Matho's controller

[breakbeer]

Glenn,
When are you going to come see my bad boy in action? I brewed a dunkelweizen today (I called it Schlam Dunkel) and I hit 83.9 mash efficiency and 76.8 overall, so it's going rather well I'd say... Also managed to give the whole back deck and rails a coat of new paint too, so it's very much hands off and worry free at the moment...

Might be a while yet mate. I have a 'junior brewing assistant' due in 3 weeks & I'm waiting on a new pump to arrive so I can brew like a man posessed before he arrives

 

[MastersBrewery]

Edak'
seems your providing some more inspiration/motivation to those of us who have either been a little lazy or short of fortitude, I assure you; when the minister of everything ( that includes finance gentlemen) approves final purchases, I'm with ya!!! And I was one of the first to be be graced with one of matho''s awesome controller packages and I've watched every post since. I sdo want an easy brew day ... the dog and the lad only have so much attention span

 

[grimb]

Hy guys, where I can find the Brauduino PCB V2.0. shield?

 

[Edak]

MB,

It's a great feeling when you can have confidence in your system, I hope that you enjoy your system (upon approval of course) as much as I enjoy my system.

Grimb, it's in this thread, just search for it or scroll back a few pages.

 

[matho]

OK I have been playing with the braumiser last night and used this spreadsheet to get my PID settings right and I thought I would share it.

Just enter the volume and wattage of the element and then play with the PID setting until you get a good result.

A lot of the changes are easy to do and I'll address them later tonight, I want to put a couple of brews down and then start to make changes so expect changes to the code over the next couple of months.

View attachment brauduino PID.xls

cheers steve

 

[matho]

Oh also I have been running a march pump with the V2 board so I measured the pumps resistance, which was 30 ohms and then put a resistor (330 ohms) which is slightly great than 10 x the pumps resistance in series with a 0.047uF 250v metalized cap across the pump. I tried switching the pump on and off rapidly to cause the screen to scramble but I couldn't. I'll draw up the schematic later to explain it better.

cheers steve

 

[djar007]

Thanks very much matho for the spreadsheet. Have been looking for a few pointers on fine tuning the pid settings so this is perfect. Look forward to the schematic to upgrade the resistor too. Thinking about swapping from my pump to a Kaixin I have laying around here. Regards Dave.

 

[matho]

I've put my wish list here

edit: Though it may be better kept in this thread

Steve, I find it a great bit of kit and makes brewing easy. I love how easy the interface is compared to my Auber programmable pid.

Controller
Ability to install a louder alarm. I cannot hear mine from my office when brewing. Also with a loud alarm, a volume knob/pot would be great so I could turn it down if I'm in the area.
Not enough room inside the standard box but I'll look into a schematic for an external module.
A wifi / network enabled version, that you can log onto from the network and monitor the progress.
Had a though about adding bluetooth I'll look into it, all wifi modules use pins that are already in use.
Maybe a 20 x 4 display.

Software
Have a constant declared for BoilStartTemp (95c is a bit cool for me, I use 98c)
Have a constant declared for MaxPumpTemp (ie when to stop the pump, I run a Kaixin and don't take it past 80c)
Have a pause_pump function triggered by Button_next. As per pause_stage but pump only.
Do the CRC check on the temperature read
All of these are easy fixes.

djar, the pump control would be easy to put in and sounds like a good idea

Steve - thank you - the system is amazing! An absolute gem to brew on.

Ideas for code improvements - I've thought of a few more substantial changes that would be pure awesome - touch screens, auto hopping, wireless mash schedule delivery from a smartphone app... not necessarily

A lot of time needed to do these

+1 to djar's idea - I was thinking this the other day when I was going through mashing.

Here is some brainstorming on other ideas:
- option for countdown to start (already available) - in auto setup could ask - set a countdown? y/n and then set amt in mins.
I can put that in
- to automatically switch to manual mode at the end of the cycle - but I like this cause I use the pump to whirlpool, I'm not sure if it would be a common desire.
Sounds like a custom thing but I'll look into it
- show a count down during the pump break
Pump break is set for a maxium of 2 min but will start if the temp falls too much so it would be hard to implement
- make temp ranges 'accelerate' when changing - eg: if it has been held for 2 seconds, start jumping by 0.5C, if 4 seconds, start jumping 1C
- numbers cycle through ie - if you hit the upper range, it goes to zero and vice versa (good for when you want to get to 100 and temp is currently 35 or so)

I like to add these changes so I'll work on them

- store stats about the system: eg: for last auto brew: ramp rates/times from stage to stage, total brew time from start to end of boil.
Again sounds a bit custom and I would have to work out how to get the info out too

I've been thinking about using it for other things as well:
- a sous vide mode - can set temp, has a pump break every 15 mins, but otherwise pump stays on - same as manual, can hit the pump button to turn it off/on manually. No timer.
- apple cider pasteurisation - idea came from http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-pics-193295/. I figure it would be safer in the brau and can put a lid on it and have it set to a precise temp.

So - would either be a set temp for a set number of mins and then beeps at you to remove the cider, then push the button to start the timer for the next batch. or... this is more interesting... not sure if it is possible - but was thinking have the brau get to temp, swap the probe for one that goes inside an unsealed bottle full of water at the same initial temp as those being pasteurised, placed in with the batch being pasteurised, and then have it beep completion when it hits the required/targeted pasteurisation temp.

ok - those are some ideas
Those last 2 would be low on the list for me at the moment

I know most of these systems have been setup for single batches or smaller, the problem with going to larger volumes being implementing a second element solely for the boil, as there are spare pins available I take it this would not be too hard to implement in software.

Would need to bring out one of the spare pins to be able to do this or you could use 2 SSR and put a switch in the control wiring for one so you can switch it on or off.

Matho - I'm not sure if you've put the fix in the final code or not yet, but I still get the odd high temp (can't remember the temp 80 or 90 ish degrees??) that starts the timer on the next mash step before it's actually reached temp. I've just been slack in updating the code myself as I've got Win8 at home which doesn't talk to Arduino yet.
I'm not sure about these read errors as I have never experienced them but I have few idea's and I'll see which one uses the least amount of space.
Agree with QldKev about adding the extra variables to the setup menu. I'm always adjusting up to 100deg on my rig.

Yeah sounds like a good idea, intially I made it to copy my original unit and I live 600m above sea level so boiling is about 97 deg.

No real deal breakers and the repeatability of my beer has improved 10 fold. Definitely worth the time and effort building one of these hence why I've got another two on the way from Lael to go with the three I bought from Matho for mates rigs. Thanks again for your efforts Matho.

Cheers,
BB

Just to add to above, it would be nice if the controller held the temperature when the strike water is ready "add grain" and also when you get to mash out and it says to "remove grain".

The reason I didn't do this is because the temp sensor is mounted below the element and if the pump is not running the temperature can not be controlled and when the pump starts up again there will be an overshoot.

so the list is

Pump on/ off control during auto

Delay start

changes to the setting input

adding extra variables to set pump and boil control

and at the top of the list fix this read error problem.

cheers steve

 

[matho]

I know most of these systems have been setup for single batches or smaller, the problem with going to larger volumes being implementing a second element solely for the boil, as there are spare pins available I take it this would not be too hard to implement in software.

Hey masters, instead of changing the code just wire it up like this



when you remove the malt just flick the switch to add the extra element.

 

[MastersBrewery]

Thanks Matho, I had thought that maybe the way to go was just unsure if the controller could handle 2 SSR's off one pin

 

[matho]

Thanks Matho, I had thought that maybe the way to go was just unsure if the controller could handle 2 SSR's off one pin

Yeah the SSR takes about 7.5mA at 12v to trigger and the transistor driving the SSR are good for at least 50mA so firing 2 SSR's should be fine

cheers steve

 

[QldKev]

OK I have been playing with the braumiser last night and used this spreadsheet to get my PID settings right and I thought I would share it.

Just enter the volume and wattage of the element and then play with the PID setting until you get a good result.

A lot of the changes are easy to do and I'll address them later tonight, I want to put a couple of brews down and then start to make changes so expect changes to the code over the next couple of months.

brauduino PID.xls

cheers steve

I've had a play with the spreadsheet, but not sure what I'm looking for. I'm running
Kp 47
Ki 2
Kd 10

I find it gets to temp of, maybe a bit slow. But every a few minutes it creeps up a bit. So after 5min it will be 0.25 over, after 10min 0.5 etc.
I'm running 29L mash in water, and a 2,000w element.

I'm thinking of setting
Kp 40
Ki 3
Kd 15

Do you think I'm heading in the correct direction?

 

[matho]

the maximum output of the brauduino PID is 100 so if you set the P to say 50, P will be at 100% power until there is less than 2 degs of error so upping the P will make the heating faster but cause overshoot. The I setting is divided by 100 in the code so a setting of 1 is actually 0.01, I is there to remove the constant error you get with P only drives. It intergrates so it builds up over time the only time it reduces is when there is an over temp. This has caused me a few headaches to get right and it is the reason the PID only handles the last 5 degs of any temperature step in a bid to limit the amount I term intergrates. D acts like a brake if there is a large change in the reduction of the error then it reduces power, if the error goes up then it increases power.

I would try

kP = 60
kI = 1
kD = 50

p.s I'm going to change the I setting to give a finer adjustment.

 

[elpiratilla]

hello, I have a doubt.
The pot must be of 50l or you can use one of 33 l?
regards

 

[lael]

You can use whatever you want. The important thing is the ratio of the inner and the outer pot. Making sure that a) the inner holds enough grain for batches you want to do b) the outer pot holds enough water so that you can have enough water covering your heating element, as well as filling the inside pot 'malt pipe' and overflowing back into the outside. There is a spreadsheet that will hopefully help. PM me your email and I can send it to you.

 

[grimpanda]

Hi Matho & other contributors,

I've been following this project with keen interest for some time now and have reached the point where I want to delve deeper into the rabbit hole...

One thing I'm not clear on is whether there are any kits being produced, or PCB's for sale, or if I'll need to etch my own/source the parts from the list provided in Matho's ZIP file?

Cheers.

 

[MastersBrewery]

I think lael is still getting some done, send him a PM

 

[SkyNaras]

Hi,

or using a 20x4 instead of 16x4 LCD display will be the changes in the program in Danielxan board?
Maybe someone has a program for 20x4 LCD display?
Is the most recent version is 2.2?


p.s. sorry for my english

 

[grimpanda]

Hi guys,

Question for Matho or anyone else who might know the answer...

If i'm planning on using a 240v pump, do I still need a 2A 12v DC power supply, or will a smaller one (say 1.3A) suffice?

Cheers,
Gabe

 

[matho]

Hi guys,

Question for Matho or anyone else who might know the answer...

If i'm planning on using a 240v pump, do I still need a 2A 12v DC power supply, or will a smaller one (say 1.3A) suffice?

Cheers,
Gabe

Gabe, you could go as small as 500mA if your not running a DC pump

cheers steve