Hello fellow homebrewers!
Im in the final phase of a Master's Systems Engineering program at Johns Hopkins University. As a final step in the program, students are challenged to mature a complex "product" concept through application of the systems engineering method. Principally this means conceiving an idea that is "reasonably" feasible and running the concept through the process of gathering user needs & input, specifying more concrete requirements of a conceptual system that could achieve it, envisioning a physical system that could satisfy it, and, through a number of middle processes, eventually produce a specification that could be handed to design engineers. Keep in mind this is primarily conceptual.
The concept Ive chosen to pursue is that of a personal (residential) automated homebrewing system. Why? I've been brewing on & off since around 1993. I still love the craft - for the science and the end product. Over that time I've primarily brewed from quality extract with specialty grains. I'm anxious to brew my next "graduation" batch around June!
I welcome the input of the community of home brewers! I've created a survey to assess what you do in your existing brew processes and what you, as a potential user, might want such a concept product to do. The survey does not ask for any personal information other than opinions. I expect participants would be interested in the summary data so, as a thank you, I will post the summary data to the forum. Aside from that posting, I will not share any information I collect outside my project - this data is only for my personal use to inform my JHU capstone project. I am using SurveyMonkey, which charges a per-month fee, so I will run this survey for ~2-3.5 weeks before I process the results.
Keep an open mind. The total system may pose feasibility challenges if all features were pursued but all engineering efforts (should) involve trading off user desire, feasibility, and cost. I have some luxury in that Im not as concerned about cost as a real business.
The survey can be accessed here:
If you have any questions or problems please free to send me a PM!
The goals of such as system include at least:
Additional considerations include safety, noise, physical size, etc.
Thanks in advance to any brewers willing to help!
Sincerely-
TMBrewer
Im in the final phase of a Master's Systems Engineering program at Johns Hopkins University. As a final step in the program, students are challenged to mature a complex "product" concept through application of the systems engineering method. Principally this means conceiving an idea that is "reasonably" feasible and running the concept through the process of gathering user needs & input, specifying more concrete requirements of a conceptual system that could achieve it, envisioning a physical system that could satisfy it, and, through a number of middle processes, eventually produce a specification that could be handed to design engineers. Keep in mind this is primarily conceptual.
The concept Ive chosen to pursue is that of a personal (residential) automated homebrewing system. Why? I've been brewing on & off since around 1993. I still love the craft - for the science and the end product. Over that time I've primarily brewed from quality extract with specialty grains. I'm anxious to brew my next "graduation" batch around June!
I welcome the input of the community of home brewers! I've created a survey to assess what you do in your existing brew processes and what you, as a potential user, might want such a concept product to do. The survey does not ask for any personal information other than opinions. I expect participants would be interested in the summary data so, as a thank you, I will post the summary data to the forum. Aside from that posting, I will not share any information I collect outside my project - this data is only for my personal use to inform my JHU capstone project. I am using SurveyMonkey, which charges a per-month fee, so I will run this survey for ~2-3.5 weeks before I process the results.
Keep an open mind. The total system may pose feasibility challenges if all features were pursued but all engineering efforts (should) involve trading off user desire, feasibility, and cost. I have some luxury in that Im not as concerned about cost as a real business.
The survey can be accessed here:
If you have any questions or problems please free to send me a PM!
The goals of such as system include at least:
Relief from tending to time-critical steps such as racking
Improving consistency from batch-to-batch
Experimentation with & sharing recipes
Refining recipes in small but measurable ways
Producing high quality beers
Reduction in total "workload" required to execute the entire process (while maintaining a sense of "involvement" in the process
This conceptual product could potentially perform the following functions: Improving consistency from batch-to-batch
Experimentation with & sharing recipes
Refining recipes in small but measurable ways
Producing high quality beers
Reduction in total "workload" required to execute the entire process (while maintaining a sense of "involvement" in the process
Offer recipes and support online ingredient ordering
Prepare & maintain yeast starters both dry & liquid
Modify water chemistry for optimal brewing conditions (within feasible limits)
Ingredient measurement and dispensing of malt extracts, grains, hops, adjuncts (coffee, honey, etc), flocculants, water conditioners, and the like
Controlling the boil (including potential full mash)
Chilling
Oxygenation of cooled wort and pitching prepared yeast
Maintaining fermentation conditions including temperature suitable for the specific yeast used (ale & lager)
Monitoring fermentation process to trigger & conduct racking
Supporting ferment-time additions; dry hopping, oak chips, etc
Sanitation & cleaning functions
Finishing the product via functions to transfer from secondary fermentation vessel to a kegging & carbonation function
Maintenance of recording keeping- numerous measurable & qualitative output parameters such as final specific gravity, color, volume of output, computation of efficiency in process areas, and the like
Prepare & maintain yeast starters both dry & liquid
Modify water chemistry for optimal brewing conditions (within feasible limits)
Ingredient measurement and dispensing of malt extracts, grains, hops, adjuncts (coffee, honey, etc), flocculants, water conditioners, and the like
Controlling the boil (including potential full mash)
Chilling
Oxygenation of cooled wort and pitching prepared yeast
Maintaining fermentation conditions including temperature suitable for the specific yeast used (ale & lager)
Monitoring fermentation process to trigger & conduct racking
Supporting ferment-time additions; dry hopping, oak chips, etc
Sanitation & cleaning functions
Finishing the product via functions to transfer from secondary fermentation vessel to a kegging & carbonation function
Maintenance of recording keeping- numerous measurable & qualitative output parameters such as final specific gravity, color, volume of output, computation of efficiency in process areas, and the like
Additional considerations include safety, noise, physical size, etc.
Thanks in advance to any brewers willing to help!
Sincerely-
TMBrewer