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Linux is an Obvious Choice for Automating the Beer-Brewing Process (Video)
Linus Torvalds, Jon 'maddog' Hall, and many other names closely associated with Linux are also closely associated with beer. (Ed. note: I have personally watched them associate with beer, and may have even joined them.) It comes as no surprise, therefore, when Linux advocate and LinuxAutomation.org founder Kurt Forsberg talks about using Linux to control his beer brewing. Kurt is a strong believer in Linux Automation who talks about home thermostats, sprinklers, and many other application, "anything you can automate..." but, he adds, "we spend all our time brewing beer so we haven't explored many of those yet." He says this with a big smile, of course. And if you want to keep up with Linux Automation on Faceboook, go ahead; like everyone + dog they have a Facebook page.
because we love beer.
Yes I really do!
Arduino is a better choice. This guy is trying to put a 350 into a Vespa.
You're right. It's not necessary. But some people may find it enjoyable.
A fine steak is not necessary. Neither is spending a day at the beach. Catching up with old friends isn't necessary. More than 15 horsepower isn't necessary. Almost nothing is necessary. Some of them are downright dangerous. But we do them anyway, because it's what makes us human. I feel sorry for you not because you don't drink alcohol, but because your justification for it.
The traditional Unix approach to computing, having a lot of small programs that do simple thing, combined with "Everything as a file" makes these systems very good at automating stuff. While systems like VMS or Windows was designed to run larger programs, and access libraries.
This makes Linux/Unix very good at automation, as it makes it easy to combine a lot of simple steps and get them scheduled and run in order without having to do a lot of extra programming. To automate using other OS's it usually means you will need to write a program to do the work.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
You're right. It's not necessary. But some people may find it enjoyable. Almost nothing is necessary. Some of them are downright dangerous.
Suffering some existential depression there?
Using to produce it an operating system that have tatooed "Free as in beer" at the chest?
even running Linux is a bit heavy handed. To be honest, a microkernel OS, like QNX or similar, would probably be a better choice. It's a lot more streamlined and lightweight and is more than capable of doing everything required in home brewing.
as a controls engineer, l would love to try some linux automation, is there a IDE for ladder logic?.... I just couldnt bear writing so many case statements.
and can't for the life of me figure out how a computer would have helped.
This got me into brewing, in the first place:
http://www.lemis.com/grog/brewing/
Not at all. It was suggested that doing something that is enjoyable by someone is a "waste". Well then are the things you enjoy that aren't enjoyed by others also a waste?
I drink beer. I drink beer quite often in fact. However I haven't been drunk or even buzzed in years. It is perfectly acceptable to enjoy beer without having to drink too many and become inebriated. It has relaxing qualities and tastes very good. I also like single malt scotch. I enjoy it for the complexity and depth. It is a magnificent creation.
I learned early in life that no matter how hard I try not to, I am gonna die, so I better take some time and enjoy it while I have it. No one knows what lies beyond...
You know what else is useless....your post.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
But how else will they sell off the generated slashvertisement leads to Acxiom?
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
The funny thing about those who don't drink is that they're usually the kind of people you don't want to drink with anyway.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
There exists a widespread culture of beer lovers (and brewers) who are not alcoholic. I consider myself to be among them. I enjoy a quality-crafted beer with a meal and I find the process of brewing to be an interesting and rewarding hobby. This is far from being useless or wasted time.
Granted, there is an unfortunate number of people who cannot regulate their intake, but they drink for different reasons.
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It's not funny, it's logical. Why would a sober man sit and look at a man who is out of his mind? Why would a drunken man want to sit with a man who does not understand his funny jokes? Those are different universes, behavior-wise. I don't drink, and I never set foot into any drinking establishment. It's better for everyone this way.
Granted, there is an unfortunate number of people who cannot regulate their intake, but they drink for different reasons.
Unfortunately, it's them, not you, who are the visible face of the drinking community.
When I was young I saw too many drunks around. This gave me a life-long immunity aganst alcohol. That's how I explain it, at least.
And good on you for that. All I ask is that you leave us drinking folk alone. Moralizing is a far worse vice than drinking.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
As valid as the question is, it does not really make so much sense.
Beer brewing is pretty simple. There is no real challange in the programming of a computer to comtrol the process.
However building a brewing device IS. The point is: you need a pot with heater and theromstat, the pot should be hygenic. Stainless steel is likely the choice. You need a way to measure the fill level (to replace evaporing water), you need to stirr the liquid. Finally you want to be able to seperate the waste from the beer.
All this is a mechanical and engineering challange. So first I would look how home beer brewing machines are constructed and how they work. Then I would ask my self how I can use a program running on linux to controll such a thing.
The point is: cleaning that brewing pot is pretty hard and awfull. So you want one which is easy to clean. Easy to clean means: the construction is thought out.
Running a heater for 55 minutes to keep the brew on 65 degrees centigrade is a joke for a programmer.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Power to you, friend.
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Your comment about needing shields to interface to the external world makes no sense, you'll need the same kinds of interfaces for the PC too.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
Exactly but we can make those interfaces far less expensive and require far fewer parts on the interface PCB so it makes it a lot easier to build yourself saving time and money.
#cat /dev/beer/tap > /dev/mouth
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
FTFS
...Linux advocate and LinuxAutomation.org founder Kurt Forsberg...
Working as an engineer in automation, I thought, "Hey, maybe I'll check out this linuxautomation.org site!"
The entire website consists of a few paragraphs about how great it is to use open source for automation, plus it has a few links to linuxfestnorthwest.org, a link to their Facebook page, and an email link.
That's it.
What exactly did he 'found'?
Because it's free, as in beer?
Thank you Roblimo for posting this video! It has shot our facebook likes up a lot today and generated a lot of interest. We have been very slow in writing documentation and building the website because we spend so much time brewing beer in preparation in launching a commercial brewery hopefully this year. We also spent a lot of time brewing batches of beer that were served at after party for LinuxFest Northwest where the interview took place. If we didn't spend so much time brewing and working on starting a commercial brewery we would have far more time to devote to this project. If there is anyone in the Seattle area that would like to help create documentation for this project we would love to have you over and demonstrate the automation system and it's electronics. We can't pay you any money but we do brew a lot of test batches of beer in trying to profect them for our commercial launch and we do often need to offload beer to free up kegs :). Contact us either on Facebook, thebeerdudes@linuxautomation.org or our mailing lists: http://list.zenify.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/softwaredev - or - http://list.zenify.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hardwaredev
On the contrary, we already have a couple microbreweries interested in our automation and we will be using our automation when we go commercial hopefully this year.
If you want to hack together some automation around a linux PC then go nuts..... but to then make a website and video about how awesome it is? Really??
PLC's have a been around for years and many are dirt cheap - $100 CPU's and less than $10 per I/O. You wont hit memory limits in them (not in a brewery anyway) and they will run all day everyday doing one thing only, but doing it really well. The modules are easily replaceable which minimises downtime, and most of them use a standardised language (ladder logic) so that the next guy that comes along can understand it too. Now that is obvious.
If you want to fiddle more than that - and most poeple do - PLC's integrate with PC's just fine via Modbus (serial or ethernet) so that you can read or write data from them. Common packages to integrate with them are supervisory control systems (SCADA) or a data historians. There are plenty of commercial packages out there - Wonderware, Citect, InSQL, PI etc, and even some open source ones - http://openhistorian.codeplex.com/ and http://openscada.org/
Beyond PLC's/SCADA is the world of DCS (Distributed Control Systems), but you'd better have a spare million dollars and tens of thousands of I/O to justify putting one in.
It's great to tell your mates about how Linux is awesome but don't get too carried away.
Yeah but separating the control from the visualisation is a a good idea and generally considered best practice. Keep your control code small, fast and bug free; move the complex visualisations somewhere else.
Agreed, but the article isn't about "home use", its about a brewery. Even with a microbrewery, just about anything else will cost way more than $100 (stainless vessels and fittings arent cheap), so in context a cheap PLC is quite resonable. If you have a larger brewery, then an expensive PLC is even more justified.
For the record, I'll be using a $12 arduino clone for my home brewery to do temperature/mash control. I struggle to see how you'd do it using a PC - linux or otherwise - without paying as much or more for an I/O interface.
Still struggling to see the "Obvious" part.
Put your back into it and do it by hand you lazy sods. It will taste better knowing you actually worked for something.
We are in the process of starting a microbrewery and we fully intend to use our automation system within the brewery controlling every aspect we control now and much much more. We also have a couple of other microbreweries in the area interested in our automation and that is partially why we are seeking developers to make the interface more user friendly than bash scrips. We will have to substitute some of our current components for switching AC with commercially made solid-state relays but the rest of our automation will easily be adaptable to commercial microbrewery scale. We also intend to build the system so that it is fully redundant in the event any hardware failures happen, there is a secondary system ready to take over until the failure is repaired or replaced.
It's logical if you have a limited understanding of the world. Not everyone who drinks is 'out of their mind' (whatever that means). Please continue to separate yourself from the rest of us in this way, were not interested in having to deal with your narrow-mindedness.
Just for your information, the Guinness, Carlsberg, Budweiser and a few others (all belong to the same owner) automation is controlled using Windows.
Actually, I am posting this from Guinness factory in Dublin.