September 13, 2013

Build a networked, Arduino-powered beer fermenter

One of the keys to successfully brewing one's own beer is keeping the fermentation temperature "just right". There are many commercial temperature-control solutions on the market, however as always you can devise your own version to suit your own needs - and add more features. This is exactly what Scott Warren has done with the design of his "Fermenter Bot 9000", an Arduino-controlled thermostat device that can also make the temperature data available over the Internet. 

Scott has created his own custom shield that allows manual setting of the temperature thresholds, and a control output to a "Powerswitch Tail" - a handy device that allows logic control of mains-rated current without the inconvenience of possible electrocution. Furthermore the Arduino sketch is quite intelligent in that it is designed to adjust the threshold temperature based on average temperature and any errors into account. 

It's a neat solution to a typical problem, and can also be adapted to other temperature-control situations - so visit Scott's website to find out how. And for more, we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.

When putting together your next Internet-enabled Arduino project - save time, space and money with the Freetronics EtherTen. Apart from being fully Arduino Uno-compatible, it has onboard Ethernet, microSD socket, full USB interface (so you don't need a costly FTDI cable just to upload a sketch!) and supports optional Power-over-Ethernet.

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