The Beerbug - Digital Hydrometer

[randyrob]

Saw this on Kickstarter, quite expensive but very interesting

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/parasi...er?ref=category

Rob.

 

[slash22000]

Been following this on Reddit. As long as they cost >$100 each it's really a market for royalty or Bill Gates only.

 

[Charst]

Looks pretty cool that you can track your temps and attenuation and compare the notes,
but takes the pleasure out of taking a sample of fermenting wort and tasting how its progressing.
Need more picks to see how the probe looks, ie cleanable, infection risks, and the same for the airlock connection.

 

[tricache]

Looks pretty cool that you can track your temps and attenuation and compare the notes,
but takes the pleasure out of taking a sample of fermenting wort and tasting how its progressing.
Need more picks to see how the probe looks, ie cleanable, infection risks, and the same for the airlock connection.

Totally agree!! I love sampling my beer as its going and its actually a good way to see how things are going (good or bad)

 

[bum]

The diagram in the What's Next image show it should be fairly easy to clean/sanitise, Charst.

Looks like one of these might cause a fair problem in my brewfridge. Still, not really in the market for any gizmos right now.

Been following this on Reddit. As long as they cost >$100 each it's really a market for royalty or Bill Gates only.

The page linked says how much they are. And you're right, they are >$100 each.

 

[jayahhdee]

While I like the idea, I think the price is a little high and wouldn't be throwing money at it until I see some reviews.

 

[bum]

You jumping on the API, Rob?

 

[Jay Cee]

Cool gadget, thanks for the link.

 

[sydneyhappyhour]

The cost is a little high but I can see it being pretty useful. Throw a RaspberryPi in to control your ferment fridge and you could have the two communicating about the progression of your brew over Wifi and adjusting the ambient temperature accordingly i.e lager diacetyl rests etc.

 

[tricache]

The cost is a little high but I can see it being pretty useful. Throw a RaspberryPi in to control your ferment fridge and you could have the two communicating about the progression of your brew over Wifi and adjusting the ambient temperature accordingly i.e lager diacetyl rests etc.

Give it a year or so and we will just have a button and it will just say "Make Beer" and thats it!!

 

[Liam_snorkel]

Give it a year or so and we will just have a button and it will just say "Make Beer" and thats it!!

combine a Braumeister with a WilliamsWarn and you'd be close. off you go!

 

[tricache]

combine a Braumeister with a WilliamsWarn and you'd be close. off you go!

Buying lotto ticket and selling kidney now

 

[mfeighan]

watched the video? not sure i want to put a big tampon in my wort

 

[Jay Cee]

The Williamswarn is the biggest load of overpriced ******** on the market, At least the Brew Bug is practical AND within many brewers' budget.

That said, I'll wait until the chinese knockoffs of the Brew Bug flood ebay for a quarter of the price :lol: Just kidding, if I can but it for under $100 after a year on the market, then I'm all over it.

 

[DUANNE]

looks like a great idea except i cant figure out how i would be able to use it with glad wrap and ive thrown all my fermenter lids in the bin.

 

[Jay Cee]

looks like a great idea except i cant figure out how i would be able to use it with glad wrap and ive thrown all my fermenter lids in the bin.

haha I considered this challenge also. I'll bet they didn't think of that.

 

[Hippy]

Damn fine little gadget. Almost worth getting the pineapple from swmbo for buying. Almost.

 

[Zizzle]

Interesting idea.

What sort of sensor is involved in measuring SG?

 

[MHB]

I suspect its just a load cell attached to a known mass, density is derived from buoyancy.
Should work but there is going to be some variance from CO2 bubbles and amount of CO2 in solution, a bit of basic coding should be able to compensate pretty well, especially as it is recording temperature as well.
Mark

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

Anyone got their's yet?

I got mine on Friday. Water test over 36 hours introduced some concerns. I kept taring to 0.0 and then finding it drop a point or two over the following hours. The beerbug folk suggested it was bubbles on the tap water.

Currently have a saison going. First reading seemed to be a few points over what my hydrometer suggested, but then dropped to a pretty close reading to my hydroeter OG within an hour or two. I noticed a big peak at 12 hours, presumably the krausen hit, but it dropped back over a few hours after that.

I watched a steady drop form 1.050 to 1.040 while I was at work today. I was surprised to see my high krausen already dropping off (not beerbug related clearly but interesting nonetheless) and have seen the gravity drop slow since then.

Temp wise, the beerbugs temp probe seems to lag 2 degrees behind my temp controller strapped to the side of the fermenter, both as I chilled to 20 after pitching, and as I've heated it since. When I up the temp (its a saison don't forget) I do notice these weird little last data point spikes as per the screenshot attached, they seem to match the heat in ambient, but then they never make it to the historical. (as in there were spikes that match that one in the screenshot at various points today)



After this beer finishes, I will recalibrate my temp controller and the beerbug against my thermapen.

Who else is playing with theirs?