First State Brewers Blog

…Or as we refer to it in the US, Murphy’s Law, was definitely in effect for my trip to Fayetteville. I won’t recount the whole experience, but needless to say I will never fly through Charlotte again if I can help it, particularly on US(eless)Air. I put some highlights of the business trip debacle at the end of this post, so you can read the good stuff and then listen to my whining (if you are interested in doing so). Man, do I hate business trips.

So at any rate, I did none of the things I wanted to on that trip. I am lucky to have just survived it. The past couple of nights I have worked out a demo for part of my missing pipe functionality - a routine that aligns the defining points for a pipe routing and will re-align everything if one of them is moved. In the screenshot, point 8 (in blue) is moved by either right-clicking in the new location, or holding down the right mouse button and dragging the mouse around. This will ultimately translate into clicking and dragging the pipe control points around (See Memorial Day Activities for some screenshots regarding the control points). I have made the VB2005 source code available if anyone is interested in trying it out.

This weekend I also got something working that I have been meaning to - the pressure sensor proof-of-concept circuit. I am stunned by how well the MPX5010GSX fits the system requirements - simplicity is a beautiful thing. For the test circuit, I ended up using a PICAXE 18X although I could have managed it with an 08M or 14M. I will have to decide how I want to implement when it comes time to print the circuit boards, but for now I’ll punish my 18Xs a little more. I did opt to test out the smaller 2-channel analog-to-digital chips (MCP3202) since the SPI communication protocol is a little different than for the 4 or 8 channel versions.

I included some captions in the picture so you can tell what is what… hopefully.
 
The data sent back to the PC indicates that I probably won’t even need to use the AD620 instrumentation amplifiers. In the screenshot to the left, Channel 0 is the digital temperature sensor, and Channel 1 is the pressure sensor (as I am slowly letting the liquid level drop). I wouldn’t really need to amplify the signal more than 1.2 to 1.5X of what the raw reading is, and I’m not sure that the amplification would really buy me additional resolution. A simpler design means fewer things that can crap out when in use. Again - I *LOVE* these MPX5010GSX sensors.

So how do I plan on working the pressure sensors into my sculpture design? It just so happens that my test rig was put together with a very specific layout for one reason - it directly mirrors the physical orientation of my new 28 gallon Hot Liquor Tank. It has a site glass fitting (brass right now, soon to be replaced with stainless) that has a 1/2″ threaded plug on one end. I plan on drilling a hole in a stainless 1/2″ plug, and having the pressure sensor right there at the end of the site glass fitting. The circuitry will most likely be in a small sealed stainless project box, with only a wire/cable running back to the main control board.

And now, let the whining begin:

• My flight from Philly to Charlotte was late in departing, and arrived at the gate 10 minutes AFTER my connecting flight was supposed to depart. That was OK though - the connecting flight was ALSO delayed.
• Connecting flight to Fayetteville is cancelled after waiting 2 hours. We are told to go to the “Customer (Dis)Service desk and rebook.
• 150 people in line before me at the US(eless)Air Customer (Dis)Service desk - Quick head math tells me I will talk to someone in about 4 hours, at which time no more flights out will be available (not to mention everything being booked solid from the other 150 people going first).
• We quickly call our company travel agent and get booked on a flight to Raleigh. We fly into Raleigh without incident, and drive down to Fayetteville (about 60 minute drive, not bad).
• We arrive in Fayetteville at 10:30pm, a full 5 hours later than anticipated, without our luggage, and immediately go to bed.
• My luggage arrives in Fayetteville the following day, but my collegue’s bags get sent to Raleigh for some ridiculous reason. Baggage (Mis)handlers strike again!
• I’m so tired on Tuesday from the previous day’s ordeal (and working a 10 hour day at the plant) that I eat a quick dinner and pass out at 8pm. I wake up at around midnight and realize no coding is gonna happen for my brew sculpture on this trip.
• Wednesday our departing flight out of Fayetteville gets cancelled 10 minutes before we’re supposed to board. Fortunately this time around I didn’t try to check my bag, so we get booked out of Raleigh direct to Philly.
• We go rent ANOTHER car (since we had turned in the previous one hour earlier) and drive to Raleigh, catch the flight in plenty of time, and get to Philly around 9:45pm.
• Driving home on I-95, I hit the road construction around 476 (exit 7), and sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic as they squeeze 3 lanes down into 1.
• I arrive home at 10 minutes to midnight, a full 5 hours after I was supposed to.

…So this weekend I finally got around to doing something that I have been meaning to for some time - Building a test rig for the MPX5010GSX pressure sensors. You guys have already seen my temperature sensor test rigs in previous posts like Electromadness Continues, and I’ve had the pressure sensors for a while but have not actually done any testing with them yet. Instead I have been pondering how to proof the concept of pressure level sensing, and build accurate test circuits.

I built the mechanical portion, as shown in the picture. The 28 gallon (~100 L) kettle is included for a scale comparison. It consists of a plastic 1/2″ T, plenty of 1/2″ vinyl tubing, an old brass drain valve (long since replaced with stainless in on my kettles), and a wood support. This will let me test the pressure sensor with a very small amount of water, as opposed to filling up and draining 28 gallons at a time (not like that was ever even considered).

The circuit portion is going to require a little more time. First I need to find and purchase a 4 or 6 socket header that I can plug the sensor… I will run some wire back to a breadboard, and from there use my AD620 instrumentation amplifier IC to make it full-scale. I am thinking of taking it from the AD620 through a 12 bit SPI Analog to digital IC (MCP3202) and then to a 08M PICAXE chip. I haven’t worked out details, but I should have enough inputs and outputs on the 08M to bit-bang the SPI protocol and implement an interrupt / serial communication back to a master PICAXE chip when requested. If not, I’ve got a couple of the 14M chips that will definitely have enough power to do so - or I may even try playing around with the 28X1 and 40X1 parts that have native SPI support - haven’t really decided yet.

I also did some minor work on the VB.NET user interface - mostly getting the basic functionality for the “Designer” control to work. The biggest gap at this point dragging the pipe points around the screen, but I have a plan on how to do that. Cut/Copy/Paste is all working, the Zorder (bring forward/send back) is all working, as is shift-dragging and ctrl-dragging. Soon I’ll start work on the designer form (not just the control that displays and implements the changes). I don’t have any good / new screenshots to share, but I hope to complete a good quantity of work this week while on a business trip to Fayetteville. Once the workday is over and we’ve eaten dinner, I plan on locking myself in my room and working on the application rather than killing time, money, and brain cells in an overpriced and understocked pub. Seeing as Fayetteville is a military town, I do not have high hopes for the local craft brew scene.

Other things beer-related from this weekend:

• I racked 10 gallons of Witbier to secondaries, 5 gallons of which went onto about 5lb of cubed mangos (the “Mango Mama” witbier).
• I participated in the 2007 BUZZ-Off Competition and took 2nd place in the Belgian Dubbel category for Travellers & Tourists (TnT). My amarillo pale ale did well too (38.5), but did not place.
• I carelessly broke my favorite belgian glass (a Dogfish Head tulip glass, given to me by Sam Calagione at a book signing) and they are not made any more - DRAT!

The unfortunate demise of my tulip glass is most tragic. You were good to me - RIP.

This weekend I brewed the 10 gallons of belgian pale that I referenced in my last post - using the out-of-date Wyest 3864 Canadian Belgian strain that Joe and Marlana from HDYB had in their fridge. I propogated the heck out of it - stepped it up using almost a gallon (4 qts) of starter wort. I should have plenty of yeast for the next 20 gallon batch of TnT Belgian Red in a couple weeks. I am really hoping for good things from this starter batch too - I went a little wacky, as I tend to do from time to time. I used Magnum for the bittering hops (which is not wacky), but used Sorachi Ace for both flavor and aroma at 10 minutes and 3 minutes (1 oz per addition). This hop is Japanese, apparently from the Sapporo brewery, and is supposed to have a lemony character - and I thought to complement the hops, I would also add 0.5 oz of bitter orange peel (no big deal - 0.25oz per 5 gallons) AND over 1 1/2 oz of fresh chopped ginger root.

As it is fermenting, the ginger aroma is definitely wafting out the airlock. I just hope there is enough ginger character left in the finished beer that you can either smell it or taste it. We recently used more than that in a Teriyaki marinade, so I am assuming 1.5oz in 10 gallons won’t overpower the beer, but rather subtlely compliment the other “summery” aromas of lemon and orange peel. I thought about zesting some lemons and throwing that in the secondary, but that is probably too much.

The 2007 Buzz Off is this coming Saturday - I am curious to see how my 3 entries do. I am not expecting any ribbons, but since this is my first time entering into the belgian styles, I am interested to see what the feedback is.

I can’t say that I’ve been really busy this memorial day, but I have gotten some stuff done. Probably the biggest thing was brewing 10 gallons of Witbier, at least half of which will go on to become Mango Mama” witbier (a fruit witbier with… uh… mangos). The brew day went resonably well, although I did stick the sparge pretty good after about 3 gallons. More hot liquor, a good stirring, and a second vorlauf later it sparged flawlessly.

I also am getting activities queued up for next weekend, when I will brew 10 gallons of belgian pale with - Wyeast’s Canadian Belgian Strain!!! WOOOT! I stopped by Joe & Marlana’s shop (HDYB) on Saturday, only to discover that they had another (expired) package of this stuff in the fridge. Since I do starters, that didn’t slow me down one bit - I was so thrilled to get another pure culture of that strain. I brought it home, smacked it, and within 16 hours the package had started to swell. It is now downstairs on the stirplate propogating to a good sized volume for next weekend. I will then take the slurry from my 10 gallon batch and use it for 20 gallons of Travellers & Tourists Belgian Red in a few more weeks. YEAH!!! Next time that strain becomes available, I will probably get 2 or 3 of them - LOVE that yeast.

I have also been doing some work on the user interface program for the sculpture… but you all are probably not terribly interested in that. I’ve been trying to zero in on what the design behavior would be like for setting the screens up, etc… and I think I’ve arrived at a fairly user-friendly method. It will be mostly drag & drop, with many of the properties being set by simple mouse clicks. I’ve got the drag & drop working, and have the point control working pretty well for a number of different things. The drag and drop turned out really nice - I managed to get the images to show up partially transparent - looks much cooler than the “outline” style. Right now I’ve got control point manipulations drawing just the outline because it started to look a little jumbled with the translucent style. Screenshots are below.

My hope is that this stuff can be used as a development platform by other folks who want to do something similar for their sculptures - they won’t have to struggle as much creating the user interface and can focus in on all the more fun stuff, like the electronics and piping.

…I get time to work on my .NET application for the homebrew sculpture. This weekend Donna’s headed to Atlanta to spend mother’s day with her family, and I am taking today off work to watch the kids (and for the rest of the weekend). I am actually pretty excited about it - Once the children go to bed, I can now work on my program without feeling guilty that I’m not spending quality time with Donna. I also thought I would have 4 hours a week to devote to this activity while Donna was taking Pipe Welding courses at Delaware Tech, however they cancelled the course on her due to lack of participants!! We’re trying to find other ways for her to practice TIG welding so her skills don’t get rusty.

So slowly I’ve been building up the infrastructure for my application. I could probably have expedited development if I had used cut & paste coding methods or a number of dirty tricks that I’ve learned over the years, but an important aspect of this project for me is actually learning the VB.NET language and becoming proficient in it. I spent enough time on the Visual Basic Forum answering questions on VB6 to know that people who don’t really struggle to learn something and have other people answer all their questions never retain the knowledge offered… So here I am, a newbie at coding again in a familiar (but very different) language.

You probably don’t see much in the way of progress looking at the screens, so let me enumerate exactly what has been done:

• Additon of a ValveRendererc class, which still needs some work.
• Addition of “bump up” and “bump down” styles for the unions on a pipe
• Addition of a “rounded end” style for pipes
• A “T” and “4-way” junction style for internal pipe unions in the PipeRenderer class
• A completely back-buffered ComponentDisplay control that makes rendering and updating the displayed things a breeze.
• Update event code in all renderers that notify the application when redraws are required
• A means to save and restore the component information to a file

And believe it or not, that took quite some time… Worse yet, when I was going through the changes to the PipeRenderer class I felt compelled to completely rewrite if from scratch AGAIN and had to stop myself. I may still ultimately do that, but for now I’ve got too many other things to obsess on.

This weekend I hope to start work on:

• The event model for dynamically changing component properties based on other component properties (ex. Pump1 gets turned “On”, so Pipe1 and 2 show themselves as liquid-full).
• A drag & drop screen designer so building the component collections / screens is greatly simplified
• Actual application windows that will be used in the final program, instead of just test windows.

Time will get away from me before I can complete all those things, but I’m going to try to get as much done as I can. I also still need to set up a test circuit for my MPX5010GSX pressure sensors and confirm they will measure liquid level with the kind of accuracy I am looking for. What will be really cool is if I have something to demo at Friday’s club meeting here - but I doubt that will happen.

…and a snip snip there… Boys and girls, the operative words here are are “elective sterilization”… and I’m not talking fermenters or autoclaves. I have not done any brewing related anything in a week or so due to a procedure I had last friday. It went fine, and my equipment is recovering just fine.

In the meantime, I’ve had some time of to work on my VB.NET stuff… and made progress, albeit not as much as I’d hope for nor as much as is needed, however sitting with a roasty laptop ontop of your injured… lap… is not exactly a great idea either. Where is that friggin ice!??!?! All I can say is that I am working on it as time allows and that I hope to have something to share in a few weeks.

Other things of note include:

• Jolly Pumpkin Beers are a nightmare to this brewer
• Joe Gallo, homebrewed beer guru extrordinaire

I just hope that Rob did as thorough *cough cough* a job capturing Joe’s comments as he did ours, because there is some questionable info and guidance in this latest installment, IMO… but I’m an unrepentant homebrewing snob.

And hey… that Amarillo Pale Ale recipe looks kinda familiar!!!

OK, I’ll be honest - I’m not talking about the city in which I live. It’s cool and all, but I wouldn’t exactly say that it “Rocks”.

No, I am referring to Newark InOne… They are an electronics supplier that has just about everything under the sun, and for a pretty fair price too. This morning I ordered the following, and they have already shipped:

2 MCP3202 2-channel 12 bit A/D converters
2 MCP3204 4-channel 12 bit A/D converters
2 MPX5010GSX Motorola pressure sensors
2 AD620ANZ Instrumentation Amplifiers
2 LM331AN Voltage / Frequency converters

These are obviously purchases for the electronics components that will make up my homebrew sculpture - most notably the level sensor circuits. I am a little nervous as I am not convinced that it will work at all, but I’m not plowing new ground here… both Wicked Stone and Emile have done this with success before using these components (well… almost these components).

I also ordered some new PICAXE components this week… 2 of the new 28X1 chips and 2 of the 40X1 chips. I am very excited about the I2C slave functionality and built-in SPI support, as well as the internal resonators that eliminate the need for extra circuitry. Should give me plenty to play with down in the basement while the sun scortches thru summer.

On a non-nerd note, I have both the Amarillo Pale and Black Raspberry Ales on tap now - they are great individually, and magnificent when blended. Cutting the grass will be less of a chore for the next few weeks.

… 22 jars of wort… For starters!

Today was a very, VERY long brew day in that I had made another batch of starter wort. I brewed up a 5 gallon batch of 1.040 wort and managed to get it all canned in a single evening - The wort itself only took 4 hours, from about 1pm to 5pm, but the canning took another 5 hours. That’s fortunately alot shorter than the first time I did it - learned the hard way that my stove just doesn’t have the required UMPF to pressure can at 15 PSI… but the propane burner sure does.

Now I’ve got another 5 or 6 month supply…

My next batches won’t happen until end of May though. Got too much going on for the next 3 weekends, so it’ll have to be the weekend after our May meeting - and I’ll be brewing a starter batch of SOMETHING using Saison yeast, followed by a large 15 or 20 gallon batch of Saison du Sevier once that starter batch is ready for racking. My wife is also petitioning for a big batch of Witbier, so the Saison may get usurped until a little later in the season - I don’t know. I’ve also got a crazy amount of American hops just BEGGING to be used, like Columbus and Simcoe, so I’m thinking a 15 gallon batch of IPA might have to be brewed soon.

So much to brew, so little time.

Its a little after 5am and I’m already frustrated. After this morning’s mash-in, I may become a Marty Drinan disciple….

Promash calculated a strike water temp of 176 for me to hit my desired 151-152 range. I heated the water, and it hit 178 before I could catch it…. so I turned the burner off, let the kettle sit for about 5 min in the 50 degree air, and it cooled… to 174. So I turned the burner back on, and a minute later the thermometer said 176, so I killed the burner. I gave the water a quick mix with my spoon - 178!!! D@mnit!!!! So I said screw it and into the mash tun it went.

And I mashed in my grains, using my trusty mash paddle. I check the temperature - 162. SAY WHAT?!?!? OK… time to stir like hell…. so I grab my stainless spoon and stir-stir-stir for 2 minutes. 156. Eh… not too bad, but not great. More stirring ensues…. 156. OK… time to adjust down a hair.

So I add about a half quart of cold water… stir stir stir stir - 155. Ugh… this is gonna take forever. Add another half quart. Stir stir stir stir…. 3 minutes later… 154. GOOD LORD, this is insane!!! OK… dump another half quart in, declaring that’s all I’m doing. If its a little high, then so well… it’ll be fuller-bodied than I intended. Mix, mix… stir stir stir… 155. WHAT?!?!?? The temperature went UP!??!!?!! Stir-like-the-mash-did-me-wrong hopping-mad for 3 minutes… 149!!!

(Flurry of four letter words and not-so-nice 5 letter words ensue)

I have been all-grain brewing for 2 years now!!! I SHOULD @!#@ING KNOW BETTER!!!!

So, after calming down and proclaiming that “it is a belgian-style abbey dubbel, and if it ferments way low then so be it”… and going to go grab some coffee, I think back to Friday night’s meeting where Marty showed us his latest tool for mixing his mash - a drill-powered paint stirrer with every other fin taken out…. And I wondered how much of this heartache could have been avoided if I just had a more efficient means to stir my mash.

I am going to Home Depot. I am buying a paint stirrer. And I am going to use that b!tch on my next mash.

As for the dubbel - I may just have to leave a pound of corn sugar out of the recipe and deal with a lower initial gravity to compensate for the lack of dextrins in my wort. Or maybe I’ll add it in and see what the hell happens. I guess I’ll wait until 9:30 or so and see how I feel when that addition comes up.

As demonstrated at the meeting last night, Jerry Carney has prototyped some scalloped beer mugs with our current logo etched on the front. If anyone is interested in these, please contact Jerry for pricing and details. You can send me some mail at webmaster _at_ firststatebrewers.com and we’ll get you guys hooked up.

There was some interest at the meeting about imperial (16oz) pint glasses, or even having a logo contest and updating our logo (our current one, by Scott Beiber, is many many years old at this point). That sounds like a great idea to me! I’ll have to see about putting something together.

I will be brewing a 10 gallon batch of Dubbel this weekend with the White Labs WLP540 and Dark Candi Syrup - can’t wait to try it in a month or two, once it is all bottled & corked. I will be saving the yeast cake (1/2 is going to Oliver, for sure)… and I’ll also have to see about getting some to John Biggins so he can “bank” it for us. Have a good weekend, ya’ll!