Yuri's Brew Yurt (Hut)

[Tripod]

I'm stoked...I can sit here at my desk in the house and monitor the temp via a remote desktop connection.

You SHOULD be stoked! Hell, I'm stoked FOR you!

Did you already post about the remote desktop connection that you're using to monitor from the house? I'd like to learn more about how you set that up...

-Tripod

 

[Yuri_Rage]

The remote desktop setup is a very simple VNC scheme. Linux Mint/Ubuntu has a VNC server built in under "Menu -> Preferences -> Remote Desktop." OS X has a built in VNC client, but it's painfully slow, so I've been messing with Chicken of the VNC and JollysFastVNC. JollysFastVNC is the winner so far.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

The (rough) numbers are in: 85% efficiency into the kettle. I lost a bit during both conversion and lautering. I likely rushed both steps, since I started late in the day (25 minute mash, one hour fly sparge to collect 17 gallons). I'm reasonably happy with 86% lauter efficiency, but the 86% conversion number is a tad low. In any case, the numbers are quite encouraging, and I'm fairly sure I know where I need to improve the process.

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

OS X has a built in VNC client, but it's painfully slow, so I've been messing with Chicken of the VNC and JollysFastVNC. JollysFastVNC is the winner so far.

WOHOOO! I'm green with envy.
What a sweet setup, and it looks great and works great. What more can you ask for except more carboys! :rockin:

Being the old school guy, I would just do a SSH connection and tunnel the X11 display.

I'm really glad you got this in operation and shared it with us. Thanks Yuri.

 

[Layne]

Dude, your project is like the energizer bunny, it keeps going..........
Awesome stuff, keep sharing.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Being the old school guy, I would just do a SSH connection and tunnel the X11 display.

I've been SSH tunneling when I want to do some real work, but unless you know something I don't, SSH requires a separate X session. So, I can't mirror/control the active desktop display without using VNC. Because I'm using the USB serial port to monitor data, I can only have one instance of the monitor process running, and I want to be able to see it whether I'm inside the brew hut or sitting in the home office. I may use Apache and a dynamic web page at some point, but for now, VNC is the solution.

 

[camiller]

I have to remove the hard plumbing to dump the mash tun. ...

Wet/Dry vac

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Wet/Dry vac

The point is: it's easy. The plumbing removes with the quick twist of a wrench, and then the whole mess (all 50 lbs of it!) dumps into a trash bag with no fuss at all.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Getting all situated. Grain and keg storage, including a "hut warming" gift from a friend that will be displayed in the window.

 

[AN_TKE]

Why is your mash period so short? You get conversion in less than 30 minutes? How is this happening?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

With today's highly modified and thus enzymatic strong malts, the mash is generally converted after 15-30 min based on the rest temperature. Lower temperatures mashes convert slower than higher temp mashes of the same grist (see The Theory of Mashing for further details). Most brewers do however mash 60-90 minutes to ensure complete conversion and for the time it gives them to heat the sparge water for example. It is always a good practice to check for conversion of the mash with an iodine test.

That's it in a nutshell. See here. Using steam to almost instantaneously heat my sparge water means I can start sparging as soon as conversion is complete. An iodine test at 20 minutes was negative for starch. I suspect that conversion was not quite complete (per the numbers from Kai's spreadsheet), but it was close. I will likely do a longer rest during my next brew session, but it's not necessarily required.

 

[GreenMonti]

I know eff is a couple of different things.

Do you know what your lauter eff was?
How tight of a fit is it?
I am courious about that false bottom. I haven't been on the borads long in the home brew relm. I have also taken the last year off of brewing due to a remodle. I have never seen these bottoms before. Did they come out in the last year?

 

[Malticulous]

Conversion and fermentability are not the same thing. Conversion can happen in just a few minutes. Fermentability is a function of time, DP, and temp.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

The (rough) numbers are in: 85% efficiency into the kettle. I lost a bit during both conversion and lautering. I likely rushed both steps, since I started late in the day (25 minute mash, one hour fly sparge to collect 17 gallons). I'm reasonably happy with 86% lauter efficiency, but the 86% conversion number is a tad low. In any case, the numbers are quite encouraging, and I'm fairly sure I know where I need to improve the process.

Allow myself to quote...myself.

The false bottom works great. There are pics/info throughout the thread.

 

[GreenMonti]

Allow myself to quote...myself.

The false bottom works great. There are pics/info throughout the thread.

Ya know, I read that too. Sorry.

 

[RonRock]

Have you considered "Snap Lock Couplers" rather than unions for the removable hard line?

http://proflowdynamics6.reachlocal.net/modules/store/-Stainless-Steel_C68.cfm

These look pretty cool to me. I wonder why they aren't used more often by homebrewers?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I did, but I couldn't find them any cheaper than unions. You succeeded. Hmmm...

 

[RonRock]

I can't take credit for the link. I stole it from someone, probably from HBT. But I do like these fittings. I see them used in commercial settings often and have wondered why we (homebrewers) have not taken to them. I see the Tri Clover clamps often viewed as a "better" quick coupler, but these look to me much easier to use and sanitize.

Any input on this type of fittings?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Well, I want them. That's my input!

 

[RonRock]

Works for me.

 

[Dog House Brew]

I used to use camlock fittings all the time when I sold ready mix chemicals. I chose to go tri-clover on my new build. When the gasket seats against the male fitting they can be a PIA to get the ears closed tight. I didn't use silicone gaskets though. That could make a difference. They were rugged did last a long time. Never had a failure in 10 years of using them.

 

[Brewmoor]

Have you considered "Snap Lock Couplers" rather than unions for the removable hard line?

http://proflowdynamics6.reachlocal.net/modules/store/-Stainless-Steel_C68.cfm

These look pretty cool to me. I wonder why they aren't used more often by homebrewers?

It seems as though more of us are. I ordered 16 males and 12 females. He said he has had a run on them since the HBT posts started. They are sold out of the 1/2 male. He had 18 coming this week when I ordered 16 of them.

He said most of the people buying them right now are homebrewers.

 

[RonRock]

Damn the luck. Any word on how fast he will resupply?

 

[Dog House Brew]

Check your local rubber/plastics supplier in your area. You can usually find them there. In any material needed, they sell food grade hose and the fittings to go with it.

 

[Brewmoor]

Damn the luck. Any word on how fast he will resupply?

Sounds like he is getting another shipment in the next few weeks. He told me late December when I called.

 

[bendavanza]

The pics look like big fittings, anyone have pics of the 1/2" stuff and can report on how well they work?

 

[brauhausjoe]

Very nice, I did something similar to monitor my brewery temps over the web https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/web-based-thermometer-44036/

You can view the temps here http://www.swampwaterbrewery.com:8080/brewery/

As always Yuri, very nice job.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Here's a screenshot of my web-based monitor (rough hack so far). This thread was the inspiration.

I'm using a terminal emulator to dump Arduino's serial output to a text file. Then I use Ajax/PHP to read the data contained in the file and display it on the canvas gauges. It's a bit inelegant, but it works fine over the home LAN.

I tried the PHP serial library, and it didn't work at all. I could open the port, but reading from it was problematic at best (EDIT: Those issues were most likely because the latest Linux kernels have an FTDI driver bug. Compiling a new FTDI module improved things considerably. However, I've decided to abandon PHP for now in favor a simpler, faster XML file transfer).

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I had some great success with the software tonight. Arduino is outputting XML, and the web script is down to a single Ajax request for a small XML file rather than several asynchronous requests for data from a PHP script. The webcam image refreshes every few seconds. I'm not entirely sure that the webcam is useful, but it looks nice.

 

[Brewmoor]

I had some great success with the software tonight. Arduino is outputting XML, and the web script is down to a single Ajax request for a small XML file rather than several asynchronous requests for data from a PHP script. The webcam image refreshes every few seconds. I'm not entirely sure that the webcam is useful, but it looks nice.

That is RAD!:rockin:

Even if the camera is not that useful it definatly has the cool factor going. I am really starting to think that Phase 2 of my build might have to be pc based operation. Seeing some of these threads lately is inspiring. Just need to get it complete and running first then plan for phase 2