Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hello all.
Little bored here so put this together with some items i had. Thought i would share a photo.

LOVE IT!

I got an Arduino kit from my family as a pressy but it doesn't have all the gear to do this build! Perhaps you should put up a parts list so others can have a go at this....

Not much to it. I used an arduino Uno. Stainless thermo wells I had to buy.

Otherwise all you need
Lcd
Dht22 temp and humidity sensor
2x ds18b20 one wire temp sensors

That's what I used anyway.

Is it limited to 2 FVs or can it be expanded?

Would be easy enough to have heaps more temp sensors, either scrollable via a rotary encoder and/or autoscroll.

With a bit more playing around you could have it save log files to an SD card too.

Depends how fancy you want to get!

EziTasting wrote:Is it limited to 2 FVs or can it be expanded?

A bit goes into it but in theory i2c is limited to 128 sensors. But there is ways of expanding. And as Psykmaholik said you can have it autos roll or use buttons. Lots of options.

I have a wifi chip here somewhere from a weather station project I did. If I get around to it I might add that and have it said the data to be plotted on the web then you could have access from anywhere but you would have a trend that may or may not be interesting to look at.

Well done :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Well i made some changes to the setup. Can keep a watchful eye from anywhere now it is connected to the internet 8-}

:drool:

Instrumentation porn right there

Nice project !!

What software did you use to see it online ?

j0sh2008 wrote:Nice project !!

What software did you use to see it online ?

I used thingspeak first but then swapped over to Blynk. It is a phone app for ios or android. More convenient then going to a web page and looks nicer as well. Have a couple other things i want to add but see if i get time.

Whats the total price on setting up something like this?

You have got it going on in the I.T. department, lucky you as I have enough problems navigating through the forum :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Just got back from a cruise to Singapore (wootowoot)!

Seen Guys on board using iPhones and iPads to check and maintain anything and everything from cabin lighting to Tender releases and I am wishing I paid more attention in computing class!!!

That's what I've been looking to do. Have you got a a relay shield on that? The Wifi is a great addition... I've got Pi0W spare. May look at using that instead...

I've using Basic with pic micro controllers for decades as my charge controller for the shed, just a 20x4 lcd showing voltage, power in for the day, current input/output amps and a rough calc for state of charge. The pic used is a 18f455 and I use Oshonsoft Basic to program the pic's. Got a pickit 3 programmer so it will program the full range of pic's too.

I bloke in WA a decade ago rewrote a full new interpreter to use Basic in the Maximite computer where just connecting a vga monitor will be the screen and it had 20 in/'out pins to connect to the outside world. Next came the MaxiMite where a 32bit pic is used and that is what I use for my fermenter temp control. For the display I use a 2.8" touch screen LCD and 2 DS18B20 temp sensors and a 5 volt 10 amp relay board that cost me $5 on fleabay. Now i'm going to have 2 different ferments going the next step is expand the controller for both functions. The program now just monitors the upper and lower temps of the fermenter and a 100 watt light bulb to heat the ferment from below. If the temp is 4 degrees in difference the light will turn off for 5 minutes and both temps are compared. If the target temp of 26C isn't there the light comes on again until the temp is reached. The 5 minute delay helps the now banned globe cool down before starting again

In the July copy of the Siliconchip Magazine is a full write up of the new Maximite 2 and kits will be available for sale. It uses a Waveshare ARM chip and a resistor network to provide a signal to a vga monitor and it has a nunchuck connector for using it as a mouse and playing those retro games we played 40 years ago. Lots of those games are available as a couple of game programmers are in the development team. For bit of fun I'm going to get my 20+ year old small tv and connect it to it, then I tell my daughters this what mum and dad used to play so go have some fun. Yes I do have a teenage daugher so it will be fun but I do think they like it so will mum.

Cheers Bryan

Hey Bryan,

Now you're talking my lingo. I've also been using Basic programmed PICs for years now.

I built a range of battery chargers and rejuvenators a while back. One I built would charge a battery up, let it rest for a period and then fire some relays to discharge the battery to a certain level, let it rest and the repeat the cycle until the PIC figured the battery was as rejuvenated as it could be. It had 4 power levels and also RS232 output to a computer.

Sounds like you fermenter setup is pretty sweet. Have you considered adding an agitator as well to circulate the grains and distribute the heat evenly?

Don't want to get too off topic, but there's some pretty cool bluetooth thermometers on the market now that can be Arduino integrated and possibly used to regulate the power to your 100w bulb heater. I've also read about some folks using them in various places in the column to aid in taking fores, heads and tails cuts.