Brew Buddy

Brew Buddy: An IoT Solution for Craft Brewers

As craft brewing continues to grow in popularity and complexity, many brewers—especially small-scale or independent ones—still rely on manual methods to record and track critical data like temperature, pH, volume, and specific gravity. These readings are often taken using hand instruments and logged on paper or scattered across spreadsheets and documents, with no centralized system for real-time monitoring. This can lead to lost data, inconsistent quality control, and delays in discovering issues with a batch. Our project set out to modernize that process.

Using a small-scale homebrew setup, we created a proof-of-concept IoT system designed to streamline brewery monitoring. The system continuously collects live readings using a suite of sensors:

• DS18B20 for temperature
• pH sensor for acidity
• Load cell for specific gravity via weight
• Time-of-flight sensor to estimate volume

All data is processed via a Particle Argon, synced to an online dashboard, and triggers text alerts when readings fall outside set parameters. This allows brewers to monitor conditions remotely and act quickly if something goes wrong.

Our goal is to help brewers spend less time writing things down and more time crafting great beer. This is just the beginning—we envision future iterations integrating historical data trends, batch tracking, and even predictive alerts to help brewers take full control of their process.