BeerBug - Digital Hydrometer (Kickstart Project)

Now that is cool...

I jumped on at the early board bluetooth level and will play it by ear if I'll stick on or now but man this would take the guesswork as well as other needs out of the mix. Especially knowing when fermentation is complete, but yea it does sorta seem a little to luxurious. I wouldn't say lazy necessarily, I have purchased many items for my setup that have made my homebrewing far easier that could be judged as lazying it up as well.

 

I like this idea and it could be very useful. Price obviously comes into play here but it could be one of those great gift ideas for my next homebrew set up "necessity" . I think it offers a lot of useful information and means that I wouldnt have to open the fermentor to take readings which is nice. Now, have they thought about those who use a thermowell to help with temperature control? Its nice to know the temperature of the wort but being able to automatically adjust the temperature with a temp controller is very important to many.

 

Interesting piece of gadgetry. I would love to have something like that, actually I would like to have at least two of those, but at what seems like a $100+ price, I wouldn't buy it.

Maybe at $50 a pop I'd buy one.

How about others? What price point would be right for you?

 

If they could add some I/O to operate solid-state relays that would be very cool. It would not be hard to implement at all. I guarantee they are using a microcontroller that has spare pins that can be used. Add a small driver so we don't source too much current from the microcontroller then we can connect whatever SSR we would like. Include a normally closed and normally opened option and you could turn this thing into a dual stage controller with the ability to control heating or cooling.

 

Sounds interesting! I think I'll let them get the bugs out first!

 

$50 im on board with if i get a few extra bucks, anything above that begins to creep in on xmas/birthday gift territory

 

It looks like it could clog.

 

It's interesting for sure, but how about a cheaper version that simply has a digital read out on top instead of wireless capabilities. The extra data sent directly to your mobile device is nice of course, but I'm a simple man.

Why you're are at it, make it a temperature probe/controller and hydrometer all in one.

On a side note, how do commercial brewers typically measure gravity? Good old fashioned refractometer is my guess.

 

Depends... for most of the breweries that we care about it's absolutely the same old fashioned process, draw off a sample and measure (usually with a hydrometer)

Once you start getting up there you'll see new fancy gadgets. Taking a tour of the ABI brewhouse here in Van Nuys, where they produce 250,000 barrels per month, they have a full on fermentation control room with countless computer displays that track temp, yeast count, gravity, abv, pH, clarity, etc. Boy was that bad ass to see

So the exciting part about the brewbug is that they're getting that level of trackability down to the scale of smaller craftbreweries. (The form factor they're using doesn't look too dissimilar to some temp sensors I've seen in breweries.)

I want about 4 of them, but ooh that cost.

 

Agreed... you could automatically set your fridge to warm up at 70% attenuation for a diacetyl rest. Damn cool.

I want one, but probably not at that price point. I also don't think I could justify it at any price point... I don't think it would actually make my beer any better, it just plays to my inner science nerd who loves graphs

 

Ah, gotcha. I figured the big boys must have something but I was certain. I wonder if that means they have sensory type equipment like this floating in their fermenters. Or if they somehow can have a sensor that reads it more similar to a refractometer.

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Yea, the price is tough and the wifi version is even more expensive.

 

I've seen them use digital hydrometers, but they are expensive. (>$2000)

Edit: An example http://www.ebay.com/itm/SBS-SBS-350...178?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ec299be0a

 

I'd be interested in that. But I think I would have to change to fermenting in buckets so I could still use another probe to control the temperature of the fermentation. This thing only reports the temp but doesn't control the temp. Another thing I wonder about is attaching a blowoff tube for a carboy.

 

Well it does look like they just updated it with a "blow-off adaptor". So half of your concern has been taken care of.

 

As many people have already mentioned, this would be a lot more compelling if there was a way to connect to a controller or relay so that you could actually react to it's measurements.

This is just screaming to be paired with a Raspberry Pi or something like that. In fact, I'm kind of surprised that it isn't one of the stretch goals of the kick-starter.

Wifi dongle + Raspberry Pi (software control) + Relays = Amazing product easily worth the asking price

Hell, I'd do it myself except I'm not very good at writing software.

 

That blow-off adaptor is pretty small in diameter. Just about any belgian, ipa, or big stout would likely kick up enough yeast to clog it and then blow something off...