EZ Mash A.B.S. Jason Galloway John Cox Justin Crandall Georgia Institute of Technology 12/03/08

The EZ Mash A.B.S. A batch process system to automatically convert grain starches into sugars, a critical component of beer production. Will cut time from 3-4 hours to approx. one hour, better recipe repeatability. Home and commercial brewer. $27,350 ($ $27K).

Dimensions 10.5” 20.5” 10” 12.5” 10.5” 11” 8.25” 6”

Process Overview: Heat water and mix grain 1 1.Heat HLT User sets time in GUI Push Button Confirm grain addition. 2. Dough-In ~ 8 qts fills into MLT. 3

Process Overview: Starch Conversion and 1 st Drain 4. Starch Conversion Recirculate starch water through heat exchanger st Drain ½ of wort to collect in vessel. 6. Sparge Water Remainder of H2O from HLT. 5 6

Process Overview: 2 min recirculation & final drain 7. 2 min recirculation Sets grain-bed filter for 2 nd drain. 8. Final drain Provides second ½ of pre-boil wort. 9. End process buzzer Piezo buzzer notifies user of completion

EZ Mash GUI – Heating HLT

EZ Mash GUI – Starch Conversion

Technical Specifications Proposed SpecsActual Specs Draws less than 12 Amps Draws 10.7 Amps Maximum Withstands temps up to 210° F Tested at 209° F Holds temps within +/- 1° F of target Holds within +/- 1° F of target Full starch to sugar conversion Iodine starch test

Technical Specifications Proposed SpecsActual Specs GUI interface worksGUI allows user to enter defined variables Meets FDA requirements All system components meet FDA requirements PID loop control to maintain correct temperature Bang-bang control instead of PID Test the accuracy of the temperature sensors RTD thermometer confirmed our results to within < 1° F

Engineering Obstacles - memory BASIC Stamp 2e  Program memory limit is 2k bytes. Reduce length of command names. Creation of subroutines. GUI  Date/Month/Year function.  Next process.  PID loop.

Engineering Obstacles - Water Level Measurements Used to determine dough in and sparge amounts. Necessary for various recipes. Different ways to measure.  Flexiforce pressure sensor.  Capacitive probe.  Other possibilities.

Flexiforce Pressure Sensor Single point of pressure to gain readings. Data was scattered and inaccurate. Needed to be pre-loaded 110% every time to repeat values.

Capacitive Probe 2 conductors electrically isolated from each other in a dielectric (water). Water level changes the conductivity of the sensor, changing the frequency of the 555 timer. Accurate for a constant temperature; working on repeatability and temp error.

Capacitive level sensor

Other Possibilities Ultrasonic Level Detection  Measures distance using sonar. Magnetorestrictive Level Sensors  Most accurate, but most expensive.  +/-.40 mm repeatable accuracy. Parallax’s Ping))) Magnetorestrictive Level Sensor

What Will We Demo? Brew a non-alcoholic pre-boil sugar solution (wort). Demonstrate GUI and temperature management via data-logging. Success when pre-boil wort is produced by user input via GUI interface without off- flavors.

Marketability Analysis Original system parts + research + labor=$27,350. Cost to manufacture=$350/unit. Cost to customer=$750/unit. Must sell 37 units to cover R & D. Future profits from optional attachments.  Automatic grain hopper and kettle additions.

EZ Mash

Q & A