What did Leo Estevez get when he combined an MSP430G2553 microcontroller (MCU), our NexFETs, Bluetooth and power management components? A remote-control drone car and a microbrewery.
Leo created a virtual machine called “Rekam1,” which allows users to follow the same simple instructions to build and program a variety of products. The do-it-yourselfer used the same electronic board to power his popular REKAM-DR1 programmable car as he did for his home-brew kit.
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“Our low-power MCUs are designed to cover a variety of applications,” Leo said. “Coupling our NexFET power transistors and range of power management solutions with these low-cost MCUs is what makes things flexible from a hardware perspective.”
Let’s talk beer
To make a home-brew kit, a DIYer can use an iPhone or Android phone to program the Rekam1 kit to circulate water with two food-grade pumps between two pots – a hot pot and a grain pot – to extract the sugars from malted grain.
Basically, the brewmaster boils the sugary liquid (called wort) with hops and then pumps the wort back to the cooling pot for fermentation.
The brewing process takes about four hours, while fermentation can be anywhere from a week to several months.
“This is how commercial breweries work,” he said. “I just miniaturized it and added a wireless connection for programming via your phone. This contains everything you need to brew beer from grains.”
Brew it yourself
Leo produces the Rekam1 boards primarily for student learning projects like the REKAM-DR1 drone, which became a fully funded Kickstarter project in April.
Precision Technology Inc. produces the Rekam1 boards for Leo at a cost of $39 each, including parts and manufacturing costs.
Leo’s phone app is free and open source and can be downloaded from www.github.com/leonardoestevez/Android . The hardware also is open source, and schematics can be found at www.github.com/leonardoestevez/Hardware.
About Leo
Leo has worked with us for 17 years and is an electrical engineer and technology strategist at Kilby Labs. He previously worked as an embedded systems contractor for a company that made chemical analyzers and chemical digestive systems using our DSPs.
He has been brewing beer for about 20 years, but he started incorporating our devices into his brew kits a few years ago when our MCU LaunchPad first became available.
Leo does not consider himself a beer connoisseur, but he has tasted some experimental brews for large beer companies. And he appreciates a good Hefeweizen in the summer and Guinness in the winter.
He and his friends have been very pleased with his home-brew creations.
“Drinking freshly made beer as it is aging towards its ‘peak’ is something few people experience. The beer changes quickly immediately after fermentation and then mellows out into the final product over a few months,” he said. “I think most folks enjoy tasting the beer as it ages. The fact that there is an unlimited supply of whichever batch you like best is nice, too.”