Homebrew Beer Filter Automatic Transfer System

Projects General Guidance
1

I am about to order my first ever Arduino and I'd like to know if the project I have in mind is feasible, if it is which model of Arduino would be best suited to my project and does anyone have any code from past projects which would help me get started (I don't have any programming experience yet, this will be my first attempt and very much a learning project). Thank You very much in advance for any advice/assistance, now, here is what I'm hoping to do....

When I filter my home brew the process involves transferring beer from one keg, through a filter then into a second keg. My kegs range in size from 1.5 gallon to 15.5 gallons and the transfer process takes a long time (way over an hour for the larger kegs) as I have to use very low pressure and if I’m transferring a large keg into multiple small ones it requires standing to watch so I can catch it before the beer overflows and due to this I never get the exact same amount in each keg. Transferring by time isn’t a real option as pressure varies and what may take 10 minutes one time may take 8 or 12 on a different transfer.

This is where Arduino comes in….
What I’m thinking is if I install a flow meter and solenoid valve (powered by a relay) in the filter line then I can use an Arduino to turn on the solenoid, monitor the liquid flow then shut off the solenoid, sound a buzzer and send me an e-mail when the desired liquid amount has transferred.

The Arduino will be housed in a project box, on the outside of the box will be a 4 line LCD display, 3 push buttons and a rotary switch. The rotary switch will be for selecting how much liquid to transfer (as it is turned the amount of liquid to transfer will show on the screen like a menu (from 0 to 16 gallons), when the correct amount is displayed on screen pressing one of the push buttons will activate the solenoid, transfer the amount of beer selected then shut off & buzz etc.. The 2nd push button will be set as a manual on/off switch to activate the solenoid with no auto shutoff for when I’m cleaning the filters and it will also act as an emergency shutoff, the 3rd will be a reset.

I will be using an FT330 flow meter which pulses 2724 times per liter so that will need converting to gallons. This is the same flow meter used by the Kegbot system for serving beer.

When the Arduino is powered on or the reset button is pressed I would like the lines of the screen to display:

  1. Select Amount to transfer using rotary switch
  2. This will be the actual amount to transfer which is selected by turning the switch right or left (right to increase)
  4. Press the green button to begin transfer

When the transfer has started I would like the screen to show the following on the 4 lines:

  1. Flow Rate (Gallons per min)
  2. Amount Transferred so Far / Amount Remaining
  3. Percent Transferred / Percent Remaining
  4. Time Taken so far / Estimated Time Remaining (calculated from rate the liquid is transferring & how much is left)

When the transfer is complete I would like the display to

  1. Transfer Complete!
  2. Amount Transferred in Time Taken
  3. Press Reset to continue
    I would also like lines 1&2 to be the content of an e-mail that is sent to me

Here is my parts list:
Arduino (With wi-fi for sending an e-mail)
Flow Sensor (2.724 pulses per ML or 2724 pulses per liter) – will need converting to gallons.
Relay – Connected to Solenoid Valve
4 Line LCD Display
Rotary switch selecting how much to transfer
Start Button (Activates Arduino to open solenoid, measure liquid then shutoff)
Manual On/Off Push Button
Reset Button – Back to Main screen for selecting new liquid amount to start another transfer
Project Box

Thank You again for any suggestions/advice or assistance with this,
Mark

2

How many positions will there be on your rotary switch?
Could you use a potentiometer instead to get an infinitely (between limits) variable volume?
This could be handy if you get a cask of a different size in the future.

How do you propose to measure the volume left in the first cask?
Doing it by subtraction may not be accurate (spillage, wastage and sediment).

Your project is eminently doable and several others have done something similar.
Google "Arduino beer" to find some of them.
I don't know how many arduino pins your 4 line LCD uses, so I cannot suggest which board to get. If it only takes a few, then the Uno would be OK. More and you'd probably need a Mega.

3

A US gallon = 3.79 litres, so for each US gallon you need to count 3.79 x 2724 = 10323.96 pulses.
10324 should be close enough.
An Imperial gallon = 4.55 litres, so for each Imperial gallon you need to count 4.55 x 2724 = 12407.85 pulses.
12408 should be close enough.

4

I'm hoping to be able to use a potentiometer for setting the desired amount between limits.

I'm not overly concerned about the amount in the first keg as they are always full when I begin (filled by siphoning from my fermenters which each hold 6 gallons), so a 5 gallon keg will have about 5.5 gallons in, a 15.5 gallon keg has just over 15.5 gallons in so I'll know when I start filtering how many kegs it will fill. This is part of the reason I want to measure though as for example, when I am transferring a 5 gallon keg into two 2.5's you would think that it would simply be a case of filling one til' full then filling the 2nd however that isn't the case as the 2.5 gallon kegs actually hold more than 2.5 with the head space, so if that is filled to the point of overflow (which is my only way of knowing it is full currently) then there is insufficient beer left in the original keg to fill the second 2.5. This causes me problems in the kegerator as when the 1st keg is supposed to be empty there are still several pints in there and the 2nd keg runs out before the kegerator shows as being empty. Also, it is difficult to force carbonate an overly full keg as there is no head space.

I did a quick search for Arduino beer but there is so much out there (mostly related to brewing it seems) that I'll need to dedicate some time over the weekend to dig deeper and read many posts until I find something. So far there is a water dispenser project I found which is the closest to doing what I need but it will still take a lot of work getting it from where it is to where I'm hoping to get mine.

Thank You for your replies.

Mark

5

Another thought.
Why do you need to measure the volume transferred when you can just detect when the liquid has reached the desired level in the receiving cask and cut the flow off then? A liquid level detector is easily made from a piece of stripboard.

You could even do it without any electronics. You have a light, hollow (ping pong?) ball that floats up inside a cone (an upturned funnel?). Once the upward pressure on the ball exceeds the downward pressure of your flow, the flow will be cut off. I've just used a funnel and ping pong ball as examples to demonstrate the principle. Your requirements may need these altered. A mesh over the wide end of the 'funnel' will stop the ball falling out.

6

My system is a sealed environment under constant pressure to eliminate oxygen contacting the beer. Before I begin transferring the beer I line up however many receiving kegs I will be using, fill the first with a sanitizing solution then using a counter pressure valve push the fluid out of that keg with CO2, through my filter and into the 2nd keg so the filter is sanitized, the first keg is purged of oxygen and is filled with CO2, I then push it from the 2nd keg to the 3rd, so on and so forth until all of my receiving kegs are full of CO2 and pressurized to the same level I will be using for the transfer.

For the actual transfer the CO2 pushes the beer through my filter and into the kegs one at a time, fluid flows by using the counter pressure valve on the receiving keg to release the pressure to just slightly below that of the sending keg.

It is an entirely sealed system though with no exposure to oxygen and no way to see inside the receiving kegs as to how full they are. That is why I am hoping to incorporate a flow sensor system as, for example, if I'm transferring 15 gallons into six 2.5 gallon kegs I waste hours having to stand there and wait for each one to fill in order to make sure it doesn't overflow so having a valve automatically shut off the flow and alert me at 2.5 then I'm free to do other things in the meantime. Also, as I mentioned above, the 2.5 gallon kegs actually hold closer to 3 gallons so using my current method I get inconsistent amounts in each receiving keg and it is difficult to carbonate them if too much of the headspace has been filled with liquid.

Ultimately my goal is to break out the output of my filter into 9 lines (nine 1.75 gallon kegs from a 15.5 gallon keg is the most I will ever do in one go) each with its own solenoid valve and have the arduino shut off valve 1 when keg 1 is full, turn on 2 until it is full etc.. so the receiving kegs will all be filled without my involvement however per the scope of my initial project, just having the ability to do one at a time will still save me huge amounts of wasted time in not having to babysit each transfer and guess at how full each one is.

7

weight is an easier thing to measure and it is non-contact.

as a note, you do not buy nuts and bolts by count, but by weight.
LEGO's are sold by weight. they know by the weight exactly WHAT part is missing in a kit.

for the level of sophistication, I would jump past all home-brew types and get a full, food grade sensor, but it would be expensive.

8

weight is an easier thing to measure and it is non-contact.

The Specific Gravity/ density of his beer may vary. A gallon of beer weighs more than a gallon of water, but by how much depends on the beer.

as a note, you do not buy nuts and bolts by count, but by weight.

Not entirely true. There's a shop near me that sells small quantities of nuts and bolts by count.
I suspect, however, that they buy them in boxes of 100 or 200 which are filled by weight.

9

Thank you for pointing that out Henry - My beers certainly have varied specific gravities as I brew low alcohol, regular alcohol and high alcohol beers in styles from light lagers to heavy ales, stouts and Barley wine. I also make red, white and fruit wines for the wife which all go through my filter and are very different in SG.

10

Hi, why convert to gallons, the flow meter is calibrated in metric, don't go introducing errors by doing conversions.
Just do one conversion, each of your different volume kegs, to litres.

Tom...... :slight_smile:
Metric is the only way to go, but that's not the reason here, if the flow meter was calibrated in gallons then I'd say stay in gallons.

11

I know that using weight will not be considered. the OP wants to measure flow. but the technology of using weight is valid and probably as accurate or even more accurate than reading flow. the referenced sensor is listed as +/-2% error.

specific weight of the liquid would be based on the composition. I believe that the mass of the volume is either water or alcohol. then a few parts per thousand are the flavors that would not effect the specific weight.

comparing water to alcohol, the alcohol is lighter, but at a 15% concentration, the difference in the batch would be about 3%. specific gravity, using 1 gallon, that would be a variance of about 6 ounces. setting the tare weight for 9% (half way between the extremes) the error would be at a maximum of 3 ounces per gallon.

knowing the approximate alcohol level could reduce the error even further.

to measure volume by actual flow meter, one would have to know the mass. volume and density. Here again, alcohol will effect the flow meter, unless it is a mass flow meter that incorporates the density of the fluid. the referenced sensor is not a mass flow sensor.

I am not saying that this is the best way to go, but rather a very easy way to increase accuracy almost instantly, with minimal effort and expense and even offer a way to double check the accuracy of the flow meter.
Also that if the process is such that a sample can be taken and weighed, it can be used to get and exact volume.
of course based on temperature, and that can be input into the calculation for measuring.

thinking about this, even with a mass flow sensor, the alcohol content will need to be input so as to correct the errors of a meter.

Since the OP has a rather wide range of product to use for testing, it can be tested without much effort. I would be interested to know the difference of weight of a known volume at a known temperature of wine, stout and light beer. for purely academic reasons.

alas, this does fail the simplicity test. the OP wants 9 stations. that would be 9 scales. the cost of that would exceed the cost of an expensive mass flow sensor.

I find it interesting to see what else if available.

12

markarmer:
Thank you for pointing that out Henry - My beers certainly have varied specific gravities as I brew low alcohol, regular alcohol and high alcohol beers in styles from light lagers to heavy ales, stouts and Barley wine. I also make red, white and fruit wines for the wife which all go through my filter and are very different in SG.

I've never acquired a taste for ale [1], as I don't like the bitter taste, and that was even before I worked for a company that made hop extract. I much prefer cider, wine and spirits.
[1] Originally, beer had no hops and ale had hops. The terms have become conflated.

13

specific weight of the liquid would be based on the composition. I believe that the mass of the volume is either water or alcohol. then a few parts per thousand are the flavors that would not effect the specific weight.

comparing water to alcohol, the alcohol is lighter, but at a 15% concentration, the difference in the batch would be about 3%. specific gravity, using 1 gallon, that would be a variance of about 6 ounces. setting the tare weight for 9% (half way between the extremes) the error would be at a maximum of 3 ounces per gallon.

The S.G. of beer is generally greater than 1.0 due to the unfermented sugars in it.

14

I can't fault your tastes there Henry, excellent choices however I was born & raised in Northern England, close to the John Smiths & Tetley's breweries & I was introduced to beer as real cask ales poured pulled by hand from wooden barrels. Even the dainty barmaids had one arm like popeye back then :grinning: Sadly now both breweries are owned by massive corporations and the beer is nothing like it used to be but ales do still live on over there and taste quite different to the American versions of them.

I now live in California and cask ale is unheard of but I can buy commercial kegs of Tetleys and Boddingtons here which vaguely resembles beers of my youth and I do my best to replicate the Yorkshire style bitters in my home brew. Can't beat a nice glass of cider when it's hot in summer or a drop of scotch before bed though!

15

Many years ago I was in a village pub in the Kent. The draught cider was from a barrel on the bar, covered in a dampened cloth to keep it cool. It was brown, cloudy, tasted like nectar and half a pint would get you quite merry. Nowadays, unfortunately, all commercial ciders here have to be pasteurised (EC rules). :cry:
You can get proper scrumpy, though, if you know where to find it.