October 23, 2024 - 11:30am
Breadwinner - new sourdough gadget
I stumbled across Breadwinner today, completely by happenstance. It is intended to allow you to track your starter’s growth from just fed to peak readiness.
In short, it contains two sensors. One monitors CO2 produced by the starter temperature and one monitors the starter’s expansion. The data is presented in the form of graphs.
I admire the geek factor and the outward simplicity of the device. At the same time, I’m put off by the $85 price tag. While I can afford it, it’s a bit steep for something that I’ve learned to monitor with my Mk I eyeball.
Still, it might meet the needs of someone here, so I present it for your information.
Paul
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Thanks for the report Paul. I do wonder how it measures culture volume. CO2 is easy — same principle as global warming. But volume, hmm. 🤔
And I’m not sure what to do with such data, since CO2 & volume are reporting cause & effect of the same phenomenon — CO2 trapped within culture vs released into airspace above. More whole grain cultures would leak more CO2 due to cellulose crystals compromising alveoli integrity. Air CO2 would rise as doming maxes, then spike upon collapse.
What would really tempt me (and others I expect) would be including a pH monitor. Now that would be invaluable. And an alarm that sounds when some designated data point is reached. The phone app probably does that already and my aging forgetory needs all the reminders it can get. But pH — maybe v2.0.
I'm speculating that the device is using ultrasonic pings to measure the height of the surface of the starter. I think that several-microsecond long pings would give enough resolution.
the device actually measures the height of the starter's top surface. At the start of a cycle, height is measured as y. At the end of interval 1 (no idea what the time intervals are), height is y1. At the end of interval 2, height is y2. And so on until there is no further increase in height and the starter begins to recede. From the graphs shown on the website, you could track the starter all the way through it's eventual collapse.
(Corrected to remove mention of CO2 monitoring.)
There's mention of notifications on your smart phone, which suggests a linked app.
I expect that pH metering would require a significant modification in the tool to accommodate probes but it would be a cool addition.
Paul
Always interesting to look at these starter monitoring and control projects - thanks for the heads up, Paul.
I couldn't see any reference to CO2 measurement on the website.
"The guts of Breadwinner are pretty simple – inside the lid are a couple of battery powered sensors that measure height and temperature, and some lights to alert you when it’s ready."
Some thoughts:
As already said, I'm not sure what use CO2 would be and how it would be measured - would it be be CO2 %age in the headspace? But in a vented container, that wouldn't mean much.
Surface height - ultrasonic or lidar sensor
pH - heavy cost implication and difficulties of calibration and probe fouling/cleanliness.
Lance
My usual mistake is to overlook something but this time I “saw” something that wasn’t even there!
Thanks for the catch, Lance. I’ll go back and edit.
Paul
Makes sense - that it doesn't actually measure [CO2]p. Thanks for the reality check Lance.
Paul's report inspired me to try to imagine a way that a pH probe could be kept calibrated while continuously monitoring a messy substrate like a starter over time. Not obvious. Might require a different method than that employed by lab pH meters to measure [H+]. But something short of a mini robotic arm that moves probe in and out of cleaning/calibrating solution, or one that grabs sample periodically from inside expanding starter and disperses it elsewhere for measurement. Good project assignment for an chem engineering class.