8. Supported Hardware

Fermentrack supports both BrewPi-based temperature controllers as well as various specific gravity sensors. Support for each family of hardware varies, but is expanding with each release.

8.1. BrewPi Controllers

8.1.1. ESP8266-Based Controllers

Fermentrack was explicitly built to support ESP8266-based controllers regardless of connection method (WiFi or Serial).

For more information on ESP8266-based firmware, please refer to one of the following:

If connecting an ESP8266-based controller via serial, please note that by default Fermentrack will detect the USB serial number associated with your ESP8266 when initially configured, and will use that instead of the specified serial port to connect. For more information, read About Serial Port Autodetection.

8.1.2. Arduino-Based Controllers

Fermentrack currently has native support for Arduino-based controllers connected via Serial (USB).

By default, Fermentrack will detect the USB serial number associated with your Arduino when initially configured, and will use that - instead of the specified serial port - to connect. For more information, read About Serial Port Autodetection.

8.1.2.1. Bluetooth Support for BrewPi-Controllers

There is a third party project which looks to add bluetooth support for Arduino (and similar) controllers to BrewPi. While this project is not natively supported from within Fermentrack, at the end the project presents the BrewPi controller as a device connected via serial which allows it to be set up within Fermentrack via the Manual Setup workflow.

8.1.3. Native Python (Fuscus)

Fuscus is a project which implements the legacy (Arduino) BrewPi featureset directly on the Raspberry Pi with no need for an external controller.

As of now, serial connections are supported by Fermentrack, and therefore it is expected that Fuscus should be Fermentrack compatible. Fuscus support has not been tested and should be considered experimental.

Due to the nature of the serial ports used by Fuscus, the serial autodetection process cannot be used to set up a Fuscus-based controller. To set up, please follow the instructions in Setting up a controller using the Advanced (Manual) Workflow.

Note

When setting up a Fuscus-based controller in the manual workflow, make sure to set “prefer_connecting_via_udev” to False. If it is set to true, BrewPi-Script may either not connect or connect to the wrong device.

Further down the development path are other features involving Fuscus such as direct installation and configuration management - though these are expected in v3 and beyond.

8.1.4. Spark Core/OEM Controllers

Currently, Fermentrack does not support Spark-based controllers. Support for Spark based controllers is planned, but will be implemented at a much later date. Once implemented, Fermentrack will support controlling both legacy (Arduino/Fuscus) and modern (Spark) controllers from the same installation.

8.2. Specific Gravity Sensors

8.2.1. Tilt Hydrometer

The Tilt Hydrometer is supported natively by Fermentrack which will assist with device setup. Tilt Hydrometers are easy to use, and can be installed either alongside or independent of a temperature controller. Natively, Tilt Hydrometers communicate via Bluetooth, however they can also be connected via the TiltBridge Bluetooth-to-WiFi adapter.

8.2.2. iSpindel

iSpindel devices are directly supported by Fermentrack which can assist with device configuration & calibration, as well as the initial flashing of the iSpindel firmware.