Loving my BrewPi so far!

[Matt in Birdham]

I went a bit crazy a couple of months ago and picked up an SS Brewtech 7g chronical, before the pound plunged any further against the US dollar. Lovely bit of kit, but I realised on my first brew that the thermowell and STC1000 don't play well together - the temperature was constantly overshooting by up to nearly 2 degrees C in either direction, and the STC was nearly always either cooling or heating. I could have gone back to taping the probe to the outside, but that seemed a waste so I bit the bullet and set up a BrewPi. Here's the graph from the first 3 days of my first brew:



The Brewpi definitely has a few issues with (slight) overshoot when making step temp changes - e.g. the beginning of the brew, when my wort was at 19 and I was targeting 18.5 - but once it settles it is amazing, and (barring my messing about with the profile and inducing another step change mid brew) the temp of the beer has never been more than 0.1C off the target. Whether or not I have set the best target/profile is another matter, but with logs you can see exactly what you did and recreate that/experiment as required. Plus there is a lot of interesting info to be gleaned from the temp differentials as well - e.g. it is clear to see when the yeast start going exothermic when the set temp starts becoming much lower than the beer temp - as much as 3C at peak. It does make me wonder what temps I have really been fermenting my beer at in the past.. So safe to say I'm sold on this, and quite happy - plus a nice thing to keep track of from the office

graph with just set/beer temps:

[f00b4r]

Have my brewpi spark ready to be setup in the next couple of weeks and it looks like the ability to control two fermenting fridges at once isn't that far of either. Have you seen the Brewometer and the integration with the Brew Pi?

[aamcle]

Hi.

I have a pi and an Arduino but I'm just a bit short of the enthusiasm to get the build going and I'm hoping for a bit of a push to get me started. My STC has been doing a decent job but Im bored and could do with a new project.

I have tried to follow the brewpi thread on homebrew talk, what a mess, I've even tried the diybrewpi wiki and I'm still no clearer.

It looks like an easy build, the Arduino wiring is exceptionally easy and I've found instructions for loading Rasberian and the brewpi software. No problem there.

At what point is the Arduino sketch loaded?

Is the simplest way to interact with the webserver to add a monitor, keyboard and mouse?

Atb. Aamcle

[Matt in Birdham]

f00b4r - yes, I saw the threads on the brewometer. Looks cool but not sure I can justify the outlay (what would it be landed?). Might be fun to play around with a light blue bean and try to replicate it, but those aren't that cheap even on their own.

Aamcle I have the new spark version and bought it ready built from brewpi so I'm afraid I can't help too much there. I've seen the thread on HBT, a bit of an epic one that. As for getting on the web server, the Pi is just connected to my wifi network so its no problem at all (just assign it a static IP address, although it is easy enough to find if you don't).

[f00b4r]

f00b4r - yes, I saw the threads on the brewometer. Looks cool but not sure I can justify the outlay (what would it be landed?). Might be fun to play around with a light blue bean and try to replicate it, but those aren't that cheap even on their own.

That did put me off a bit but my brewing partner might be on business there very soon

[demig]

Hi.

I have a pi and an Arduino but I'm just a bit short of the enthusiasm to get the build going and I'm hoping for a bit of a push to get me started. My STC has been doing a decent job but Im bored and could do with a new project.

I have tried to follow the brewpi thread on homebrew talk, what a mess, I've even tried the diybrewpi wiki and I'm still no clearer.

It looks like an easy build, the Arduino wiring is exceptionally easy and I've found instructions for loading Rasberian and the brewpi software. No problem there.

At what point is the Arduino sketch loaded?

Is the simplest way to interact with the webserver to add a monitor, keyboard and mouse?

Atb. Aamcle

The arduino sketch just needs to be loaded to the arduino before you connect it up. Get the arduino software on your pc, download the sketch, plug in the arduino and upload. You need the correct code though, from the legacy arduino branch. That bit is fairly clear on the wiki as I recall. When I get a chance I'll take a look at it and let you know exactly how I programmed me. I believe some cheap Chinese arduino clones need a special driver loading before the programming will work but it was pretty easy and once it's programmed once it's done.

As mentioned just make sure the pi is on your internal network and you can get the webpage up on any pc or mobile using the IP address of the brewpi. Static ip is best

[Aleman]

There is a good thread on the craft brewing forum on setting up a BrewPi from scratch, with links to code and the legacy branch.

Go for it it only takes an hour or so.

[kev93_10]

Snap. I love mine.

K




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Aleman]

Just had a quick look, the build bit of the thread starts [url=http://forum.craft%20brewing.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9444&start=25#p126581]>>> HERE <<<[/url]

[aamcle]

had a dig through my box of bits, 1 x Pi, 1 x Arduino, 1 x 2Relays, 2 x temp probes so I need a a box connectors and sockets.

I'll go through the threads and build it up, thanks for the encouragement.


aamcle

[D4nny74]

Let me know how you get on aamcle, don't live far from you wouldn't mind getting this sorted or going with the brewometer , just so I can check gravity from my comp in the house

[T5FAU]

Is BrewPI still only aimed for fridges?, so it controls the chamber temperature. I cool/heat the FV directly, so only have one temperature input, the beer. Anyone using BrewPI for direct control ? The way i see it, as there's sigficantly less lag time when you are cooling/heating the beer directly, a simple STC1000 type on/off thermostat rather than PID is sufficient. But like others, i have a spare Arduino and kit to have a play with this.

[Aleman]

I've done direct heating/cooling with an STC and the swings I see with the BrewPi controlling the fridge temp are significantly less than I ever saw with the STC.

[T5FAU]

I've done direct heating/cooling with an STC and the swings I see with the BrewPi controlling the fridge temp are significantly less than I ever saw with the STC.

Yeh, so you're using BrewPi with a fridge ?

[AnthonyUK]

Is BrewPI still only aimed for fridges?, so it controls the chamber temperature. I cool/heat the FV directly, so only have one temperature input, the beer. Anyone using BrewPI for direct control ? The way i see it, as there's sigficantly less lag time when you are cooling/heating the beer directly, a simple STC1000 type on/off thermostat rather than PID is sufficient. But like others, i have a spare Arduino and kit to have a play with this.

It doesn't know where it is or how it is heating or cooling. It has some PID type algorithm that learns rates of change and various other parameters so should work fine for your direct method.