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.))
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!
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
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.