1. My "other" hobby

    2007 Oct 08

    3 Comments

    To get away from my computer (sort of) and refresh my mind, I like to spend some time every couple weeks (or more often) brewing my own beer. It's a cool hobby, and there's lots of overlap with software development. And I get beer out of it, which is a nice bonus (-:

    Save the Ales! (My Kegerator)

    Anyway, a while back I wrote an article for uC Hobby, a site about microcontrollers, on my custom-built kegerator (keg refrigerator) and it was published, today. I didn't focus on the PHP side of the project (the part that collects data from the kegerator and turns it into usable data), but when the October issue of php|architect comes out, take a peek at the /etc column on rrdtool.

    Here's the article: Arduino Beer Thermostat.

    And a link to our brewing club's web site: MontreAlers.

    Feel free to ask any questions you might have, I'd love to discuss it, beer, or brewing.

    ((Update: Cool. It got linked from the Make blog.))

    3 Responses

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    • Rob Riggen

      2007 Oct 08 21:49

      So when I keg into those soda kegs I seem to have trouble getting the carbonation right at tapping time. It would appear as though you have a successful technique. Can you tell me roughly what you set the pressure at once it's been racked in there and sealed? Do you alter the pressure over time?

      I am impressed by the real-time temp monitoring!

    • Sean Coates

      2007 Oct 08 21:53

      The trick to that is to use the right length of proper restrictor tubing (thick wall, 3/8" ID).

      My serving pressure normally sits around 10PSI. That makes for foamy beer if it's too warm, but it's right for my normal range 4-6ºC.

      There's an excellent article/entry on this topic, over on the green board.

      S

    • Greg Glass

      2009 Jul 20 13:40

      I'm sitting here at OSCON listening to your talk PHP: The Good Parts. The talk was very informative and as soon as you mentioned being a brewer, my eyes lit up. I to am a brewer from down south and am currently seeking a god kegerator build myself. I like your set up and using php to get data readings out of it is brilliant. I will be looking into this for certain.