Fermentation Control with Peltier Cooler?

Has anyone on here successfully used a Peltier Cooler to control fermentation temps? I just picked up a free wine chiller that basically works by Peltier Cooler. I was thinking it might be a good temporary way of controlling the temp on my 15g fermenter. What would be the best way to achieve this? Is it even worth the trouble? Curious...

I played around with this for a while and for me it was not woth the trouble. I did have it set up in a old cooler with a carboy that maintained 55* to ferment a mocktoberfest. I still may play around with it for small scale use with carboys but I would not try and use it for my 14.5g conical.

YMMV though ...

I think the More Beer conicals us a Peltier.
http://morebeer.com/view_product/10776/103722/14_Gallon_Conical_Fermenter_-_Heated_and_Cooled

fifelee said:

I think the More Beer conicals us a Peltier.
http://morebeer.com/view_product/10776/103722/14_Gallon_Conical_Fermenter_-_Heated_and_Cooled

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They do. I think they are very high powered units though. The critical part for a conical woudl be to make sure the the curve on the peltier unit matched the curve on the conical.

I think Yuir Rage did some testing with peltiers in a corny before.

Last month at MoreBeer I was looking at their larger twin Peliter fermenters with a $2,385 price tag. Seems they jacked up the prices higher now. They would not tell me anything more than that each Peliter draws 24 amps each, this after weeks of asking and at different stores for the Peliter specs, rather tight lipped. No name, manufacture, specs on their Peliters, I find this strange plus keeping it a secret away from the public. Just that they are custom lapped to a tight contact to the fermenter". Not very efficient Peltiers in design for the energy used plus the $2,385 sticker price back then is way over the top. Why not have cooling coils mounted thru the lid to a dorm frige connected to a insulated cooler with a fountain pump, have a dry well stat for the chiller temp control? Way cheaper than $2,385 before tax for a MoreBeer unit. Call me cheap with not paying those crazy prices making them rich. JMO's. I was at a brew day at MoreBeer and asked if I can see their welding facility in the back, no way plus later told they out source their stainless stands and other welding.
I've seen Willian's Brewing Supply, a about empty small warehouse just a mail order they their supplier ships to you, a whole in the wall business. I saw the operation plus a employee escorted me off the property from thir open door of the warehouse. I can have a big business operation out of my garage.

drez77 said:

They do. I think they are very high powered units though. The critical part for a conical woudl be to make sure the the curve on the peltier unit matched the curve on the conical.

I think Yuir Rage did some testing with peltiers in a corny before.

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That was a big labor project with lousy results I recall and Yuri changed directions on that project.

Funny I just built a two carboy cabinet out of a Vinotemp peltier cooler given to me. I built a 30"x15"x28" box out of 2" foam insulation board. I put the peltier though the wall and used a wall wort to power the two 12 volt fans and the 12 volt peltier junction. I have ordered one of the aquarium temp controllers to control it. Just running it wide open for about an hour it dropped to 45F in a 72F room. The amazing part is that at full power I think this junction is <70 watts.

Brewing Clamper said:

Has anyone on here successfully used a Peltier Cooler to control fermentation temps? I just picked up a free wine chiller that basically works by Peltier Cooler. I was thinking it might be a good temporary way of controlling the temp on my 15g fermenter. What would be the best way to achieve this? Is it even worth the trouble? Curious...

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Is this unit the Waring Pro wine bottle chiller? I found one new in box at Salvation Army for $7.50 with the power supply missing. Waring sent me a free power supply, the unit is 12 VDC draws 5 amps. Was told it's a $199 unit it chills a 77 degree bottle of 750ml down to 41*F in 94 minutes then flashes "Cheers" in a 75 *F room.
Way too small for a fermenter chilling unit. A 1.35 amp 18" cube dorm frige would be the minimum or better yet strip apart a small refrigerator unit for the complete cooling system, bend to fit your needs. I have a hot and cold 5 gallon water cooler that draws 100 watts i'm toying with in a cooler with a condenser and fountain pump to a 3/8" looped SS tubing into a keg as a internal cooler with insulation on the outside. No large fridge required. A 21 cu/ft side by side fridge with freezer will be my next donor compressor system, the thinking stage of how to murder it without cutting a gas line.

OP, several folks on the forum have experimented with peltier coolers and have given up, including myself.

Reasonably priced, off-the-shelf peltier coolers just aren't powerful enough to cool more than 5 gallons of fermenting wort, if that. Even if you find a cooler with enough BTUs, the cost to operate it would be ridiculous considering the efficiency is only 5 - 10%.

That said, I use a converted wine cooler for yeast starters. My fermenters are in converted upright freezers, which are a fraction of the cost to operate (50 - 60% efficient).

I converted a cheap Haier dorm fridge that runs off a peltier as my fermentation cabinet. Works ok. Not the most efficient thing in the world, but I only run it for a few weeks per year overall, so it's not like my electric bills have shot through the roof.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/haier-nucool-fermentation-132499/

It fits a 6gallon better bottle just fine, and the cooling time to get down to lager fermentation temps is reasonable. 15 gallons? Probably too much for my unit to handle, but who knows what you have there... Since it was free, give it a shot and post your results.

Munsoned said:

I converted a cheap Haier dorm fridge that runs off a peltier as my fermentation cabinet. Works ok. Not the most efficient thing in the world, but I only run it for a few weeks per year overall, so it's not like my electric bills have shot through the roof.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/haier-nucool-fermentation-132499/

It fits a 6gallon better bottle just fine, and the cooling time to get down to lager fermentation temps is reasonable. 15 gallons? Probably too much for my unit to handle, but who knows what you have there... Since it was free, give it a shot and post your results.

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That Haier unit is a lot larger than my 18" cube size fridge with a compressor vs Peliter cooled. I can freeze four one galllon milk containers with ease, compressor is rated at 1.35 amps but runs at .89 amps, this comes out at 107
watts. I can live with this super high engery wasting fridge at only 107 watts as it runs 35 seconds every 96 minutes on average. I compare this as a drop in the bucket vs the 11KW heating elements in the brewery or the electric oven in the house, this computer or TV uses more energy in watts alone.
MoreBeer and their now $2,449 plus cost before tax Peltier cooled fermenters would cost me $2,663, they can keep them on their showroom floor.

jmansfield seems to have had some good luck doing this with a peltier aquarium chiller called the Ice Probe. Guy really seems to know his stuff, and is from what I understand the guy developing the real-time fermentation probe.

After reading the following article I thought this would be cool as well, but the ice probe runs about $100 and can't get down to lager temps. For a little bit more I think I'll just get a chest freezer.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/water-jacketed-fermentation-chamber-145194/

Yeah, I figured it was a long shot. I'll just continue using my chest freezer until I can either build a chamber or get an upright freezer...

I have built a Peltier-Effect fermentation box that works fine for lagering 5 gallon batches in a carboy. It consists of a plywood box lined with 2" styrofoam insulation, two 70 watt peltier-effect cooling assemblies(from Carl's Electronics, a 19 amp 12 volt D.C. power supply from Radio Shack, four computer cooling fans, and a Johnson Controls external temperature controller. I have used this box for several batches, including a light lager that came out pretty good, thank you. But for 15 gallons, I expect you would need four more of the cooling assemblies I used, and at least one additional power supply.

This was a worthwhile project for me because I brew in an apartment, and, though it would consume fewer kilowatts, a refrigerator that would work would also take up too much space. If you've got space to ferment 15 gallons, then you're probably better off modifying a fridge, or a freezer - easier on your electric bill.

I think it depends on your situation... I am looking at using these for "fine" temp control. for example if my house were 66 degrees and I want to ferment at 62. With the addition of some smarts the really cool thing about Peltiers is that you can reverse polarity and switch from cooling to heating. I agree though prob not the most efficient way if you were trying to keep 15g cool in a 105 degree garage

gunner65 said:

Funny I just built a two carboy cabinet out of a Vinotemp peltier cooler given to me. I built a 30"x15"x28" box out of 2" foam insulation board. I put the peltier though the wall and used a wall wort to power the two 12 volt fans and the 12 volt peltier junction. I have ordered one of the aquarium temp controllers to control it. Just running it wide open for about an hour it dropped to 45F in a 72F room. The amazing part is that at full power I think this junction is <70 watts.

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I'm thinking of building a wine and beer storage area in a cupboard. Ambient in there is about 19-20C and I want to drop it to the 12-14C range. Do you think a couple of 70W Peltiers would do the job there?

Any chance of photos of your cabinet gunner65?