New Brunswick Craft Brewers Association

Uncategorized Boards => General => Topic started by: Jmac00 on June 21, 2011, 06:59:34 PM

Title: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Jmac00 on June 21, 2011, 06:59:34 PM: Seen this link today. I didn't see this when i was building mine, would of come in handy.....although i got a decent price on my temp controller. It'd be worth a try to see if it works, to play around with the settings n stuff...worse case if it doesn't...buy an external or build your own...there's a few options out there.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/guide-s ... ol-249612/ (http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/guide-set-internal-chest-freezer-thermostat-32f-eliminate-external-control-249612/)
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Jmac00 on June 21, 2011, 07:07:21 PM: here's a link for a cheap and easy digital temp controller. Next time around, i'll be going this route.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aq ... ld-163849/ (http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/)
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Richard on June 21, 2011, 07:23:50 PM: I've got a shopping list for doing this since I got my Keezer. Going to be using an Arduino microcontroller and a couple of expansion boards to start with to control the compressor (one custom board for a relay switch, and another for a few temperature sensors).

My first iteration will include an LCD temperature display, and a feature for graphing the temperature over time for brews (with a sensor inside the carboys themselves).

Second iteration will include pressure sensors so I can have a display of the levels of the kegs inside the keezer after a little calibration.

www.sparkfun.com (http://www.sparkfun.com) = win.
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Dean on June 21, 2011, 07:26:41 PM: nerd :lol:
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: brew on June 21, 2011, 07:28:56 PM: Hehehe - but this will be very cool when its done - it provides an inspiring answer when asked "what's all this for"? Of course the answer will be "for my beer" :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Richard on June 21, 2011, 07:43:13 PM: Quote from: "Dean"
nerd :lol:

itym Dr. Nerd :P

brew: I'm gonna go take a look and see if I can find the magic screw :D
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Jmac00 on June 21, 2011, 07:47:47 PM: Quote from: "Dean"
nerd :lol:

lol...I agree. :lol:

I'm more of a "keep it simple" type.....but i do look forward to seeing how your's turns out...sounds very interesting for sure. Take lots of pics. ;)
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Richard on June 21, 2011, 07:50:08 PM: bah, looks like the hysteresis on the internal controls is too high for proper fermentation control anyway. back to the overkill method :D

Also taking a look at the internals I'm fairly sure it's using a thermistor rather than this electro-mechanical jobbie. Could be wrong.
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Richard on June 21, 2011, 08:00:44 PM: OK screw it I just ordered one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Thermostat-Temperatu ... 1593wt_901 (http://cgi.ebay.ca/Thermostat-Temperature-Controller-Home-Brew-Fridge-Heat-/120736826014?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1c79c29e#ht_1593wt_901)

on account of the solution I had dreamed up would cost me about 3x as much.

Yeah it's a cop-out, but I get the feeling nobody here cares :P
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Richard on June 21, 2011, 08:05:34 PM: Will do the arduino thing for the level sensors separate, when I build the collar for this thing :D

... at least for now I'll have a temperature controller for doing some lager :D
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Jmac00 on June 21, 2011, 08:13:06 PM: Quote from: "Richard"
OK screw it I just ordered one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Thermostat-Temperatu ... 1593wt_901 (http://cgi.ebay.ca/Thermostat-Temperature-Controller-Home-Brew-Fridge-Heat-/120736826014?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1c79c29e#ht_1593wt_901)

on account of the solution I had dreamed up would cost me about 3x as much.

Yeah it's a cop-out, but I get the feeling nobody here cares :P

the guy that sells them overseas is cheaper from what i've seen....kinda late if you already pulled the trigger on the purchase.
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Richard on June 21, 2011, 08:14:21 PM: yeah I already did... at this point I'm just getting lazy + impatient.
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Jmac00 on June 21, 2011, 08:18:18 PM: Quote from: "Richard"
yeah I already did... at this point I'm just getting lazy + impatient.

you do know canada post is on strike right??? lol...(commenting on the impatient part)
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Richard on June 21, 2011, 08:19:40 PM: Yeah; hopefully "strike" doesn't extend to "stealin ur shit".
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Jmac00 on June 21, 2011, 08:26:02 PM: yeah...i'm still waiting for my fittings to come in.. :evil:
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Dean on June 21, 2011, 08:29:00 PM: Quote from: "Richard"
... at least for now I'll have a temperature controller for doing some lager :D

speaking of lager ...turns out mine is clearing up after all. SG = 1.020, plan to bottle friday if the SG holds
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Jmac00 on June 21, 2011, 08:30:38 PM: Nice job on the label
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Dean on June 21, 2011, 08:33:33 PM: thanks! That's the site that Gil uses
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Dean on June 21, 2011, 08:35:28 PM: oh sh!t ..thanks again for the capper! met your dog too :shock:
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Jmac00 on June 21, 2011, 08:43:48 PM: no problem at all

glad you got to meet the welcoming committee....lol ..thinks everyone's there to see him. :lol:
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Richard on June 21, 2011, 08:59:12 PM: Dean, if you have the patience to cut out about 36 labels you are a far more patient man than me; patience is probably the most important skill in home-brewing :D

Also, that label looks bloody fantastic.
Title: Re: Building a Keezer anyone?
Post by: Dean on June 21, 2011, 09:04:37 PM: I only did one so far ....I'll do the rest at work ...hahahaha