HOWTO - Make a BrewPi Fermentation Controller For Cheap

[BrewerJack]

How's it feel to have a permanent SWMBO?

Congrats by the way.

 

[snccoulter]

I just ordered my Uno, relay, thermometer, and Project box. It is really to bad Amazon Prime won't get it to me until Monday. I could have it today but the shipping is more than the actual cost of the items I wanted. I got glared at for buying it, if I would have spent more on shipping then the stuff I would be up the proverbial creek without the paddle...

 

[rabeb25]

Perhaps I missed it..
I know the Brewpi can only use 2 sensors, but can I add more to monitor other fermenters? I.e my chamber holds more than one fermenter. I control the chamber off one, but would like to see temps on the others.



thanks

 

[snccoulter]

Two for now. They are working on multiple connections in the next generation

 

[wapitiscat]

I think you can but have to have a second arduino.

 

[snccoulter]

From what I have seen you can with a second Arduino, but it will be a second instance with it's own web page.

 

[BrewerJack]

I think you can but have to have a second arduino.

A second Arduino is usually used to control heating and cooling of a second Ferm Chamber.

 

[msujack]

Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Perhaps I missed it..he Brewpi can only use 2 sensors, but can I add more to monitor other fermenters? I.e my chamber holds more than one fermenter. I control the chamber off one, but would like to see temps on the others.



thanks

The setup technically has an ambient or room sensor you can wire in with the others on the same one wire bus, I don't know that it's built into the pid algorithm, you can try and ask the Brewpi guys to make sure it's not. If so, You could use that to monitor the extra fermenter just not control it. If it does feed into the pid you don't want to use it and screw up your main fermenter.

You can just wire in the new one and set it like the others just make it ambient, it used to exist, can't check if it still does.

 

[BrewerJack]

With the release of 0.2 it has built in support for a room temp probe.

Per the Brewpi website:

Room temperature sensor: this sensor is not used in the control algorithm, but the data will be logged and displayed in the graphs. If you want to put it into a secondary beer, that is entirely up to you

About a third of the way down.

 

[Chupidacabra]

I know I read hooking up the temp sensor incorrectly caused a short in here somewhere. Not seeing it now. Just as a precaution can I get verification on which goes to what? I've got red, white, and black.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[BrewerJack]

Well thing about Chinese temp probes is that you can't tell. However, chances are it's:
Red - Vcc
Black - Ground
White - Data

 

[dougthebrewer]

Y


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[rocket4x4]

Anyone having problems with brewpi not finding the arduino after reboot or disconnect / connect of the arduino?

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

How are you connecting the arduino? Directly to the RPI or through a hub?

Also why would you be connecting/disconnecting it once its setup?

I know a few people tried to run the arduino through a USB hub had issues.

 

[rabeb25]

Sure just run this script to reconnect to it.
sudo -u brewpi python /home/brewpi/brewpi.py



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[rocket4x4]

It's directly connected to a laptop. I have tried to restart the script. It's a Uno and I'm using the revC Uno hex file.

I'm a little worried about loosing power and when rebooted it will not start keeping temperature.

I will do some more test..

 

[snccoulter]

Quick question. I got my Arduino and relay in and I guess I was expecting a bit more from the Arduino, like the ability to control it from USB keyboard/mouse, or at least to be able to plug in a wireless USB. If I was to get a WiFi shield would I be able to stream the data back to the Rasperian I have running in VM Ware 9. Or will I always have to be connected to a micro computer or some sort of Linux box? I really don't want to give up my PI to this project. I love playing with the PI

 

[BrewerJack]

That's definitely a question for the BrewPi guys. I don't know a huge amount about the Arduino side of things, but I think it should be possible, but don't know if it would be possible with the way BrewPi is currently set up.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

You have to keep it connected via usb, its how brewpi communicates with it. The arduino is a very dumb simple, but very reliable microcontroller. That's why it is so cheap. It's not a microprocessor like a rpi.

 

[snccoulter]

Thank you.
I guess I need to locate an old Pentium laptop to dedicate to this project I just cant tie up the PI.

 

[day_trippr]

Thank you.
I guess I need to locate an old Pentium laptop to dedicate to this project I just cant tie up the PI.

I found myself in the same situation and decided the best way out was to clone my 'Pi. I got my second li'l dude running this weekend and it's now my development system. Today I topped it with an "AlaMode" Arduino shield and got that running in anticipation of the next version of RaspberryPints (read: flow metered keg volume tracking! yay!).

I actually don't need Yet Another Controller, but I'm thinking about giving BrewPi thing a spin if only to mark time and get familiar with the Arduino. Though I am interested in their PID code...

Cheers!

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Thank you.
I guess I need to locate an old Pentium laptop to dedicate to this project I just cant tie up the PI.

Look at good will or salvation army stores, a few near me have old ass laptops in their glass cases up front. I bet you may get one cheap, then again a lot of their electronics are overpriced for what they are so the 20 bucks might just be better spent towards another rpi.

 

[vince805]

Look at good will or salvation army stores, a few near me have old ass laptops in their glass cases up front. I bet you may get one cheap, then again a lot of their electronics are overpriced for what they are so the 20 bucks might just be better spent towards another rpi.

That's what I was thinking. If you are thinking of buying an old laptop just buy another pi instead. Ive got 4 of them doing different things in my house.

 

[Chupidacabra]

So what's a good heat source? My brewpi is up and running!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[BrewerJack]

So what's a good heat source? My brewpi is up and running!

I use this as does Fuzze I think. I bought mine at a cheaper price than it is now.

 

[Chupidacabra]

Looks good to me. Don't really want to mess with a heat wrap so that's probably a good option.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Looks good to me. Don't really want to mess with a heat wrap so that's probably a good option.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

It's really the best option out there. The auto shutoff it has at like 110f means worst case if something goes wrong and it gets stuck on while you're away your beer is maybe ruined, not your house burning down.

 

[rabeb25]

I use a cheap hair dryer on low heat. They all have gfi's built in as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[day_trippr]

I use a 60w incandescent bulb with an 80mm 12vdc fan blowing on it when the controller calls for heat in my 17cf ferm fridge. Low power, gentle distributed warmth = slow ramping that minimizes overshoot...

Cheers!

 

[day_trippr]

So after having the AlaMode running on my development 'Pi for a couple of days and getting to know Arduino, it just dawned on me¹ that running BrewPi with Raspberry Pints V2 isn't going to happen - at least, not without adding Even More Hardware. Which - if I needed Yet Another Controller - wouldn't be a BFD for me. Just add an Uno to the equation. Not a deal breaker, imo.

¹ Well, actually two problems - one a huge show-stopping deal, the other theoretical: Arduino runs one sketch at a time, period. No concurrency allowed. That's kinda huge. Otherwise, even if you could rapidly swap or somehow link sketches to give the appearance of a multi-tasking "system", my perspective is an Arduino will be working hard to keep up with responding to flow meters as it is.

So there it is. At first glance I don't see any problem running a second Arduino servicing the BrewPi code while the AlaMode works flow meters, with both reporting to their respective 'Pi threads...

Cheers!

 

[snccoulter]

You could get a Pi Face it has a couple of relays and all sorts of other fun stuff. but then you would have to write the code. IF you know code GREAT if not it is a big deal.

 

[day_trippr]

If ^that was in response to my post, I think you're missing a lot here that a dozen PiFaces could never possibly solve...

Cheers!

 

[MongooseMan]

Got my fridge last weekend and just put in a big eBay order for the following:
Arduino Uno
2 Channel Relay
Bunch of dupont cables
Resistor
Temperature probes
Heat shrink
USB Wifi dongle (for the old PC currently unused)
Ceramic heat emitter

Now to wait patiently for them to arrive...

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

So after having the AlaMode running on my development 'Pi for a couple of days and getting to know Arduino, it just dawned on me¹ that running BrewPi with Raspberry Pints V2 isn't going to happen - at least, not without adding Even More Hardware. Which - if I needed Yet Another Controller - wouldn't be a BFD for me. Just add an Uno to the equation. Not a deal breaker, imo.

¹ Well, actually two problems - one a huge show-stopping deal, the other theoretical: Arduino runs one sketch at a time, period. No concurrency allowed. That's kinda huge. Otherwise, even if you could rapidly swap or somehow link sketches to give the appearance of a multi-tasking "system", my perspective is an Arduino will be working hard to keep up with responding to flow meters as it is.

So there it is. At first glance I don't see any problem running a second Arduino servicing the BrewPi code while the AlaMode works flow meters, with both reporting to their respective 'Pi threads...

Cheers!

I see no reason one rpi can't run two arduinos as you said. In the grand scheme of it the arduinos are the cheap bits, if I remember correctly those flow meters are like 40 or something each, so what's another 15 for an arduino

 

[snccoulter]

If ^that was in response to my post, I think you're missing a lot here that a dozen PiFaces could never possibly solve...

Cheers!

OK I will bite.
If I have my PI and snap on the PI Face and know how to code correctly (I am trying to self teach) why would it not work? Comparing the Uno and relay there does not seem to be a lot different. They both have relays, to connect to the power outlet. They both connect to a micro processor one more smoothly than the other. They both have the ability to connect other peripherals I.E a thermostat.

Yes the PI Face is a bit more costly, but it snaps together nicely unlike the Uno/relay and PI.

 

[day_trippr]

So I was verbalizing the issues with running BrewPi and the eventual V2 release of RaspberryPints on a single 'Pi and the implications thereof. With respect to the latter, it has been determined that an ISR running on the 'Pi could not keep up with the flow meters, hence the need to off-load the counting function to a dedicated microcontroller (ie: Arduino). That pretty much ends the discussion of coding a native 'Pi solution for RaspberryPints, imo.

Wrt to BrewPi, one would have to gauge the significance of the BrewPi solution of off-loading the control loops to an Arduino, versus a native 'Pi solution. Clearly a 'Pi could easily keep up with the task of managing a fermentation chamber (or a kegerator/keezer) so ability per se wasn't the factor the developers considered key. I understand the rationale espoused by the developers wrt reliability of an Arduino-based controller taking direction from a 'Pi. Totally makes sense to me...

Cheers!

 

[day_trippr]

I see no reason one rpi can't run two arduinos as you said. In the grand scheme of it the arduinos are the cheap bits, if I remember correctly those flow meters are like 40 or something each, so what's another 15 for an arduino

SF800 is $30 via eBay (or $89 via Kegbot )

And I agree. If I had a need for another controller I'd be all over a dual-Arduino solution...

Cheers!

 

[snccoulter]

OK you lost me on most it would be possible, it is just the extra stuff that would cause a problem? As I said I am very new new to this stuff. I just started playing with it after my intro to Linux class. It just seemed possible. By the way how would I figure out what IP Address the MYSQL Server is using in a VM. I installed it via the command line directions.

Thanks

 

[day_trippr]

OK you lost me on most it would be possible, it is just the extra stuff that would cause a problem?

If by "extra stuff" you mean tracking flow meters, then I'll go with "yes". But that's a large part of the point. While V1 of RaspberryPints would barely tax a TRS-80, V2 is a whole 'nuther animal.

[...]

By the way how would I figure out what IP Address the MYSQL Server is using in a VM. I installed it via the command line directions.

Well I don't run mysql under a VM, but my first swag would be to check out the "bind" function...

Cheers!