select the device that you are trying to control (whatever you named your fermentation chamber), select Configure Control Constants, and go to the very bottom. There is a button go reset factory defaults/reset EEPROM.

Thanks! And that worked. It was so easy, after all the hassles with virtualbox and prior docker, I was waiting for something else to go wrong, but it hasn't!
I have the temperature sensors up and operational now. I think I need to calibrate them as one is showing higher than the other.

Another question, is it possible to ramp up the fermentation temperature over a period of days. E.g. Start at 59 f and go to 66 f over the course of a week?

 

[CadiBrewer]

Another question, is it possible to ramp up the fermentation temperature over a period of days. E.g. Start at 59 f and go to 66 f over the course of a week?

Absolutely. Instead of Fridge Constant or Beer Constant, choose Beer Profile. Day 0 is your starting temp and day x is your ramped up (or down) temp. Fermentrack will then spread the ramp up evenly over that time period.

For example, if you want to start at 65 degrees and then slowly ramp up to 70 over a week, day 0 would be 65 and day 7 would be 70. Fermentrack would then raise in small increments to get to that point.

You can do any number of variations. For example, day 0 at 65, day 3 at 65, day 7 at 70. It would hold steady at 65 for 3 days and then slowly ramp up to 70 over 4 days.

I often do a beer that is very small and predictable. It always ferments out in a couple of days, but I let it go for 4, then ramp up to finish it out, then cold crash it rapidly. My profile looks like day 0 64, day 4 64, day 7 68, day 12 68, day 12.1 38. In that manner, on day 12, it tries to cool as fast as my refrigerator will allow.

 

[Sard0k]

There was some chatter a while back about running Fermentrack in Docker. I needed my raspberry pi for something else recently so figured it'd be a good learning experience.

Let me prefix this by saying I'm far from experienced when it comes to Docker, and I'm almost certain what I've done could be done better.. But I do have it working inside a Docker container!

Information and basic instructions here:
https://cloud.docker.com/u/sard0k/repository/docker/sard0k/fermentrack

 

[Thorrak]

There was some chatter a while back about running Fermentrack in Docker. I needed my raspberry pi for something else recently so figured it'd be a good learning experience.

Let me prefix this by saying I'm far from experienced when it comes to Docker, and I'm almost certain what I've done could be done better.. But I do have it working inside a Docker container!

Information and basic instructions here:
https://cloud.docker.com/u/sard0k/repository/docker/sard0k/fermentrack

This is awesome. I’m a bit of a Luddite when it comes to Docker, but anything that supports virtualization/containerization is awesome. Thanks for this!

 

[TonyB]

Hi, I've been following the other large thread and this for a while now and finally taken the plunge. I bought some of the RJ11 boards and gathered other bits and pieces together but am having a problem flashing a Wemos D1 Mini as a controller. The process seems to go ok, (Pi and Wemos both flashing) and the firmware flash status shows finished and the logs suggest everything has gone well but I'm unable to see the controller via mDNS and it doesn't show up on my router. I've tried all of the different flashing processes (Nodemcu, QIO and normal) but still no luck. I see in an earlier post on this thread that someone else had a problem with the same board but not sure if that was resolved. The Wemos is original Lolin manufacturer via Aliexpress. I did try flashing a NodeMCU board and that did appear in my router's list but that board is too big to fit the RJ11 board (2*16 pins). Any advice?

 

[Bigdaddyale]

Try resetting the D1 mini through Fermentrack.

 

[TonyB]

Sorry, I've looked through the Fermentrack screens and can't find anything that looks like Reset button. Apologies if I'm missing something obvious.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

Sorry, I've looked through the Fermentrack screens and can't find anything that looks like Reset button. Apologies if I'm missing something obvious.

post 222
You can reset the EEPROM in Fermentrack. Select the device that you are trying to control (whatever you named your fermentation chamber), select Configure Control Constants, and go to the very bottom. There is a button go reset factory defaults/reset EEPROM.

 

[TonyB]

Thanks, tried that but message says unable to reach brew-pi script. My gut feeling is that despite the flash info suggesting that the flash of the Wemos was ok when it isn't and there's no wifi connection to the router. I'll try to set it up as a serial connection.

What esp8266 boards are others using?

Thanks again

 

[alexlark]

Tony, once you flash the ESP with the WiFi firmware it will act as an Access Point and broadcast a SSID. You need to connect to this SSID using a mobile phone (for example) and then enter your router WiFi credentials into the ESP. This will then disconnect your mobile phone from the ESP and the ESP will attempt to connect to your router. From this point, once connected, the ESP is on your network and you can add it to Fermentrack.

 

[atlref]

Can anyone help with the error. New installation . Had problems in brewpi with beer temp probe. I assume that is what is causing this

TypeError at /devices/1/temp_control/

float() argument must be a string or a number, not 'NoneType'

Request Method:

POST

Request URL:

http://192.168..../devices/1/temp_control/

Django Version:

1.11.18

Exception Type:

TypeError

Exception Value:

float() argument must be a string or a number, not 'NoneType'

Exception Location:

/home/fermentrack/fermentrack/app/views.py in device_temp_control, line 422

Python Executable:

/home/fermentrack/venv/bin/python3

Python Version:

3.5.3

Python Path:

['/home/fermentrack/venv/lib/python3.5/site-packages/git/ext/gitdb',

'/home/fermentrack/venv/bin',

'/home/fermentrack/fermentrack',

'/home/fermentrack/venv/lib/python3.5/site-packages',

'/usr/lib/python35.zip',

'/usr/lib/python3.5',

'/usr/lib/python3.5/plat-arm-linux-gnueabihf',

'/usr/lib/python3.5/lib-dynload',

'.',

'/home/fermentrack/venv/lib/python3.5/site-packages/gitdb/ext/smmap']

Server time:

Thu, 7 Feb 2019 22:00:31 +0000



Environment:



Request Method: POST

Request URL: http://192.168.0.48/devices/1/temp_control/


Django Version: 1.11.18

Python Version: 3.5.3

Installed Applications:

['django.contrib.admin',

'django.contrib.auth',

'django.contrib.contenttypes',

'django.contrib.sessions',

'django.contrib.messages',

'django.contrib.staticfiles',

'app.apps.AppConfig',

'firmware_flash.apps.AppConfig',

'gravity.apps.GravityAppConfig',

'constance',

'constance.backends.database',

'huey.contrib.djhuey',

'raven.contrib.django.raven_compat']

Installed Middleware:

['raven.contrib.django.middleware.DjangoRestFrameworkCompatMiddleware',

'raven.contrib.django.middleware.SentryMiddleware',

'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',

'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',

'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',

'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',

'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',

'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',

'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware']




Traceback:


File "/home/fermentrack/venv/lib/python3.5/site-packages/django/core/handlers/exception.py" in inner

41. response = get_response(request)


File "/home/fermentrack/venv/lib/python3.5/site-packages/django/core/handlers/base.py" in _get_response

187. response = self.process_exception_by_middleware(e, request)


File "/home/fermentrack/venv/lib/python3.5/site-packages/django/core/handlers/base.py" in _get_response

185. response = wrapped_callback(request, *callback_args, **callback_kwargs)


File "/home/fermentrack/venv/lib/python3.5/site-packages/django/contrib/auth/decorators.py" in _wrapped_view

23. return view_func(request, *args, **kwargs)


File "/home/fermentrack/fermentrack/app/decorators.py" in _wrapped_view

27. return view_func(request, *args, **kwargs)


File "/home/fermentrack/fermentrack/app/views.py" in device_temp_control

422. set_temp=float(form.cleaned_data['temperature_setting']))


Exception Type: TypeError at /devices/1/temp_control/

Exception Value: float() argument must be a string or a number, not 'NoneType'

 

[TonyB]

Thanks Alex, that worked for me. I do remember seeing that somewhere, either in the long 55 page thread or in one of the other non-brewing esp8266 topics I've been following.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

Thoughts and opinions appreciated
Any benefits over the standard recommended relays
5V Channel OMRON SSR G3MB-202P Solid State Relay Module for Arduino
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5338413729&icep_item=163451749508

 

[day_trippr]

With 2A mosfets?
What were you going to run with it? Definitely not going to run a fridge with that...

Cheers!

 

[Bigdaddyale]

With 2A mosfets?
What were you going to run with it? Definitely not going to run a fridge with that...

Cheers!

Any mods we can perform.

 

[day_trippr]

If that was a question...bringing even one channel up to fridge capability would be a challenge and perhaps impractical. Not only would you need to replace one of those skinny 2A mosfet packages with at least a 10A SSR - a considerable step up in package size - you'd need to beef up the AC power tracks in and out of the new part otherwise some skinny part of the original tracks may become a fuse.

And, of course, a 10A SSR with less than wonderful RDSon specs will dissipate heat that you'll need to sink - a concern not apparent in that five-pack of 2A switches.

I don't see it being a great way to go...

Cheers!

 

[alexlark]

I did try this 8A SSR board but couldn't get it to switch off after the ESP switched it on :-/

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/113592854365