Thermoelectric wine cooler drying and curing - DIY

[Hook Daddy]

Curious, does anyone leave the light on in theirs? I wanted to, but it's always been my impression to dry in the dark, but I'm not sure the dim blue LED is enough to do any damage. Any thoughts? I like being able to peek in when I walk by with the light on.

I leave the light off, I doubt it will hurt anything but I see no reason to leave it on.

 

[Hook Daddy]

So I've just hit the 60% mark this morning which should be the signal that it's done.
I open the fridge and it's still a very overwhelming freshly cut grass smell.

The remainder that I dried the traditional way by hanging in the tent came out great! I've got it in grove bags now and been smoking it for the past week. Smells and tastes amazing.

So what next? Should I leave it sitting in the fridge at 60% and hope the smells start coming out? Or should I cut my losses on this one?

I’ve never had cut grass smell in mine, so have no idea. Usually that is from chopping early but if your other bud from the same plant smells better who knows, but I have never had that happen or heard of anyone else having that happen.

 

[MRobi]

I’ve never had cut grass smell in mine, so have no idea. Usually that is from chopping early but if your other bud from the same plant smells better who knows, but I have never had that happen or heard of anyone else having that happen.

Definitely not early. It was like 50% amber

It's actually quite a bit less lawn smell this morning. I wonder if it's just uneven drying? I grabbed some buds from the bottom rack close to the dehumidifier and they smell great! The middle rack smells like grass and the top not really smelling like much at all.

So I'm hoping a few extra days in there at 60% will bring it out for all of them.

The stuff I hung in the tent traditionally was all the small buds from the bottom and they turned out great!

 

[TCH]

Definitely not early. It was like 50% amber

It's actually quite a bit less lawn smell this morning. I wonder if it's just uneven drying? I grabbed some buds from the bottom rack close to the dehumidifier and they smell great! The middle rack smells like grass and the top not really smelling like much at all.

So I'm hoping a few extra days in there at 60% will bring it out for all of them.

The stuff I hung in the tent traditionally was all the small buds from the bottom and they turned out great!

Try flip flopping your racks around

 

[dipslayer]

So after reading for weeks and planning everything i finally bit the bullet and bought a wine fridge.

As im from Austria and the used market was pretty slim or for really high end fridges, i was lucky that the model i wanted (Klarstein Barolo 15) was on sale on ebay and i got it for around 160 Euros (well probably ill even get 20% back because the door was misaligned and thats what they offered me if i dont want to return it)

Anyways, as the unit was new and i wanted to keep my warranty i was looking for ways to get the job done without having to make a hole in it. Also it was kinda hard to tell where you could put a hole in it without damaging it or hitting the coolant. Luckily i was able to do it and maybe for some people in the german market or somebody looking at the same model it might be a useful guide.

View attachment 5412018

This is how the unit looked new. I started to strip everything away and started to look for some ways inside. On the next picture (i didnt do a before picture) you can see the place where i was able to pull through 2 sturdier cables and the Inkbird sensor (i did it the other way around, i removed the sensor case, because the connector there is smaller then on the Inkbird unit itself)
The 2 others cables were already there (guess for the fan?) and thats why i decided to try it there.

View attachment 5412019

First i had to remove the screws from the back plate inside the fridge as you can see here

View attachment 5412020

I just unscrewed the 4 outer screws and the 4 in the middle are the ones that the heat sink is connected to. After that i was able to move the whole heat sink in the back a little bit inside to make space for my cables and the sensor.
This step is probably best done with another person! There is kind of a sweet spot, where the cable or sensor fit through but you can just push it in a little bit, because the angle you're holding the heat sink doesnt allow to move it further.
After you got the cables and sensor to a point where they don't move further in, you can move the heat sink a little bit again to make space for the cables and sensor.
When you get "stuck" again, move the heat sink a little bit and push/pull the cables again. Its a balance game but sooner or later you will have the cables inside.
As the sensor cable was too soft i connected it to my sturdier cable which was already pushed through and pulled them together inside of the fridge. And again, trust me, if you have somebody who can help you, let them it will be much easier and faster.
So with everything in place i connected the dehumidfier (still tryin to figure out what to do with the cables, that was just for testing purposes)

View attachment 5412022

On the back side i just put my cables and the sensor cable next to the 2 cables that where already there, pulled them through the black plastic housing (funily, there was already a whole on the left bottom corner (maybe they use it for the bigger unit too) where i could pull my power cables and sensor through and then i connected everything in the back.
I also cut the power cord from the dehumidifier and made a direct connection to my cables so i dont have a long cable bouncing around and beeing in the way. Inside the black housing there was also enough space where i could "roll up" the sensor cable and hide it inside.

View attachment 5412031View attachment 5412021

The inkbird unit is the perfect size where you dont need any adhesive or anything else to hold it in place, no matter what side you "squeeze" it in.
I used the "right" side for it, because its opposite from opening the door.
In this case you always have this side facing outwards so if you dont have the wifi version, you can have a quick glance through the grills on the side and see your RH.
For the inkbird power connector i used double sided tape and thats about it. I screwed everything back together and even the grill had space which i didnt really think it would. Here is another before and after and honestly it turned out much better than expected.
Im definately gonna make it "prettier" inside before i use it, but im very happy how the back turned out with everything in place.

View attachment 5412018View attachment 5412023

I hope i was clear enough as english isnt my main language, but if anybody has question or is german speaking and needs advice with this model, just shoot me a pm or ill try to answer here.

And a big f**** shout out and thank you to you hook daddy for doing all this work and testing. Without you, nobody would be here today!

awesome, thanks for sharing this - im from germany and currently fighting high temps and humidity, found this thread while searching for the lotus dry method to get around my issue for drying/curing during this time of the year. Found your post and i just ordered the barolo15 myself as all other winecooler available in germany seem to be compressor based :/ . I expect to harvest in 3-5 days and hope my parts arrive on time

How is your system running so far?

 

[Asey1]

awesome, thanks for sharing this - im from germany and currently fighting high temps and humidity, found this thread while searching for the lotus dry method to get around my issue for drying/curing during this time of the year. Found your post and i just ordered the barolo15 myself as all other winecooler available in germany seem to be compressor based :/ . I expect to harvest in 3-5 days and hope my parts arrive on time

How is your system running so far?

Youre welcome

So im at day 7 today and right now everything is running nicely. Im at 68.5 Rh and with spikes around 73-66 when the dehum is turning on but the temp is staying nicely at around 60 degrees.

Though the first 4-5 days i was fighting as many others here with the temperature rising inside because the dehum wasnt able to get the humidity down to the set value. It happened twice while i wasnt at home so the temps got to around 68-70 which sucks a little bit. I "aired" it out a by opening it for a short time and also have found that putting in 2 gel icepacks while the fridge is trying to get back down to 60 degrees helps it and also lowers the humidity a little bit. As i wrote in the update, i would highly recommend to elevate the fridge a little bit, unscrew the tray and leave it underneath so you can empty the water which will collect there.

My plan for next time is to leave the humidity setting at 75-77 for the first couple of days and let it settle a bit as the temp is more important and the risk of mold at this temp is not really an issue and see how the dehum behaves.

All in all im really happy with everything especially considering how lucky i was and how cheap i got everything. As this was my 1st run i was prepared for some problems but all in all just unlucky timing with not beeing at home at the exact time. But what i especially love is that there is no smell as long as the door is closed! For a small apartment like mine, i cant imagine hanging it anywhere for 2 weeks without neighbours 3 streets down knowing what im doing, while also trying to maintain a 60/60 enviroment. And as im not having anything coming after this, ill use it for storing my grove bags in there with the rest of my stuff that im using.

 

[msgrowly]

I have the Problem that when i Put everything in IT was Like 73% but decreased since then in 3 days to Like 63% in the cooler.
ITS thermoeekectric should i Put a wet sponge in there?
I did wettrimming and its nearly fully loaded

Pls Help
Greetings Growly

 

[Asey1]

I have the Problem that when i Put everything in IT was Like 73% but decreased since then in 3 days to Like 63% in the cooler.
ITS thermoeekectric should i Put a wet sponge in there?
I did wettrimming and its nearly fully loaded

Pls Help
Greetings Growly

Do you have other hygrometers you can check against? I have all in all 7 inside. 3 are taped to the front door, 2 are on the trays and a analog is a the bottom and on the bottom side is also my Inkbird sensor taped to the side wall.

Depending where the meters are, i have a difference of around 5% +/- depending on location. The inkbird is set to a middle value. If possible try to check against some other sensors, would be the easiest way right now

 

[Blue brother]

Sorry if this has allready been covered @Hook Daddy , has anyone had a go at trying to complete the process in 14 days? If so what were their results like and what parameters did they set?

So nice to see how well the thread is doing.

I'm gonna build a couple more and I'll copy your design to the letter!

just so everyone knows, my dehumidifier is still going strong after all this time so longevity vs price deffo isn't a problem when choosing a cheaper one

 

[msgrowly]

Do you have other hygrometers you can check against? I have all in all 7 inside. 3 are taped to the front door, 2 are on the trays and a analog is a the bottom and on the bottom side is also my Inkbird sensor taped to the side wall.

Depending where the meters are, i have a difference of around 5% +/- depending on location. The inkbird is set to a middle value. If possible try to check against some other sensors, would be the easiest way right now

Of course i have tree hygros in there still decreasing relative fast ITS at 56% right now
There ist a big sponge in there aswell and its nearly full wirh Flower.
Some ideas?

 

[MRobi]

Of course i have tree hygros in there still decreasing relative fast ITS at 56% right now
There ist a big sponge in there aswell and its nearly full wirh Flower.
Some ideas?

What's causing it to go that low that fast? Where is your dehumidifier set at? Can you confirm if it's cycling on and off as it should be, or is it running full tilt 24/7?

 

[MRobi]

I’ve never had cut grass smell in mine, so have no idea. Usually that is from chopping early but if your other bud from the same plant smells better who knows, but I have never had that happen or heard of anyone else having that happen.

So just an update on my freshly mowed lawn smell.

My grove bags arrived Monday, so I trimmed and bagged everything up on Monday evening for curing. Then I tossed the bags back into the drying fridge because... Why not.

Every single one of the bags smells incredible! But open the door to the fridge, and still get hit with an overwhelming smell of freshly cut grass.

So my final conclusion... It's the fridge not the product! I think the smell from the initial part of the drying phase was just completely overwhelming the actual good smells I was looking for.

 

[msgrowly]

What's causing it to go that low that fast? Where is your dehumidifier set at? Can you confirm if it's cycling on and off as it should be, or is it running full tilt 24/7?

The dehunidifier isnt running because Its stable and goes down by itself

 

[TCH]

Of course i have tree hygros in there still decreasing relative fast ITS at 56% right now
There ist a big sponge in there aswell and its nearly full wirh Flower.
Some ideas?

You may try testing your hygrometers. If you have fresh flower in the fridge, it shouldn't be that low out of the gate.

Calibrating and adjusting hygrometers - steps and questions

I am currently testing my hygrometers in a Tupperware bowl with the salt slurry. I understand how to calibrate my Bluetooth and wifi units, but my question is: Do the cheap ones that come in the 12 packs have any adjustment if you crack open the case? Or once they have settled out, can I just...

www.rollitup.org

 

[MRobi]

The dehunidifier isnt running because Its stable and goes down by itself

But it shouldn't be going down by itself like that though. Your freshly trimmed bud should be raising the humidity in such a small space and the dehumidifier does it's thing by keeping it from going above the level you set it at. I suspect your dehumidifier is running constant which is causing the humidity to go down that fast.

 

[Hook Daddy]

The dehunidifier isnt running because Its stable and goes down by itself

What is the make and model of the cooler?

 

[taproot]

I need to build something to dry and cure my weed as I can't control my environment as much as I'd like. In the summer I can't run the AC all the time as it cost to much, winter the reverse. I ran across this thread about the wine cooler. I'm understanding the peltier aka thermoelectric is better than the compressor models. Is this correct?

Anyways, if you had to build one right now what model would you pick along with the humidifier / dehumidifier and inkbird or other controller? What is a model that's well built, known to be reliable and easy to convert while being affordable?

I see some of you like the inkbird sensors..my experience with them and other cheap hygrometers for seeing my indoor temp and humidity is ..they don't generally last long for accuracy. If I'm going to spend money to build something like this I do want quality parts and for it to be accurate.

Is it possible to build this for <$400?

 

[MRobi]

What is the make and model of the cooler?

Ooooh it could be a compressor based cooler. That could easily make it drop that fast too.

 

[Tony9d9ct]

I need to build something to dry and cure my weed as I can't control my environment as much as I'd like. In the summer I can't run the AC all the time as it cost to much, winter the reverse. I ran across this thread about the wine cooler. I'm understanding the peltier aka thermoelectric is better than the compressor models. Is this correct?

Anyways, if you had to build one right now what model would you pick along with the humidifier / dehumidifier and inkbird or other controller? What is a model that's well built, known to be reliable and easy to convert while being affordable?

I see some of you like the inkbird sensors..my experience with them and other cheap hygrometers for seeing my indoor temp and humidity is ..they don't generally last long for accuracy. If I'm going to spend money to build something like this I do want quality parts and for it to be accurate.

Is it possible to build this for <$400?

I really like the AC Infinity pro 79 controller for wifi. I spent 70 on that, 30 on the dehu, and another 20ish on rack materials. That's all you need. Under 350 is easily doable. I built my first one and decided I wanted one for long term storage, I'm 650 in on 2 of them.

 

[taproot]

I really like the AC Infinity pro 79 controller for wifi. I spent 70 on that, 30 on the dehu, and another 20ish on rack materials. That's all you need. Under 350 is easily doable. I built my first one and decided I wanted one for long term storage, I'm 650 in on 2 of them.
View attachment 5417288

$350 for the whole thing..including the cooler? Can you share the model of the cooler and dehu? The cheapest cooler I see is about $200..brands I've never heard of.

I'm curious if anybody has bought those peltier plates you can buy and make their own. I see 250W peltier plates made for refrigeration.