Digital Parrot & Fermenter Controller

[YHB]

Digital Parrot

If you measure the temperature of your boiling wash you can calculate the % ABV. As the run progresses the temperature of the wash goes up and the % ABV goes down.

Stick a temperature probe into the boiler and connect it to an Arduino microprocessor and its all done for you.

Take another probe and put it in the vapour path of your still, using a similar calculation you will get the % ABV that is coming out of your still.

It works.



Work to date indicates that it is more accurate than the physical parrot.

Fermenter Controller

Using the same bit of hardware, but put each sensors in a fermenter, add a twin channel relay which costs about £2 and you have two thermostats to keep your yeasties warm.



Or in my case I will have one thermostatically controlled fermenter to keep my yeasties warm and one thermostatically controlled shed to keep me warm.

The bits and pieces cost me under £20 by buying them in the UK, buy them from China and they will be less than £10. To change from thermostat to parrot all that is involved is closing a switch and pressing the reset button.

Buying them in the UK the bits and pieces cost me under £20, buy them from China and they will be less than £10. The Circuit Diagrams and Arduino Code are freely available.

[Anavrin]

Hi Brian

I've been watching the digital parrot design and build over recent months, did you get your bits off ebay?

Ive been thinking about building one, now it looks like the code is ready I'll have a go.

Another usefull feature that would be very easy to add if it has another input or mode available would be for a realtime display of an ABV Alcometer correction value, while measuring the liquid temperature in a real parrot.

[YHB]

Hi,

Yes all my bits came from e-bay, I paid a small premium to buy them from a UK importer to save time.

Another usefull feature that would be very easy to add if it has another input or mode available would be for a realtime display of an ABV Alcometer correction value, while measuring the liquid temperature in a real parrot.

You could easily add another sensor to measure whatever temperature you wanted, however as far as I know the correction factor varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.

But I am sorry, I do not understand what you want this for? my idea is to do away with real parrots.

[Icefever]

We read a lot about folks adding a temp probe in columns, then we read it's not worth it. I've never read about a probe in the boiler, but when I started with this hobby, I read and download a temp list from I think an USA forum...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The alcohols in the wash begin to vapourise from the wash around specific temperatures. If by themselves they would be ...
• Acetone 56.5C (134F)
• Methanol (wood alcohol) 64C (147F)
• Ethyl acetate 77.1C (171F)
• Ethanol 78C (172F)
• 2-Propanol (rubbing alcohol) 82C (180F)
• 1-Propanol 97C (207F)
• Water 100C (212F)
• Butanol 116C (241F)
• Amyl alcohol 137.8C (280F)
• Furfural 161C (322F)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With this info to work off I've always thought that knowing what the temp is
should infact be an advantage.

Any more basic info on this would be very welcome.

[YHB]

Temperature probes are great for telling you the temperature, the Digital parrot uses the temperature to tell you the %ABV that is coming out of the still.

The traditional physical parrot collects samples out of the still that have been gathered and mixed over a period, so the value that you are seeing is not the value that the still is giving out at that time.

As well as the smearing of the sample, the physical parrot is subject to a lot of interpretation, the curve on the surface of the liquid has to be allowed for and can cover a range of a few %, you need to accurately take the temperature of the sample you are measuring each time you measure, then use a calculator to apply the correction factor supplied by the manufacturer. I doubt whether two people with the same equipment would get the same results. As such the physical parrot applied on the fly, is nothing more than a guide to see how the run is going. The accurate measurements are taken on the cutting bench.

The Digital Parrot is also a guide to see how the run is going, but it is so much easier to read and appears to be just as accurate if not more so.

The original parrot just gave the % ABV of the distillate, having a couple of spare lines on the display other information has been added. How much alcohol is left in the boiler and alarms to tell you when certain strengths / temperatures have been reached.

I do not think that the parrot will be able to identify the various components that you list, but it certainly gives you more information that you can use when making your cuts.

My next goal is a parrot that will give me the %ABV at each of the Plates on my bubbler, the value of the take off and show how much Alcohol is left in the boiler.

I currently have the program but it involves using 2 Arduino's and 2 Screens. Ignore the values I just put the sensors in coffee cups with hot water.



I have just received a small touch screen color TV and an Arduino processor that all 11 values should fit on. All the hardware cost me £10.50



I am enjoying my new toy - sorry I cannot add any action photographs, I have just blown the element in my boiler.

[Benoit]

Love the idea & if it all works then gone are the days of diving across the garage floor as the hydrometer rolls off the bench! If ever you choose to build these for sale please let me know, electronics baffle me & software code even more so
I eagerly await pictures of it complete & in action!

Benoit

[YHB]

If any of you enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles without the picture on the front of the box and 25% of the pieces missing, you may enjoy making one of these.

I bought a Arduino Uno and a 2.8" TFT screen from e-bay for £10.50. The instruction said something like "click the two pieces together, load up the drivers and you will be enjoying this device within 10 minutes"

Unfortunately they do not tell you which drivers to install, there are many varieties of tft screens, by different manufacturers who use several chip sets, it is a nightmare.

I have eventually got the graphics working - sort of, I can upload a .bmp file and the touch screen works in a mirror image of what you want. But saying all that I think I have an idea of what I am trying to do - just need more sensors to make it work.

One processor / One code - 3 parrots.

What do you think?

After all the bells and whistles I think I actually prefer Mode 1

Opening Screen - blatant advert for something that is free



Mode 1

Nice and simple - direct replacement for the physical parrot.



Mode 2

Perhaps the pot distillers and the packed column enthusiasts may be interested.



Mode 3

For me and any other bubbler, I just think it would be cool to see the % rising as more plates are introduced and allow people to predict how many plates they require for a specific ABV.

[Anavrin]

Im going to jump on the Arduino Digital Parrot band wagon, I don't know much about Arduino so I did a little googling and found a free download of the Arduino for dummies book, see link below

http://www.free-engineering-books.com/2 ... f.html?m=1

You get a few pop ups and othe crap but it does let you download the book for free, I've read the first couple of chapters and now feel confident to go out and buy an Arduino Kit to get me started.

[YHB]

Welcome aboard, the kit may be a good idea.

I was determined not to go the "Learn to be an Arduino Developer" route. I do not want to be an Arduino developer who can build lots of things, I just wanted to build a parrot.

So I bought the bits and pieces that I thought I would need, and started connecting them together. The fermenter controller was an afterthought and a bonus.

Let us know how you are getting on.

[Magnu420]

this is intresting idea brian,i might look into
this next year

keep us posted how it went on


edit... forgot to say could a raspberry pi be used

[Mash]

I have tried real hard to sit on my hands. These little arduino blighters keep popping up in my life.

Been doing some stuff with gsm controllers. Arduino is the next step.

I am not a programmer but I may now have to read the book. thank you.

[YHB]

edit... forgot to say could a raspberry pi be used

I am sure a raspberry pi would be eminently suitable, but I know even less about them than Arduino,s.

[Benoit]

Can I ask what probes you are using & how they connect?
I have a mechanical one from an old oven that I know will be useless but I also have one from Amazon that looks very much like the ones on still dragon which was a couple of quid, have you pulled one of those apart?

Benoit

[YHB]

The sensors are known as Dallas One Wire, the official name is DS18B20.

The name "one wire" refers to the fact that you can have many ( Over 100) sensors on one wire, the wire may be two or three cores.

Each sensor has a unique address and you can ask each, any or all sensors what the temperature is where they are. They work in units of one sixteenth or 0.0625 of a degree, and each sensor is programmable.

The sensors themselves are about £0.75 each or if you want them prewired they cost about £1.50.

It may sound complicated and it is, but the clever people have done all the hard work and the code supplied does 99.9% of it for you.

[Anavrin]

Hi Brian

Can I ask what diameter the temp sensors are?