Final Project¶
Growing up in a country that accounts for the world’s second biggest coffee exports, has made me an avid coffee drinker. Ironically, I find the flavours of robusta beans - the main variety produced locally, less fruity and exciting than arabica beans the majority of which are cultivated overseas. It is not surprising that the former fetches a lower price. When I learnt that through fermentation processes such as carbonic marceration, new flavours can develop, I became curious about whether taste of robusta beans can be enhanced with carbonic marceration, a method commonly employed in wine-making industries. If we can successfully enhance the taste of robusta beans this way, it would potentially increase the values of robusta beans and their pricing for local farmers, thereby improving their livelihood.
The idea¶
My idea is making a controlled carbonic fermentation chamber for coffee beans, as well as other food. Essentially it allows coffee beans to ferment in the absence of oxygen, while allowing CO2 released in the process to get out.
Monitoring the following environmental parameters, it will help food makers control their fermentation process in a more precise manner, and produce consistent results every time.
- CO2 gas concentration
- pH
- temperature
Towards the end of the project, I decided to focus on CO2 concentration and temperature sensors only.
In addition, I would like to animate this process with some graphics on the display and make fermentation a fun thing to watch instead of something boring and old-fashioned.
Shapewise, it will be like an enclosed vessel. In addition, it is important to have an internet-connected microcontroller that enables remote monitoring of the fermentation conditions.
Summary slide¶
Video¶
Materials¶
| Qty | Description | Price | Link | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Neopixel | 18.00 $ | ||
| 1 | CO2 gas sensor | 20.00 $ | MG811 | |
| 1 | Temperature sensor | 1.50 $ | ||
| 1 | ESP-WROOM-32 | 7.00 $ | ||
| 1 | Power supply | 7.00 $ | ||
| 1 | Pump for CO2 | 3.00 $ | ||
| 1 | Relay | 2.00 $ | ||
| 1 | Wiring materials | 2.00 $ | ||
| 1 | PLA | 10.00 $ | ||
| 1 | Wood | 3.00 $ | ||
| 1 | Container | 3.00 $ | Stainless steel | |
| TOTAL | 76.50 $ |
Intellectual Property¶
I would like to make this an open-source project with Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. Please see the link above for terms and conditions.