Zizzle's Brewbot

[Zizzle]

You could pick one up off ebay for about AU$125 it seems:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/MINI2440-S3C2440-AR...p3286.m63.l1177

Even better than ethernet, just plug in a USB Wifi adapter.

 

[randyrob]

Hey Zizzle,

Awesome Find!

for that price it would be worth grabbing one just for a play :icon_drool2: Actually it would tie in very nicely with what i'm doing at the moment!

My last brewday was on friday, i setup my variables and remotely monitored my brewery via my iphone while at work, by the time i got home

it was into the last hour of the boil, so i sanitized a cube, emptied out the mashtun and grabbed a takeaway curry and a porter...ahh life is good :icon_cheers:


Be interested to see how you go and thanks for updating us

Rob.

 

[ArnieW]

My last brewday was on friday, i setup my variables and remotely monitored my brewery via my iphone while at work, by the time i got home

it was into the last hour of the boil, so i sanitized a cube, emptied out the mashtun and grabbed a takeaway curry and a porter...ahh life is good :icon_cheers:

Nice work Rob. How did you make the connection between arduino and iphone?

 

[Yorg]

Thanks guys,
Between posts I have been researching, but obviously have a long way to go. So far its between Picaxe and Arduino.
One of the things I like about the picaxe is that it can be programmed in BASIC - which I could dust off from Apple II days as a kid.
It also seems to have a lot of support with flowchart programming and visual simulation.
Three more questions:
1/ Is the Arduino language particularly more difficult?
2/ Can either of them be controlled from a Windows environment, not just program download, but a visual "control panel". (Any resources links you have on this?)
3/ Can either of them do 2, but also be wirelessly connected to the Windows environment/PC?

Cheers.
Yorg.

 

[Yorg]

Just saw that link to the FreindlyArm. Is it just the colour screen that's impressing me, or does that present an alternative to the Picaxe and Arduino??

 

[bonj]

Yorg,

Arduino is basically an AVR platform microcontroller, and the arduino environment is basically the C programming language (or so close you may aswell assume it is C).
For me, that is a major advantage over PicAxe, because C is my language of choice. BASIC is fairly easy to program in, but hs a few issues that limit it, and make it more difficult if you know a more powerful language. A famous computer scientist (Edsger Dijkstra) once said that programmers with prior exposure to BASIC: "as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration. " :lol: Well that's me rooted, as I grew up with BASIC in the '80s too.

 

[randyrob]

Nice work Rob. How did you make the connection between arduino and iphone?

Hey Arnie,

I dug a trench from the shed to the house and ran a cable, then vnc in via the iphone.
It's about the simplest method i could think off that didn't require any extra equipment

Rob.

 

[Zizzle]

Glad to see you guys making some impressive progress there.

Rob with some remote monitoring, and actually enough courage/faith to leave it run unattended.

ArnieW, I was excited to see some ball valve activation for HERMAN, looks pretty similar to mine.

I know Brad has also been making some progress on hit brewbot. Perspex front cover over 240x128 display. And has been really learning how to program in C.

I'm itching to get home and mine up and running again. My plans just keep getting bigger.

 

[ArnieW]

ArnieW, I was excited to see some ball valve activation for HERMAN, looks pretty similar to mine.

Yep Zizzle, just as your hop dropper was inspired by mine, my ball valve activator was inspired by yours. I'm close to building a solid state version with proper 'stop' feedback. cheers mate, come back soon.

 

[eccsynd]

Nice work Rob. How did you make the connection between arduino and iphone?

The BCS-460 temperature controller and brewery automation system has an iPhone interface : http://software.druidhillroad.com/Site/Brew_Buddy.html

Obviously if you completely code your own interface, you get EXACTLY what you want, nothing more, nothing less. But the BCS-460 has much of the work done for you, complete with an iPhone compatible interface.

 

[Zizzle]

Got a look at Brad's brewbot in it's latest revision yesterday.

The control box is starting to look a little complicated.

One of the problems is that minor changes in one area can be difficult or cause regressions in another.

Which got me thinking about how to reduce complexity.

In the software world we use modularization.

So I started thinking about adding some smaller dedicated controllers to the mix that communicate with the master controller.

For example have a simple controller dedicated to and attached to the HLT. It would read a single DS1820, have a relay for mains water solenoid, 2 for heat element power and ADCs for level probes.

I'm off to do some embedded controller shopping.

I'm liking the look of this one http://www.futurlec.com.au/ET-Easy168_Stamp.jsp Nice and small.

 

[Zizzle]

Very cool little micro controller board http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/

 

[Zizzle]

Did a bringup on my LPC2103 ARM board last night.

Not as easy as an AVR, but looks like it could be a good little controller.

Saw this ferment monitoring project today that has got me thinking:

http://middlewaresensing.wordpress.com/201...ine-monitoring/

 

[kirem]

Saw this ferment monitoring project today that has got me thinking:

http://middlewaresensing.wordpress.com/201...ine-monitoring/

yeah interesting stuff. the brewtroller project is keen to get pH and gravity real time monitoring up and running

 

[justsomeguy]

I stumbled across this one earlier today that looks like an interesting little gadget.
http://leaflabs.com/devices/maple/

Lots of memory and IO pins to play with and they've made the interface similar to the Arduino to ease the transition.

garyd

 

[Zizzle]

Yeah I've seen those Maple boards before. They look interesting, but pricey.

I haven't got any yet, but I really like the look of the Teensy I posed above. They are small and run native USB interface instead of the converter chip that Arduino uses.

I've been playing with my Easy168 lately. Very easy to get going as an Arduino clone. Got DS1820 and LCD stuff up pretty much with a few clicks and bit of cut and paste from the example sketches under linux.

But price reminds me, TI has some cheap micro controller boards. $4.30 each. Bargain. Only problem is I think this effort was too popular. Mine have been on back order for a month or more.

http://hackaday.com/2010/06/22/ti-makes-a-...e-hobby-market/

 

[Zizzle]

There are rumours around the Zizzle household about Brewbot Mk2 being built stateside.

Just got one of these for free as part of a design contest:

http://www.renesasrulz.com/community/rx-contest

My competition proposal to get me the free board was about producing a brewbot style design using the renesas board.

SWMBO has lots of recipe ideas she wants to try with some off center ingredients, so wants to start doing small batches.

At this point I'm thinking MK2 would be somewhat of a departure from the original brewbot.

* small batch machine: ~4-5 litre batch size.
* single vessel BIAB design (rigid stainless mesh for the "bag")
* automate cleaning where possible, otherwise optimize/minimize manual cleaning
* possible pump-less design, or cheap pump only used for CIP
* possible integrated no-chill vessel / fermenter (mainly for CIP circulation access)

Automating the lifting of a couple of Kg of wet grain with a small winch should be possible. One problem could be it dripping into the boiled wort. So it may be a lift and swing.
A heating element would be incorporated into the bottom of the vessel. Low heat applied during the mash.
Hop dropper would be designed around some swinging cups on servos (micro servos are now only ~$3 delivered out of china)

SWMBO will be doing a trial gallon batch "Eggnog Stout" on the stove tonight to see how it goes.

 

[raven19]

One problem could be it dripping into the boiled wort. So it may be a lift and swing.

Some drippining initially would be beneficial to get more wort from the soaked grain though.

Once it gets up to the boil though, it would need swinging away for sure.

Sounds like a good little unit planned there Zizzle!

 

[newguy]

Automating the lifting of a couple of Kg of wet grain with a small winch should be possible. One problem could be it dripping into the boiled wort. So it may be a lift and swing.

Ever see an old fashioned wringer washing machine? Use a winch to pull the bag out, slowly, through a pair of rollers that are spring loaded (springs are arranged to keep the rollers together). Arrange the winch to be above and to the side of the pot so that after the bag clears the rollers, gravity pulls it to the side away from the mouth of the pot. The rollers squeeze out the wort and the physical arrangement doesn't require a swing arm.

 

[Zizzle]

In a somewhat controversial move, you will all be surprised to learn that I've elected not to do lots of 3D cad drawings, purchase masses of gear, have a 43 day schedule, or build a 3D printer for my brewbot mk2.

The design is pretty simple and I made good progress in one sunday's worth of effort so far.

http://zizzle-brewbot.blogspot.com/