[Adam Chizmar]

I have brewed probably about 5-6 batches of homebrew at this point and while all have turned out fairly good, I feel the missing element is accurate temperature control during fermentation that would allow me to step the game up.
I have bought a fridge that will be dedicated to fermentation and with some help from a friend built a simple system that would via a probe in a thermowell measure the temperature of the brew and then send a signal to the fridge cooling system to adjust it to a desired one. Now that I have the hardware, I am trying to see if anyone has a software written to do just this - I imagine it is a common "problem" homebrewers face. Right now the hardware is set up such that the software would be located on a laptop which would be connected to the circuit board to establish the desired temperature.

[denny]

Why not just use something like this?  https://www.morebeer.com/search?search=inkbird

[curtdogg]

This.
The inkbird  controller is inexpensive, easy to use and works great. I've had mine for about 4 years with no issues.

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[Robert]

+1

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[BrewBama]

I went with Auber. Works great: https://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=499


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[denny]

I went with Auber. Works great: https://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=499


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Yeah, I love my Aubers.  I went with Inkbird here since it's so popular, but I certainly recommend looking at Auber.

[MNWayne]

You can get a dual stage ITC-1000 for about $15.

[Robert]

You can get a dual stage ITC-1000 for about $15.

For most people starting from scratch it would be more cost effective to go with one of the Inkbird units (or other supplier) that includes the probe, power supply and all.  But if the OP has already acquired those bits of hardware, the ITC-1000 to handle the control functions is a great call.

Note this from the AHA website, which may interest the OP:

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pimp-my-system/build-temperature-controller/

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[Kevin]

Just get an Inkbird.

[lparsons]

Yeah, I love my Aubers.  I went with Inkbird here since it's so popular, but I certainly recommend looking at Auber.

Hadn't seen these before, they look quite nice. I have an ITC from years back and an Inkbird as a secondary. What's the advantage of the Aubers given they are rather pricey?

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[BrewBama]

Yeah, I love my Aubers.  I went with Inkbird here since it's so popular, but I certainly recommend looking at Auber.

Hadn't seen these before, they look quite nice. I have an ITC from years back and an Inkbird as a secondary. What's the advantage of the Aubers given they are rather pricey?

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Well, If you buy thru a retailer like Bobby at Brewhardware, Inkbird won’t fix your problem (example below). They are located in China so there is a considerable lag time in correspondence and they and their instructions are difficult to understand. Their phone number is: +86 0755 25721303  Good luck with that.

This is the note I received after 5 days of back and forth (one message per day) concerning a PID controller issue. The original question was error code meaning but they could not tell me the what the error code meant. I suspected a temp probe and replacing it with a much better third party design which solved my problem.

“Dear customer,
Sorry, our company is not responsible for the products sold on this website.
Please contact the seller, maybe he will give you better help.
Rrgards,
Kaye”

Auber conducts all research and development at its facility in Alpharetta, Georgia, USA. Reading their instructions or calling someone is easy and I can understand them.

Phone:
(770) 569-8420
(404) 926-6098
(404) 983-8228
Office hours: M -F, 9AM - 5PM ET.

Maybe I’m gettin old but customer service has value to me.


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[Robert]

Maybe I’m gettin old but customer service has value to me.

The problem with the world today is that nobody can solve any problem not described in Voice Prompt #1, #2, or #3.   

[Adam Chizmar]

Thank you for the advice everyone. I think I will go with an Inkbird as many of you suggest. 

[Brian Wall]

Hi Adam,
I think I can help. I am a recently retired software engineer. I enjoy building my own brewing equipment almost as much as making the beer. I am currently using a PC to control my fermentation temperatures on my two fermenters. I have heating pads (like the kind people use when they have a sore back) wrapped around each fermenter. Heating pads can be purchased for around $12. I use a PC to monitor the temps and turn the heating pads on and off as needed. In addition to enjoying running my own code, I can add features that off the shelf temp controllers don't have. In my case I added the ability to monitor my temps in both fermenters and the status of the heating pads as well as specific gravity over the internet. When I travel I can always pull out my phone and check on the status of my fermenters. I can even turn the heaters on or off remotely if I want to. The code that controls the heaters is very simple. It looks like this:

                            if ((temp < 69) && (!Heater))
                                HeaterOn(true);

                            if ((temp > 70) && (Heater))
                                HeaterOn(false);

Variable Heater holds the current status of the Heater. HeaterOn() is a function that turns power to the heater on or off. Everything runs on a PC for now. Once I get finished making changes to the software, I plan to move it to a Raspberry PI running Windows 10 IOT edition. Then no PC will be needed.

Brian

Primary #1:  Denny's Rye IPA
Primary #2:  Coffee Porter

Secondary:    Irish Blonde Ale   (for St. Patrick's day party)