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Build Your Own BSD Beer Brewing Control System

Posted by michael on from the worthy-endeavors dept.

gnuguru writes "Here's a great use for some of your old hardware, a BSD beer brewing kit! Components: one 486, FreeBSD, a temperature logger kit, a relay board, some odds and ends from the useful box, and some time. Summer's just around the corner, so get to work gang!" You'll have to use this recipe, naturally.

6 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. Alternative ideas for this system... by ZiZ · · Score: 2, Interesting
    This really sounds like a neat system - not just for beer, but for anything for which a relatively constant temperature is useful or important. Like, say, you could hook it up to (or really, instead of) your classic thermostat, although a mercury switch has the advantage of not needing to reboot if it goes out due to a power outage...

    I wonder how feasable it would be to set one of these up to regulate the water temperature in your shower. Set it for something warm and cozy, and it will run at that temperature until the hot water starts to decline, sound a warning, and maintain as high a temperature as possible following that, with a gradual return to the desired temperature if the supply of hot water returns to normal...

    --
    This flies in the face of science.
  2. Re:Summer? by tie_guy_matt · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Not just US centered. Face it most of the Earth's land mass -- and therefore most of the human population, live in the Northern hemisphere where it is the dead of winter right now. Not that being in the Southern hemisphere, and therefore being different is a bad thing; IMO being different is good!

  3. Tooting my own horn by Brandybuck · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Speaking of FreeBSD and brewing, check out QBrew. Open Source brewing software for FreeBSD (or Linux, Unix, OSX, Windows, etc). It's developed on FreeBSD, and as far as I know it's the only (stable and released) native brewing software for Linux, BSD, Unix and OSX. Get it at http://www.usermode.org/code.html and start Open Source brewing today!

    p.s. That last link of the story blurb goes to some folks who claim to have brewed the world's first Open Source beer. Balderdash! They're greenhorn newbies when it comes to Open Source beers and ales! My brewing software and recipes have been Open Source for years prior to their arrival. Heck, they even predate the license they use! So get the Original(tm) Open Source Beer and get QBrew!

    p.p.s. Okay, I'm done blowing my own horn now. I won't do this again until the next beer/brewing story appears on Slashdot...

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    Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
  4. RIMS by dcigary · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Seriously, this whole project could be replaced by one simple device that's been in use for years by homebrewers. (search down the page).

    To see a truly automated brewing system, you need a RIMS system, which are pretty cool.

    /homebrewer for 12 years

    --
    ...my Karma ran over your Dogma...
  5. Re:Summer? by eap · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I don't know why they mention summer. If you're lagering your beer you need to ferment it around 55 degrees fahrenheit, and it's hard to keep the temperature that low for weeks on end during the hot summer. If you don't, your beer will end up with nasty banana flavored esters, and you will get headaches when you drink it. You can, of course, brew ales, but they still need to be kept relatively cool.

    This is one reason the Czechs brew their Pilsner before it gets too hot, and then age it in cool cellars until fall. Bacteria grow easier when it is hot too, increasing the chance of brewing an infected batch. This is not to say you can't brew great beer in the summer, it's just harder.

  6. Re:Cool by courious1 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Mashing was a learning experience and agreat hobbie. I had a keg system (with cold beer always on tap) and belonged to a local club. Made beers ales stouts brown ales the only thing I never tried was larger. It was simple enough just never got around to it. I used two s/s beer kegs with the tops cut off one for mashing the other for boiling. I used a 75,000 BTU burner. Had to build a exhaust to outside and air intake. Built a filter system and a counter pressure bottle filler (that was a challenge) I found beer to be so much more fogiving than wine. Even looked at distillation (illegal) but legal in Ausie land. You have fine brewing and bend the elbow for me. Living in NS Canada had great brewing weather. Later