Taplist.IO Free Digital Web Based Tap List

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SGTSparty

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Hey all. Not sure if this is the correct place for this but I wanted to start a thread about Taplist.IO

Its a free, web-based digital tap list created by HBT's own @Kegbot but there's not a ton of information out there/on here about it and the homepage of the website isn't very descriptive so I thought I'd talk about it here.

There are a lot of other digital tap lists out there but what I liked about this one was that its super easy and web based. I'm going to be running it from an old wifi only Kindle Fire on my kegerator and I didn't need anything else other than an internet connection.

You create you account, set up your location (my kegerator) and add your taps and choose your beers from the data base. For homebrew you can create your own beverage and add it to the database w/ your brewery as the producer and add a bunch of information like IBUs SRM ABV and a big plus (for me at least) is that you can add your label/logos to it. For me creating the labels is nearly as fun as brewing the beers so to be able to display them is awesome.

As of right now it lets you display in a 2 tap side by side version, a 1 column of 4 taps vertically, a 2 columns of 4 taps vertically, or a 2 columns of 8 taps vertically.

Not all the features show up in all of the views at this point (though he's working on fixing them) but its still pretty cool. And since they all seem to work in the 2 tap Jumbo display you can use that regardless of how many taps you have and it will rotate through the taps 2 at a time ) after a few seconds or you can click/swipe to advance.

Additionally as some other users have pointed out in other threads, there's a chat function and when I was setting up he said hi and asked if I had any questions or suggestions. When I gave him several suggestions/comments he was grateful for the guidance and not at all butt-hurt.

He said he's debating starting a comments/suggestions thread here on HBT but this one could probably be used until then?

Anyways, wanted to through this out there to the community for all of us brewers who think digital tap lists are awesome but don't have the computer chops to tell a raspberry pi from a jelly doughnut :mug: Pictures below

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Very cool, it might be a good replacement for my Raspberry Pints Taplist. taplist.no-ip.biz
 
Hey thanks for posting @SGTSparty! I'm happy to have any feedback and ideas, quite a few HBT'ers using it now & have gotten some good ideas and improvements.

I know the "log in wall" was annoying, here are a few more screenshots to check out the interface without logging in: https://taplist.io/tour/ .

cheers!
mike
 
Great stuff Kegbot! I created a taplist today and really like the way things are displayed and organized! Just a couple of questions. Is there any way to integrate this with social media? On the Displays Page it says, "Displays are created automatically when you link a compatible display device.". What kind of displays are able to be integrated? Thanks!
 
Really cool, I have always wanted to be able to track beers consumed. Ever thought about being able to tap on a tap and a pop up with ozs poured pops up? That way you can track how much is left in the keg?
 
Is there any way to integrate this with social media?

Not currently, but that's planned! Posting updates to twitter, for example.

On the Displays Page it says, "Displays are created automatically when you link a compatible display device.". What kind of displays are able to be integrated?

Oh yeah, I really need to make that more prominent, I basically built the site around a dead-simple FireTV app, so you could throw it up on a TV really easily. Here are the FireTV instructions: https://taplist.io/help/fire-tv-setup

And here are similar, for Raspberry Pi: https://taplist.io/help/raspberry-pi-setup .
 
Ever thought about being able to tap on a tap and a pop up with ozs poured pops up? That way you can track how much is left in the keg?

Hah! Ahem, um, considering my last project, that's a safe bet :D

So, the initial focus of Taplist.io for now is display, not measurement. Folks who just want to show off what's on tap. However, it's architected such that it could support measurement in the not too distant future. I just want to get the display part super solid, good looking, and flexible first. A sort of "do one thing really really well" approach.
 
Awesome, thanks for the update & info!

I actually already have FireTV's on all the displays/TV's in the house and plan to pick up a FireTV Stick for the bar area TV.

Not currently, but that's planned! Posting updates to twitter, for example.



Oh yeah, I really need to make that more prominent, I basically built the site around a dead-simple FireTV app, so you could throw it up on a TV really easily. Here are the FireTV instructions: https://taplist.io/help/fire-tv-setup

And here are similar, for Raspberry Pi: https://taplist.io/help/raspberry-pi-setup .
 
I actually already have FireTV's on all the displays/TV's in the house and plan to pick up a FireTV Stick for the bar area TV.

Awesome! They're really perfect for this kind of application; cheap, reliable, work well, easy to replace, and a really great Android platform. I love RPi too but I got a bit tired of "sysadmining" my taps, dealing with corrupt flash, etc.

Let me know how it goes! Not too many folks are using the FireTV app yet, and though it doesn't do a whole lot I'm always hungry for feedback. Cheers!
 
Hah! Ahem, um, considering my last project, that's a safe bet :D

So, the initial focus of Taplist.io for now is display, not measurement. Folks who just want to show off what's on tap. However, it's architected such that it could support measurement in the not too distant future. I just want to get the display part super solid, good looking, and flexible first. A sort of "do one thing really really well" approach.

Awesome. I was debating on writing something like this, but see you are way ahead of me. Can't wait, great use for my old Kindle fire
 
@kegbot Any plans to expand the app to other Streaming systems like Roku or gaming consoles? Also will the FireStick/TV app work on Kindle Fire Tablets? Been playing w/ displaying the webpage on my old 7" fire tablet w/ mixed results (displays 100% correctly, small screen size issues). Would be a great solution, attached above the taps 90% of the time but able to be mobile/pass around a group if we're out on the patio.
 
Any plans to expand the app to other Streaming systems like Roku or gaming consoles?

None at the moment. Mostly because I can only support so many & personally I don't see it as the interesting area of the project when FireTV + RPi are affordable and work well. Having said that, I'd be happy to see more supported devices, even if unofficially so. It can work on anything with a browser.

Also will the FireStick/TV app work on Kindle Fire Tablets? Been playing w/ displaying the webpage on my old 7" fire tablet w/ mixed results (displays 100% correctly, small screen size issues). Would be a great solution, attached above the taps 90% of the time but able to be mobile/pass around a group if we're out on the patio.

Yep, that can be improved! I just picked up a 7" fire tablet for this purpose. The main issue is the screen size, right now the layouts are "tuned" to a 1080p viewport (that's actually the reason it's unreadable on a smaller screen - it's force rendered at that size). The challenge is making the layouts work right across a variety of dimensions, it's solvable just need to spend some time on it.
 
Yeah I'm looking into just getting a monitor and hooking it up to an old laptop but then I have to find a way to mount it to the side if the fridge safely. Would actually love to do this if I can figure it out.

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Want to hang it over the handles but can't risk it falling and breaking all my tap/flooding the basement with beer.

I agree the FireStick is affordable but it doesn't have a B1G network app so we went Roku stick.
 
Good luck with this, I have no doubt there's an audience that'll enjoy it.

But, based on all the customization I've done with RaspberryPints (and BrewPi and other packages) I'll never get past not having direct access to the operating code, not to mention being dependent on a remote-service...

Cheers!
 
Good luck with this, I have no doubt there's an audience that'll enjoy it.

But, based on all the customization I've done with RaspberryPints (and BrewPi and other packages) I'll never get past not having direct access to the operating code, not to mention being dependent on a remote-service...

Cheers!

Absolutely; different strokes for different folks!

I love what Elco has done with BrewPi, and the communities around it, rpints, & kegbot are super creative and fun. "Hosted" is sort of an experiment for me: can I make something that is so much easier to use than the roll-your-own route & maybe delight some folks for whom that's out of reach.

On tweak-ability: From my vantage point running Kegbot as an open source project for over 10 years now, the overlap between "people who want to use the thing" and "people who are actually capable of & going to contribute/customize code" turns out to be sadly low. Very very low. Then I weighed that against the number of people who aren't linux savvy, have trouble tweaking apache configs, accidentally chmod'd the wrong thing, etc., and saw a need. So I'm investing time in making the end-product (templates/layouts) easy to customize and share; but not the innards.

On lock-in/remote-dependence: Yes, you're right, any SaaS product has this problem, at some level I can't assuage that & it's just the major design difference. I'm working on building a public API so it'd be possible to write your own data exporter / syncer, should I ever just go AWOL. Of course by no means a total answer, but I think that'd make it ever so slightly better than a black box..

cheers!
 
I second that to each his own sentiment. I'd love to get into Raspberry Pints or Kegbot but my time, budget or computing know how are severely lacking. I plan on increasing my knowledge but I have a toddler so my disposable time and income tend to go into my actual brewing process. By being web based its a let less cool for those who can do more but it lets me quickly update it from my phone or work computer on my lunch which is perfect for me.
 
I currently use Raspberry Pints, it used to run on my Windows File Server and now runs on an RPI sticky-taped to the back of a 22" Monitor. To be quite honest, Taplist.IO just looks better IMHO. And I like the fact that I can run it in Landscape rather than Portrait.

I'll keep the Raspberry Pi for running Strangebrew Elsinore and just drop the Raspberry Pints from it.

I second that to each his own sentiment. I'd love to get into Raspberry Pints or Kegbot but my time, budget or computing know how are severely lacking. I plan on increasing my knowledge but I have a toddler so my disposable time and income tend to go into my actual brewing process. By being web based its a let less cool for those who can do more but it lets me quickly update it from my phone or work computer on my lunch which is perfect for me.

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I currently use Raspberry Pints, it used to run on my Windows File Server and now runs on an RPI sticky-taped to the back of a 22" Monitor. To be quite honest, Taplist.IO just looks better IMHO. And I like the fact that I can run it in Landscape rather than Portrait.

Also in regards to the look of it, I love getting the label art displayed. I've really been getting into making my labels/logos for my beers lately and I enjoy showing them off. Does Raspberry Pints let you do that?

Also, I dig your set up. Do you have your monitor just on a stand? Wish I could get away with that but don't have the height on top of the fridge and I's also like it to be more prominent. Downside to a kegerator vs. keezer, though I guess once I figure it out I don't have to move everything to swap kegs... oh all the unintended consequences of a build choice!
 
Raspberry Pints doesn't display Label Art.

The monitor is a dell 22" monitor on a stand that swivels and pivots. It has a 12V power out port that I buck down to 5v USB OTG connector to power the Raspberry Pi. You should be able to pick up almost any small TV/Monitor stand and mount it directly to your fridge. Just go all the way through the skin and inside of the fridge with lag bolts/washers/nuts and silicone the holes when you're done so they are air tight.

Also in regards to the look of it, I love getting the label art displayed. I've really been getting into making my labels/logos for my beers lately and I enjoy showing them off. Does Raspberry Pints let you do that?

Also, I dig your set up. Do you have your monitor just on a stand? Wish I could get away with that but don't have the height on top of the fridge and I's also like it to be more prominent. Downside to a kegerator vs. keezer, though I guess once I figure it out I don't have to move everything to swap kegs... oh all the unintended consequences of a build choice!
 
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Raspberry Pints doesn't display Label Art.

The monitor is a dell 22" monitor on a stand that swivels and pivots. It has a 12V power out port that I buck down to 5v USB OTG connector to power the Raspberry Pi. You should be able to pick up almost any small TV/Monitor stand and mount it directly to your fridge. Just go all the way through the skin and inside of the fridge with lag bolts/washers/nuts and silicone the holes when you're done so they are air tight.

I'm debating this too. Just unsure if the fridge is structurally sound enough to support the weight of the stand and the monitor, it is after all just a thin skin of metal over foam and a thin skin of plastic on the inside. I'm hopefully picking up a craigslist monitor today and just ordered the mount (flat mount, no movement) this morning so i'll do some experimenting when it all comes on. My first attempt is going to be attaching the mount to a sheet of plywood, attaching 4x 88 pound pull force magnets to the backside of the ply and seeing if that holds. I like the idea of not putting more holes in my fridge but we'll see. If not i'll use the magnets for my drip tray and look into attaching the monitor directly like you suggested.
 
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Raspberry Pints doesn't display Label Art.[...]

Not inherently, but folks have replaced the Tap Numbers with images (iirc the author used pool balls - looked great, actually) so label art should be doable. The size is pretty much dependent on how many taps one has vs monitor real estate - divide the monitor vertical dimension by the number of taps and you'll get an idea of the potential image size.


So I didn't want to leave a negative impression about this project. I'm all for it because it'll definitely work for a lot of folks that would rather not have to learn their way around quite a lot of "stuff" to implement the popular alternatives. Heck, over the last three years I had to figure out how to program in five different languages to get to where I wanted to be :drunk:

That said, my issue with remote dependencies was illustrated in spades today when apparently the entire USA fleet of NEST thermostats went down with the mothership.
During a nationwide heat wave.

Hopefully the Taplist.IO mothership runs on something more reliable ;)

Cheers!
 
None taken over here! This is DIY land on HBT after all; SaaS philosophies aside, learning from & cloning stuff comes with the territory :D
 
Looks good!

Kegbot, just a suggestion... ...but could you possibly create a mailing list from your subscriber base? This way you could email us with enhancements, features, maintenance windows, etc. Might be a good way to keep in touch with the masses.
 
Looks good!

Kegbot, just a suggestion... ...but could you possibly create a mailing list from your subscriber base? This way you could email us with enhancements, features, maintenance windows, etc. Might be a good way to keep in touch with the masses.

Great idea, I'll try to set that up this weekend. I'm also going to add a section to the site where I can feature some of the public tap lists (or maybe just a browse mode?) — lot of folks have made some pretty nice looking lists already, but it's hard to know where to look.
 
Great idea, I'll try to set that up this weekend. I'm also going to add a section to the site where I can feature some of the public tap lists (or maybe just a browse mode?) — lot of folks have made some pretty nice looking lists already, but it's hard to know where to look.

That would be a fantastic way for people to get ideas for tweaking their own taplists! Having a rotating featured section and a way to browse the taplists would be awesome!
 
That would be a fantastic way for people to get ideas for tweaking their own taplists! Having a rotating featured section and a way to browse the taplists would be awesome!

Done! Check 'er out at the top of the dashboard, or just visit forum.taplist.io. I added some categories for feature requests and for uploading build / list photos, will see how it goes!

(Not that I mind chatting here, of course!)
 
Yes! Just what I want and need without having to mess with the Pi. Thank you!!!
 
Here is my taplist, I mounted an old TV on the wall, I'm in the process of finishing the basement and the taps will be mounted on the center of the wall. https://taplist.io/aaa-taplist/ There is a slight issue though. On the TV the taplist displays uncentered. It's too high and all of the text is blurry. I'm using a FireTV Stick to push this to the TV, is there something I can do to fix this? The taplist seems to display fine when viewing it on the web.

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Here is my taplist, I mounted an old TV on the wall, I'm in the process of finishing the basement and the taps will be mounted on the center of the wall. https://taplist.io/aaa-taplist/ There is a slight issue though. On the TV the taplist displays uncentered. It's too high and all of the text is blurry. I'm using a FireTV Stick to push this to the TV, is there something I can do to fix this? The taplist seems to display fine when viewing it on the web.

I sense a theme in the images for your beer! :off:
 
What is the display output of your TV set at? Do you have all of the digital noise filters etc turned off in the menus? Just a thought of why it might be blur fest.

I'm working on getting my firestick and used mount and tv ordered. Had an old monitor laying around but alas no hdmi on it...it's that old lol.

https://taplist.io/mikes-keezer/
 
This is what I have been looking for. I really didn't want to get into using raspberry pints thing. Seemed like way too much work for what it is.

Using the Fire Stick, does it go into sleep mode or does it stay on all the time?
 
Stumped (for the moment) on the blurry text issues, but I suspect it might be a case of 720p vs 1080p. Although there are certainly other explanations. I'm going to add some instrumentation so screen resolution is reported back, that's a good thing to pop into the dashboard anyway..
 
It stays on, my idea was most folks will probably just want turn their TV on and off, so easier to deal with one device rather than two.

That is what I was hoping you would say.

I don't need any kind of computer hooked up to the TV, right? Just the Fire Stick?
 
That is what I was hoping you would say.

I don't need any kind of computer hooked up to the TV, right? Just the Fire Stick?

Correct! Fire stick does all the work.

The app is also designed for ultra simplicity. First launch, you'll get a pairing code to plug in on the website. After that, it's linked and you "should" never have to touch it

I say "should" because I once worked on a lot of android internals & I don't fully know if Amazon's version of the OS will ever pre-empt the running activity (for example, to show a system updater prompt). But it's more or less, plug it in and forget about it. You do everything through the dashboard, there's no user interface at all on the device. :)
 
Correct! Fire stick does all the work.

The app is also designed for ultra simplicity. First launch, you'll get a pairing code to plug in on the website. After that, it's linked and you "should" never have to touch it

I say "should" because I once worked on a lot of android internals & I don't fully know if Amazon's version of the OS will ever pre-empt the running activity (for example, to show a system updater prompt). But it's more or less, plug it in and forget about it. You do everything through the dashboard, there's no user interface at all on the device. :)

That is great. Exactly what I was hoping it to be. Was disappointed to see how annoying the set up was for Raspberry Pint. Turned me off as soon as I read about it. Now I just need a cheap TV and Fire Stick lol Are there any requirements for the TV for it to work the best?
 
What is the display output of your TV set at? Do you have all of the digital noise filters etc turned off in the menus? Just a thought of why it might be blur fest.

I'm working on getting my firestick and used mount and tv ordered. Had an old monitor laying around but alas no hdmi on it...it's that old lol.

https://taplist.io/mikes-keezer/


Mines running off a VGA cable and an old monitor as well, wish it was bigger but honestly I can't fit much more mounted to the fridge anyway. I switch back n forth between the grid and scrolling jumbos (grid fir showing the lineup when guests first arrive, jumbo for once they've made a selection and we're sitting down drinking and I wanna show off my label art) but I can get away with that with 4 taps, scroll time might be too long with 8 taps
 
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