phillc
Regular.
This could be a long one, as there's a bit of a story.
I wanted to put on a brew using a Kveik yeast, which of course needs to ferment at a higher temperature. I haven't to date actively monitored the temperature of my fermentation, apart from using the sticky thermometers which go on the outside of a fermenter. Therefore, I started looking for a temperature probe I could use in a thermowell for monitoring.
I should also add that I like to tinker with technology.
I found online the open source Anavi Thermometer, which displays ambient temperature, humidity and can also be fitted with a temperature probe for monitoring liquid temperatures. I paid a little more and bought the developer kit, as I dream that one day when the wife and kid allow me to spend even more time tinkering, I will. The prices from the previously linked page were reasonable, but the delivery costs were stupidly high, as it looked like the device was being sent from the USA. However, on closer inspection, Anavi Technology is based in Bulgaria. I contacted them directly to see if they could send to me cheaper in Austria.
They could, and did! Leon Anavi is the principal of the firm and I have to say you could not find a more patient, customer focused person. I have nothing but good things to say about the whole experience, especially considering my screw ups. More about that later.
When the device arrived, it was a matter of connecting the pieces and tightening screws. The great thing about this developer board is that no soldering is required. It's small and fiddly, but with patience everything fits and connects together. Now the documentation clearly says, "do not over tighten the screws holding the small OLED screen in place." Of course, what did I do? Over tighten the screws and crack the screen.
Leon offered to send me another screen free of charge, but I couldn't accept that for my own stupid mistake. I managed to find another compatible screen at Conrad, a large electronics supplier here in Austria. I now have three of these screens just in case.
Once I installed the new screen, everything seems to work fine. The device starts with its own WiFi access point, which you connect to with your phone to configure. Once configured, the device's access point is shut down and it uses your local WiFi access point to send data over the network.
Data? What? That's right, this device sends all its data to wherever you tell it to, using MQTT protocol. This is not something I've come across before, but I jumped straight in, setting up a Mosquitto MQTT broker on a Digital Ocean virtual server. This took almost a day to get up and working properly. There are easier ways, such as just installing a Home Assistant piece of software, but I don't have any other IoT devices, so saw no point. I am now saving all the temperature data from the probe to a text file on the server, which I push to a remote Git repository. I intend over the next couple of days to write a nice little webpage with a fancy chart to display.
Today was brew day. I had bought a new Speidel 30 litre fermenter specifically for this experiment. Last weekend I fitted an SS Brewtech 300mm thermowell to the lid of the fermenter.
This morning I decided that I'd better test the Anavi temperature probe in the thermowell, as all previous testing has just been dropping the probe directly in a glass of warm water.
The thermowell is 6.5mm in diameter. The Anavi temperature probe is 6mm. Should be just about a perfect fit. No it's not. The temperature probe has a rubber insulating sheath at the top, which means it will not fit in the thermowell. Using a sharp knife and great care, I was able to cut away most of this sheath, while still leaving the wires insulated. The piece now fits perfectly.
Finally, all seems to be in order.
I should add that I tested the probe and thermowell, versus the temperature displayed by sticking a thermometer directly in water. When the probe was stuck at the top of the thermowell, the temperature difference was 8 degrees Celcius, with the directly in liquid thermometer reading higher. When the probe is at the bottom of the thermowell, the difference is still 3 degrees, again with the directly in liquid thermometer reading higher. However, this difference seemed to be pretty constant with multiple measurements made over a 3 hour period earlier this afternoon. As long as the difference is known and can be adjusted for, I'm fine with it.
I wanted to put on a brew using a Kveik yeast, which of course needs to ferment at a higher temperature. I haven't to date actively monitored the temperature of my fermentation, apart from using the sticky thermometers which go on the outside of a fermenter. Therefore, I started looking for a temperature probe I could use in a thermowell for monitoring.
I should also add that I like to tinker with technology.
I found online the open source Anavi Thermometer, which displays ambient temperature, humidity and can also be fitted with a temperature probe for monitoring liquid temperatures. I paid a little more and bought the developer kit, as I dream that one day when the wife and kid allow me to spend even more time tinkering, I will. The prices from the previously linked page were reasonable, but the delivery costs were stupidly high, as it looked like the device was being sent from the USA. However, on closer inspection, Anavi Technology is based in Bulgaria. I contacted them directly to see if they could send to me cheaper in Austria.
They could, and did! Leon Anavi is the principal of the firm and I have to say you could not find a more patient, customer focused person. I have nothing but good things to say about the whole experience, especially considering my screw ups. More about that later.
When the device arrived, it was a matter of connecting the pieces and tightening screws. The great thing about this developer board is that no soldering is required. It's small and fiddly, but with patience everything fits and connects together. Now the documentation clearly says, "do not over tighten the screws holding the small OLED screen in place." Of course, what did I do? Over tighten the screws and crack the screen.
Leon offered to send me another screen free of charge, but I couldn't accept that for my own stupid mistake. I managed to find another compatible screen at Conrad, a large electronics supplier here in Austria. I now have three of these screens just in case.
Once I installed the new screen, everything seems to work fine. The device starts with its own WiFi access point, which you connect to with your phone to configure. Once configured, the device's access point is shut down and it uses your local WiFi access point to send data over the network.
Data? What? That's right, this device sends all its data to wherever you tell it to, using MQTT protocol. This is not something I've come across before, but I jumped straight in, setting up a Mosquitto MQTT broker on a Digital Ocean virtual server. This took almost a day to get up and working properly. There are easier ways, such as just installing a Home Assistant piece of software, but I don't have any other IoT devices, so saw no point. I am now saving all the temperature data from the probe to a text file on the server, which I push to a remote Git repository. I intend over the next couple of days to write a nice little webpage with a fancy chart to display.
Today was brew day. I had bought a new Speidel 30 litre fermenter specifically for this experiment. Last weekend I fitted an SS Brewtech 300mm thermowell to the lid of the fermenter.
This morning I decided that I'd better test the Anavi temperature probe in the thermowell, as all previous testing has just been dropping the probe directly in a glass of warm water.
The thermowell is 6.5mm in diameter. The Anavi temperature probe is 6mm. Should be just about a perfect fit. No it's not. The temperature probe has a rubber insulating sheath at the top, which means it will not fit in the thermowell. Using a sharp knife and great care, I was able to cut away most of this sheath, while still leaving the wires insulated. The piece now fits perfectly.
Finally, all seems to be in order.
I should add that I tested the probe and thermowell, versus the temperature displayed by sticking a thermometer directly in water. When the probe was stuck at the top of the thermowell, the temperature difference was 8 degrees Celcius, with the directly in liquid thermometer reading higher. When the probe is at the bottom of the thermowell, the difference is still 3 degrees, again with the directly in liquid thermometer reading higher. However, this difference seemed to be pretty constant with multiple measurements made over a 3 hour period earlier this afternoon. As long as the difference is known and can be adjusted for, I'm fine with it.
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