HOWTO - Make a BrewPi Fermentation Controller For Cheap
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What I did is before you wire the actuator in to the plug, set BrewPi to run with a cold freezer temp. That will activate the actuator on the cold side.
Ok boys and girls, I bought parts on Saturday and they're currently en route...I'm gonna need some help on this project, as I'm not exactly familiar with much of this type of work, and by "much" I mean "none". 
I read the entire thread and some of it looks like hieroglyphics to me, but I've recently been trying to decide how to go about ferm control and which/what/where/when/why to use it and this idea is just way too damn awesome to pass on. I went with the brewpi set up to avoid as much soldering/wiring as I could, not that I'm averse to soldering/wiring. I just wanted to keep my first Pi project as simple as I could for myself to avoid bailing on the project all together due to frustration. So, the questions will be flowing from my computer as I receive parts and get started. I'm super excited about this concept and all of the functionality I've read about in this thread.
Cheers
I read the entire thread and some of it looks like hieroglyphics to me, but I've recently been trying to decide how to go about ferm control and which/what/where/when/why to use it and this idea is just way too damn awesome to pass on. I went with the brewpi set up to avoid as much soldering/wiring as I could, not that I'm averse to soldering/wiring. I just wanted to keep my first Pi project as simple as I could for myself to avoid bailing on the project all together due to frustration. So, the questions will be flowing from my computer as I receive parts and get started. I'm super excited about this concept and all of the functionality I've read about in this thread.
Cheers
stewart194
Well-Known Member
Awesome thread. This will by my first fermentation temp controlled setup ever. A friend of mine is giving me a spare fridge this weekend. I was going to go the STC-1000 route before seeing this. I have a spare netbook that is 4 or 5 years old and am installing Debian on it right now.
Questions...
1. When you say not to install a "Live" version of Debian, do you mean that I should install this on a USB jump drive and NOT directly to the hard drive of the PC?
2. I'm not a Linux guy so I'm installing the GUI desktop...is this a bad idea?
3. Does BrewPi have an automatic installer that I can use? Or do I have to run manual scripts and installers by using Linux commands?
Thanks!
Questions...
1. When you say not to install a "Live" version of Debian, do you mean that I should install this on a USB jump drive and NOT directly to the hard drive of the PC?
2. I'm not a Linux guy so I'm installing the GUI desktop...is this a bad idea?
3. Does BrewPi have an automatic installer that I can use? Or do I have to run manual scripts and installers by using Linux commands?
Thanks!
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"Live" version usually means "run from cd without installing to HD".
I would install to HD.
I installed the GUI. There is an install script in the brewpi download, just read up on the instructions. It's fairly straighforward. Until it isn't Then you have this forum to ask all the questions.
I would install to HD.
I installed the GUI. There is an install script in the brewpi download, just read up on the instructions. It's fairly straighforward. Until it isn't
Then you have this forum to ask all the questions.
I receive them Thursday and will let you know.
dtgrdn - Did your probes also have the same color and pin out?
stewart194
Well-Known Member
"Live" version usually means "run from cd without installing to HD".
I would install to HD.
I installed the GUI. There is an install script in the brewpi download, just read up on the instructions. It's fairly straighforward. Until it isn't
Thanks! I have the system up and running and was able to install Python (I think it installed correctly) Now I just need to get the wireless card in this machine working in case I want to attach it to my network that way, then I'll try to install BrewPi. As foreign as this is to me it's already been a lot of fun to attempt.
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FuzzeWuzze
I Love DIY
Good to hear
I think you will find it's easier than you think. Just fyi the brewpi script installs python and all the other required dependencies so just run that. You can do that in advance of any parts and make sure it comes up properly and you can see the website.
So I am currently running my third brew through my setup and it has been awesome so far. Still having issues with installing the thing to my freezer, but other than that, working as expected.
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FuzzeWuzze
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It'd be great if everyone here who built one can post some pictures of their setups, either enclosures, where/how they are mounting them, etc. Such as how you did.
As i can ill update the main post with them to give people more ideas on how to do theirs without having to go through 30+ pages
It'd be great if everyone here who built one can post some pictures of their setups, either enclosures, where/how they are mounting them, etc. Such as how you did.
As i can ill update the main post with them to give people more ideas on how to do theirs without having to go through 30+ pages
I have mine in a project box, its just that it doesn't like to stay attached with velcro to the freezer. I will figure out how to fix that soon enough.
I have pictures if you want them.
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FuzzeWuzze
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At Lowes/HD you can buy big fat strips of velcro sheets that are like 3x3 with glue on either side. You can just slap one of those bad boys on and it will hold anything, its how i held my old STC1000 on the back of my freezer.
I'll go grab some. All I had on hand was the little 1/2" velcro dots, so I tossed like 8 on there and they came off.
Hello from across the pond in tiny Denmark!
I just wanted to say thanks for this great post, that got me to take the step and setup my own Brewpi. I have attached some photos of my setup below, for inspiration to all who is thinking about getting into Brewpi. The total cost for my Brewpi electronics setup was around 200$ but that is mainly due to higher prices here in Scandinavia, a few upgrades to the Raspberry pi and a 20$ fast delivery shipping fee of the Arduino from china.
Cheers everyone.
I just wanted to say thanks for this great post, that got me to take the step and setup my own Brewpi. I have attached some photos of my setup below, for inspiration to all who is thinking about getting into Brewpi. The total cost for my Brewpi electronics setup was around 200$ but that is mainly due to higher prices here in Scandinavia, a few upgrades to the Raspberry pi and a 20$ fast delivery shipping fee of the Arduino from china.
Cheers everyone.
Ohh I forgot to mention that the system is working just fine. There has only been one hiccup with the data logging, where the Arduino stopped sending data to the Raspberry ( I notices that the Rx and Tx LEDs had stopped blinking) so I cut the power and after that everything worked again. The Arduino had done its job in the 4 hours without logging and the beer was holding a steady 20 degrees Celsius (68F), So I'm glad that the system is designed in the way it is.
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FuzzeWuzze
I Love DIY
Yea, i had something similar happen. Nothing is failure proof, but this is damn close and if it does fail atleast it wont ruin your beer
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FuzzeWuzze
I Love DIY
Interesting idea using a tupperware container...i may have to steal that.
stewart194
Well-Known Member
OK, so I think I'm getting closer. I finally got the wireless card working on the Debian PC. I was trying to install packages manually, by downloading the .deb files and using the command "sudo dpkg -i filename.deb" to install them. Every time I would get errors telling me that the installation "depended" on several other files that needed to be installed. I finally modifed the sources.list file using the Nano text editor, plugged in the right URL, used the "apt-get" command and then it downloaded everything it needed and installed it. Now it's working fine.
What a pain in the ass though. Anyway, after getting my wireless card working I tried installing BrewPi using the automatic method. Only I didn't have "git" so I had to install that first. After that, I was able to run the "sudo git clone https://github.com/BrewPi/brewpi-tools.git~brewpi-tools command and everything seemed to download correctly. But when I try to run the second command they give, "sudo ~/brewpi-tools/install sh" it tells me Command Not Found. Any ideas where I should go from here?
I also thought it was supposed to copy the files from the BrewPi website into my "Home" directory...but I don't see any new files or folders there.
What a pain in the ass though. Anyway, after getting my wireless card working I tried installing BrewPi using the automatic method. Only I didn't have "git" so I had to install that first. After that, I was able to run the "sudo git clone https://github.com/BrewPi/brewpi-tools.git~brewpi-tools command and everything seemed to download correctly. But when I try to run the second command they give, "sudo ~/brewpi-tools/install sh" it tells me Command Not Found. Any ideas where I should go from here?
I also thought it was supposed to copy the files from the BrewPi website into my "Home" directory...but I don't see any new files or folders there.
jimbonnet came up with this fix for your issue:
"Next exectue:
$ git clone https://github.com/BrewPi/brewpi-tools.git ~/brewpi-tools
Then you need to vi the install.sh script and remove rpi-update from the apt-get line that adds the packages. Line 179 in the script."
I had to do this and it worked
Dave
stewart194
Well-Known Member
Thanks Dave! I ran that command again and then the brewpi-tools directory showed up! I used Nano to take out "rpi-update" from line 179 and saved it. But I tried to run "sudo ~/brewpi-tools/install sh" again and I still get the command not found. What am I missing? Am I correct in assuming that the next step for me is to get this install script to run in order to install BrewPi? I'm totally lost on the Linux platform.
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FuzzeWuzze
I Love DIY
Its sudo ~/brewpi-tools/install.sh
Your .sh is the file extension, add a period there not a space.
stewart194
Well-Known Member
Thanks! I swear I tried that several times but it worked this time. The only problem now is that during the install (I accepted all of the defaults) at the very end it tells me ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR Setup NOT completed and says E: Unable to locate the package rpi-update.
I assume this is because of the "rpi-update" that I took out of that script? Is this normal?
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FuzzeWuzze
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I'd continue on and if you can access the webpage then all is good. If not you should delete and re-clone the git repository with the first command and just run the installer without modifying the install.sh script.
Its entirely possible that the developers have fixed the issues the previous people were having with the install script by now so the version your getting doesnt require the modification.
Its entirely possible that the developers have fixed the issues the previous people were having with the install script by now so the version your getting doesnt require the modification.
stewart194
Well-Known Member
Thanks again man! Sorry I'm such an idiot with this stuff. I can't pull it up from a browser by going to http://brewpi so I guess I'll plug that text back into the script and run it again. Probably tomorrow. My brain is fried!
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FuzzeWuzze
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Ha dont worry if it was easy everyone would do it...but i promise its not really that difficult if your willing to put a bit of time into it.
I'm not sure your instruction tell how to set the host name to brewpi
I'm in the middle of dynamic dns and putting my pi on the net - more to come
All I did was use my router to port forward all requests on port 80 to my RaspberryPi. I use No-IP, but its the same principle.
You can see my fermentor homepage in my signature.
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FuzzeWuzze
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Thats a good point, i was under the impression that the BrewPi automated installer did this for you...its been so long i cant remember.
He should definately try accessing the web page via the IP address of his RPI instead to see if it came up properly.
Did my initial OS install, update, config, arduino flash, and brewpi install today here at work. I had no issues at all with the installation of anything. I am waiting on my relay board, and temp probes so that I can wire this thing up completely. Hope I can get this thing up and running before the weekend for a porter I have planned!
yep, the only way I can access mine at home is the IP address. Out in the real world I just use my host name that I came up with. I use DYNDNS but only because I have some other things that I need it for. NO-IP works and is free.
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FuzzeWuzze
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I just putty SSH into it, but i havent done so since i set it up...
Everything is command line based so there is no reason to bother with graphical VNC/etc IMO
Everything is command line based so there is no reason to bother with graphical VNC/etc IMO
Given everything I've been reading here the last week or so, exactly what installation script did you follow?
Cheers!
I used the following verbatim.
http://docs.brewpi.com/automated-brewpi-install/automated-brewpi-install.html
I Used that entire wiki to get this up and running and so far so good although I have yet to get my sensors and relay board yet.
http://docs.brewpi.com/automated-brewpi-install/automated-brewpi-install.html
I Used that entire wiki to get this up and running and so far so good although I have yet to get my sensors and relay board yet.
Excellent! And thanks for ^that.
I should have all the bits needed to graft BrewPi onto my wee R'Pints/Temperature Logger system by tomorrow evening, hoping I'll have some play time for it this weekend...
Cheers!
I should have all the bits needed to graft BrewPi onto my wee R'Pints/Temperature Logger system by tomorrow evening, hoping I'll have some play time for it this weekend...
Cheers!
I put the pi on a dmz but I think there's more I need to do... Incoming port 80 requests to the pi for instance.
Also, I want the brewpi portion seperate from the web site portion - index.php vs index.htm not sure if that will work but we will see.
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FuzzeWuzze
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Is there a reason? Using the code and commands i posted earlier in the thread to setup a "external" page if done properly fully locks the brewpi from the web, only the .html pages are accessible and you can make it so that even those require a password for extra precaution...so no one can get onto my Wifi and screw with it.
I actually have mine set for two separate pages. You can't mess with the settings unless you know where the actual settings page is.
Because I want to host more than just brewpi. I want to create a custom index.htm and then link the brewpi page off of it.
Apache on the pi isnt doing much.
Lately I havent had the time to do much but screw up my internet connection at home... :cross:
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