The result looks great. With that little box you can monitor 4 bottles at the same time. A connecting with a Raspberry Pi is very nice, but a gadget. For a normal analog pressure meter you have to look at the physical meter any way.
Thank you! I have several formats: Tutorials, mailbags, and stories. Mistakes only will apear in stories. Tutorials have to be to the point (in my opinion). But from time to time you should get a new story.
Andreas, I watch your videos for quite some time and the feeling I got lately is that your overall video quality really improved over time, your videos are really entertaining to watch - we can have fun and learn something at the same time :D GOOD JOB!
Andreas, I’m Brazilian with European roots. Congrats for your well seasoned sense of humor. What a great choice to show a White varietal wine I do appreciate (love): Gewurztraminer! And not forgetting to tell I learn a lot from your great knowledge being so well organized and objectively shared. Thanks for all and in this episode too: Cheers!
Fantastic!!! I love your tenaciousness and 'mistakes'. It's refreshing to see the whole process rather than a 5 min. video showcasing the finished product without mentioning how many hours and attempts went into it. Thanks and greetings from Belgium!
It is very important to show the mistakes and misfires. We _all_ make them but spend little time recounting them. It's part of the process and young engineers and makers need to see that it never leaves you.
Loved the video. This is real engineering, not easy and can be frustrating. We can never be smart enough so don't beat yourself up about not seeing the solution at first. Fusion 360 seems worth learning. This project was really a mechanical project. Just shows we can't just rely on soley on electronics to solve a problem. We must be diversified in our knowledge ie. electrical, mechanical, mathematics, software development. What a great hobby ! Great work Andreas, you are an excellent engineer.
Yes. I have to agree with many of the other commentors. The humour in this video was great. Had me chuckling away most of the time. It's great to see you coming out of your shell more as your videos progress and you get more confident behind the camera.
I'll be honest. I can admire people like yourself who do this. "Public speaking " Does not come easily to everyone. I can only imagine it must be harder for you as you are nit speaking in your native language. Either way. Well done.
Poor Andreas had to drink all the wine and beer for science :-) and all the failures must have been so horrible ... more bottles had to be emptied ... need to find a project to sacrifice myself like you did. Great and funny video, thanks!
Bravo! Fabulous how you stuck at the job, sometimes success is all about turning up & trying & how blessed we all are in this wondrous internet age that you can share the fruits of your labours across all of humanity with an interest & even if you drink very little there were many tips & things that are worth keeping to mind in your endeavours. Thank you for sharing!
You are welcome. Usually, I create more of the "tutorial stuff" and there, failure is not what people search for. But from time to time I create such a "story" video...
Great Video! I´ve always a smile in my face, when you explain the reasons, why you have to do the emptying of the bottles ! Love your clips! Great implements of new technique , and always a wink in your eyes...
What do you do if the pressure alarm goes? You have to open the bottles! And of course if you don't drink the beer you have to pour it in the drain. Sooo... Your project should include an alarm to selected friends that have committed to come and drink the beer. Waste is not good for the environment!
Beer waste is the worst waste you can imagine! So we will set the alarm to 2bar maximum. At this stadium the beer is perfect. It depends a little bit on which beer-style you brew. A real english stout needs less carbonisation than a german Weizen - so for the stout the alarm has to be let's say ... 1.5bar. This depends also on temperature in the cellar and the amount of sugar you give in each bottle of course.
@@hopfeNerd In my experience the dreaded "beer grenade" is a result of too much sugar in relation to the bottle volume and yiest strain. So the most important factor is to measure the amount of sugar accurately. I assume the temperature to be the same always. I have no experience with anything else, so cannot say what could happen. So the next project for you could be a precision sugar dispensing machine? Sorry Andreas if I added one more to your project list now. ;-)
this is some tech i can really get behind . small note , i found making PLA mate smoothly to things has often required me to get it hot with a micro torch and pres it against the surface . Just in case you need a smooth fit in the future . Of course the next step is some small valve that cal ease off over pressure .
Dear Andreas, your videos are truly inspirational. I have no interest in brewing and yet, I loved the way you took us through the challenges and the eventual solution. Oh and I am now curious about the Danube Cycle trip as well! One day I would love to do something similar.
I used this sensor as an example to also show the possibilities of Fusien360 and 3D printing, which probably has a wider application. I might share my impressions of the trip somehow. We will see...
Nice video. Please keep showing fails as they are even more useful than successes. Btw, have you looked into Chronograf? Its similar to Graphana, but is from the same maker as influx and more more attuned to it.
This got me thinking of those little plastic diver toys. An air bubble is trapped in the diver and when the pressure is increased (usually by squeezing a plastic water bottle) the bubble is squashed. The mass stays the same but the volume decreases, so the density increases and the marginally bouyant diver sinks. On second thoughts, CO2 bubbles may stick to the diver, messing up the calibration. Not giving up yet.... A tube connecting the beer sample to a bottle of water to convey the pressure! Another idea: the sample doesn't need to be in a normal shape bottle, it could be in a small jar. A silicone diaphragm over the top will bulge as the pressure increases. Should be IOT-able. From à man born in the land of Heath Robinson!
I had a similar idea and also bought a jar with a rubber seal. But then, I discovered the simple solution and was happy ;-) BTW: I had to google to know the country; Shakespeare would have been easier ;-)
Andreas, keep up this good work please. I really enjoy it, also watched the brewers video. Even with my limited (Dutch) 3 years of school German over 30 years ago, I was able to follow it fully. Curious wether it works properly on the long haul. Please keep us posted! Thanks again for all your efforts!
Nice work Andreas! This looks really promising for my own brewing :) I’ve been monitoring almost all of the brewing process so far, but this might be the finishing touch! Is the 3D print you’ve made to fit around the bottles available somewhere?
So you are a software and hardware constructor on a beer brewery? Cool! I'm a bagpiper in a band that are "house band" of a Mead brewer. I played when they had the opening party of the factory. It was fun. :-)
The data sheet does not say anything. We have to do tests. I assume the silicon on the chip has to be protected somehow. These sensors are made for the automotive industry which usually is quite picky...
Ich glaube bis man es wirklich beherrscht ist ein langer Weg, aber selbst dieser kann schon sehr viel Spaß bringen :) Einfach mal mit kleinen Dingen anfangen und mit der Zeit lernt man dann durch seine eigenen Fehler reichlich dazu.
Your videos are always entertaining and educational! Instead of using bottles, you might consider using cornelius kegs. That way if something goes wrong then nothing will explode (no bottle bombs). In the US homebrewers typically put part of their fermenting beer in reused and sanitized 2 liter bottles since their bursting pressure is quite high. Rather than using a pressure gauge, most can tell how much pressure has been developed by simply squeezing the fermenting plastic bottles. It’s not very scientific but it is very easy to achieve a relative measurement. Still, I’m looking forward to the next video.
3d printing something that has to be airtight can be a huge challenge. Your video reminded me on a project where i "just" wanted to print a little T-Adapter. It took me a whole weekend to get it air tight (covered it with epoxy at the end).
You can totally buy those bügal bottles! Home-brewers shops usually sell them. There's a place down the road from me that sells empty 1 liter bottles for about $3.50
Andreas, what do you think of using a strain gauge mounted on the bottles on the glass? As the pressure increases, you may be able to detect the slight enlarging of the OD of the glass. Then again, it may be so small that it's imperceptible and noise would drown out the signal.
As always, a great video and I commend you on the sacrifices you made in the making of this one. A question if you don't mind. Knowing the pressure is interesting and important if you are going to intervene if the pressure becomes too high. But isn't the point to prevent the bottles from bursting? Why not create a cap system that has a preset pressure relief valve that allows pressure to escape when it exceeds a preset value. Your 3D cap would appear to be the perfect beginning of that. A tire valve that uses a spring to hold back x lbs of pressure but is over come by x+ lbs of pressure would do the trick. I have brewed for many years and have never come across such a thing. I have to wonder why. Fortunately I moved to small kegs and do not miss the bottles. The cleaning, filling, worrying about pressure and the inevitable empty bottles sitting around giving away how much beer you drank is a hassle. Interesting video and now I am off so I can try to figure out how I can incorporate TPS in to something...
Reto told me that he monitors the pressure to get an overall impression on the fermentation and when the beer is ready. But you have to ask him for these "brewer specific" questions. The alarm was just an additional feature, not so important for him as he seems to have the process under control.
I just had to watch this for a second time to closely examine your setup. I think if you eliminate the SDR and the radio pressure sensor and go with a wired 0-150 psi stainless steel sensor you would get much better results. You’d certainly eliminate multiple weak points in the system and greatly improve reliability and simplicity.
@Andrea Spies - A delightful 360 journey !!! - I too home-brew my own beers & wines. ( Apple cider up to 18% proof & then may distill ) . This is a great combination using the tyre valves & pressure sensors. The additional info on these semi-conductor devices was welcomed... including the Tx Rx frequencies. ( As I make my own antennas ) . Your humor made me chuckle - $#!T happens !!!
Thank you! I thought it migh help a few viewers to see the possibilities of Fusion3600. If you know it exists, usually, it is easier to find a tutorial. Cheers with your home brewed liquids!
In all fairness some of those fails were obvious but I am mechanically inclined. The solution at the end was ingenious and really that is what matters.
@@AndreasSpiess the end solution was ingenious so the engineer in you did break the problem down to its constituents and found a solution that works. Just took a little more time since its not you primary area of interest.
Great video. I have no doubt that your missing the “obvious” regarding the valve stem was the result of your extensive and intensive preparation of empty bottles for your work!
Hello Andreas, it shows that you are now more confortable filming your videos, but I don't know now if is for you being an experienced fellow or the alcohol you drank. ;) Nonetheless, I'm trying to go back to the homebrewing hobbie (I'm using craftbeer pi with a couple of DIY 24 Amps SSR that tested last weekend, working really good), so this video was great. I think that, even that brewers don't like threads in the bottles, to have one as a test bed for knowing the pressure of the batch wasn't such a bad idea. And please tell your "Hopnerd" friend about the ISpindel or the open sourced alternative for the primary fermentation stage, I will definitively looking forward to make one. Chers, bye, Diego
@@hopfeNerd Hey, glad to see you, I'll watch you, I hope you videos are in English. I would like Andreas take a ISpindel for a spin (pun intended), I like the way he do and explores the projects and the ISpindel is just things Andreas do, you know: microcontroller, sensors and wireless comms. By the way, I made a mistake in my previous comment, the ISpindel IS the open sourced one, I forget the name of the commercial one. I still use an Tilt Hydrometer and I recently bought an Reflectometer, I'll try both in my next brew. Chers.
Your mistakes were ingenious. What an awesome way to have an excuse, I mean reason, to consume so much delightful beverages. I bet you knew the answer all along. Great video.
Thank you for the great video. The threaded adapters need to be easy to install, so I wonder if it might help if one side had "pins" that aligned with holes on the other side. This might help align them so that it was easier to start threading the top. Only two of these located along the thick, bottom edge would likely suffice.
One of the esp8266 boards along with a SKU237545 Pressure Sensor would end a lot of frustration for you. It would certainly resolve a lot of complexity and weak points.
If the hopfeNerd does not like a screw top I wonder how he feels about automotive rubber touching his beer. There's plenty of bad chemicals in rubber or synthetic rubber that could easily mix with the beer, as an alternative I wonder if an inexpensive strain gauge could be applied to the top of a crown bottle cap that would allow pressure to be read from the deflection of the cap? Great video, thanks!!!
The rubber is quite far away from the beer (under normal conditions). So he did not see a problem. And as Oscar wrote, I also doubt that we would be able to measure such small pressures just across this small cap. In addition, AFAIK, caps are for single use and you would lose a strain gauge with each measurement cycle. But maybe somebody tries it. It was proposed a few times.
The beer does not have contact with the rubber so I think there's no contamination. And if there will be, the result will be a beer with a balanced taste of a brandnew car - not bad, isnt' it?
Prost!!!!! My only compliant, you did not evaluate or rate each beer and the one bottle of wine. Other than these minor problems, this video was excellent! Lab experiment, beer tasting, sensor research, Fusion 360 and success through failure. What more can one ask for.... It should be noted, beer taste can be altered by the level of pressure maintained. Some specialty Brewers have progressive valve reliefs. Essentially, the master Brewer begins with a high (er) vessel pressure, who then allows a small amount of pressure to bleed off, then maintained at a preset level. But that is an experiment for another day, in a explosion proof lab. 😎
I am not the brewer, only the drinker ;-) Interesting, how technology can improve products! This discussion probably would fit the „Hopnerd“ channel...
Today my pressure monitor has arrived from China. Juhu! Now I'm also allowed to drink a few bottles of beer in the name of science :-) And of course I have to brew beer to check the technique! Thank you Andreas!
I think if you're going to have a cap that reports the pressure but ruins the aesthetic you may as well just use old PET bottles instead of glass. When you over prime those they usually just balloon. If you seriously over prime them the contents breaks through the cap seal and jets out of the thread. It's still messy but is a lot better than shards of glass everywhere. With a pressure monitor you should have time to move any over pressurised bottles before they balloon. I think a better application of your pressure monitor would be on the bottled co2 pressurised kegs though. Your monitor should be able to detect when the carbonation has happened and if the keg is leaking.. and usually the top fitting has a port with a pressure release in it so you can fix the pressure without having to discard or drink everything.
As far as I understand the alarm is only an add-on. Brewers monitor the pressure to decide when it has enough Co2 and the beer is potable. Or something is completely wrong and you can pour it out without waiting for weeks.
One aspect was not covered: To remove the valve when the bottle is ready to be consumed you need to use pliers and force. Is it likely the valve will withstand this ? Over how many cycles ? If the valve needs to be replaced every so often what would the price of a valve be abd can be easily purchased or one needs friends in the tyre industry to get some ?
Idea suggestion: Make the sensor smaller and let it float in the bear and have the antenna just above the surface. Put a standard airtight cap on. You will have to make your own PCB. But the product might be even easier to use. And it will work on any dimension and styles of bottles.
Interesting project. We make "pétillant naturel" wines - basically a still white wine put into a high-pressure (Champagne-style) bottle with the sugar provided by using original grape juice that was saved and put aside.. The grams-per-litre of the solution is meant to result in a specific final pressure, typically shooting for around 2-3 bar in a bottle rated for 6-7 bar. All very similar to beer I expect. I've mounted pressure gauges on various sample bottles and found that the downside of using rubber is that it spoils the taste of the contents, making it unsuitable for consumption after science is finished. Stainless steel seems to be the way to go for anything that has contact with a beverage.
Thank you for sharing your experience. So far we think, the rubber will not contact the beer. But this seems also be the case in your setup. How do you get glas and stainless steel airtight without rubber?
For the "test" bottles, we use a PET bottle with a plastic screw cap and clamp a stainless steel gauge to the top with a stainless nut underneath. The plastic of the top seems pliable enough to seal up.
Andreas, super video. Since I also brew & I was following both channels, yours & Reto's, I'm looking forward to the next video with the raspberry pi solution. At the moment I'm bottling weizenbier. If I brew an IPA, I would like to deliver a nice 6 pack to thank you (if you want...). I'm only 10 minutes away from you, I think.
3 bar is about 45 psi, that should be plenty. In those swing cap bottles, unless you're using some crazy yeast, the fermentation will shut down long before it gets anywhere near enough pressure to bust bottles. I think long before that happens the flip cap itself would lift a little and burp. Not so with thin crown cap bottles. Not sure what the end game was here. Determine when the bottles were carbonated? Or determine if the batch was over carbonated? Both can be determined by opening a bottle, and if they were over carbonated, you have only two choices, maybe three, chill the bottle, open them all, or do nothing. And then you have some brewers that would prime each bottle separately, which wouldn't tell you anything about the batch. To be useful would have to be measured in the range of 5 to 20 psi, anything above that would probably be considered high. Interesting project and struggles, have to see if it evolved from here, thanks.
I would probably have tested the thing with CO2 generating tablets. Also: If you monitor/record the pressure over time, please also record the temperature of the bottle! I don't know if it ultimately makes much of a difference in the final analysis, but both the gas pressure and the fermentation rate depends on the temperature. If the temperature is not uniform you may get smoother curves by compensating for the temperature. I'm not a brewer, but I guess the brewing nerds also have something to say about temperature.
Using a pump was quite easy because I had a valve... The temperature inside the sensor will also be recorded in the final version. I assume it will be very similar to the beer temperature.
@@AndreasSpiess The yeast also produces heat. So the temperature in the top of the bottle may lag behind, since Air and Glas are worse heat conductors and the sensor is cooled by the air. Probably not much of a factor though!
Applying sensors is always interesting :-) I've been wondering if testing and using ambient CO2 sensors could be a project for you, like to check air quality and sound an alarm if windows need to be opened. You might be able to combine it with a test case of how much the CO2 ppm increases by drinking a few beers in a small room!
Just curious, why was it so important that the sensors be wireless? Couldn’t they just be wired directly to the Pi0w as some sort of pressure reading station? I wonder, as a have a project planned for reading water pressure throughout my house (to check for pressure drops as filters become blocked) but was simply planning on using some esp8266 or Esp32 wired directly to the sensors. Really enjoy the videos and am proud to support your efforts!
Thank you for your support! The main reason is that I like wireless ;-) For a stationary installation, wired sensors make sense (if you can wire them to your MCU). Here, the bottles are mobile and put away into a dark room. So, wires would not be comfortable. In additions, these sensors should last for quite a long time with only one battery.
Hats off to you for your diligence with wireless applications. I’m too new with this stuff and fear additional complications of communication interference as well as battery and power management that also has to come along for the ride.
Hi, there is a stronger Version of the FixAll: Fix All High Tack. I love this stuff. Have glued lamps and power strips on the wall, stages on the stairway and a small shelf on the wall to.
@@AndreasSpiess Ok. But in the video you explained bottles can explode due over pressure. The over pressure valve might avoid this situation and the further mess. The over pressure feature could be an additional option to the pressure monitoring.
very entertaining topic and video for the 'Easter part' of the channel:). You may need to involve some mechanical engineer for similar projects where you have some non-electro challenge. but at the end it was solved and it seems work very well with cheap parts! congratulations for the success! And thanks for the video, keep going to create similar ones!
Great project! I went the simple route with my Bresser Outdoor Thermometer running on 433 MHz. Use a generic 433MHz receiver module hooked up to an AVR-based Arduino programmed to sample the input where the 433 MHz module is connected, precisely with a timer interrupt. If a match of a preamble is detected, it switches over to decoding mode, and decodes the 40 data bits that the sensor sends. It sends the same data 13 times - if the Arduino detects the same data at least three times, I can be confident that the reception was successful. The Arduino then sends the decoded data over UART to an ESP8266, which then publishes it via MQTT. It might be overly complicated in hardware, but the software was extremely easy to build. Plus, I had all the stuff laying around.
That is a cheap possibility if the sensor uses OOK. These sensors use FSK and I did not find a receiver for FSK. And we anyway will need a Raspberry for the next step.
If you want to see the result in reality including the "Hopnerd" and the "Inventor": th-cam.com/video/wd6GCgtIwBU/w-d-xo.html
The result looks great. With that little box you can monitor 4 bottles at the same time. A connecting with a Raspberry Pi is very nice, but a gadget. For a normal analog pressure meter you have to look at the physical meter any way.
We wanted, of course, an improvement ;-) And I wanted to play with a Raspberry and Grafana alarms...
Danke für den Link. Heimbrauen ist auch eines meiner Hobbys.
It is so wonderful that your projects are now becoming practical and useful!
This one is probably not for everybody, at least not with beer...
Hi Andreas, love the way you show us your work. You should change your slogan in:.....the guy with the swiss accent and swiss humor :)
Thank you for your nice words. Glad you like the videos
What a great storytelling style and I like the approach to problem solving.
Thank you!
I loved the video, the mistakes you made weren’t stupid but very relatable. Pls always include them in your videos
Thank you! I have several formats: Tutorials, mailbags, and stories. Mistakes only will apear in stories. Tutorials have to be to the point (in my opinion). But from time to time you should get a new story.
Your dry humor is fantastic! I'm laughing out loud every time! Good luck on your trip, sounds great!
Thank you. Yes, the trip sounds great. But also a little scary!
In the US(maybe elsewhere), dry can mean alcohol is prohibited. I know there is a joke here somewhere, I'm just not going to be the one to find it.
Andreas, I watch your videos for quite some time and the feeling I got lately is that your overall video quality really improved over time, your videos are really entertaining to watch - we can have fun and learn something at the same time :D
GOOD JOB!
Thank you. We are all learning over time. I recently discovered that TH-cam also has to be entertaining;-)
Andreas, I’m Brazilian with European roots. Congrats for your well seasoned sense of humor.
What a great choice to show a White varietal wine I do appreciate (love): Gewurztraminer!
And not forgetting to tell I learn a lot from your great knowledge being so well organized and objectively shared.
Thanks for all and in this episode too: Cheers!
You are welcome. I live just a few kilometers away from Alsace where they produce a lot of "Gewurztraminer"...
Fantastic!!! I love your tenaciousness and 'mistakes'. It's refreshing to see the whole process rather than a 5 min. video showcasing the finished product without mentioning how many hours and attempts went into it. Thanks and greetings from Belgium!
This is why I have this format. It helps me against frustration and seems to be motivating for the viewers ;-)
A nice journey up to the working solution, and looking forward to meeting you again in your travel adventure 👍🏼
Thank you. We will keep in contact. I let you know as soon as we come close to your home.
It is very important to show the mistakes and misfires. We _all_ make them but spend little time recounting them. It's part of the process and young engineers and makers need to see that it never leaves you.
It only leaves you if you stay in your comfort zone!
Awesome ! Excellent ingenuity and great tinkering. What a wonderfull combination, electronics and beer !
I was lucky to meet „Hopnerd“...
Awsome project - i like your final solution to sealing the valve to the bottle.
Thank you!
Loved the video. This is real engineering, not easy and can be frustrating. We can never be smart enough so don't beat yourself up about not seeing the solution at first. Fusion 360 seems worth learning. This project was really a mechanical project. Just shows we can't just rely on soley on electronics to solve a problem. We must be diversified in our knowledge ie. electrical, mechanical, mathematics, software development. What a great hobby ! Great work Andreas, you are an excellent engineer.
Thank you! I also think it is necessary to know a little mechanics. And Fusion360 seems to fit this need.
You made my sunday!! The trials and tribulations of an inventor and cool learnings of 3d printing.
I also learned a lot about 3d printing during this video!
Yes.
I have to agree with many of the other commentors. The humour in this video was great. Had me chuckling away most of the time.
It's great to see you coming out of your shell more as your videos progress and you get more confident behind the camera.
Thank you. I also had to learn how TH-cam works. ;-)
I'll be honest.
I can admire people like yourself who do this.
"Public speaking " Does not come easily to everyone.
I can only imagine it must be harder for you as you are nit speaking in your native language.
Either way.
Well done.
Poor Andreas had to drink all the wine and beer for science :-) and all the failures must have been so horrible ... more bottles had to be emptied ... need to find a project to sacrifice myself like you did. Great and funny video, thanks!
In the end I probably was lucky to meet "Hopnerd" ;-)
Bravo! Fabulous how you stuck at the job, sometimes success is all about turning up & trying & how blessed we all are in this wondrous internet age that you can share the fruits of your labours across all of humanity with an interest & even if you drink very little there were many tips & things that are worth keeping to mind in your endeavours. Thank you for sharing!
You are welcome. Usually, I create more of the "tutorial stuff" and there, failure is not what people search for. But from time to time I create such a "story" video...
Wunderbarer Humor und sehr schöne Erzählung deiner Iterationen. Der Stil deiner Videos gefällt mir immer besser!
Vielen Dank! Dieses Thema hat sich gut für das "Geschichten erzählen" Format geeignet...
Muss auch ein wenig am Bier liegen :-)
@@hopfeNerd alles was hilft 😉
Great Video! I´ve always a smile in my face, when you explain the reasons, why you have to do the emptying of the bottles ! Love your clips! Great implements of new technique , and always a wink in your eyes...
Thank you for your nice words!
What do you do if the pressure alarm goes?
You have to open the bottles!
And of course if you don't drink the beer you have to pour it in the drain.
Sooo... Your project should include an alarm to selected friends that have committed to come and drink the beer. Waste is not good for the environment!
Good idea. I have to ask Reto if he wants to setup a twitter notification for his friends ;-)
The problem is that it’s undrinkable at this stage:-)
@@msevland please define "undrinkable". Some would even argue Beer never will be drinkable. :-)
Beer waste is the worst waste you can imagine! So we will set the alarm to 2bar maximum. At this stadium the beer is perfect. It depends a little bit on which beer-style you brew. A real english stout needs less carbonisation than a german Weizen - so for the stout the alarm has to be let's say ... 1.5bar. This depends also on temperature in the cellar and the amount of sugar you give in each bottle of course.
@@hopfeNerd In my experience the dreaded "beer grenade" is a result of too much sugar in relation to the bottle volume and yiest strain. So the most important factor is to measure the amount of sugar accurately. I assume the temperature to be the same always. I have no experience with anything else, so cannot say what could happen.
So the next project for you could be a precision sugar dispensing machine?
Sorry Andreas if I added one more to your project list now. ;-)
I liked the iterative process and the determination to succeed.
Thanks for the nice video.
You are welcome! Failure was not an option as I promised to do it ;-)
this is some tech i can really get behind . small note , i found making PLA mate smoothly to things has often required me to get it hot with a micro torch and pres it against the surface . Just in case you need a smooth fit in the future . Of course the next step is some small valve that cal ease off over pressure .
Interesting idea to use heat for smoothing. So far I only knew about Aceton.
Thank you for all of your work.
You are welcome!
Brilliant, Beer and Electronics.... A marriage made in heaven....
The ratio seems to be important, too.
Very interesting and imaginative solution ! Thanks for sharing !
:-)
Dear Andreas, your videos are truly inspirational. I have no interest in brewing and yet, I loved the way you took us through the challenges and the eventual solution. Oh and I am now curious about the Danube Cycle trip as well! One day I would love to do something similar.
I used this sensor as an example to also show the possibilities of Fusien360 and 3D printing, which probably has a wider application. I might share my impressions of the trip somehow. We will see...
13:00 ".. that I need *empty* bottles for my experiments." Dein Humor ist extrem trocken und muss weiter befeuchtet werden. ;)
I still have some full bottles in the fridge. I thought I need more for the tests...
Excellent solution... and very pleased to see you we’re finding a way to deal with any ‘waste’ liquids :-)
We never throw things away ;-)
Thank you Andreas. I always enjoy your informative videos. You make them very funny too. This one made me smile a few times.
You are welcome!
I am always amazed on the things that you're able to build and figure out how they work. love your videos would love to meet you one day cheers
Thank you. You never know. Maybe we will meet one day.
Nice video. Please keep showing fails as they are even more useful than successes. Btw, have you looked into Chronograf? Its similar to Graphana, but is from the same maker as influx and more more attuned to it.
So far I did not look at Chronograf as the "hype" for the moment is on Grafana. Maybe I give it a try...
Very entertaining Andreas...Looks like you did a lot of research for this one.
Yes. In the meanwhile I can distinguish 10 different brands of beer ;-)
This got me thinking of those little plastic diver toys. An air bubble is trapped in the diver and when the pressure is increased (usually by squeezing a plastic water bottle) the bubble is squashed. The mass stays the same but the volume decreases, so the density increases and the marginally bouyant diver sinks. On second thoughts, CO2 bubbles may stick to the diver, messing up the calibration. Not giving up yet.... A tube connecting the beer sample to a bottle of water to convey the pressure! Another idea: the sample doesn't need to be in a normal shape bottle, it could be in a small jar. A silicone diaphragm over the top will bulge as the pressure increases. Should be IOT-able.
From à man born in the land of Heath Robinson!
I had a similar idea and also bought a jar with a rubber seal. But then, I discovered the simple solution and was happy ;-)
BTW: I had to google to know the country; Shakespeare would have been easier ;-)
Nice video 👍
Thank you!
Don't stress Andreas, I always overcomplicate things too :)
:-))
Andreas, keep up this good work please. I really enjoy it, also watched the brewers video. Even with my limited (Dutch) 3 years of school German over 30 years ago, I was able to follow it fully. Curious wether it works properly on the long haul. Please keep us posted!
Thanks again for all your efforts!
So far it still works. But of course, we do not know the quality of the sensors over time
you show the real Maker Work :) failure is a walk for success. GREAT JOB
If you keep on going ;-) Thank you!
@@AndreasSpiess minds like us never quit :)
Mr. Spiess, this video is so cool, you're a badass!
Thank you!
I agree Dave. I find this project very exciting and mysteriously impressive. Chapeau Andreas!
I also try to combine beer and electronics as often as possible...
:-))
Great work! Funny too. I was thinking of something like this for my school project. Measuring and sending data on a phone or pc.
Why not. Good idea.
Nice work Andreas! This looks really promising for my own brewing :) I’ve been monitoring almost all of the brewing process so far, but this might be the finishing touch! Is the 3D print you’ve made to fit around the bottles available somewhere?
I added a link to the description. Maybe you try? And good luck with your project!
Andreas Spiess Thanks! Yeah, I’ll definitely try this!
So you are a software and hardware constructor on a beer brewery? Cool!
I'm a bagpiper in a band that are "house band" of a Mead brewer. I played when they had the opening party of the factory. It was fun. :-)
Sounds also interesting. I am sure you also were able to taste a little.
@@AndreasSpiess yes, I was.
Hello Andreas! Is the pressure sensor also watertight from the pressurized side? Otherwise I see some corrosion starting there...
The data sheet does not say anything. We have to do tests. I assume the silicon on the chip has to be protected somehow. These sensors are made for the automotive industry which usually is quite picky...
Finally a constructive use for science! 😁
:-)
Fusion 360 Beherrschung steht auch ganz oben auf meiner Wunschliste...
Cooles Projekt - Prost 🍻
Ich glaube bis man es wirklich beherrscht ist ein langer Weg, aber selbst dieser kann schon sehr viel Spaß bringen :) Einfach mal mit kleinen Dingen anfangen und mit der Zeit lernt man dann durch seine eigenen Fehler reichlich dazu.
Beherrschung ist ein grosses Wort. Aber es ist schon viel früher nützlich. Wie Leif schreibt.
Your videos are always entertaining and educational! Instead of using bottles, you might consider using cornelius kegs. That way if something goes wrong then nothing will explode (no bottle bombs). In the US homebrewers typically put part of their fermenting beer in reused and sanitized 2 liter bottles since their bursting pressure is quite high. Rather than using a pressure gauge, most can tell how much pressure has been developed by simply squeezing the fermenting plastic bottles. It’s not very scientific but it is very easy to achieve a relative measurement. Still, I’m looking forward to the next video.
I am not a brewer, so I do not know why they use bottles. One thing, however, is clear to me: The bottles in the US must be bigger than here ;-)
3d printing something that has to be airtight can be a huge challenge. Your video reminded me on a project where i "just" wanted to print a little T-Adapter. It took me a whole weekend to get it air tight (covered it with epoxy at the end).
I think, I also underestimated the problem with 3D prints and airtight. I hope, only once ;-) Epoxy seems to be a good way.
You can totally buy those bügal bottles! Home-brewers shops usually sell them. There's a place down the road from me that sells empty 1 liter bottles for about $3.50
Here I now found empty bottles. They have a similar price like the full ones. So this one is a no-brainer ;-)
Andreas, what do you think of using a strain gauge mounted on the bottles on the glass? As the pressure increases, you may be able to detect the slight enlarging of the OD of the glass. Then again, it may be so small that it's imperceptible and noise would drown out the signal.
Glass is probably too hard and does not move enough.
As always, a great video and I commend you on the sacrifices you made in the making of this one. A question if you don't mind. Knowing the pressure is interesting and important if you are going to intervene if the pressure becomes too high. But isn't the point to prevent the bottles from bursting? Why not create a cap system that has a preset pressure relief valve that allows pressure to escape when it exceeds a preset value. Your 3D cap would appear to be the perfect beginning of that. A tire valve that uses a spring to hold back x lbs of pressure but is over come by x+ lbs of pressure would do the trick. I have brewed for many years and have never come across such a thing. I have to wonder why. Fortunately I moved to small kegs and do not miss the bottles. The cleaning, filling, worrying about pressure and the inevitable empty bottles sitting around giving away how much beer you drank is a hassle. Interesting video and now I am off so I can try to figure out how I can incorporate TPS in to something...
Reto told me that he monitors the pressure to get an overall impression on the fermentation and when the beer is ready. But you have to ask him for these "brewer specific" questions. The alarm was just an additional feature, not so important for him as he seems to have the process under control.
Gewurztraminer ? excellent taste of Alsace's wines !
Awesome video !
It was more selected because of the thread ;-) But I liked it, too.
I just had to watch this for a second time to closely examine your setup. I think if you eliminate the SDR and the radio pressure sensor and go with a wired 0-150 psi stainless steel sensor you would get much better results. You’d certainly eliminate multiple weak points in the system and greatly improve reliability and simplicity.
I looked at it. The do it yourself version would be much bigger and probably more expensive
You are a genius.
Not that I am aware of ;-) Thank you!
@Andrea Spies - A delightful 360 journey !!! - I too home-brew my own beers & wines. ( Apple cider up to 18% proof & then may distill )
.
This is a great combination using the tyre valves & pressure sensors. The additional info on these semi-conductor devices was welcomed... including the Tx Rx frequencies. ( As I make my own antennas )
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Your humor made me chuckle - $#!T happens !!!
Thank you! I thought it migh help a few viewers to see the possibilities of Fusion3600. If you know it exists, usually, it is easier to find a tutorial. Cheers with your home brewed liquids!
Cool! Is this something that you could have patented?
I do not think so. Anyway, my stuff is open source ;-)
Things are you doing are REALLY great! Please don't stop, expecially don't stop emptying beer bootles at your lab! ))
Thank you! Drinking beer in the lab was a one-timer, I think. It would be too dangerous, the many hours I am here...
Excellent video!
Thank you.
In all fairness some of those fails were obvious but I am mechanically inclined. The solution at the end was ingenious and really that is what matters.
I am sure most people are much better than me in mechanics ;-)
@@AndreasSpiess the end solution was ingenious so the engineer in you did break the problem down to its constituents and found a solution that works. Just took a little more time since its not you primary area of interest.
Das wird ein Renner! I see prices for valves and sensors going up already :)
Maybe the electronic ones. The prices for mechanical ones going down ;-)
Great video. I have no doubt that your missing the “obvious” regarding the valve stem was the result of your extensive and intensive preparation of empty bottles for your work!
I am not sure if you mix the cause and the effect ;-)
Andreiss is meticulous
Thank you Andreas!
Tip, you should include "beer" in this titles..
Cheers!
Thanks. Maybe I will change it...
Hello Andreas, it shows that you are now more confortable filming your videos, but I don't know now if is for you being an experienced fellow or the alcohol you drank. ;)
Nonetheless, I'm trying to go back to the homebrewing hobbie (I'm using craftbeer pi with a couple of DIY 24 Amps SSR that tested last weekend, working really good), so this video was great.
I think that, even that brewers don't like threads in the bottles, to have one as a test bed for knowing the pressure of the batch wasn't such a bad idea.
And please tell your "Hopnerd" friend about the ISpindel or the open sourced alternative for the primary fermentation stage, I will definitively looking forward to make one.
Chers, bye, Diego
I know the iSpindel but never tried it - I used a Tilt Hydrometer instead for a while.
@@hopfeNerd Hey, glad to see you, I'll watch you, I hope you videos are in English. I would like Andreas take a ISpindel for a spin (pun intended), I like the way he do and explores the projects and the ISpindel is just things Andreas do, you know: microcontroller, sensors and wireless comms. By the way, I made a mistake in my previous comment, the ISpindel IS the open sourced one, I forget the name of the commercial one. I still use an Tilt Hydrometer and I recently bought an Reflectometer, I'll try both in my next brew. Chers.
I have to see if I change my video making and start it with drinking a couple of beers in the future ;-)
Your mistakes were ingenious. What an awesome way to have an excuse, I mean reason, to consume so much delightful beverages. I bet you knew the answer all along. Great video.
Now you discovered my hidden agenda. Too bad ;-)
Thank you for the great video. The threaded adapters need to be easy to install, so I wonder if it might help if one side had "pins" that aligned with holes on the other side. This might help align them so that it was easier to start threading the top. Only two of these located along the thick, bottom edge would likely suffice.
This is not necessary. I tried it. The bottleneck guides the thing neatly.
@@AndreasSpiess Very nice, and I suspect that the guide pins and holes would also be much more difficult to clean. Great design!
One of the esp8266 boards along with a SKU237545 Pressure Sensor would end a lot of frustration for you. It would certainly resolve a lot of complexity and weak points.
If the hopfeNerd does not like a screw top I wonder how he feels about automotive rubber touching his beer. There's plenty of bad chemicals in rubber or synthetic rubber that could easily mix with the beer, as an alternative I wonder if an inexpensive strain gauge could be applied to the top of a crown bottle cap that would allow pressure to be read from the deflection of the cap? Great video, thanks!!!
Nice out of the box thinking. Not easy to implement (and calibrate) I think.
(Because the surface is so small, the amount of flex will be small)
The rubber is quite far away from the beer (under normal conditions). So he did not see a problem. And as Oscar wrote, I also doubt that we would be able to measure such small pressures just across this small cap. In addition, AFAIK, caps are for single use and you would lose a strain gauge with each measurement cycle. But maybe somebody tries it. It was proposed a few times.
The beer does not have contact with the rubber so I think there's no contamination. And if there will be, the result will be a beer with a balanced taste of a brandnew car - not bad, isnt' it?
cool project -- and good solution
Thank you!
Prost!!!!!
My only compliant, you did not evaluate or rate each beer and the one bottle of wine.
Other than these minor problems, this video was excellent!
Lab experiment, beer tasting, sensor research, Fusion 360 and success through failure.
What more can one ask for....
It should be noted, beer taste can be altered by the level of pressure maintained. Some specialty Brewers have progressive valve reliefs. Essentially, the master Brewer begins with a high (er) vessel pressure, who then allows a small amount of pressure to bleed off, then maintained at a preset level.
But that is an experiment for another day, in a explosion proof lab. 😎
I am not the brewer, only the drinker ;-) Interesting, how technology can improve products! This discussion probably would fit the „Hopnerd“ channel...
@@AndreasSpiess You will need to be the master Raspberry pi brewing programmer. :-)
Nice win!! Great video
Thank you!
Good work Andreas! Trial and error works!
Not always as I can tell you ;-)
Today my pressure monitor has arrived from China.
Juhu! Now I'm also allowed to drink a few bottles of beer in the name of science :-)
And of course I have to brew beer to check the technique!
Thank you Andreas!
You are welcome. Prosit!
I think if you're going to have a cap that reports the pressure but ruins the aesthetic you may as well just use old PET bottles instead of glass. When you over prime those they usually just balloon. If you seriously over prime them the contents breaks through the cap seal and jets out of the thread. It's still messy but is a lot better than shards of glass everywhere. With a pressure monitor you should have time to move any over pressurised bottles before they balloon.
I think a better application of your pressure monitor would be on the bottled co2 pressurised kegs though. Your monitor should be able to detect when the carbonation has happened and if the keg is leaking.. and usually the top fitting has a port with a pressure release in it so you can fix the pressure without having to discard or drink everything.
As far as I understand the alarm is only an add-on. Brewers monitor the pressure to decide when it has enough Co2 and the beer is potable. Or something is completely wrong and you can pour it out without waiting for weeks.
hi
thanks for your videos
how 3D printers uses for this project?
Prusa Mk3
One aspect was not covered: To remove the valve when the bottle is ready to be consumed you need to use pliers and force. Is it likely the valve will withstand this ? Over how many cycles ? If the valve needs to be replaced every so often what would the price of a valve be abd can be easily purchased or one needs friends in the tyre industry to get some ?
If you do not press it too much it comes out quite easy. Fortunately. I got my valves from my brother, so I don’t know the price.
One tasty episode !
Definitively. And the last one, too...
Idea suggestion: Make the sensor smaller and let it float in the bear and have the antenna just above the surface. Put a standard airtight cap on. You will have to make your own PCB. But the product might be even easier to use. And it will work on any dimension and styles of bottles.
Interesting idea. It would for sure work if you can get the sensor small enough (incl. battery)
Interesting project. We make "pétillant naturel" wines - basically a still white wine put into a high-pressure (Champagne-style) bottle with the sugar provided by using original grape juice that was saved and put aside.. The grams-per-litre of the solution is meant to result in a specific final pressure, typically shooting for around 2-3 bar in a bottle rated for 6-7 bar. All very similar to beer I expect. I've mounted pressure gauges on various sample bottles and found that the downside of using rubber is that it spoils the taste of the contents, making it unsuitable for consumption after science is finished. Stainless steel seems to be the way to go for anything that has contact with a beverage.
Thank you for sharing your experience. So far we think, the rubber will not contact the beer. But this seems also be the case in your setup. How do you get glas and stainless steel airtight without rubber?
For the "test" bottles, we use a PET bottle with a plastic screw cap and clamp a stainless steel gauge to the top with a stainless nut underneath. The plastic of the top seems pliable enough to seal up.
Andreas, super video. Since I also brew & I was following both channels, yours & Reto's, I'm looking forward to the next video with the raspberry pi solution. At the moment I'm bottling weizenbier. If I brew an IPA, I would like to deliver a nice 6 pack to thank you (if you want...). I'm only 10 minutes away from you, I think.
Thank you! You can drop by also without a beer;-) just contact me before to check if I am at home.
Very interesting, I' learned a lot, thanx
Glad you enjoyed it!
This would be a nice product !
Maybe "Hopnerd" will commercialize it ;-)
Great! Awesome video.
Thank you!
3 bar is about 45 psi, that should be plenty. In those swing cap bottles, unless you're using some crazy yeast, the fermentation will shut down long before it gets anywhere near enough pressure to bust bottles. I think long before that happens the flip cap itself would lift a little and burp. Not so with thin crown cap bottles. Not sure what the end game was here. Determine when the bottles were carbonated? Or determine if the batch was over carbonated? Both can be determined by opening a bottle, and if they were over carbonated, you have only two choices, maybe three, chill the bottle, open them all, or do nothing. And then you have some brewers that would prime each bottle separately, which wouldn't tell you anything about the batch. To be useful would have to be measured in the range of 5 to 20 psi, anything above that would probably be considered high. Interesting project and struggles, have to see if it evolved from here, thanks.
You have to ask hopfenerd for the details of beer brewing. I have no idea :-(
I would probably have tested the thing with CO2 generating tablets. Also: If you monitor/record the pressure over time, please also record the temperature of the bottle! I don't know if it ultimately makes much of a difference in the final analysis, but both the gas pressure and the fermentation rate depends on the temperature. If the temperature is not uniform you may get smoother curves by compensating for the temperature. I'm not a brewer, but I guess the brewing nerds also have something to say about temperature.
Using a pump was quite easy because I had a valve...
The temperature inside the sensor will also be recorded in the final version. I assume it will be very similar to the beer temperature.
@@AndreasSpiess The yeast also produces heat. So the temperature in the top of the bottle may lag behind, since Air and Glas are worse heat conductors and the sensor is cooled by the air. Probably not much of a factor though!
@@AndreasSpiess I think the overall idea with the tire sensors is genius. Good work!
Your "FixAll" looks like E6000 craft glue, which is quite useful for a number of things - just with nasty odor while it cures.
I did not use it often (the video shows why). I was not particularly disturbed by the odor. Maybe the recipe is a little different.
You Sir are a hero... Drinking all this alcohol in the name of science! Good job!
We all have to suffer sometimes ;-)
Like always a very good video, me personally would have used freecad because it's open source, but I understand that fusion is probably easier.
It is widely used. That was my main reason as a TH-camr.
Awesome video. Keep up the great work. 😁👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you!
Applying sensors is always interesting :-) I've been wondering if testing and using ambient CO2 sensors could be a project for you, like to check air quality and sound an alarm if windows need to be opened. You might be able to combine it with a test case of how much the CO2 ppm increases by drinking a few beers in a small room!
In the making... As you see I already started the training with the beer ;-)
Beer is always good 😊
It sure is! If used in the right dosage.
Andreas ! You're the best !!
:-)
Impressive Work
Good introduktion to fail solving approach
Thanks for sharing 👍😄
You are welcome! And thank you for following me since so long!
Just curious, why was it so important that the sensors be wireless? Couldn’t they just be wired directly to the Pi0w as some sort of pressure reading station? I wonder, as a have a project planned for reading water pressure throughout my house (to check for pressure drops as filters become blocked) but was simply planning on using some esp8266 or Esp32 wired directly to the sensors. Really enjoy the videos and am proud to support your efforts!
Thank you for your support! The main reason is that I like wireless ;-)
For a stationary installation, wired sensors make sense (if you can wire them to your MCU). Here, the bottles are mobile and put away into a dark room. So, wires would not be comfortable. In additions, these sensors should last for quite a long time with only one battery.
For me the main reason for wireless is that I have the word "NERD" in my name :-)
Hats off to you for your diligence with wireless applications. I’m too new with this stuff and fear additional complications of communication interference as well as battery and power management that also has to come along for the ride.
hopfeNerd does the word ‘hopfe’ mean anything related to your hobby?
Hi, there is a stronger Version of the FixAll: Fix All High Tack. I love this stuff. Have glued lamps and power strips on the wall, stages on the stairway and a small shelf on the wall to.
Thanks for the tip!
That`s a nice project.
What`s about an over pressure valve which is activated by the pressure alarm?
It is not mainly about over pressure. The brewer wants to know the pressure to know when the beer is ready.
@@AndreasSpiess Ok. But in the video you explained bottles can explode due over pressure. The over pressure valve might avoid this situation and the further mess. The over pressure feature could be an additional option to the pressure monitoring.
I've always tried to play around with SDR but I can never get anything useful out of it :(
That is a pitty!
@@AndreasSpiess Maybe do a few SDR videos to get us up to speed. That would be pretty cool. I do not think SDR is known by too many folks here.
You will see an SDR video on this channel, I am pretty sure...
very entertaining topic and video for the 'Easter part' of the channel:). You may need to involve some mechanical engineer for similar projects where you have some non-electro challenge. but at the end it was solved and it seems work very well with cheap parts! congratulations for the success!
And thanks for the video, keep going to create similar ones!
Thank you! I have to see if I am getting nice project ideas like that in the future...
Oh!, is wonderful work!, congratulations
:-)
Great project!
I went the simple route with my Bresser Outdoor Thermometer running on 433 MHz. Use a generic 433MHz receiver module hooked up to an AVR-based Arduino programmed to sample the input where the 433 MHz module is connected, precisely with a timer interrupt. If a match of a preamble is detected, it switches over to decoding mode, and decodes the 40 data bits that the sensor sends. It sends the same data 13 times - if the Arduino detects the same data at least three times, I can be confident that the reception was successful. The Arduino then sends the decoded data over UART to an ESP8266, which then publishes it via MQTT. It might be overly complicated in hardware, but the software was extremely easy to build. Plus, I had all the stuff laying around.
That is a cheap possibility if the sensor uses OOK. These sensors use FSK and I did not find a receiver for FSK. And we anyway will need a Raspberry for the next step.
@@AndreasSpiess Looking forward to it :-)
how cool is that?!? but now i have to learn to brew beer ... the art of drinking beer I already master :p
The second seems to be easier that the first. And it is not clear if #2 helps to start #1 ;-)
Brewing beer is the best hobby you can have (besides working woth sensors and microchips of course)