OK I have no Idea on starting this thread but I’m investigating on how this works and how it will work for home brewing. Zymurgy has a article on this but it is kind of vague. Maybe this can be the nuts and bolts thread to help everyone.
So please have at it, be kind and share what you have learned with the others who have no clue what this is.
I’ve been wanting to do the same as the Ghetto-chill 9000. Even started a thread a while back. http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=3711.0
No response. I’ve done experiments with them and the results were interesting with the parts I cannibalized from an electric cooler.
I want to get some parts: IE peltier units and heatsinks with fans already assembled and run them with a Johnson controller. This may be a start:http://cgi.ebay.com/TE-Technology-Peltier-Cooler-AC-046-24VDC-6A-/140526787271?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20b80c9ac7.
I’ve thought about those on and off. Thing that keeps hanging me up is that they only cool to about 20 degrees below ambient. Would work fine for ales but not so much for cold crashing and lagers.
All I want it for is to keep stuff between 60-70F, and think the 24v 6A unit is just about right, but have to find a 110 power supply.
BTW the Ghetto-Chill 5000 guy is Jon Koerber of the Mad Zymurgists.
I’ve got 6 gallons of ale fermenting in an insulated chamber. One scavenged TEC unit from a coleman power-chill cooler. Also hooked up an Analog Johnson control in the vain hope that it would be needed.
First results are not very encouraging. Only able to keep temps in the mid to upper 60’s and getting the temps down takes hours. I was hoping to get the chamber down into the 50’s as a gauge of performance or benchmark. No such luck.
More insulation probably would help a bit. And, as it stands the temps for fermentation have been adequate so it isn’t a failure. What was hoped for- was a wider temp range to play with that could be controlled by the thermostat.
Pros: Whisper quiet. Small footprint, utilizes existing equipment. Keeps fermenter at mid to upper ale temps.
Cons: Not efficient- poor chilling capacity. Drips condensation from chill-sink. Temps swings with ambient temp. Expensive.
