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• Posted Oct. 9, 2012, 9:53 a.m. - 12 years ago

Raspberry Pi for Adult Libations

I have written about getting a Raspberry Pi to pique my son’s interest in programming.  That didn’t work out too well due to his expectations to write a full-scale warrior programs with full-action graphics animations.

I also wrote about how a few Raspberry Pi boards can be turned into a supercomputer.  My son appears to be more interested in the high-powered games.

So, I turned my attention back to the cute little Raspberry Pi board and wondered what I could do with it now that I spent hard-earned currency on it.  I looked far and wide and finally found something that I can do with it.

On top of this, it could actually save me some cash and might even make some new friends, too.  It all centers on the adult libation known as beer.

It is called BrewPi.  It “is an open source fermentation controller that runs on an Arduino (for now) and a Raspberry Pi. It can control your beer temperature with 0.1 degree precision, log temperature data in nice graphs and is fully configurable from a web interface.”

One should be able to make some fantastic beer by using BrewPi.  In the beer-making process, controlling the fermentation is critical.  It is the difference between a good tasty beer and a wretched soupy mess that will need a Hazardous Materials Team to attend to its disposal.

Best of all, this is an open source software project.  It will give you precise control over the brewing environment with a DS18B20 temperature sensor.

College engineering student Elco Jacobs designed the BrewPi as a way to make his own beer.  After all, beer seems an integral part of college life, and what better way to save money than to brew your own?

See what Elco is doing at BrewPi.  Adults only, mind you!

Picture via BrewPi

• Computer Skills