Bar Update

[Ryan Pierce]

We've been having serious problems with the back of the freezer icing up. This obstructs air flow and the refrigerator (and the beer) gets warm. Not cool. Literally.

I've found that the heating element that is supposed to defrost the coils is broken. A new one is coming from eBay. It ran about $12 with shipping; can't argue with that. This isn't guaranteed to fix the problem; there might also be issues with the motherboard or the temp switch that stops the defrosting, but this is a good first step.

Greg had done an amazing job on the bar, and now he made a beautiful screen that is hanging from the fridge. He will also put together an electronics enclosure with power supply capable of running a Pi. So we are going to need software to make this look pretty.

An RFID tap lock system has been discussed and I have thoughts. I've found these:

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?sbk=1&nav=SEARCH&itemId=390621481939

The problem is that they use a DN15 pipe thread which, from what I can gather, is metric. I have tried in vain to find fittings for this. I would need to go from male DN15 pipe to a 1/4" hose barb. Or, even better, the input to the valve should be attached to one of these:

http://www.adafruit.com/products/828

Or the more expensive brass version which take 1/2" pipe threads.

This will let us measure how many pours and their quantity. So, say, someone swipes an RFID. The system verifies their age. It then checks to see what is on tap. It uses an access list. (I'm a friend of Toba so I am entitled to drink beers he has brewed.) The taps the user is allowed to access unlock and red LEDs at the taps turn green in 5 seconds. (It takes that long for the valve to move.) I pull a pint, and the beer I choose plus the volume are recorded, announced along with my identity in the IRC channel, emailed to the brew master, and maybe even the space access system locks me out from using power tools for an hour. ;-) I hit a logout button, or the bar detects inactivity, and the taps lock again.

I'd like to prototype this but without the pipe fittings, I'm stuck. Getting motorized valves from US manufacturers would be massively more expensive than their Chinese counterparts.

Ryan

[Ryan Pierce]

And I almost forgot.... The system knows the volume in the keg, and it can subtract the pour volume so the screen can display how many ounces are left in each keg.

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