Quite possibly the two greatest things in the world -- beer and Arduino -- have been married once again in a hack does them both justice. Accomplished maker and alcohol enthusiast Jeff Karpinski turned a spare Uno and an Ethernet shield into a gadget that automatically checks him in on Untappd. The build is connected to his kegerator through a hall-effect flow sensor that sits in his tap lines. Every time he pulls himself a pint of homebrew, the Aruino makes an API call to the so-called Foursquare for beer nerds, and updates his profile. Obviously, publishing to the site every time the keg is tapped could get messy, so there's an automatic five minute time out to avoid getting repeat hits just for topping off. There's also a button that manually engages the five minute lock out, allowing Jeff to pour his buddies a cold one without claiming the drink for himself on Untappd. And updating is a snap thanks to the simple web server that's integrated. Changing what beer is on tap in the API call is as simple as opening a web browser. Interested in upgrading your own kegerator? Check out the source link for complete instructions and a parts list.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Internet

Arduino Kegerator hack checks in your homebrews on Untappd originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

[Jeff] admits that he’s pretty well addicted to Untappd, a site he describes as a Foursquare for beer. Like his fellow beer nerds, he enjoys reporting the pints he’s had, even if they happen to be from his own stash of homebrew kegs. Untappd certainly supports this level of dedication, but it seemed silly to [Jeff] that he needed to grab his phone each time he poured himself a cold one in the comfort of his own home.

He took a look around the room and spied an Arduino doing a whole lot of nothing, so he set off to build a system that would allow him to automatically record his drinking habits without the use of his smartphone. The system is not overly complex, and measures pours using flow sensors, uploading the results to Untappd using their “check-in” API. [Jeff] was sure to include several other useful features into his build, including a lockout timer that prevents multiple check-ins when simply topping off a pint, as well as “neighbor mode” which lets you pour a round for friends without recording the pour.

Be sure to check out the build in its entirety on [Jeff’s] site, and let us know if you’re doing something equally cool with your keg setup at home.