Braumeister NEXTGEN Build

[MHB]

Fair go guys the two posts before mine were by people who were interested in a build and had never seen a Braumeister in action. I posted the link to the vids to help.
The first part was written very tongue in cheek, FFS I know Braumeisters are expensive and if you look back over everything I have written on them you will see that I have freely acknowledge that and that there are alternatives. Braumeister is a high quality top end system, it suits me and lots of other brewers, but it wont be for everyone. Until you brew on a Braumeister you wont be aware of lots of the features and refinements that make up part of a well engineered brewing system, I wish anyone who is trying to build a Clone lots of luck. A couple of my locals have had a go, after brewing on mine and after coming and looking at a Braumeister real close the best of them are good recirculating systems but they arent Braumeisters!
Still wish you wouldnt call the home build jobbies clones . (just so you know that bit is called humour)
Mark

 

[Bribie G]

I'm thinking of cloning a Porsche - I'll look around and see if you can still get the kit ....




:lol: :lol: :lol:

Still a couple around.

 

[keifer33]

Maybe the wording should be

"A Braumeister inspired recirculating homemade brewing system"

 

[Tim F]

BIRHBS :lol:

 

[schooey]

Just think of the groupies it will attract when someone comes up with the 'Basic Open Operational Brewing System'

 

[QldKev]

Just think of the groupies it will attract when someone comes up with the 'Basic Open Operational Brewing System'

hope I can get 2 of them

 

[seamad]

Amateur Heretical Braumaster

 

[Clutch]

Or

The average person will only know the person when they twist the wrist in anger.
I love it when people take alternate paths!

 

[Tony]

I love it when people take alternate paths!

And our old mate Fitty is one of the best at it

 

[matho]

And our old mate Fitty is one of the best at it

cheers mate :icon_cheers:

 

[wobbly]

Matho

Further to the following post

If I'd have to write write up the program for the control module, I would allow for even more than the five mash steps the Braumeister has, wouldn't be a problem to allow for 10 or 15, would it?
I's also allow for the boil temp to go higher than 102, maybe 105 or so, just to allow a full on rolling boil if you ever want one.

Having used my 20lt unit a few times now and something you might want to consider for your program is to build in a number (5, 10?) of programable alters/alarms during the boil cycle to alert you when to add your hop additions. Just saves having to set/use your mobile etc

Also it may be an advantage to be able to pause the program and change step parameters (time/temperature) during say the mash schedule if you found that your hydrometer and or Iodiene tests showed that you had reached either your desired SG or that full conversion had been reached.


Cheers

Wobbly

 

[matho]

Matho

Further to the following post



Having used my 20lt unit a few times now and something you might want to consider for your program is to build in a number (5, 10?) of programable alters/alarms during the boil cycle to alert you when to add your hop additions. Just saves having to set/use your mobile etc

Also it may be an advantage to be able to pause the program and change step parameters (time/temperature) during say the mash schedule if you found that your hydrometer and or Iodiene tests showed that you had reached either your desired SG or that full conversion had been reached.


Cheers

Wobbly

thanks wobbly, i am putting that option in, i have already allocated the Eeprom space for 5 hop additions but i could add more if needed but i havent brewed a beer yet with more than 5.

the pausing part is an interesting idea, ill have to think about how ill implement it.

I would like to thank everyone that has contributed so far, with all these tips and suggestions im sure ill end up with an awesome unit. :icon_cheers:

cheers

steve

 

[Tanga]

The control box and software (operating system?) is the most interesting part of this build for me. Get that right and I can see you (or someone) selling kits to other BIRHBS folks, not to mention the RIMS and HERMS guys. Make the software open source and it'll be even better. =)

 

[matho]

The control box and software (operating system?) is the most interesting part of this build for me. Get that right and I can see you (or someone) selling kits to other BIRHBS folks, not to mention the RIMS and HERMS guys. Make the software open source and it'll be even better. =)

i will be making the whole build available when i'm finished. unfortunately im a bit of a hack when it comes to programing, im using picbasic pro which isn't open source but ill try and write one up in GCbasic which is open source.

cheers matho

 

[Bada Bing Brewery]

i will be making the whole build available when i'm finished. unfortunately im a bit of a hack when it comes to programing, im using picbasic pro which isn't open source but ill try and write one up in GCbasic which is open source.

cheers matho

"Braumeister build for Idiots " - brilliant Matho .... I'll have a crack at that. Stop reading this crap and get building.
Cheers
BBB

 

[Tanga]

i will be making the whole build available when i'm finished. unfortunately im a bit of a hack when it comes to programing, im using picbasic pro which isn't open source but ill try and write one up in GCbasic which is open source.

cheers matho

Wow, that's awesome. I bet the controller kit'd still sell though. Programming those chippy things, though I.instructions sounds good. =)

 

[Zizzle]

thanks wobbly, i am putting that option in, i have already allocated the Eeprom space for 5 hop additions but i could add more if needed but i havent brewed a beer yet with more than 5.

the pausing part is an interesting idea, ill have to think about how ill implement it.

Go whole hog and add a hop dropper!

The control box and software (operating system?) is the most interesting part of this build for me. Get that right and I can see you (or someone) selling kits to other BIRHBS folks, not to mention the RIMS and HERMS guys. Make the software open source and it'll be even better. =)

There is already the brewtroller project.

But really, usually everyone's build is sufficiently different that generic control software is not practical.

Getting and programming an Arduino is pretty trivial these days, and would have to be the platform of choice for any DIY-for-newcomers system.

 

[Tanga]

Yeah, that's what I mean, the software isn't such a problem, but getting boards printed, etc, is. If people could get a kit (similar to a Jaycar kit) where they solder in the bits, and add their own chip (or a chip that comes with the kit) then it'd be so much simpler to set this up. Will check out the brewtroller project when the time is right though. I have a 20L urn which would be perfect for this some time down the track when I'm more cashed up.

 

[Tim F]

Tanga check out arduino, that's pretty much what it is from what i've seen so far - prebuilt boards that you can customise and program

 

[matho]

hey Tanga,

as tim said Arduino are prebuit boards that bring all the pins out to headers, the board has everything on it to get the AVR chip up and running so you don't need to worry about that ( personally i think its cheating ), the AVR chip is also loaded with a small bit of code called a bootloader, which means you don't need any special harware to program it, all you have to do is download the free arduino software and connect the board to your usb port. You still need to build some circuitry to interface the board with the outside world but the core is done for you.
The arduino language is based on c which seems fairly easy to learn (im learning at the moment), the arduino software is an IDE (intergrated development enviroment) which means you can write the code, complie it and program it all in one program. check out Bonj's thread for more info Here

Now that i have spent the time talking about arduino I'm not using it for this build, Im using a PIC and custom made printed circuit boards and programmed with a homemade programmer

cheers matho