BrewPi unveils the new BrewPi Spark

[dean_wales]

Hi guys,

Some or many of you will already follow the BrewPi.com project so might know this already but they have just unveiled a right gem! Jusat for the record I am a fan and not associated with them in any way.

For those of you who don't know what BrewPi is, or was:

What is BrewPi?

BrewPi is a fermentation temperature controller for brewing beer or wine. It runs on Raspberry Pi and an Arduino. Compared to other temperature controllers, BrewPi offers much better temperature control and a lot more features like data logging, a web interface and graphs.

In our shop you can buy the BrewPi Arduino shield, temperature sensors, SSRs, a casing and more to convert your fridge or freezer into an awesome fermentation chamber.

BrewPi is open source and has an active community. We are working hard to support mash control (BIAB, HERMS or RIMS) in the near future…

And it used to look like this:

With an interface like this:


However just before Christmas they unveiled a totally rebuilt version around the Spark Core chip instead of an Arduino. As well as being (more) wireless it is a prebricated unit with a smart new touch screen. The aim being to increase functionality beyond fermentation control to the whole brew process.

It now looks like this and you can find the full lowdown in a blog article here.



What do you guys think? It is early days (hardware not available to buy just yet and no sight of the new software) but what do you think?

My two cents:
- A total of £100 for the unit is top end of my price range.
- I am excited by the expansion of its new capabilities but hope that costs and installation issues wont also go sky high.
- It seems to be very much HERMS focused.
- I might order my unit without the chip and get it all set up, then wait for the Spark Photo is released in a few months (faster and cheaper) for future proofing.
- I love it.
- My order will be dependant on seeing the software and that the whole thing works with 'direct actuators' i.e. the original system needed a fridge to work properly where my FV is a glycol chilled jobbie.

Dean.

[byronb]

I was looking at this over Christmas, assembled price will be €125 so about £100. I suspect by the time you've added the costs of 2x SSRs, 1-wire adapter board, temperature probes, cables, power supply, Raspberry Pi (if you don't already have it) and delivery it would make it very expensive just to adapt a fermentation fridge. If you want a fully automated brewery (PDF download) then it's probably excellent value and hopefully it'll provide a good supply of low-cost motorised ball valves and other interesting or difficult to find pieces.

I do like the look of the BrewPi software though and I'm planning to convert my fermentation fridge within the next couple of months. I'm expecting this to be with an Arduino board rather than the BrewPi Spark (I'll cost up each option) but I'll probably buy the SSRs, temperature probes, etc. from them and support the project that way.

[Jocky]

It's a good development for the project and knowing the way I am I'll eventually want to build a HERMS setup and have something like that.

I've been looking at a BrewPi for simply allowing me to remotely monitor and program fermentation temperatures, as my brewery is in an outhouse. Possibly a bit expensive right now.

[kev93_10]

I do like the look of the BrewPi software though and I'm planning to convert my fermentation fridge within the next couple of months. I'm expecting this to be with an Arduino board rather than the BrewPi Spark (I'll cost up each option) but I'll probably buy the SSRs, temperature probes, etc. from them and support the project that way.

I did this.

Used an old netbook we had lying around and picked up an Arduino for next to nowt. Got a dual SSR board for about £3 and a few probes. Think the whole system cost me about £30.

Works a treat.

K

[dean_wales]

I already have a nice little wifi Raspberry Pi box assembled. Just need to configure it but am waiting for the new BrewPi software before doing so.

I was going to achieve brewday monitoring (less interested in control/automation) by using a PC I have in the brewshed. That is going to be some very welcome worktop space when it goes tonight!

[kev93_10]

When is the new software due? I'm not sure they'll release it as openly as they did before because about a bazillion people in the US took it and run it on Linux PCs.....like I did.

K

[far9410]

Why not buys stc 1000, for about £17?

[chris2012]

You couldn't do a temp profile with the STC controller

[kev93_10]

Yeh you can. Flash the ecu.

K

[Andy]

You couldn't do a temp profile with the STC controller

https://github.com/matsstaff/stc1000p

As long as you have an early model STC 1000 which can be reflashed.

[chris2012]

Aha interesting, although I used to use an STC1000 I found the terminals too close together when wiring it up.

I now use a PID controller with SSRs, but I fancy hacking up my own controller with a 1-wire temp probe + ESP8266 (wifi chip £3) + STM32 discovery board (which is £16 with an LCD touch screen)

[dean_wales]

As fab as the STC is (I seem to collect them!) there really is no comparison between the devices.

But yes, Kev93_10, it will sink or swim on the new software. They say that they are all about open source so they may not lock it down. But personally I couldn't care less as long as it's good - I have no desire to tinker at that level!!

Dean.

[byronb]

Elco just posted another BrewPi Spark update.

Looks like they'll be selling some interesting parts:

We will start selling a lot of stainless parts as well: camlock fittings, silicone tubing, HERMS coils, inlets, outlets, ball valves, threaded temperature sensors and more. These will be available together with the BrewPi Spark.

Pumps, motorized ball vales and their controllers will come in about 6 weeks.

The web interface will also be replaced and they're asking the community to help with this too, but looks like the first priority is making the Spark version compatible with the existing solution.

[dean_wales]

Yeah the latest blog posts are a bit disappointing because they confirm my worries that the software is miles off, but will be open source which is good.

I just wish they would get a move on as I am desperate to buy into this system!

Dean.

[roscoe]

I agree looks great, but don't hold your breath.

Really impressed with the next gen direction hardware/processor/database/software/charts, but it'll take time to get there !