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A good BrewNanny is easy to find

The BrewNanny Home Brew Monitor is a Kickstarter project that communicates data via Wi-Fi. Real-time results make it easy for brewers to track progress.

by Brian Krepshaw
April 2, 2014 4:39 PM PDT
The BrewNanny beer brewing monitor watches over the fermentation.The BrewNanny monitor watches over the fermentation.BrewNanny

The best thing ever to happen to beer drinkers is beer brewers. Naturally, this just makes sense, because after all, without brewers, there is no beer (well, drinkable beer anyway). But, luckily it goes way beyond that simple truth. As craft and microbreweries continue to appear and grow to epic proportions, those that truly benefit are the beer drinkers. More great beer choices means more great beer to drink. And for that, every home brewer deserves a toast -- or at least a little piece of mind.

The BrewNanny Home Brew Monitor connects brewers to their craft like never before. Consisting of a simple little device that replaces a conventional air trap, the gadget monitors crucial factors that impact final results. Sending data such as fermentation rate, temperature and light level to a personal Web dashboard or smartphone, brewers can keep up to date on the brewing process and can even receive text alerts or email messages.

The air trap that the BrewNanny is designed to replace is used during the fermentation process. As yeast converts sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide, that gas build up needs a place to escape to. Air traps vent the CO2 build up while preventing air from getting in. By redesigning this piece of the beer-brewing puzzle to measure CO2 volume, BrewNanny can calculate how much alcohol is produced, and then send that info using your home Wi-Fi network directly to you.

For those who labor over hops, grains and yeast, turning the ingredients into something much more than the sum of their parts, a toast is in order -- or better yet, Kickstarter success. The BrewNanny campaign runs through April 25 and is well on its way to reaching its funding goal.

Via Gizmag.

Geekery and homebrewing, all rolled into one.

I must have this!!!

Yeah... So... Turn it loose on a top fermenter like Wyeast 3787 and watch it get clogged...

Which brings up some questions for me...

If you use a blowoff tube for the first 3-4 days of fermentation, then replace the blowoff with this, is it still able to understand the state of the wort?

Why does it measure light level? I keep my brews covered to prohibit light from entering through the carboy... Desn't seem useful except maybe as an alarm condition if the cover were to fall off letting light in...

The temperature part is cool, and can be useful... And so is the CO2 monitoring so long as it is accurately refecting the result in software if one starts monitoring on day 4 for example.

I like the alerts and messaging... (your brew is talking to you!)

More thoughts from the ?

If you read the kickstarter description, they have designed it to accommodate blowoff (that was one of the biggest design challenges). It would need to be installed from the very start, or you won't have a true indication of total CO2 produced (which is used to calculate %ABV, etc).

I agree that, in most cases, light level is kind of useless bit of info, since most people use opaque fermentation vessels, or keep them in dark rooms.

From the Kickstarter info:

What about Blowoff?
This has been major issue and has taken more design and test time than
anything else. We have solved the problem by not using a traditional
valve. We use a modified peristaltic pump design for our valves. This
allows a very wide orifice and one that self cleans. If cleaning is
necessary it is easy and the section of hose can be replaced easily if
things get really bad. The other design element is that there are two
valves one from the fermenter to a measurement chamber and one from the
chamber to the atmosphere. they are never open at the same time so the
foam tends to stay in the fermenter . The pressure valve is isolated and
does not come into contact with any liquid.

modified peristaltic pump design for our valves. This allows a very wide orifice

I now see how they've solved the blowoff problems.

Seriously, I wouldn't put my money on this, at least not yet. I'm just a bit old fashioned and think sometimes bringing tech into some things just isn't necessary. What's wrong with my stick on thermometer, my clear blow off tube and a good, tried and true air lock?

Beer-lord wrote:

modified peristaltic pump design for our valves. This allows a very wide orifice

I now see how they've solved the blowoff problems.

Seriously, I wouldn't put my money on this, at least not yet. I'm just a bit old fashioned and think sometimes bringing tech into some things just isn't necessary. What's wrong with my stick on thermometer, my clear blow off tube and a good, tried and true air lock?

Yeah, just found that... Still not sure if it can really handle a true top fermenting monster though...

Don't get me wrong, just playing devils advocate... I think it's a neat idea... Espescially the Pro version with temp controller!

Expensive though...

Beer-lord wrote:

modified peristaltic pump design for our valves. This allows a very wide orifice

I now see how they've solved the blowoff problems.

Seriously, I wouldn't put my money on this, at least not yet. I'm just a bit old fashioned and think sometimes bringing tech into some things just isn't necessary. What's wrong with my stick on thermometer, my clear blow off tube and a good, tried and true air lock?

Nothing is wrong with the old-fashioned way! Honestly, I think this thing is too expensive and too techy for the average homebrewer's needs. Being an engineer, I love anything that provides data, especially in the form of graphs and charts, and especially if it can do so wirelessly to my mobile device. *NERD* Necessary? No. Fun and interesting? Definitely. Worth the price tag? Probably not.

evily wrote:I love anything that provides data, especially in the form of graphs and charts, and especially if it can do so wirelessly to my mobile device. *NERD* Necessary? No. Fun and interesting? Definitely. Worth the price tag? Probably not.

Yup, that pretty much sums it up for me too!

Like we don't stress about our home brew enough when we're not home; now you can have a heart attack at work because your wort just hit 80 instead of your boss being an a-hole.

Evily I see you mention being an engineer please jump over to my thread on kegging and bottling at your convenience.

I'm the opposite of Evily. Extremely low-tech. I like the idea that my work is in formulating the recipe, getting my ratios correct, mashing properly, temperature control, etc. Then I let the yeast do their thing. If I make them happy, they make me happy.

If someone was a data geek, as Emily admits to being, okay, that's cool, although what the value of that data is, I'm not sure.

If someone was a competition monster, I can see this being a way to really "sand the underside of the drawers", if you follow me. And don't get me wrong, doing well in a competition is way cool; I want to do well in any competition I enter.

But since that's not the primary reason I brew, it's not something I can see myself making any use of. I brew beer because I'm delighted at creating recipes and drinking the results, and being pleased with the creation and the consumption.

So what happens to this thing when you have an extremely active fermentation? You know..the kind that requires a blow off tube?

I have a difficult time believing it would survive some of my 3787/WLP530 fermentations. Not only huge krausen, but hard and rocky/dense, sometimes doesn't even fall when the beer is done (that's how hard it can get). I believe it would engage the "ejection sequence" LOL.

mashani wrote:I have a difficult time believing it would survive some of my 3787/WLP530 fermentations. Not only huge krausen, but hard and rocky/dense, sometimes doesn't even fall when the beer is done (that's how hard it can get). I believe it would engage the "ejection sequence" LOL.

Beerlord wrote:modified peristaltic pump design for our valves. This allows a very wide orifice

Looks like they claim to have solved the 'blowoff' problem and as such, the 'ejection sequence'.

The Nanny claims to be able to engage the 'modified peristaltic pump', opening the 'very wide orifice' which I guess would accomodate a huge, hard krausen...

Wait, what??? Moderators, please feel free to redack this post...