Building a Keezer anyone?

Jmac00 · 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/

Jmac00 · 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/

Richard · 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 = win.

Dean · June 21, 2011, 07:26:41 PM

nerd

brew · 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:

Richard · June 21, 2011, 07:43:13 PM

Quote from: "Dean"nerd

itym Dr. Nerd

brew: I'm gonna go take a look and see if I can find the magic screw

Jmac00 · June 21, 2011, 07:47:47 PM

Quote from: "Dean"nerd

lol...I agree.

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.

Richard · 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

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.

Richard · June 21, 2011, 08:00:44 PM

OK screw it I just ordered one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Thermostat-Temperatu ... 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

Richard · 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

... at least for now I'll have a temperature controller for doing some lager

Jmac00 · 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

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

the guy that sells them overseas is cheaper from what i've seen....kinda late if you already pulled the trigger on the purchase.

Richard · June 21, 2011, 08:14:21 PM

yeah I already did... at this point I'm just getting lazy + impatient.

Jmac00 · 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)

Richard · June 21, 2011, 08:19:40 PM

Yeah; hopefully "strike" doesn't extend to "stealin ur shit".

Jmac00 · June 21, 2011, 08:26:02 PM

yeah...i'm still waiting for my fittings to come in.. :evil: