I agree, full automation would be costly and probably of little benefit (unless you were brewing on a daily basis or you were a techno freak anyway).
I have independent temp controllers for my ferm fridges, so they aren't part of the mix at this stage, and while looking at ferm temperature graphs may be mildly interesting I can't really see it improving my beer or making life easier.
It is fascinating to see the 'extreme techno' systems with web interfaces etc, but at this stage all I want to do is to automate some of the more tedious tasks on brewday (mainly timing, temperature and liquid level control) and also reduce human error by laying out every step of the process in advance and sticking to a script.
To a certain extent, even a real-time computer program that didn't actually interface with anything would be helpful - something that would step through the process, time key events and keep me to the master plan. Obviously where it gets exciting is when it can measure and control a few sequences while it is at it.
It just strikes me that it would be great to limit my own potential damage on brewday if I am distracted by other things. A buzzer would alert me to impending tasks, like rearranging some hoses or adding hops, and ultimately I would just assist the program to do the brewing.
So how's this as a prototype software 'brief':
The ideal interface would have 2 windows. The first window would be a graphical representation of the brewery, along with thermometers at key points and perhaps liquid level indicators, pump status and 'active' pipe indicators. It would allow the user to override some things, for example to switch off a valve or pump if necessary or adjust a set point. Think of this as a central 'remote control' for electrical components as well as an easy way to confirm things like temperatures. In an advanced stage, this could even trigger an alarm if temperatures were not within a certain range, which might signal a closed valve for example.
The second window is a 'brew program' that steps through in real time, much like video editing software. Perhaps you could have a separate 'track' for each output, and you could drag the bar to your desired start and end points. At any time you can see what is currently occurring and what is about to happen next (and when, or what it's trigger will be). It could even have a 'dead man' check-box that you use to confirm that manual tasks such as rearranging hoses or opening valves have been completed ready for the next stage to occur automatically. At any time this script can be 'paused' for manual intervention, and resumed from a different point (this is what PLC's cannot do, it seems).
Of course, half the fun will be in tweaking it each time to polish the process or incorporate a new piece of automation once it has proved to be reliable, so it needs to be relatively easy to rearrange or insert new routines.
How's that? :super:
