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Great thread guys.

I’ve also had a Hosehead for quite some time and then life got in the way. I’m only now getting it set up after having it for about a year.

You’ve all already answered my questions regarding the 2 element set up, but I have an even bigger problem, the system isn’t reading my temp probes at all.

I’ve tried the troubleshooting options from the YouTube videos of checking connections and restarting but I’m still not getting any recognition. I tried it with a few different cables of my own that I had about the house and nothing.

Anyone else have similar issues?
 
Nitram_2000 said:
Great thread guys.

I’ve also had a Hosehead for quite some time and then life got in the way. I’m only now getting it set up after having it for about a year.

You’ve all already answered my questions regarding the 2 element set up, but I have an even bigger problem, the system isn’t reading my temp probes at all.

I’ve tried the troubleshooting options from the YouTube videos of checking connections and restarting but I’m still not getting any recognition. I tried it with a few different cables of my own that I had about the house and nothing.

Anyone else have similar issues?
Click to expand...

Are you using craftbeerpi or Elsinore?
 
kcinpdx said:
Are you using craftbeerpi or Elsinore?
Click to expand...

Neither at the minute. I’m just trying to get the system to recognise the probes. I looked at the Hosehead YouTube video and it shows you where to look in the folder structure and they’re not there. When I open Elsinore (just opened that for now, but will switch to CBP due to the group function) it shows me an error of not finding the probes.
 
Nitram_2000 said:
Great thread guys.

I’ve also had a Hosehead for quite some time and then life got in the way. I’m only now getting it set up after having it for about a year.

You’ve all already answered my questions regarding the 2 element set up, but I have an even bigger problem, the system isn’t reading my temp probes at all.

I’ve tried the troubleshooting options from the YouTube videos of checking connections and restarting but I’m still not getting any recognition. I tried it with a few different cables of my own that I had about the house and nothing.

Anyone else have similar issues?
Click to expand...

There’s two 1/8th” headphone jacks. Any chance it’s in the wrong one?

Also try restarting the system a few times.

A question I can’t answer but will pose, don’t you have to assign certain pins to the probes in the software for it to recognize them?

I assumed so
 
oceanic_brew said:
There’s two 1/8th” headphone jacks. Any chance it’s in the wrong one?

Also try restarting the system a few times.

A question I can’t answer but will pose, don’t you have to assign certain pins to the probes in the software for it to recognize them?

I assumed so
Click to expand...

Two headphone jacks? Really? Could I have been so stupid? Let’s hope so :)
 
Holy moley! I’m a fool!! Plugged the probes into the other input and it’s all working!

Time to install CBP now and schedule a test brew next week.

I can’t thank you guys enough. I’m sure I’ll be back with some more stupid questions.
 
Last edited:
So guys, I got it up and running. Doing some water tests right now.

I had a bit of a scare when I turned the unit on as it started smoking. Something was definitely burning inside. I let it cool and the next time I started it up and only added the elements and pump one piece at a time.

So I set up CBP a little strangely as I have two elements in my HLT and boil kettle and I'm using a RIMS tube with a single element.

I can control both elements individually but it means I have to set the target temp twice each time. I'm also not sure about importing recipes from BeerSmith due to this, so I guess I'll just have to keep an eye on everything manually for the first few brews until I figure a way to be able to control everything automatically with a multi-element setup.
 
augiedoggy said:
Is it designed to allow multiple elements to run the same time?
Click to expand...

I have a custom build from Hosehead. I have two power inputs, each linked to an element output. This is because my flat only has 15Amps per breaker so I run one elenent from the kitchen breaker and one from another ran on an extension cable.

In CBP I set up two HLT actors and two Boil actors. The two HLT actors are set to read from the same temp probe, as are the same boil actors with their respective temp probe.

I just plug each element into the relevant power outlet as needed.

It does look a bit confusing on the control display as when I turn on both elements on the HLT, for example, the relative elements are displayed at turned on in the boil kettle and the RIMS tube, but it works. I can still have one element on in the HLT while I run the RIMS tube and then I can switch the power to the boil kettle as I sparge.

I have each power supply marked so I know which one to plug in as I go along.

First full test brew tomorrow.
 
8192DB18-35C1-4C62-B416-8FB1F4F908EC.jpeg
 
Alright so I just joined the ranks and just got my new electric brewery with the Hosehead up and running. Before I do my water test and dial in all my #’s, I just want to know if there is an advantage to using CraftBeerPi over Elsinore?
 
I can only give a one sided perspective as I’ve only ever used CBPi. CBPi seems like there is a better support network and many users to help when things do not go as planned. I really like it, but you do need some decent problem solving skills. Sometimes things act funny.
 
So I’m just getting started with the Hosehead. Is there any reason that I should use CraftBeerPi over Elsinore?
 
kcinpdx said:
I can only give a one sided perspective as I’ve only ever used CBPi. CBPi seems like there is a better support network and many users to help when things do not go as planned. I really like it, but you do need some decent problem solving skills. Sometimes things act funny.
Click to expand...

Yeah I’ve seen some of issues. I’m not really one for programming so I didn’t know if one was more user friendly than the other. I’m sure I could figure things out though if I needed to.
 
Yes CBPi has a large support network, and you'll need it. Unless you want to do a bunch of fancy stuff with the CBPi plugins, Elsinore is simpler and less prone to breaking. I've used both CBPi and elsinore.
 
I’m starting to familiarize myself with Strangebrew Elsinore. Plan to buy a hosehead soon. Can you tell me if the default software can do a step mash profile automatically or do you have to manually change the temp? Thanks.
 
sfrisby said:
I’m starting to familiarize myself with Strangebrew Elsinore. Plan to buy a hosehead soon. Can you tell me if the default software can do a step mash profile automatically or do you have to manually change the temp? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Yes it can do auto step step mash
 
I've been using my Hosehead for about a year now. First time I used it, I installed CBPi and ran with it. I liked the overall look and current support. The problem I ran into was I scorched the hell out of my beer. Seemed like when I was at a boil, it just ran at 100% the whole time.

Now, it's entirely possible that being the first time I just set it too high. I've found I can set Elsinore to about 208-209 and get a boil, and it drops the element way down to maintain.

Before I make the jump back to CBPi, is there anything I need to do for it to control elements better, or is it just a matter of not setting the boiling point so high.
 
What element are you using? Batch size?

I could never make PWM mode work right in CBPi. Strangebrew works fine for me. Trying to control boil via temperature is futile. You dont really even need a temp probe with PWM. When you see boiling, turn it down to whatever power level maintains it. With 10g and a 5500w ULWD element, I usually set mine at 60%. If you have a high watt density element, and there is a big interval between on and off, you could be burning stuff that settles on your element in between cycles.
 
EDIT TO THE BELOW: Corey is absolutely awesome and provides great support. Was emailing him past 11pm last night working on the issues which eventually were resolved. It's just frustrating experiencing issues that just don't seem to be easily correctable. Hopefully going forward I am issue free.

Not sure I have regretted a decision I made for homebrewing more than I have regretted purchasing the Hosehead controller.

Have been through 3 brew days with it and each day there was something different. The unit would freeze up or I would constantly lose connection to the unit (via phone, iPad and laptop), one brew day I was trying to adjust the percent power on my boil kettle heating element and it was either 100% or off. Seriously, nothing but constant issues that did nothing but interrupt brew days.

The latest, I went to run some cleaner through my system yesterday. Got my kettles setup, water filled, temp sensors in place and fired up my Hosehead...nothing. No response via WiFi, no response directly connected to a monitor/mouse/keyboard. Reached out and was told I likely didn't shut the system down correctly, which would be incorrect. Unless the system completely froze on me, which as stated above has happened, I shut the system down using the Eisinore interface.

I reached out and was sent a download to re-image my SD card. Downloaded the new image to my SD card, put it back in the unit and turned the system on. Took me to a screen with a box full of color and a power symbol and nothing else. Reached back out and, I was sent the wrong image for my version of Rasberry Pi so a new image was sent.

New image was downloaded twice and attempted to install to the SD card and, you guessed it, doesn't work. Error message after error message. So here I am, without a brew system and everything ready for a brew day for Saturday without a working brewing controller. I work two jobs tomorrow so unless it miraculously works tonight, looks like I am $hit out of luck for brewing.

I should have never gotten rid of my High Gravity controller. It has been nothing but a headache since "upgrading" to the Hosehead unit.
 
Last edited:
I am very happy with mine. When I did have a small issue, you guessed it Corey was there to take care of me as a customer. I have about 50, 5 gallon brews under my belt and everytime I change something in my system (which I have often) I learn. My beers today are better because of it. Thanks for creating the inexpensive and trustworthy hosehead!
 
100% worth it. I would however recommend buying a second SD card and saving the image to it so you have a backup if the card get corrupted. I've had this happen about 3 times across quite a few brew days, it really stinks when your brewday is delayed an hour or 2 due to reinstalling the OS.
 
So since we are talking about it, in your opinion is CBPi or Strange brew better? What operating system would work best for a RIMs 2 kettle system?
 
Put me down as another happy customer. Had mine 18 months, 30 odd batches and no issues at all - works great and easy to use, and excellent value compared to the alternatives (unless building yourself).

I did have to replace the raspberry pi in mine - not sure what happened but it stopped powering. I dont have any reason to blame it on the hosehead though and put it down to bad luck or something.

I've only used CBPi - it works great for a 3 kettle herms.
 
I used CBPi back before 3.0 for brewing and fermenting. It worked fine. While waiting for 3.0 to come out, I loaded strangebrew so I could have PWM boil control. I've now been using it (same install) for about 2 years. One day if I get some free time I'll try CBPi again, but since I don't need any of the fancy bells and whistles I can't justify switching.
 
As I understand it, CBPi is for those savvy enough to create custom software for themselves. Strangebrew works out of the box for simpletons like me. Do I have that right? Thanks.
 
I don't suppose anyone here has had to reinstall raspian? I'm getting the rainbow pixel when I try to boot, and Corey doesn't respond to emails anymore :-\
 
golfindia said:
Reflashing NOOBS image is pretty straight forward

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/
Click to expand...

Thanks. I actually got that far already on a separate SD card, my issues begin when it comes to installing/configuring either CBPi or Elsinore. My attempts at either have not gone too well. I can follow tutorials with linux, but when a step differs/fails, I'm useless. I'm currently hitting an issue getting it to recognize the one-wireseses.

So I believe my alternate fix would be to replace the kernel img on the original SD card to see if it boots.

Anyway, I've got a handful of things to try yet, but after that, I'm lost. Would just be nice if Corey responded to emails. I'm sure he's imaged the whole setup as well, so if he just dumped an image somewhere, I could download it to the sd card and everything would be rosey...
 
Anyone have any idea where to find an image (or have one they can share) to re-format an SD card for one of these?
 
Thanks to tmendick for helping me image an SD card with a current hosehead image; seems to be working fine.

If anyone reads this down the road and has a similar issue, message me and I'll share details.
 

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