Automated chemical dosing
Benziger Winery approached me about an existing
chemical dosing system that was unreliable and
expensive to maintain.
Working with their team, I developed a replacement
based on a peristaltic pump, eliminating two
particularly troublesome components: the flow
meter and electronic valve.
The project grew to include timed and volumetric
dosing, wireless operation, and a touchscreen
interface. I worked with a PLC programmer on the
original controls, then learned the programming
environment myself to troubleshoot and extend
the system.
Pneumatic bottle rinsers
A customer at Breckenridge Distillery asked us
to modify an existing bottle rinser to recirculate
spirits instead of water. They didn't want to alter the final proof in the bottle with residual water left after rinsing.
That request exposed a broader problem I never imagined:
distilleries needed bottle-rinsing equipment suitable for
handling flammable liquids, without electrical components that could pose a hazard in distilleries, like pumps, solenoids, or timers.
I knew almost nothing about pneumatic controls,
so I started reading the Clippard catalog.
Eventually, I developed a completely pneumatic
design using commercially available components.
The resulting product family has sold approximately
235 units to commercial distilleries around the world.
E-commerce and business systems
I wanted customers to be able to configure and buy specialized equipment online exactly the way they needed it. Kind of like Apple’s computer configurator, but for wine pumps. I started with Spree, and later Solidus, using open-source software as a foundation for the parts I needed to build.
Over the years, I’ve developed the storefront in Ruby on Rails, Vue, SvelteKit, and more recently Hotwire, both independently and alongside other developers. The work has involved figuring out how to represent equipment options, make the ordering process understandable, and keep the underlying code tested and straightforward to extend.
I also built integrations between the storefront, Odoo, and shipping services. These replaced manual order entry and connected online purchases to order processing and fulfillment, with shipment tracking flowing back to the storefront.
Working on software that we use to run the business means I also get to see where it falls short—and keep improving it.
See the storefront →