Steampunk Homebrewery

Posted on 2011-07-24 by frank

Thanks to a DIY home-brewing engineer known as Sizz building a pretty cool electric all-grain brewing system and then deciding he wanted to play golf instead, our garage is now stuffed with a recirculating infusion mash system (RIMS)-based all-grain brew stand, a temperature controlled fermentation chamber, a kegerator with two taps, a nice grain mill, several carboys, and a cabinet full of related goodies.

The system works pretty well as is, but of course you knew this was coming, a couple of tweaks and a major equipment upgrade are in the works. The heaters for the RIMS unit and the boil kettle run off a 240v, 60 amp circuit, controlled by a BCS-460, three thermocouples, and a couple of PIDs. Two March brewing pumps, several valves, and a lot of silicon tubing move liquid through the system.

The biggest drawback to the system when I picked it up were the installation, orientation, and power connections for the two heating elements. The power terminals for the boil kettle were completely exposed, and the RIMS tube was installed vertically, with the terminals on the bottom. The RIMS terminals were covered by a silicon cap, but the many pieces of pipe and connector used to make the RIMS tube, even though sealed with some sort of resin on the thread joints, seeps water, which then drips down the tube, right past the power terminals, and on to the floor.

We’re covering the terminals on the boil kettle with a sleeve made from a silicon cupcake holder, connected to some plumbing pipe we added to as a hot wire conduit. The RIMS seeping we’re fixing with a major upgrade – we’re replacing the entire RIMS assembly with a stainless steel housing joined by Tri-Clover sanitary fittings. The tri-clamps will let us easily disassemble the entire RIMS for cleaning and inspection.

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Skype, Cause, Effect, and Overkill

Posted on 2011-04-22 by frank

My loathing of Skype’s new UI and horrible group conferencing performance at work has led me to implement a PBX at home. When I stop to think about it, it must be overkill, but once I got started, it was as if the momentum of geeky obsession just carried me along for the ride. The gateway drug was downloading ISOs of FreePBX, Asterisk, and SipXecs, and getting them running as conference bridges using software VOIP phones within minutes. “Hmm, ” I said, “pretty nice, but I don’t have time to really deploy this at work.” Obviously the solution was to implement it at home. So I can have teleconferences and page the kids in the playroom. Right?

It started with a couple VOIP phones on my computer for testing, but then I stumbled upon michigantelephone‘s blog, which had a lot of related information, and linked the rest of what I needed to picture what by that time I knew I was going to do. Before long, I’d set up a PBX, bought a pair of Obihai OBi110′s to act as gateways for our analog telephone line and our Ooma, added a Snom M9 VOIP DECT phone, and dropped the voicemail service and long distance fees from our local telephone bill.

Hooking the Ooma to a PBX gets around its inherent inflexibility by treating it as just another SIP provider. With the OBi110 also set up with our Google Voice numbers, we now have four directly-dialable telephone numbers that ring our house phones, all of which we can use simultaneously. Six phone numbers, if you count our mobiles. Of course, I could also put VOIP applications on our mobile phones.

Overkill? Maybe!

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Whose data is it, anyway?

Posted on 2011-03-23 by frank

I’ve been using a Garmin Edge 305 as my main bicycle computer for a few years now. I love maps and data, so the ability to look at where I’ve been and where I’m headed is alluring. I decided to start running because there’s less overhead time involved (no tires to pump, chains to lube, etc), it gets my heart rate up faster, and I can do it in the early morning before it’s light enough to bike. One or two runs and I missed the data I got from the Edge, but it was easy to find a deal on last years Forerunner, so now I’m getting more data and maps nearly every day.

Garmin has been working towards a seamless ecosystem where it’s pretty easy to get your data from the device and in to Garmin Connect or to Training Center. That’s where my vague sense of unease starts. We’ve already seen one web-based activity tracker shut down; sure, Garmin replaced MotionBased with their own service, and even migrated my data for me, but what if they hadn’t? Is it really my data if I entrust it to a third party?

What I really want is portable data. I want it on the web, where I can mash it up and show it to my friends; I want it on my computer, where I can back it up along with the rest of my important files; I want it on my phone, where I can see it even when I’m somewhere with no Internet connection; and, I want it in a well-documented format, so when some unforeseen new way comes along to use it, I can bring my data with me in to the brave new world. Garmin Connect and Training Center sort of address this issue, but it’s more painful than it should be. I can move activities back and forth between the their apps, but I have to move them one at a time. I’d be much nicer to consider each of them a data source and just have them sync up, as well as providing full access to my data via a nice, RESTful API.

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WordPress for iPad

Posted on 2010-05-28 by frank

tl;dr be careful if you use it. As of version 2.4, it doesn’t save the contents of the active editing view when the app is closed; I lost 15 minutes of typing this morning to this misfeature. Even the Web version is better about auto-saving than the iPad app! It also doesn’t support copy and paste in the editing view, though it does in the difficult-to-find URL entry pop-up.

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Ubiquitous robotics on the verge?

Posted on 2010-05-28 by frank

The Economist’s Babbage writes about robotics today. He mentions several software development kits (SDK), and highlights one from Stanford, Willow Garage, that is very promising. He then says, “But the killer applications for personal robots remain as illusive [sic] as ever.”

Think of robotics as the extension of computers, or more generally, automation, in to the physical world. There are any number of repetitive or dangerous tasks that humans perform daily. Any of those tasks would be a candidate for robotic automation.

For example, in the USA we drive our automobiles an average of 9500 miles per year (google for annual VMT for more statistics). I live pretty close to work (7 miles) in a relatively low-traffic area, and I still spend 25 to 45 minutes commuting each day. Our vehicles should be robots that happen to have passenger compartments. Many may complain that they enjoy driving, but I bet those people are referring to the types of driving romanticized in automobile commercials and action movies – I occasionally enjoy a spirited drive in the country, but if tomorrow I were offered a robot to chauffeur my daily commute and trips to the grocer, I’d gladly accept. Many families could benefit from robots: to prepare and clean up from their meals; to gather, wash, dry, fold and store their dirty laundry; to de-clutter and clean the house; and plenty of other repetitive and time-consuming tasks.

Babbage says,

To make the transition to a world of mobile personal assistants—for helping the disabled, providing care and companionship for the elderly, extending the strength and endurance of soldiers, handling hazardous materials and dangerous machinery, and many things more—is going to require a leap of imagination that no-one can yet foresee.

but that’s because he examines the wrong aspect of the problem. Today’s robots can already perform repetitive, difficult, dangerous or time-consuming tasks. Personal robotics killer app will be to know when to perform DIVERSE tasks.

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