DIY Peltier cooler ??

Lumpyyyyy · Dec 22, 2016

Instead of using a TEG (thermoelectric generator/device) to heat/cool air, try using it to heat or cool water through a cooling block and then circulating that hot/cold water to a jacket around the carboy or fermenter. This I've found to be much more useful and take up way less space than a classic fermentation chamber.

Summoner12 · Dec 22, 2016

The_Meatloaf said:
Just figured I'd chime in and mention that I use a single 90watt peltier to cool my 5.5 gal carboy by pumping water over a water block cooled by the peltier element that flows around the carboy. It can get to about ~18 degrees below ambient temps and holds very well sitting in my insulated mash tun. Here is a picture of the prototype running...
http://i.imgur.com/U3T0tUD.jpg

This was probably under $100 in parts, and while I could use a fridge for the same cost, the main benefit is space savings in my apartment. Instead of a whole fridge I'm just reusing the brewing equipment I already have plus some electronics.

I used the same heat sink you have with my salsa chiller. I live in Southern California and it was bothering me that my salsa outside by the pool was getting warm..... Wanting to do a peltier cooling device of my own I rigged something up.

I used two of those heatsinks, two TEC's. For testing, it's mounted to a aluminum heatsink. I was able to pull down 50*f... (heatsink reading 32*f)

In this pic the heatsinks have a gap, with both fans pulling air through. I currently have it arranged so the heatsinks are touching, one fan pulls, the other pushes air through the fins. I have not finished the project yet. Next step is to attach a circular aluminum plate to the TEC's cold side and figure a way to attach a bowl to that and have it be removable for washing after use.

Veets · Dec 22, 2016

Wow, those are some monster heat sinks! Looks like it could be a tough job separating heat transfer between your hot side heat sinks and your cold side heat sink. Your salsa will be impressive.

A little off topic, but I'm in the middle of putting together a system using a peltier for use as a glycol chiller for a short run to a draft tower. With one 60W 4cmx4cm peltier in a test setup using a 10 oz loop of tap water, I got the tap water down to 45F. It took about an hour. It was completely uninsulated, so after a while the cup holding the water, and the peltier chip, were really condensing water out of the atmosphere and I couldn't drop the temps any more. I'm hoping that with good insulation I can get a circuit with about 16-18oz of RV antifreeze down to about 30-35. Used a 4cmx4cm aluminum block heat exchanger on the cold side of the peltier, with the water running through it, and an old CPU cooler (two heat pipes and fins, about 3.5 inches long on each side, with a single fan) on the hot side. I'll report back how well it works.

In doing the research, the thought crossed my mind about using the guts from one of those countertop ice makers for cooling the refrigerant. According to my understanding, they use real compressors rather than peltiers. It's probably overkill for my small setup, so I've shelved the idea. But I think they'd be sized nicely for a longer run of beer line. Mine is only a couple of feet over to a draft tower.

10sense · Dec 23, 2016

I was feeling ambitions one winter and built the peltier cooler shown below. It took me a few cheap coolers to realize you get what you pay for. The cheap coolers did not draw enough amps to drop the temperature in a reasonable amount of time. I ended up buying a more expensive cooler, it pulled more amps but still took a while to cool a 5 gallon batch.

It was a "cool" project but not very practical IMHO. I can't cold crash with it because it can't pull the heat out fast enough. It is pretty good about maintaining a temperature but struggles to reach it initially (I typically target low 60s). I did wire it such that the current can flow through it in either direction depending on whether you need heating or cooling. Again, a cool talking point but not terribly practical.

augiedoggy · Dec 23, 2016

10sense said:
I was feeling ambitions one winter and built the peltier cooler shown below. It took me a few cheap coolers to realize you get what you pay for. The cheap coolers did not draw enough amps to drop the temperature in a reasonable amount of time. I ended up buying a more expensive cooler, it pulled more amps but still took a while to cool a 5 gallon batch.

It was a "cool" project but not very practical IMHO. I can't cold crash with it because it can't pull the heat out fast enough. It is pretty good about maintaining a temperature but struggles to reach it initially (I typically target low 60s). I did wire it such that the current can flow through it in either direction depending on whether you need heating or cooling. Again, a cool talking point but not terribly practical.

you forgot to link the image..

EDIT nevermind its there now.