Tag Archives: Brew Controller

Brew controller + freezing room = pink jacket

2014-03-20 09.02.19I geeked out and made a brew controller for the wine.  It looks at the room temperature and the brew temperature and does a nifty little calculation to determine whether the brew belt should be on or not.  It then reaches out to the internet and posts the current values.  This gives a nice little dashboard  for me to look at.

CaptureLast night it got a little too cold, and despite the belt being on all the time, it could not keep the temperature up to the target.  I looked around and found a perfect little jacket to help it along.  My youngest grew out of it in the last few months, but I don’t think it was as tight on her as it is on the carboy!!

The brew controller is some way from completion and is rather Heath Robinson at the moment.  It does the job, but I did have it working with a beautiful display showing the temperatures.  But this turned to gobbledygook when it started switching the power to the brew belt.  I’ll get there.

Heath Robinson
Heath Robinson

Lots of customisation is to come, not least an improvised thermowell to put the thermometer in to the middle of the brew rather than taped to the side.