BeerBug

[Jacob]

http://www.thebeerbug.com/

Can't wait to get one of those 

[Will_D]

Sounds a bit "too good to be true"

April 1 is next week! Hope its not one of those!

Are you going top register Jacob?

If its for real then it would be "Uber Kool!

[Jacob]

I'm following that project for a while, so don't think that it's a joke.

[JimmyM]

Very elaborate if it is a hoax!!
No, looks like the real deal alright!
At first i thought it magically sat outside the beer and reported temp and gravity - but there's a sensor that goes down into the beer - so totally conceivable!
See here for more info.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/parasitx/the-beerbugtm-digital-hydrometer

[Jacob]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_Z0P-t0I_8[/media]

[JimmyM]

wish they'd just sell the sensor on its own.

[Will_D]

wish they'd just sell the sensor on its own.

The Torpedo is just a suspend weight in a float (that doesn't float) connected to a strain gauge to act as a weighing scale. As the density of the wort drops the weight weighs more!

It just needs to be calibrated and there you go.

Simples really

[Padraic]

Tell me when one of you buys tests one of these so I can get it if it works

Looks good!

[DEMPSEY]

wish they'd just sell the sensor on its own.

The Torpedo is just a suspend weight in a float (that doesn't float) connected to a strain gauge to act as a weighing scale. As the density of the wort drops the weight weighs more!

It just needs to be calibrated and there you go.

Simples really

OKayy build it and I will buy. Seriously lads,price this right and you have a new very sellable product.

[JimmyM]

Yep very simple when you say it like that Will - I assume you will knock up the hardware over the weekend?

this would have to be a very delicate strain gauge - they're expensive.

[DEMPSEY]

So as I understand this, the weight is held up by the density of the sugars in the wort thus calculating the s/g. As the sugars diminish through the yeast converting it to alcohol the weight sinks lower,all the while the I.T. bit is recording the changes and sending it wirelessly to a computer thingy. Also a temp gauge is recording the temp changes and sending them wirelessly as well . DRAGONS DEN . I don't have the I.T. knowhow but I do see a good piece of homebrew kit with a world wide market for it.

[delzep]

When the airlock bubbles would it not cause slight vibration in the bucket enough to skew the gauge output?

[Will_D]

As would you walking past it or touching it.

All you do is add a digital filter to the data stream (its just a subroutine in the s/w)

Its all in Signal Processing 101 !!

I'm not saying that this is cheap or easy but we have been discussing digital hydrometers for some time ( on another group!! ) and the idea of weighing the partially floating Torpedo is the key to making this work.

Again brilliantly simple metering concept - the devil is in the detail!!

[JimmyM]

I'm not saying that this is cheap or easy

Yes you did

It just needs to be calibrated and there you go.

Simples really

[JimmyM]

Seriously though lets discuss this again.
Strain gauge is plausible - it would be very expensive though and finicky to get it right.

Lets go back to basics for a sec. what about a tube sticking down into the wort area from the bung - as they have there.
Then a traditional hydrometer sticking up into the tube - the tube stops it from going all over the place. But the hydrometer is free to bob up and down inside the tube.
Traditionally you measure how far the hydrometer is dropped into the water - but what if we could measure the distance between the top of the hydrometer and the bung - that changes the measuring device from being a strain gauge to being a distance measurer.
These are cheaper, and can be extremely accurate.

Couple of problems - the distance between the beer and the bung will be different based on the volume - so an initial known SG will have to be supplied to calibrate the device.
You would have to account for evaporation if any.

Just brainstorming