Some people like to test microbrews by ordering from several different breweries, others like to visit the breweries themselves, and still others like to make their own beer. Making beer has become a booming industry in the United States.

In Dallas, Texas last summer, it was hot. Very hot. Or as Ted Gurley put it, "Bloody hot!" When it gets that hot in the summer, the cost of cooling things down is going to go up. And if you happen to be someone who likes to brew your own beer, that could mean an added cost.

Ted and his wife have an outside beer tap system that is cooled from a beer refrigerator inside the house. Ted’s story begins when he and his wife were getting ready for vacation. But as they were leaving, it occurred to Ted that the beer would lose its freshness if the inside of the house got too warm and his "cheap beer fridge" as he called it, didn’t have a sophisticated thermostat to react to the rising temperature in the room. So here’s what Ted did to circumvent the problem. "I set up a few commands to my ActiveHome computer unit, and created a device that would cycle the beer fridge when the fridge temp went over 45 degrees."

And the story has a happy ending. On his way back from vacation, "After ten hours in the car, the wife and I were ready for a cold one when we walked in the house. Over to the taps we went. And sure enough, ActiveHome had saved the day."

Now that’s a happy ending. Thanks to X10, and ActiveHome, the beer was just fine. There’s nothing like protecting those good ol’ American values. The list of things ActiveHome is watching over is growing with every new story.

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