RE: [Beer Church] FYI: MSP430 LaunchPad-based Beer Machine

[Ryan Pierce]

I looked at his blog. Frankly, I'm entirely unimpressed. What he presented there was at about the same level as Hello, World. Quite literally, his process involves the brewer manually typing commands to turn a pair of pumps on and off, which doesn't need a microcontroller, just two toggle switches. There already are other open source microcontroller brewing implementations that are far more functional. Unless he's got a lot up his sleeve that he hasn't blogged about, I think he's going to embarrass himself if he thinks he can Kickstart this in three weeks.

Now my vision for Beer Church does involve automation. The difference is that this would involve control of the heat source and PID to allow programmable mash schedules. I'm either thinking of using some of the open source software out there, or rewriting it using EPICS which is an open source SCADA framework that is used at Argonne to control the Advanced Photon Source.

-------- Original message --------
From: Drew Fustini
Date:06/04/2014 11:54 AM (GMT-06:00)
To: beer-chur...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Beer Church] FYI: MSP430 LaunchPad-based Beer Machine

[posted on PS1 list but just realized I should have posted here instead]

Hi - I met a Texas Instruments R&D engineer named Leo at Maker Faire who
created a MSP430 LaunchPad-Based Beer Machine and he asked if anyone
at at PS1 would be interested in beta testing:

====
"I wanted to touch base with you and your hackers to see if you would
be interested in co-promotion of Kickstarter projects in 3 weeks when
I launch. I am planning to provide a beer machine kit with
Android/iPhone app that includes 2 pumps, thermal probe, and power
relay. I wasn't going to attach anything to the power relay. If your
hackers want to build and attachment (or something else to plug into
the controller board) - I can send you one. Let me know what you think
- open hardware/open source"
====

He's also going to be in town for the Sensor Expo the week of June 23
(http://www.sensorsmag.com/sensors-expo/sensors-expo-event-features).
I suggested he stop by on that Tuesday night if possible.

Leo's blog:
Beer Machine Part I: http://rekam1.blogspot.com/2014/05/beer-machine-part-i.html
Beer Machine Part II:
http://rekam1.blogspot.com/2014/05/beer-machine-part-ii.html
Beer Machine Part III:
http://rekam1.blogspot.com/2014/05/beer-machine-part-iii.html

Anyways, if anyone is interested in testing out the Beer Machine, then
let me know.

thanks,
drew

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[Drew Fustini]

Thanks for the feedback, good to know the opinion of a veteran beer automator :)
"if you liked the Advanced Photon Source, then you'll love our beer!"

[Ryan Pierce]

I'm interested in getting a working relationship with Argonne on this. I think someone at PS:One mentioned having contacts there. OK, my dream is to get this working and have PS:One give a talk at the next EPICS conference, including bringing a keg so the physicists can sample EPICS brewed beer!

Ideally I'd like to use the brewery kegs in the kitchen to make "keggles" (not my term) and do a HERMS system. We have stainless steel welding capability thanks to the TIG, and we can weld mild steel frames for this. We would also need a third keg.

The first step is to get the bar refrigerator system working again.

OK, things have been pretty dead with Beer Church lately. I'm wondering where people's interests lie. Who all is interested in:

* Fixing the bar

* Access control for the bar, using the display screen for what's on tap, etc.

* Really basic brewing

* Intro to all grain brewing

* Brewing system fabrication

* Brewing system electronics / software?

[Ryan Pierce]

https://www.oscsys.com/projects/brewtroller

This is an example of what I'm talking about.

[John Zbesko]

Hi folks,

I sorta been lurking on this list-serve for a while, having joined at
the suggestion of Ted Perez, the leader of the Evanston Homebrew Club.

I developed an Arduino controlled RIMS mash device that uses an electric
heating tube and monitors the flow rate rate of the recirculating wort
(and later the sparge) and the temperature of the main mash tun and of
the heating tube. A GUI Python program on a Ubuntu netbook controls the
Arduino thermostat and logs the temperatures and flow rate.

I've attached a few pictures. (Hopefully, this list-serve allows
attachments.) I'm happy to share my code, plans, and experience in
exchange for some help with some SS welding. ;-) I also need help in
developing a web-based control program (as opposed to the GUI Python) so
I can monitor/control the mash process from my smartphone.

John Zbesko
homebrewer since 1989

[Drew Fustini]

FYI: this is tomorrow night, June 25, at 7pm in the Electronics Lab:

Topic: Energia & Rekam1 Wireless Microcontroller Projects
When: Wed, June-25, 7pm
Location: PS:1 Electronics Lab (where NERP always meets)
Description:
Texas Instruments engineer Leo Estevez will be in town for the Sensors Expo & offered to give on a talk on developing microcontroller projects with Energia IDE (http://energia.nu/) and Rekam1 wireless operating system (http://www.rekam1.com...­. Rekam1 enables easy communication between a microcontroller and a mobile device (Android or iOS) via WiFi or Bluetooth. Rekam1 currently supports the MSP430 LaunchPad. Leo will demo his MSP430-based Beer Machine which can be controlled by a smartphone or tablet: http://rekam1.blogspo...­