HOWTO - Make a BrewPi Fermentation Controller For Cheap

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I am having trouble editing and adding new beer profiles. I am able to change the start date only on existing profiles. It will not let me edit the temperature data. I am able to add new rows but cannot edit those either. When I start a new profile it does not allow a name to be inserted. Any rows I add are all blank.
Any ideas where to start?
Thanks
Ken
 
Got my temp probes in and they came with green, red, and yellow wires. I'm sure somewhere in this thread there is info on this. However, I can't find anything for now. Wondering how these colors line up with the diagram given by the OP. I'm assuming greens with green, reds with reds, and the yellow would be connected to the black wires in the diagram?

Edit: Only asking because I feel like I read on another site where a guy got temp probes and the red and yellow were reversed. I've hooked it all up and its not reading...so was just trying to figure it out and see if someone else came across the same thing. Maybe I just got bad temp probes...or the more likely case I have no clue what im doing.

Thanks for the help it's greatly appreciated.
 
He's on a desktop, not an RPi. Which leads me to...



Did you let the install.sh put files in the default directory? BrewPi puts things in /var/www but newer Linux distros (or Apache builds) have switched to using /var/www/html for the document root. Try this:

ls /var/www

If there is an /html directory than that's the problem. You can copy all of the brewpi files into that /html directory or run the script again and put the files where you want.

What do you see when you go to http://localhost on the machine? If you see an Apache welcome page that confirms my theory. If you get something else then I'm probably wrong. :)

Raspbian still uses /var/www I believe.

No /html file in the directory, /var/www. Guess I'll keep plugging away at it. Might just try Debian Wheezy too since there's no reason that I'm actually using Ubuntu.

Localhost also came up as "Page Not Found" (or something along those lines). Not sure if that's any hint or tip.

You can find the ip address of a *nix machine by running the command ifconfig from the command line.

Thanks. I had found that one and saw the IP address for wlan0. However, I did royally mess it up when I tried to use /etc/network/interfaces, following this format http://docs.brewpi.com/installing-your-pi/rpi-setup.html. I typed ifconfig after that and got no wlan0 settings.

For:
wpa-ssid "YOUR_SSID"
wpa-psk "YOUR_PASSPHRASE"

should I use quotation marks? Underscore? If my SSID is " Two Words ", should it look like this?

wpa-ssid Two_words
wpa-psk one_word

Notice he says /var/www

Not /home/var/www

/var is in the highest level directory

Thanks, wasn't at my computer for that one. Did use my limited knowledge of commands, "cd", to move around there to see the order.

I tried helping someone set up BPi on lappy recently and the newer distro extra /var/www/html/ instead of /var/www/ threw a wrench in the works until I figured out that's what was happening.

Not at the computer in question, but I'm 99.9% sure that everything was in the /var/www folder, with no html directory in there. I followed the automatic installation of brewpi( http://docs.brewpi.com/automated-brewpi-install/automated-brewpi-install.html ). Could doing it via the manual route alleviate this?
 
[...]Localhost also came up as "Page Not Found" (or something along those lines). Not sure if that's any hint or tip.
[...]

Gotta be a hint, as it says your webserver is running but can't find a default php or html file in the default folder (which in your case should be /var/www).

Either an index.php or index.html (or a few other "default" file names) has to be in /var/www for a straight localhost web reference to work...

Cheers!

[edit] One thing you might try is looking at the tail of /var/log/apache2/access.log immediately after trying a web access to your RPi.
It might reveal what's broken.

Code:
$ tail /var/log/apache2/access.log
 
fwiw, here's my /etc/network/interfaces config file.
It staples both WIFI and hardwire nics to the same IP address (which means you don't plug both at the same time).

You'd only need to change the gateway address to your router's LAN address and change the static IP address to whatever you want that's inside your router's LAN subnet, then reboot the system and be good to go.

Code:
auto lo

iface lo inet loopback

iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.245
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.251

allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet manual
wpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

iface default inet static
address 192.168.1.245
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.251

Cheers!
 
Got my temp probes in and they came with green, red, and yellow wires. I'm sure somewhere in this thread there is info on this. However, I can't find anything for now. Wondering how these colors line up with the diagram given by the OP. I'm assuming greens with green, reds with reds, and the yellow would be connected to the black wires in the diagram?

Edit: Only asking because I feel like I read on another site where a guy got temp probes and the red and yellow were reversed. I've hooked it all up and its not reading...so was just trying to figure it out and see if someone else came across the same thing. Maybe I just got bad temp probes...or the more likely case I have no clue what im doing.

Thanks for the help it's greatly appreciated.

Check the documentation of where you purchased them from. I got mine on eBay and the listing said "Output lead:Red (VCC), Yellow (DATA), Black (GND) or*Red (VCC), Green(DATA), Yellow(GND)" the latter being different than the OP, and sounds like what you have.
 
No /html file in the directory, /var/www. Guess I'll keep plugging away at it. Might just try Debian Wheezy too since there's no reason that I'm actually using Ubuntu.

If it was me, that's what I'd do. Clean install and follow the directions. There are going to be some hiccups where you'll have to install the sudo program and add your primary user and/or pi user to the sudoers file but Google will help you.

Also note that the latest version of Debian is Jessie, which DOES use /var/www/html as the Apache document root for the latest version it installs from default repositories.
 
Gotta be a hint, as it says your webserver is running but can't find a default php or html file in the default folder (which in your case should be /var/www).

Either an index.php or index.html (or a few other "default" file names) has to be in /var/www for a straight localhost web reference to work...

Cheers!

[edit] One thing you might try is looking at the tail of /var/log/apache2/access.log immediately after trying a web access to your RPi.
It might reveal what's broken.

Code:
$ tail /var/log/apache2/access.log

Been trying a bunch of different things. Still no luck :confused: Sorry if my post is all over the place. Just want to explain where I'm at and my frazzled thoughts.

In a previous post, another user mentioned that I might be in trouble because I had an html directory within /var/www. However, I don't have that. I do have the index.php file like you mentioned, though, along with seemly relevant brewpi files.

I typed "localhost" into the web server. Gives the "Not Found" page. Looked at the tail of access.log file. That gives:

127.0.0.1 - - [Date & Time accessed] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 404 490 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux i686; rv:39.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/39.0"

Does that mean anything?? I noticed 404 is the title of the Not Found page. I figure "GET /HTTP/1.1" is the key piece. On ethernet right now now and reset my /etc/network/interfaces to

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

for the time being. Hit ifconfig to get an eth0 (ethernet) section followed by a lo section. The IP address, Bcast, and Mask for the eth0 section are 192.168.0.105, 192.168.0.255, and 255.255.255.0. The lo section has an IP address and Mask of 127.0.0.1 and 255.0.0.0. So based on access.log, it looks like the localhost is trying to access the lo section (localhost?) IP address.

Tried going to "192.168.0.198" in the browser. Got this when looked at tail of access file (it's the same as localhose except for different IP)

192.168.0.198 - - [Date & Time accessed] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 404 490 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux i686; rv:39.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/39.0"
192.168.0.198 - - [SAME Date & Time accessed] "GET /flavicon.ico HTTP/1.1" 404 490 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux i686; rv:39.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/39.0"

Going to "http://brewpi/" in browser used to give 404 page. Now it goes to www.brewpi.com and no extra line appears on access.log after going to the site.

Tried looking up the "GET /HTTP/1.1" 404 490 "-" error but didn't see anything. Know what that could mean? Tried opening index.php but I'm not a programmer and there are no hints there for me.


fwiw, here's my /etc/network/interfaces config file.
It staples both WIFI and hardwire nics to the same IP address (which means you don't plug both at the same time).

You'd only need to change the gateway address to your router's LAN address and change the static IP address to whatever you want that's inside your router's LAN subnet, then reboot the system and be good to go.

Code:
auto lo

iface lo inet loopback

iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.245
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.251

allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet manual
wpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

iface default inet static
address 192.168.1.245
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.251

Cheers!


Leading into my next "adventure", does it need to be a static IP or static Wifi IP? I installed BrewPi with ethernet and it said something about Wifi not being enabled. Maybe a cron file wasn't appropriate?

I've been screwing around and have gotten eth0 and wlan0 static IP to work. However, I can't get wlan0 to work when I have a password on my Wifi. Followed this plus some others. https://www.thefanclub.co.za/how-to...daptor-static-ip-ubuntu-auto-connects-startup .
 
You need to know what's really going on with Apache first.

cd to /etc/apache2/sites-available
Run ls in this directory. You should see something like 000-default.conf
browse through that configuration file and you'll find something like "webroot" or html-root that configures where apache looks for files.

Once we know that it makes it easier to troubleshoot the rest of your problem
 
I wanted to thank you all. I have been reading over the fourm and others to build the brewpi. I have finally built the brewpi and now testing. I also wanted to share some pictures of the setup for other to get ideas.

20150719_171520.jpg


20150719_170422.jpg


20150719_170414.jpg
 
I just completed my build minus the display. I am completely lost on how to add the display. Does anyone have the step by step noob instructions for adding a 20x4 display?

Solu ®Iic/i2c/twi Serial 2004 20x4 LCD Module Shield for Arduino UNO Mega R3, White on Blue //Lcd Module for Arduino 20 X 4, PCB Board, White on Blue

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SMM6C64/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Check the official forums for brewpi. And enjoy your trip down the i2c display rabbit hole
 
SilverZero, FuzzeWuzze, wbarber69, thekraken, balrog, day_trippr, and dantodd, thanks for the help and advice on helping me to get Ubuntu to run BrewPi! Diastrous, frustrating, challenging, and a bit fun. Ended up borrowing a RaspPi from a friend. Messed with that Saturday night. Ended up having too small of an SD card. Went back to the PC and tried installing newest Debian. Couldn't even log in... Finally installed the 2nd most recent Debian and GOT IT TO WORK! BrewPi is up and running in the browser. Now for the part that is probably supposed to be more challenging, the wiring.
 
I had a power cut today.

After rebooting my brewpi the linux browser can't see to load brewpi, it hangs at the last step loading the heading but not the graph.

When I connect remotely I with my pc through chrome everything works fine, so the Brewpi script is obviously running.

Any idea how to fix this? its not the end of the world as I can access remotely.
 
I wanted to thank you all. I have been reading over the fourm and others to build the brewpi. I have finally built the brewpi and now testing. I also wanted to share some pictures of the setup for other to get ideas.

Looks good! :mug:
 
Looks good! :mug:

Thanks here's the picture of the whole setup. The Dell monitor was a big help with powering everything. Since it has usb ports it's powering the raspberry, usb network adapter and usb fan. I can also turn the raspberry on and off by the power button on the monitor :ban::rockin:

20150721_160617.jpg
 
Is BrewPi a program? And if so, can you have 2 versions of it on your RaspPi to run two different chambers? Would you have to hook up 2 UNOs? I really want to do this but need to find someway to run two fermentation chambers and my keezer off of it.
 
^^^

- Yes
- Yes
- Yes

fwiw, I have four Unos for four BrewPi "instances" running on one RPi2B controlling a keezer, two fridges and a cold season (heater only) ferm cabinet...

Cheers!
 
You're using safari. It does that. It's not actually stopping and starting it's just a problem with safari
 
So, after buying more temp sensors on Amazon(a 5-pack of them this time...) and almost ordering a new Arduino thinking maybe mine was shot, I checked my resistor and realized I have a 4.7Ohm, not 4.7K Ohm...

Been pulling my hair out for a week with my temp sensors not showing up in my build... I'm an idiot.
 
So, after buying more temp sensors on Amazon(a 5-pack of them this time...) and almost ordering a new Arduino thinking maybe mine was shot, I checked my resistor and realized I have a 4.7Ohm, not 4.7K Ohm...

Been pulling my hair out for a week with my temp sensors not showing up in my build... I'm an idiot.

Doh, check those color bands people :D
 
Pulled the pin on ordering up my hardware for this today. Now to re-read the last 3753 posts to work out what I need to do to get this up and running [emoji37][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]
 
Pulled the pin on ordering up my hardware for this today. Now to re-read the last 3753 posts to work out what I need to do to get this up and running [emoji37][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]

Lol just follow the main post and you should get it up and running, at some point i may go through and make a Wiki or something thats easier to keep up to date with "New" things to do like getting the LCD or External page to work. A forum post like this just isnt a good way of sharing data once the thread gets past like 20-30 pages and we are well beyond that.
 
Lol just follow the main post and you should get it up and running, at some point i may go through and make a Wiki or something that's easier to keep up to date with "New" things to do like getting the LCD or External page to work. A forum post like this just isnt a good way of sharing data once the thread gets past like 20-30 pages and we are well beyond that.

That would be awesome! I got mine working perfectly, but don't have a clue on how to add the display. I bought this display thing it would be easy to integrate, but no dice. I don;t think I have the skill set for it at this time.

Solu ®Iic/i2c/twi Serial 2004 20x4 LCD Module Shield for Arduino UNO Mega R3, White on Blue //Lcd Module for Arduino 20 X 4, PCB Board, White on Blue

I would need a tutorial for dummies I think. Thanks for the write up. It was very easy to follow. This was my first time using a Raspi or an arduino.
 
Basically you have to rewrite your hex file in atmel studio to accomodate the pin changes need for it to work. Then if you've already built your hardware. You have to start all over because it moves a bunch of pins around to get it to work.
 
Thanks to everyone who has made this thread a great resource, especially FuzzeWuzze of course!

Just finished my 3 Chamber setup: 3 Chamber BrewPi

I'll probably be writing an Instructable on this since most of the "multiple chamber" stuff is a bit dated.

I'm also considering hosting an image of my Raspberry Pi SD card for those that want a plug and play multiple chamber/multiple Arduino setup...
 
Has anybody run into issues with the latest version of BrewPi? Mine has been working since I got it running, decided to run an update last week to the latest and now it's crashing the script and then at times the Pi.

Fridge will get stuck in whatever mode it was switched on to when the whole thing seems to go down.

When trying to access the logs to see what's happening, it cranks out the following error and the script stays offline, trying to turn it on crashes the Pi completely.

Error while receiving device configuration: SyntaxError: Unexpected token C


I'm literally brewing a beer as I type this and it would be really lousy if this dies during the fermentation.

Edit. Managed to get the logs:
Jul 26 2015 12:54:08 Serial Error: [Errno 5] Input/output error)
Jul 26 2015 12:54:09 Serial Error: [Errno 5] Input/output error)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/brewpi/brewpi.py", line 728, in
ser.write('l')
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/serial/serialposix.py", line 518, in write
raise SerialException('write failed: %s' % (v,))
serial.serialutil.SerialException: write failed: [Errno 5] Input/output error
 
Power everything down and back up. Try to reflash the hex file manually. Make sure you're using the version that goes with the version installed on the pi.
 
Comm errors between the Arduino and the host.

I've never bothered to do an upgrade (don't intend to either) but I'd reflash the AVR and see what happens...

Cheers!
 
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