This Automated Brewing Setup Enlists an Espressif ESP32-S3 to Save on Manual Labor

Pseudonymous maker and homebrewer "diy-fieldman-741," hereafter simply "Fieldman," has designed an Espressif ESP32-S3-powered computer to assist with the process of making a drinkable tipple from scratch — taking charge of an off-the-shelf induction cooktop for temperature control.

"[This is] a small brewing setup to make beer brewing live a bit easier," Fie explains of the project. "It handles all mashing (converting starch to fermentable sugars) and cooking steps. When a manual intervention is needed it beeps. [It's] buil[t] around a[n] [Espressif] EP32 module with 4.3" touchscreen, programmed in Arduino IDE (of course!)"

The process of converting starches and yeast is a little more involved than simply sticking things in a bucket and hoping for the best: there's malting, mashing to turn starches into sugar, lautering, boiling, the all-important fermentation process that turns the sugars into alcohol, conditioning, filtering, and finally bottling. For most homebrewers, it's all a very manual process — but Fieldman decided to automate several parts, in order to arrive at the final destination with a little less fuss.

The heart of the system is an Espressif ESP32-S3-powered controller terminal, built using a home-etched PCB, with a graphical 4.3" touchscreen interface that provides detailed graphs throughout the process. An automated stirrer and PWM-controlled induction hob — a modified IKEA TILLREDA 2kW induction cooktop, controlled via pulse-width modulation (PWM) from the ESP32-S3 — takes around three hours of manual monitoring and stirring out of the equation, making it a lot easier to experiment with new brews.

"My favorite [brew] is cherry lambic," Fieldman notes, "a not to[o] alcoholic sour cherry flavoured beer."

More information on the project is available on Reddit and on Hackaday.io.