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thorrak / brewpi-esp8266

An implementation of the BrewPi device code on the ESP8266, ESP32, and ESP32-S2
GNU General Public License v3.0
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Glycol Support #16

Open thorrak opened 6 years ago

thorrak commented 6 years ago

Although "modern" firmware explicitly works with Glycol, it would be good to have a version of the legacy firmware that supports it as well.

mpb-github commented 6 years ago

@thorrak When you say "modern" firmware explicitly works with glycol do you mean that with the latest version of brewpi-esp8266 there should be a way to configure things to use a glycol set up? I'd love to hear the details if that is the case. If I can just tweak things in Fermentrack that would be awesome! Mine isn't really glycol, just cold water from a corny keg in my kegerator pumped through a coil in my fermenter, but conceptually I think it is identical.

aafuni commented 5 years ago

@thorrak I commented over on homebrewtalk. Is there a working set up for glycol style systems? I have the exact same system as mpb above. What is "modern firmware"?

I have your latest brewpi-esp8266 build running, installed through fermentrack. I am able to control the beer temperature by using the fridge constant mode, but would love to be able to run beer profiles and tune the heating and cooling better.

I will need to figure out how to rebuild to decrease the min_cool_on_time as the pumped coolant cools much faster than the min_cool_on_time.

aafuni commented 5 years ago

I should also say that I am horrible at the programming side of things, but would be available to help test things. I know over on the forum you said you didn't have a way to test the hardware, but I am all set up and willing to do some testing.

lalo-uy commented 5 years ago

El El mié, 1 de may. de 2019 a las 11:37, aafuni notifications@github.com escribió:

I should also say that I am horrible at the programming side of things, but would be available to help test things. I know over on the forum you said you didn't have a way to test the hardware, but I am all set up and willing to do some testing.

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If you look at the wiki there are instruction about how to setup for glicol. Basicaly set to 0 pid patams and reduce the time waits for cool. A PID setup for gicol could be considered with very long period pwm. ( 60 sec) .

aafuni commented 5 years ago

lalo-uy, you mean the wiki for the BrewPiLess?

lalo-uy commented 5 years ago

Yes

El jue., 2 may. 2019 a las 9:43, aafuni (notifications@github.com) escribió:

lalo-uy, you mean the wiki for the BrewPiLess?

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aafuni commented 5 years ago

How do you issue JSON commands to this version?

thorrak commented 4 years ago

As an update, I ordered myself a Stasis glycol chiller which is supposed to be delivered within the next few weeks. (Supposedly - it's a Kickstarter...) When it does, I plan on pretty quickly working on adding explicit Glycol support.

aafuni commented 4 years ago

Excited for the update and to see how well the Stasis works.

chucknorris101 commented 4 years ago

has the stasis been shipped? Ive got my builds together and my glycol (icemaster 100) set up now, wondering if there's some testing or other way I could help out

thorrak commented 4 years ago

Not yet - they sent out the backer surveys two weeks ago though, so I’m hoping it will ship within the next ~6 weeks. Fingers crossed!

chucknorris101 commented 4 years ago

their latest update looks like refrigerant is (at this point) 3 weeks out! So at least a light at the end of the tunnel, but probs not in your 6 week (now 4 week) window. ha!

thorrak commented 4 years ago

I'm still hoping their boat gets a tail...current? and my 4 week window is still accurate. 🥇

chucknorris101 commented 4 years ago

did it ever arrive?

thorrak commented 4 years ago

Yep! Arrived earlier this afternoon. Project for uh - quarantine.

scracas commented 4 years ago

Cool. Just posted my experiences with s&is brewtech equipment and esp8266 /Fermentrack https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/native-esp8266-brewpi-firmware-wifi-brewpi-no-arduino-needed.586476/page-76#post-8809982

chucknorris101 commented 4 years ago

hows the quarantine investigation? looking to brew again soon, wondering if i should wait for the latest and greatest or not :)

thorrak commented 4 years ago

hows the quarantine investigation? looking to brew again soon, wondering if i should wait for the latest and greatest or not :)

WELL. The short version is that the glycol chiller I got (the craft-a-brew one) was WAY too loud for me to be able to use in my apartment, so I had to sell it before I could start mucking with the controller. I'm looking at buying the Blichmann one (Supposedly it's ~45dB at two feet away which is exactly the background noise in my apartment right now) and have a few questions out to Blichmann before I pull the trigger. If they get back to me today, we might be back in business by the end of next week!

That said - it would still likely be another few weeks before anything was ready, so I'd say go brew. Hopefully I'll have something before the batch after.

chucknorris101 commented 4 years ago

Thats frustrating! i hope you can get one that works for you! I have the Icemaster g100, doesnt seem too loud when running but i have the luxury of more space/putting it in a closet.

TBH the current setup of just using the fridge only control worked great and nailed the PID responses with this chiller, So no worries, thanks for your hard work!

thorrak commented 4 years ago

Good news! I just received my brand new Blichmann glycol chiller. This one doesn't have the pumps integrated, which should make developing a "glycol mode" much easier.

Bad news! Someone stole the package containing the actual glycol (or FedEx misdelivered it). Between the chiller & the glycol, I'm glad that they stole the glycol - but I'm annoyed, regardless, as it means that it will be at least another week before I get to play with this thing. :(

chucknorris101 commented 4 years ago

That's awful! Absent glycol the final mixture is usually mostly distilled water anyway in 4 to 1 mixture. You could play with it, just not below freezing Temps!

aafuni commented 4 years ago

If you have a Walmart around that's still selling "non-essentials" they have glycol in either the camping or automotive section. They sell the non toxic veriety for winterizing campers.

scracas commented 4 years ago

Great news.

On Wed, May 6, 2020 at 7:27 PM John notifications@github.com wrote:

Good news! I just received my brand new Blichmann glycol chiller. This one doesn't have the pumps integrated, which should make developing a "glycol mode" much easier.

Bad news! Someone stole the package containing the actual glycol (or FedEx misdelivered it). Between the chiller & the glycol, I'm glad that they stole the chiller - but I'm annoyed, regardless, as it means that it will be at least another week before I get to play with this thing. :(

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thorrak commented 4 years ago

That's awful! Absent glycol the final mixture is usually mostly distilled water anyway in 4 to 1 mixture. You could play with it, just not below freezing Temps!

That's a really good idea, actually. I've got the distilled water coming tomorrow so I can get that set up to see what the noise level is like, at least. Unfortunately, the pump I ordered shipped in the same box as the glycol so I can't actually chill anything with it, but it will be good to know if it can live in our apartment, at least!

If you have a Walmart around that's still selling "non-essentials" they have glycol in either the camping or automotive section. They sell the non toxic veriety for winterizing campers.

That's a really good idea, also! I checked out Walmart's website, and unfortunately they don't seem to have any propylene glycol in our local store. If I can't get a replacement shipment in a reasonable time, it might be worth venturing over and checking to see if their website is just out-of-date!

aafuni commented 4 years ago

They don't list it as propylene glycol on the site its just Marine/RV Antifreeze:

(https://www.walmart.com/ip/Super-Tech-RV-Marine-Antifreeze/17179674)

It is just premixed water and propylene glycol if you read the back though. That is what I'm running.

thorrak commented 4 years ago

Hey @chucknorris101 - Would you be willing to measure the noise level of your Icemaster if I sent you a sound meter? If so, do you have an HBT or Reddit account?

This Blichmann is quieter than the Stasis, but louder than what I was hoping for. :(

chucknorris101 commented 4 years ago

Sure thing! I have a hbt account that's the same handle, or ok reddit it's chucknorris10101

bassicrob commented 4 years ago

I can't help with the glycol issue but I am sort of in the same boat. I discovered this project after giving BrewPiLess a try and never being able to get it going. Got yours integrated into HomeAssistant and BrewFather with Tilt logging with nearly zero effort. Anyways I have been recently gifted a Spike Flex+ with the temperature coil and trying to make it work with what I have. For cooling I plan on using a pump in an ice-filled cooler or a vessel of water in mini-fridge, both recirculating; no glycol as my basement is relatively cool except in Aug/Sept, but I also have no ability to stabilize temps currently. I am wondering at what point would I put the temperature probe and for what control? I plan on running some temperature logging this weekend with just water as the temps here in NYC will be our normal extremes for the next few days to see what the PID calls for and how stable the cooling water source will be with the probes placed at key locations. Willing to help contribute any way I can!

automatic12pro commented 4 years ago

I also would like to help with testing if needed. I have 3 spiked brewing conical fermenters and a 1hp glycol beer line chiller. Ultimately would love to control with fermentrack.

iamandymcinnes commented 3 years ago

I've got a glycol chiller and just got fermentrack setup. I've got a heat cable wrapped around my conical fermenter and then I've got a beer line chiller with glycol pumping around the fermenter chiller coil.

I'm yet to wire the relays to the heater cable and chiller, but I had a couple of questions...

Do I essentially set the chiller so it holds a temperature in the reservoir, then wire the recirculation pump to the the "cooler" relay?

Second question what is recommend pid configuration when using glycol and a heater like this?

Finally I guess this is potentially a little out of scope, but would it be possible if I used a third relay to turn the chiller off altogether if for example the temperature was at a level where there chiller isn't going to kick in for hours? I.e. the set point for the beer is 19 and the room temperature is 16 so it's only going to be using the heating? I can get my home automation system to do this if necessary, especially if I can get the temperature values for the different sensors over something like a webhook, mqtt, etc?

columbianate commented 3 years ago

Hi @thorrak Just checking in on options with glycol. when you mentioned before "modern" firmware working with glycol, did you mean the brewpi spark? I'm just getting into this realm (fermentation temperature controllers), and just now got Fermtrack up and running before I realized this might not fly with my current glycol setup. Any idea if there's a mode or tweaks incoming to do fermentation profiles with glycol?

Thanks for everything you've contributed, It's immensely appreciated

thorrak commented 3 years ago

Hi @thorrak Just checking in on options with glycol. when you mentioned before "modern" firmware working with glycol, did you mean the brewpi spark? I'm just getting into this realm (fermentation temperature controllers), and just now got Fermtrack up and running before I realized this might not fly with my current glycol setup. Any idea if there's a mode or tweaks incoming to do fermentation profiles with glycol?

Thanks for everything you've contributed, It's immensely appreciated

Yes, but just to be clear - I'm not suggesting that you need/want to go run out and get a Spark. What I'm saying is that I need to back-port explicit glycol support into this firmware to run on an ESP.

My understanding is that you can use this version of Fermentrack/BrewPi legacy firmware with Glycol, it just may not be quite as efficient at maintaining temps as you would like. I haven't personally done it, but I know there are people who have/do currently use this firmware as part of a glycol system.

thorrak commented 3 years ago

As far as a status update is concerned, this remains high up on the list, but I still have been distracted by two other projects and thus haven't been working on changes to the BrewPi firmware over the past few months. That said, one of those two projects is expected to wrap up shortly, which should hopefully free up some bandwidth to start working on the BrewPi firmware again soon.

That said: No promises on sequencing/dates. I still don't have a glycol setup at home, so I can't make any promises.

chucknorris101 commented 2 years ago

@thorrak im guessing there hasnt been too much news on glycol, im looking at dipping my toes into python/esp coding for some other automation projects at home, and would love a shot at helping out. I have tried reading through the firmware/other code but would love some pointers on where to find a few things. I can putz around and test on my system

also @bassicrob if you can give me a lowdown on how you installed this to HA that would be great (unless just push target?)