Review: The BeerBug

[pob]

Next in our series of Product Reviews, we have The BeerBug by Partridge9.

The The BeerBug is a device that attaches to the top of your fermentor that tracks the fermentation progress and temperature of your brew.



Thanks again for all contributors so far, and if there are articles you want to read, contribute to or write, let me know.

[Paul B]

So cool.  Such a shame about the price

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

Great looking gadget ...shame about the price.

[biertourist]

James,

All of your friends, and we love you, James; well we gathered here to let you know that you have a brewing gadget problem and this is an intervention.




And I thought I liked brewing gadgets a bit too much!  ;-)



For what it's worth you can build your own BrewPi setup for about $100 USD following the instructions here: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f258/howto-make-brewpi-fermentation-controller-cheap-466106/

If you use an old PC instead of a raspberry PI and solder your own temp probes you can do the same for $40 USD plus use of the old PC.

BUT if you go with the full Raspberry PI 2 + Arduino setup you have BrewPi temp control with +/- 0.5 Degrees F fluctuations AND the BrewPi can double as a Raspberry PInts system (without flow control).

You also have the option to extend said BrewPi system to act as a full brewery automation platform ala Strangebrew Elsinore: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/strangebrew-elsinore-raspberry-pi-based-brewery-controller-396627/



Personally I'm a HUGE fan of the BrewPi route especially as it's now possible to put your own together without the painful shipping and markup of the official BrewPi site; although with the strong Dollar and weak Euro, I'm considering a BrewPi...

-I'm a little bit concerned that the BrewPi folks are moving towards Spark Core as the basis for their platform while all the competiting solutions are still embracing BrewPi+Arduino --I like the future extensibility of BrewPi+Arduino to do things like also acts as a Brew Pints system...


I need to decide whether to build a BrewPi system next or to permanently power my grain mill and put it into its own cabinet as my next major brewery project, though... Or to take my old kettle and build an all-in-one automated BIAB system... Hmmm...


Adam

[Shanna]

James,

All of your friends, and we love you, James; well we gathered here to let you know that you have a brewing gadget problem and this is an intervention.




And I thought I liked brewing gadgets a bit too much!  ;-)



For what it's worth you can build your own BrewPi setup for about $100 USD following the instructions here: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f258/howto-make-brewpi-fermentation-controller-cheap-466106/

If you use an old PC instead of a raspberry PI and solder your own temp probes you can do the same for $40 USD plus use of the old PC.

BUT if you go with the full Raspberry PI 2 + Arduino setup you have BrewPi temp control with +/- 0.5 Degrees F fluctuations AND the BrewPi can double as a Raspberry PInts system (without flow control).

You also have the option to extend said BrewPi system to act as a full brewery automation platform ala Strangebrew Elsinore: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/strangebrew-elsinore-raspberry-pi-based-brewery-controller-396627/



Personally I'm a HUGE fan of the BrewPi route especially as it's now possible to put your own together without the painful shipping and markup of the official BrewPi site; although with the strong Dollar and weak Euro, I'm considering a BrewPi...

-I'm a little bit concerned that the BrewPi folks are moving towards Spark Core as the basis for their platform while all the competiting solutions are still embracing BrewPi+Arduino --I like the future extensibility of BrewPi+Arduino to do things like also acts as a Brew Pints system...


I need to decide whether to build a BrewPi system next or to permanently power my grain mill and put it into its own cabinet as my next major brewery project, though... Or to take my old kettle and build an all-in-one automated BIAB system... Hmmm...


Adam

Hi Adam

Major difference is that the beerbug also measures gravity that the raspberry pi option does not.

Shanna

[pob]

I'm a little bit concerned that the BrewPi folks are moving towards Spark Core as the basis for their platform while all the competiting solutions are still embracing BrewPi+Arduino --I like the future extensibility of BrewPi+Arduino to do things like also acts as a Brew Pints system...

I need to decide whether to build a BrewPi system next or to permanently power my grain mill and put it into its own cabinet as my next major brewery project, though... Or to take my old kettle and build an all-in-one automated BIAB system... Hmmm...

Could kill two birds with one stone there, BrewPi Spark, it still uses the Raspberry Pi for the web controll/access.

So, reuse the Arduino for the Brew Pints system & split Raspberry Pi use between serving & fermenting.

Then, go down the HERMS-like controller for your AutoBIAB and switch BrewPi Spark between brewing & fermenting as need be.



Any excuse for gratuitous shiny gadgets.



I vaguely remember a OG/SG gravity sensor was also mentioned within the BrewPi community a while back, but I won't mention the webcam & light meter counting bubbles in the airlock.

Sorry James for going offtrack on The Beerbug

[molc]

I have ordered a spark for the laugh. Looks like the software isn't even finished yet, but hey, I can write python of it all goes wrong

[johnrm]

Is there an add-on for the Pi to do Specific Gravity?

[biertourist]

The specific gravity reading feature is a really good point.   I haven't seen that anywhere else.

I do like systems that are centralized with decentralized probes, though as then it scales very well and cheaply.


Adam

[dcalnan]

SCIENCE...https://www.anfractuosity.com/projects/zymeter-simple/

It doesn't seem very sanitary but I guess its a proof of concept more than anything.

[neoanto]

I'm working on a BrewPi setup myself, but using an old PC with Debian installed instead of the rasberryPi.
I went the full hog and am building a fermentation chamber with the innards of a fridge i ripped apart.

All the electronics are built and working at this stage, just completing the fermenation chamber.
Its a pretty fun build to work. Its big though :/

[Will_D]

SCIENCE...https://www.anfractuosity.com/projects/zymeter-simple/

It doesn't seem very sanitary but I guess its a proof of concept more than anything.

Indeed - its a POC:

So just imagine the hydrometer and the IR prox sensor is mounted in a sealed 'float'  tube connected in parrallel to the  fermenter. Just like a big sight glass!.

Every 15 or 30 or so minutes a small pump recirculates the wort through the hydro. tube. Pause for 1 min. Then read the gravity!

A very workable sanitary system I think

[biertourist]

Yea, I think the cheapest way to digitally monitor fermentation progress would be a site glass with a big enough glass to fit a hydrometer in the tube, then just point a web cam at it and program it to take a pic every 5 minutes zoomed in on the liquid level and submit the image of the hydrometer reading to an OCR routine.   Lol!  Super duct-taped "electronic" hydrometer readings.  ;-)

I based this idea on a project that hacked together something similar to monitor how much coffee was left in teh coffee pot at work- they integrated it to their IT Systems management system and it sent an alert to the entire team to brew another pot once it got down to 1 cup of coffee left- LOL!



Adam