Category Archives: Brewing / Fermenting / Booze

Cocktail pictures and notebook

I like mixology

Some pictures of the drinks i’ve made, in the last years.

Most are in my notebook, i can perfect the drink now individually for a person.

I really have to put the names of the drinks on this page.
(And the tasting notes!)

Fermenting sauerkraut in a crock

We love fermenting!
Sometimes we ferment our own sauerkraut.

Depending on the volume it can take at least 2 weeks up to several months.

If you don’t have crock pot weights, use a plastic bag filled with water.
(See below)

Mixture: Salt, juniper berries, dill, celery seeds and caraway.

  • Rinse Cabbage and clean. Cut out and discard the hard white center.
  • Take the largest leaves from one cabbage and lay them out at the bottom of your clean and rinsed out crock pot.
  • Shred the rest of the cabbage.
  • Add a layer of shredded cabbage over the laid out leaves in the crock pot. Sprinkle some of above mixture over this layer. Compress by stomping down with the stomper.
  • Repeat the layering process until you used up all the cabbage, salt, and juniper berries. After each layer stomp it down.
  • Pour all the luke warm water over the cabbage. That will activate the fermentation process.
  • Place clean crock pot weights over the cabbage and close the crock pot with the lid. Pour water into the ring of your crock pot and make sure there is always water in that.
  • Wait several weeks until cabbage is done fermenting into Sauerkraut.

Some books about the subject we own

Pressure Lab

For measuring pressure in fermentation containers, I designed a pressure sensor which could be wireless connected to a fermentation container.
The sensor would transmit the values to a Raspberry which was configured as a Access Point and would store the measurements and generated graphs using Grafana.

Raspberry with RealtimeClock
RTC on raspberry

3D printed holder, designed in blender. Holds battery prints and has little handle to lift from container

Nodes config:

Esp configuration, connect with micro-usb
Flashing with linux

esptool.py -p /dev/ttyUSB0  write_flash 0x00000  ESP_Easy_mega-20190311_normal_ESP8266_4M.bin

Make a connection with the ESP Access point

Connect esp with a power source.
Look for a AP with ESP_Easy_0

Use password “configesp” to connect

Start you browser and enter http://192.168.4.1

In wifi wizard setup select “pressurespot”
Enter password “pressurespot”

Press connect

Wait 20s and look in the raspberry logs which IP the ESP got.

Connect laptop/mobile to wifi “pressurespot”and connect

Enter found IP from ESP in your browser.

Proceed to main config

Main setting table, set the following

  • Unit name & number + append
  • SSID and WPA key pressurespot
  • Client IP block level allow all
  • Press submit

Press controller tab

Press first edit button and set following
– Protocol: domoticz http
Next set
– Controller IP : 10.42.0.1
– Toggle enabled and press submit

Resulting in:

Next we got to Hardware

I2C interface switch GPIO-4 and GPIO-5

  • GPIO – SDA: GPIO-4 (D2) change to GPIO-5 (D1)
  • GPIO – SCL: GPIO-5 (D1) change to GPIO-4 (D2)
  • Press “Submit”

Devices TAB

Press edit, and select device “Environment – BMx280” from the pulldown menu.

Next, set the following

  • Name: pressure
  • Enable on
  • I2C address : 0x76 ( Is there is no 0x76 of 0x77 .. do a i2c scan on the next tab )
  • Send to controller , mark this
  • IDX: give this the number you had given this node (this is the one you have to use in domoticz )
  • interval 10Seconds
  • and press submit

In the Devices tab, you should be able to see the sensor with the values (Temperature and pressure)

No values? Do a i2c scan and/or reboot ESP ( You can find these in the tools tab)

Tools TAB

Press I2C scan, when seeing a address like 0x76 or 0x77 use this in previous tabs.
Still nothing, even after reboot? Maybe faulty hardware?

Everything okay? Back to the config tab

We are going to set the sleep mode.
Warning ! .. when setting this it is hard to get into the config pages again.
ESP will startup, connect to wifi, send values and goes to sleep again.

At the bottom set: Sleep awake time 1 sec

Buttons on the raspberry / pressurespot

Red button :

  • Less than 3 seconds is reboot
  • Longer than 3 seconds is shut down
    • Charger can be removed, when the green light is off

Led lights on the sensors

  • Red light (R2; constant): battery is charging
  • Blue light (R1; constant): battery is full
  • Blue light (R1; constant) & red light (R2; blinking): trying to charge, but no battery connected

Add shutdown script to /etc/rc.local

python /usr/local/bin/power-switch.py &

/usr/local/bin/power-switch.py

#!/usr/bin/python
import threading, subprocess
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
def shutdown():
    subprocess.call('sudo shutdown -h now', shell=True)
def edge_detected(pin):
    if GPIO.input(pin):
        t.cancel()
        subprocess.call('sudo reboot', shell=True)
    else:
        t.start()
if __name__ == '__main__':
    try:
        GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)
        GPIO.setup(5, GPIO.IN)
        GPIO.add_event_detect(5, GPIO.BOTH, callback=edge_detected, bouncetime=10)
        t = threading.Timer(3.0, shutdown)
        while True:
            pass
    finally:
        GPIO.cleanup()

/usr/local/bin/ledoff.py

#!/usr/bin/python
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import time
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
GPIO.setwarnings(False)
GPIO.setup(18,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.output(18,GPIO.LOW)

/usr/local/bin/ledon.py

#!/usr/bin/python
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import time
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
GPIO.setwarnings(False)
GPIO.setup(18,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.output(18,GPIO.HIGH)

nmcli device wifi hotspot ssid pressurespot password pressurespot

 /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/Hotspot-1

[connection]
id=Hotspot-1
uuid=c2c05528-63f9-44c7-93ce-264187a45086
type=wifi
permissions=
timestamp=1553708934

[wifi]
hidden=true
mac-address=B8:27:EB:7F:D5:E7
mac-address-blacklist=
mode=ap
seen-bssids=B8:27:EB:7F:D5:E7;
ssid=pressurespot

[wifi-security]
group=ccmp;
key-mgmt=wpa-psk
pairwise=ccmp;
proto=rsn;
psk=pressurespot

[ipv4]
dns-search=
method=shared

[ipv6]
addr-gen-mode=stable-privacy
dns-search=
method=ignore

/usr/bin/servicecheck.sh (in rc.local and crontab root user – every minute

#!/bin/bash
nmcli connection show  | grep "Hotspot-1           c2c05528-63f9-44c7-93ce-264187a45086  802-11-wireless  wlan0" >/dev/null && touch /tmp/wlan || rm -f /tmp/wlan
for f in influx domoticz telegraf grafana mosquitto ; do
pgrep $f >/dev/null && touch /tmp/$f || rm -f /tmp/$f
done
count=$(ls  /tmp/influx /tmp/domoticz /tmp/telegraf /tmp/grafana /tmp/mosquitto /tmp/wlan | wc -l)
if [ $count -eq 6 ]  ; then
/usr/local/bin/ledon.py
exit 0
fi

for timer in {1..10} ; do
/usr/local/bin/ledon.py
sleep 1

/usr/local/bin/ledoff.py
sleep 1
done

Rest services to be installed on Raspberry

At the moment the raspberry uses domoticz between the Mqtt broker (Mosquitto) and the database (Influx)
Data wil be displayed using grafana.

tail -f /var/log/syslog shows which ip to which ESP
DHCPACK(wlan0) 10.42.0.104 cc:50:e3:c4:96:61 lab-
DHCPACK(wlan0) 10.42.0.181 cc:50:e3:c4:8d:73 lab-4
DHCPACK(wlan0) 10.42.0.186 cc:50:e3:c4:9b:ef lab-1

Configuring the raspberry

Install influx and grafana

First we add Influx repositories to apt:

wget -qO- https://repos.influxdata.com/influxdb.key | sudo apt-key add -
source /etc/os-release
echo "deb https://repos.influxdata.com/debian $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/influxdb.list

Update apt with the new repo & install.

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y influxdb

Then start the influxdb service and set it to run at boot:

sudo systemctl enable influxdb --now

Again we need to add the Grafana packages to apt:

wget -q -O - https://packages.grafana.com/gpg.key | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb https://packages.grafana.com/oss/deb stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/grafana.list

We can now update and install the binaries:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y grafana

Then simply enable the service and set to run at boot:

sudo systemctl enable grafana-server.service --now

Now we can check that grafana is up by loading it in a browser: http://10.42.0.1:3000. If so, you can log in with the username and password = admin and set a new admin password.

Install mosquitto

sudo apt install mosquitto mosquitto-clients

Install domoticz using below command

<code><strong>curl -sSL install.domoticz.com | sudo bash</strong></code>

Under hardware add MQTT server adress 127.0.0.1

Add virtual sensors to domoticz.

Click hardware and create virtual sensor, lab with sensornumber. Sensor type is Temp+Baro.

When looking at devices you will see the virtual devices.

Here you can see if data is coming from the ESP’s

Pushing the data into Influxdb:

Goto settings > more options > data push > influxdb

Add temperature

  • Device name: lab* (lab plus unit number)
  • Value to send: temperature
  • Target type: direct (NOTE screenshot below is wrong)
  • press add

Add barometer

  • Device name: lab* (lab plus unit number)
  • Value to send: Barometer
  • Target type: direct (NOTE screenshot below is wrong)
  • press add

Configure Grafana

Go with your browser to http://10.42.0.1 when connected to the rpi access point

Goto settings and data sources, add influxdb with source http://localhost:8086
Goto dashboard and create a new one.

Data source is influx, select A Barometer
And the IDX that was used in configuring the ESP
Axes: Units in millibars, above example had temperature, for both Baro and Temp in one graph.
Select null value as connected

TODO

Telegraf/mosquito
Services in domoticz
Rpi status display
Sensor test / monitor

Soy Sauce

Fermentation day again .. today, Soy Sauce

  • Soybeans 1 kg
  • All-purpose flour 200 g
  • Koji Starter 8-10 g
  • Salt 1 kg
  • Water 2 litres

Best to lookup howto on the internet

Beer hops

My DIY hop stirrer!

Because we brew our own beer, it was a no-brainer to grow our own hops.
Well … it sure grows .. and fast!

On several occations we made beer with it, but not knowing which type of Hops they were .. it was hard to do the calculations!

Beer brewing foam blow out!

Sometime the yeast fermentation is TO active.

Resulting in a blowout. Blowing air into to brew is automated by my brew computer. So i didn’t check myself meanwhile .. Maybe somekind of overspilling sensor can be made??

My beer brew computer/environment ( computer controlled fridge )

Beer in this yeast container was a Rauchbeer / smoke beer

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
10 L 90 min 20.0 0.0 EBC

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Rauchbier A A 1.05 - 1.05 1.01 - 1.01 20 - 20 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 - 0 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pilsmout (3 EBC) 600 g 30.77
Munichmout (17 EBC) 600 g 30.77
Rookmout 600 g 30.77
Zuurmout 50 g 2.56
Caramelmout (150 EBC) 75 g 3.85
Chocolademout (1000 EBC) 25 g 1.28

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Fuggles 20 g 90 min Boil Leaf 4
Cascade 10 g 5 min Boil Leaf 5

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Lievevrouwebedstro, gedroogde 4 g 5 min Boil Spice

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Wyeast 1007 German Ale 0% 0°C - 0°C

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Stap 1 52°C 15 min
Stap 2 63°C 50 min
Stap 3 73°C 10 min
Stap 4 80°C 1 min

Fermentation

Step Time Temperature
Aging 0 days 0°C

Beer glasses

I’ve collected some beer glasses in the past, but i didn’t have many.
I hated the fact that your are not using them OR (even worse).
Put a different brand of beer in the branded glass!

So i bought a set of these:

I like the no-brand no-logo … just-a-glass look.

So why different types of glasses. Some say “nonsence!”

Welllll .. maybe for a part.
Click on the images for more information about the glass.
Below i will use the names of the glasses, these are NOT generally accepted names.

  • Some types of glasses like the “Breughel” concentrate the aroma.
  • A heavy stout mostly has less volume, it looks weird in a pint glass.
  • Besides the volume, a lighter beer looks better in a “Prague” glass
  • Some glasses are better suited for keeping the beer cold, other you can warm a little in your hand.
    ( Beer is NOT always best cold! When you drink it too cold, you will numb your taste buds. Most beerbottles have a temperature suggestion)
  • Bulb glasses like “Grand Cru” will keep your foam longer.

There is no need for a foam head on your stout, so use a “Gusto” for example.

Temperatures (a little example) Do your research on the internet!

  • 4 degrees celsius : Light lagers, Pilsners
  • 7 degrees celsius : Blondes, Wheat and Hefeweizen
  • 10 degrees celsius : Red, Amber, IPA, Tripple
  • 12 degrees celsius : Bitters, Scotch Ale, Stouts and Porters
  • 14 degrees celsius :Imperial Stouts, Double bock, Barley Wines, Milk stouts