Hi there,
I'm looking at a project of monitoring my homebrew fermentation process, pretty much what Beerbug is doing. I would like to incorporate three sensors into a floating device that will be inside the fermentation vessel. This will have a built in wifi that will then send the data to a server.
Three sensors:
temperature
pH
Specific Gravity
I've put them in the order of difficulty to implement too. I am thinking of putting them into a pvc pipe that I can seal as this will be floating in the beer itself so need something that can be easily sanitized.
I want to use an esp8266 for the wifi.
I have found a temperature sensor for liquid and a pH sensor that I can also work into the project.
My question is the gravity measurement. I'm thinking of creating a electronic hydrometer. I have found two things that could help but they are a touch on the expensive side: Captive Water Level Sensor 12" eTape Liquid Level Sensor
I'm wondering if I could build something like an eTape? Any suggestions what I should be looking into?
Whilst I'm a huge fan of anything containing alcohol I'll constrain my answer to the electronics side of things here
You say you will "send data to the server" - but your Arduino with ESP8266 will be the server - you just then open your browser and connect to it (either just at home or anywhere in the world if you allow external connections into your home network).
Basically, from a project design point of view you can then separate the sensor data gathering via your Arduino from the WiFi part of the project - get both bits working separately as a POC (proof of concept) and then tie them together.
I won't comment on the items you mention (or the cost) but do consider buying from the Far East (China, Singapore, Malaysia all on eBay) to get a much better cost. Certainly without this option I would not be doing any Arduino related projects!
Thanks for the feedback. The reason I'd like to send the data to a server is that I could then have a history of the beer and start to learn about this side of the fermentation. Also i could then control things from the outside, like temperature control. this could be done separately but as a DBA I'm of the ilk that you can never have too much data. Afterwards just need to figer out what to do with it.
I'm in Israel so China is my only really option as trying to buy local just isn't cost effective.
Or utilize a service such as https://thingspeak.com/ if you dont want to run your own infrastructure.. unlimited data storage if you can live with updates no more frequent than 15 seconds.
bikingbadger:
Hi there,
I'm looking at a project of monitoring my homebrew fermentation process, pretty much what Beerbug is doing. I would like to incorporate three sensors into a floating device that will be inside the fermentation vessel. This will have a built in wifi that will then send the data to a server.
Three sensors:
temperature
pH
Specific Gravity
I've put them in the order of difficulty to implement too. I am thinking of putting them into a pvc pipe that I can seal as this will be floating in the beer itself so need something that can be easily sanitized.
I want to use an esp8266 for the wifi.
I have found a temperature sensor for liquid and a pH sensor that I can also work into the project.
My question is the gravity measurement. I'm thinking of creating a electronic hydrometer. I have found two things that could help but they are a touch on the expensive side: Captive Water Level Sensor 12" eTape Liquid Level Sensor
I'm wondering if I could build something like an eTape? Any suggestions what I should be looking into?
Hi there,
As i am looking into the same idea, i would like to share with you how i am plannig to solve this brilliant project. I am a rookie on the Arduino itself, but i fully understand the main function of the BeerBug, and maybe we can help eatchother :-9
The beerbug only have to values to print:
-Temperature
-OG
-calculated ABV
The temperature probe is not any brainer, but the brilliant solution on the OG measurement, is not by water sensor levele indicator , or infrared bouble counter or any t hing like that. It actually works on the same principle as the refractometer. Its all in the weight and boyancy.
If you put a 100 gr SS load on the load cell, the weight is increased when lowered into water.
During fermentation, the suger level in the worth is increased, and the bouancy decreased. When finished, the worth is almost down to 1.00(1-8). The load is increasing, during the fermentation, and this load in gram can easely be converted/calculated to FG.
If you connect the arduino to a load cell, and attatch a 100 gr load on a string/fishing linel and drop it in a bucked of 20 degree celcius water. This is base mark for 1.000 boyancy. Then lower it down in a bucket with worth. Note the weight, and control with your hydrometer/oechsle weigh. Then you have something to work with..
I had an idea of working on some sort of digital hydrometer that you just pop into the fermentor. I really am not sure where to start but having someone to work with might help.
bikingbadger:
I had an idea of working on some sort of digital hydrometer that you just pop into the fermentor. I really am not sure where to start but having someone to work with might help.
best to start a new thread with that as the subject line.