A project I had in mind for a while is a temperature controlled heated vessel. The original goal was to make a container that can keep yeast happy, warm, and growing for the homebrewing I do, but it has evolved into an interest to incorporate my coursework and learning to controlling systems with Arduino.

The plan is to create a simple temperature controller using a 1 gallon glass jar, a relay, heat tape, some thermocouples , and Arduino Uno to control everything. The control system will be a simple on/off controller that will check the temperature of the vessel and of the heat tape to ensure no point of the vessel becomes too hot for the yeast, killing them and preventing fermentation.

However, I will start small first create a barebones system before expanding to additional features. The bare minimum for the project to be considered a success is if it can maintain the temperature of 1 gallon of liquid within 3 degree F of the setpoint. Eventually, I would like to incorporate a method to cool the brew if it gets too hot, a notification system keeping track of fermentation time, and setpoint changes.