A friend of mine is an avid all-grain home beer brewer. He prefers to keep things as manual as possible, but one thing bugs him: the thermometer is a delicate piece of equipment, and the lautering process requires careful monitoring of the temperature. Of course, digital thermometers come a dime a dozen, but how about a thermometer that can be programmed for a target temperature and tells him to increase or decrease the heat? It's basically a thermostat, yes, but for DYI guys like him and me, a home-made one is better than anything you can find at a store.
This is of course a job for the PICaxe 08M, which has built-in support for the Dallas Semiconductors DS18B20 1-wire temperature probe. The first version is quite simple: the user sets the target temperature using an IR remote, and the 08M writes back the entry on a two-digit display. Next, the 08M continuously measures the temperature via the DS18B20, and lights an LED if the heater must be turned up. The user may change the target temperature any time using the remote.
The display makes use of two 4026 decade counters with built-in 7-segment drivers. Only two wires are required to display two digits: one reset signal that resets the decade counters to 00. The other is a clock that is pulsed to count to the desired output. The counting is fast enough to cause only a small fluttering of the display as the desired output is reached.
The DS18B20 is mounted in a copper pipe with brass ends, allowing it to be submerged in the warm or boiling wort during the entire brewing process.
The full documentation may be found here.
This is of course a job for the PICaxe 08M, which has built-in support for the Dallas Semiconductors DS18B20 1-wire temperature probe. The first version is quite simple: the user sets the target temperature using an IR remote, and the 08M writes back the entry on a two-digit display. Next, the 08M continuously measures the temperature via the DS18B20, and lights an LED if the heater must be turned up. The user may change the target temperature any time using the remote.
The display makes use of two 4026 decade counters with built-in 7-segment drivers. Only two wires are required to display two digits: one reset signal that resets the decade counters to 00. The other is a clock that is pulsed to count to the desired output. The counting is fast enough to cause only a small fluttering of the display as the desired output is reached.
The DS18B20 is mounted in a copper pipe with brass ends, allowing it to be submerged in the warm or boiling wort during the entire brewing process.
The full documentation may be found here.
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