iSpindel

[gingerneil]

I have; the ispindle is communicating with Fermentrack, just not tracking gravity

Are you getting a tilt output? The gyro may be faulty...

 

[RoomWithABrew]

@dearleuk

A few months away for subscription if you paid for premium on brewspy. You could I suppose subscribe to brewfather and link your device or set up a secure connection to brewpiless using your pi.

 

[dearleuk]

Thanks for all the replies

The gyro is working fine with Brewspy so I think its okay, Ill have a look at the github page

Thanks again

 

[Eskimo John]

Let us know how you get on

 

[dearleuk]

Fermentrack for me, but mainly 'cos I had a Pi lying around and seemed like a good idea at the time. If I didn't have a spare Pi, I would have gone Brewpiless to start with.

Did you have to enter calibration values for Fermentrack to track gravity

 

[ChrisT]

Yes, you have to calibrate if you want to get realistic SG readings. As an experiment I put in constants that someone else published, yes I got wild SG readings but I could see that the SG was changing so I could see when it had stopped fermenting.

I've run the calibration cycle twice for one of my iSpindels, one with the standard sugar solution, the other I left the iSpindel in the bucket and took regular readings with my hydrometer, the second method seems to give me more consistent readings of SG.

 

[dearleuk]

Yes, you have to calibrate if you want to get realistic SG readings. As an experiment I put in constants that someone else published, yes I got wild SG readings but I could see that the SG was changing so I could see when it had stopped fermenting.

I've run the calibration cycle twice for one of my iSpindels, one with the standard sugar solution, the other I left the iSpindel in the bucket and took regular readings with my hydrometer, the second method seems to give me more consistent readings of SG.

Are you running the container version of Fermentrack?

 

[ChrisT]

No, I've had it running (nearly) continously for the last 2-3 years. Been tempted to start afresh, but it works fine at the moment so I can't see why, but then again...

 

[dearleuk]

Thanks for that I might the non container version

 

[Agentgonzo]

If anyone is interested, I wrote a simple relay/dashboard for the iSpindel. GitHub - agentgonzo/ispindel-relay: A relay for the iSpindel floating hydrometer that can show information and forward the data to multiple services
If you know your way around computers, then it acts a as a simple relay/forwarder to both display information, and also to forward the data on to multiple different services. I wanted this because I use the grainfather app, but it's lacking a bit in its fermentation tracking, so I also wanted a local readout of the data (and display it in influx/grafana).

If you don't understand any of that, or don't know your way around computers, it's probably best to ignore it

 

[RoomWithABrew]

If anyone is interested, I wrote a simple relay/dashboard for the iSpindel. GitHub - agentgonzo/ispindel-relay: A relay for the iSpindel floating hydrometer that can show information and forward the data to multiple services
If you know your way around computers, then it acts a as a simple relay/forwarder to both display information, and also to forward the data on to multiple different services. I wanted this because I use the grainfather app, but it's lacking a bit in its fermentation tracking, so I also wanted a local readout of the data (and display it in influx/grafana).

If you don't understand any of that, or don't know your way around computers, it's probably best to ignore it

You may have seen this thread but becoming fairly mature now, especially linked in with ispindel alternative firmware.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/ispindle-concentrators-repeaters-bridges-hubs.693125/
But I'm reading through your work.

 

[Broomfleet Brewery]

Thanks for your message
I have not been able to make it communicate with Brew Father. Must try it again

I have managed to connect mine, but can only read the temperature. After many hours of brainwork , I still can't get the gravity to show on the graph

 

[SMP Brewery]

I think (it was a while ago) to get mine working I only used up to ^2 and didn’t input the ^3 value

 

[Broomfleet Brewery]

Any there any generic digits to input that will at least get it to function? Even if the reading is incorrect, at least I would be able to track the fermentation. At the moment it's not even registering

 

[Agentgonzo]

Any there any generic digits to input that will at least get it to function? Even if the reading is incorrect, at least I would be able to track the fermentation. At the moment it's not even registering

Can you paste your formula in here, or a screenshot of your configuration page on the iSpindel? The grainfather is expecting gravity (ie, your formula) to be in brix/plato. If you're formula calculated the gravity in SG, you need to name your iSpindel something like "iSpindel,SG"

That's my best guess at the moment for why it's not working

 

[Broomfleet Brewery]

Thanks, I'll put some time aside this week to provide these details.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Thanks, I'll put some time aside this week to provide these details.

From the grainfather setup instructions:

NOTE: Please make sure your iSpindel reports gravity in Plato; we will handle converting this to SG for you. If you have already updated your polynomial formula to report in SG, then append
,SG
to the 'name' field (SG needs to be in capitals) and this will be handled appropriately on our end.

When I set mine up, I generated two formulae, one in SG, one in Plato.
Your formula will be different, but it will be in the ballpark of one of them:

1. SG: 0.9352899244960027 + 0.004654599094590861 *tilt-0.00006370586340747028 *tilt*tilt + 4.333614746479256e-7 *tilt*tilt*tilt
2. Plato: -16.852095190988933 + 1.2257377703305683 *tilt-0.0174081349867575 *tilt*tilt + 0.00011600016111668507 *tilt*tilt*tilt

If your formula looks closest to my SG formula above, then you MUST follow the instructions to configure your iSpindel name to be have a following ",SG". Eg, mine is named ""iSpindel,SG". If your formula represents my Plato formula, then just call it "iSpindel" (or whatever you fancy).

 

[Broomfleet Brewery]

many thanks for the extensive information .. verging on rocket science .. .. I'll give it a good go. Cheers, Paul

 

[Agentgonzo]

many thanks for the extensive information .. verging on rocket science .. .. I'll give it a good go. Cheers, Paul

I do this stuff for a living, and it still took me 2 attempts to get it working with the grainfather app!

 

[RoomWithABrew]

I do this stuff for a living, and it still took me 2 attempts to get it working with the grainfather app!

Have to admit it's tricky as no one really explains the why it must be done this way just the how to do it.
I like brewspy and it's now allowing extra sensors on the graph for brewpiless controllers and also pressure readings. So I'm now going to have to get the parts to allow autospunding on brewpiless and the pressure reading to be tracked.
Would also be a good way to monitor the keg fridge / keezer for pressure remotely.