Thermoelectric wine cooler drying and curing - DIY

amneziaHaze

Well-Known Member
yea then its probably a good idea to connect the fridge to the temp control. i noticed at the start the fridge cant go to its minimum temp but when you hit that dry spot where it start overdrying the fridge is allways at its minimum, mine just has an anoying beep when it gets turned on.
 

Hook Daddy

Well-Known Member
yea then its probably a good idea to connect the fridge to the temp control. i noticed at the start the fridge cant go to its minimum temp but when you hit that dry spot where it start overdrying the fridge is allways at its minimum, mine just has an anoying beep when it gets turned on.
My fridge has not had a problem maintaining temp, but it is in a cool and dry room, at least during winter. I’ll have to see how it works this summer, might be a different story. I would suspect if the room is above 75 or so it would have issues keeping a temp below 60, but that is to be expected.

I checked my fan and it does blow slowly even when the peltier is not running, but I’m not sure it’s all that bad of a thing. It is blowing toward the back of the fridge not into the fridge, and a little air movement probably helps more than it hurts. I would like to hear how it works if you do hook it to a controller though. I may even try as well next run, right now things are working well so I’ll leave it to do it’s thing.
 

amneziaHaze

Well-Known Member
if the perliter is truly off then its not a problem but i think he is just running on low power to maintain temps.

i will have to check for a few days at what temps it starts overdrying then program the controler.and i need a longer cable
but i smoked today and it burns nice in the joint soo maybe its done drying....
 

Hook Daddy

Well-Known Member
if the perliter is truly off then its not a problem but i think he is just running on low power to maintain temps.

i will have to check for a few days at what temps it starts overdrying then program the controler.and i need a longer cable
but i smoked today and it burns nice in the joint soo maybe its done drying....
I’m sure that’s why the Cannatrol needs a wet sponge inside once the desired rh is achieved. It can drop rh and maintain it to a point, but once the buds are at the desired rh the peltier is going to have to run to maintain temp, which lowers the rh further. The only possibility is to add humidity back in small amounts or completely seal and turn it off like capping a jar. It seems to take a very long time to drop just a few points if full, but eventually it will drop and product will need to go into grove bags, jars or whatever method you choose.
 

amneziaHaze

Well-Known Member
as soon as i pressed on the fridge that it should do 12 instead of 11C the humidity started raising like crazy :D.
i wonder if i can find the sound shit and remove it because i cant have it beep every 30 minutes
 

Hook Daddy

Well-Known Member
as soon as i pressed on the fridge that it should do 12 instead of 11C the humidity started raising like crazy :D.
i wonder if i can find the sound shit and remove it because i cant have it beep every 30 minutes
That would drive me nuts as well. I’m surprised it started right away, once the temp rises the rh will rise but it should take a bit.
I’m sure you can clip a wire to the beeper, or unsolder it if it is board mounted. At least it will stop the beeping.
 

Hook Daddy

Well-Known Member
@Hook Daddy Is this still running well? Learned anything else as far as settings or mods go?

How is the smell? Does it contain any odor or can you smell the flower in the fridge when it's all closed up and running?
Yes it is up and running, right now I have my Laughing Buddha in there still, I have about a month before my next chop, I’ll let that dry a day or two then put it in to dry/cure. There is little to no smell with the door closed, but once you open the door it’s like opening 40 jars at once, a very pleasant smell indeed. As far as the end product everyone that has tried it mentions how much better it is than anything I did before, or that you can purchase at the dispensary. I’m not sure if it’s just a placebo effect but everyone feels it is much more potent as well. I’m quite happy with it and will never intentionally just hang to dry then burp jars again.
 

sandman83

Well-Known Member
Just catching up on this, my only thought was a PID with sensors to control the fridge turning on/off for temp control.

I'd open it up and just clip the wires to the speaker myself, I can't stand annoying beeps :D. Sounds like you got it working!
 

Hook Daddy

Well-Known Member
Just catching up on this, my only thought was a PID with sensors to control the fridge turning on/off for temp control.

I'd open it up and just clip the wires to the speaker myself, I can't stand annoying beeps :D. Sounds like you got it working!
Mine doesn’t beep, and right now I just have the controller that comes with the fridge for temp, with the Inkbird controlling the added dehumidifier. Nothing beeps so no need to clip speaker wires.
 
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pahpah-cee

Well-Known Member
Here’s what’s been working for me;

load up the fridge with trimmed flower. I really crammed it in there. Set inkbird controller to 90% RH. Wait 12 hours, record the RH it settles at. Adjust inkbird RH to recorded max RH.

While monitoring the temperature so I don’t exceed 60F, I slowly nudge the inkbird down 0.5RH. If I drop it 0.5 every day it’ll be smokable in 2 weeks. After this I throw them in grove bags.

@Hook Daddy what’s been working for you?
 

Hook Daddy

Well-Known Member
Here’s what’s been working for me;

load up the fridge with trimmed flower. I really crammed it in there. Set inkbird controller to 90% RH. Wait 12 hours, record the RH it settles at. Adjust inkbird RH to recorded max RH.

While monitoring the temperature so I don’t exceed 60F, I slowly nudge the inkbird down 0.5RH. If I drop it 0.5 every day it’ll be smokable in 2 weeks. After this I throw them in grove bags.

@Hook Daddy what’s been working for you?
That’s a bit different than me but sounds about the same in results.
I load it up full but only one layer per shelf, it is full and holds quite a bit though. I start off with temps at 55 to 60f and decrease to 50 by finish. At first I set the Inkbird to start the dehumidifier at about 85% rh and drop to 80% rh. Depending on how wet everything is it can take a while to get down to 80, then shoot up fairly quickly after the dehumidifier shuts off. I let it cycle like that until it takes about 20 minutes to rise back, then lower it by 5% rh and let it go again. It takes just a couple days to get under 70%, then I slow it down so it take a couple weeks and settles in at 62% rh, similar to your method of just lowering a percent or so a day. I can hold it there for weeks or months if needed, and into grove bags whenever is convenient.
 

pahpah-cee

Well-Known Member
That’s a bit different than me but sounds about the same in results.
I load it up full but only one layer per shelf, it is full and holds quite a bit though. I start off with temps at 55 to 60f and decrease to 50 by finish. At first I set the Inkbird to start the dehumidifier at about 85% rh and drop to 80% rh. Depending on how wet everything is it can take a while to get down to 80, then shoot up fairly quickly after the dehumidifier shuts off. I let it cycle like that until it takes about 20 minutes to rise back, then lower it by 5% rh and let it go again. It takes just a couple days to get under 70%, then I slow it down so it take a couple weeks and settles in at 62% rh, similar to your method of just lowering a percent or so a day. I can hold it there for weeks or months if needed, and into grove bags whenever is convenient.
Interesting. it seems like your cycles are longer. I haven’t timed my cycle this run but last run I clocked my cycle around 10 minutes.

Do you not get temperature spikes dropping the humidity by so much? I’ve noticed if the Dehum is on for too long it will raise the temperature too much.

I only do one layer of nug per shelf. I’m getting around 2oz dried per shelf. I want to get more shelves and try to really maximize how much can be loaded in there.
 

Hook Daddy

Well-Known Member
Interesting. it seems like your cycles are longer. I haven’t timed my cycle this run but last run I clocked my cycle around 10 minutes.

Do you not get temperature spikes dropping the humidity by so much? I’ve noticed if the Dehum is on for too long it will raise the temperature too much.

I only do one layer of nug per shelf. I’m getting around 2oz dried per shelf. I want to get more shelves and try to really maximize how much can be loaded in there.
I haven’t had an issue with temp rising, it might be because they both run with longer cycles. I’ll have to try it your way once and see if it does anything different. It will run the dehumidifier for several hours when I first drop rh settings, and once it gets the target it will spike back up quicker at first, them slowly stabilize out after a day or so. Maybe smaller drops more often will get quicker results and make the fridge work less.
 

Tikbalang

Well-Known Member
@pahpah-cee and @Hook Daddy . Couple questions if you don’t mind.
Confirming you are both using thermoelectric dehumidifiers?
And, What kind of ambient temp/humidity are your units in-(the cannatrol recommend <74F room temp. for the cool cure).
 

pahpah-cee

Well-Known Member
@pahpah-cee and @Hook Daddy . Couple questions if you don’t mind.
Confirming you are both using thermoelectric dehumidifiers?
And, What kind of ambient temp/humidity are your units in-(the cannatrol recommend <74F room temp. for the cool cure).
Yes, both my fridges are thermoelectric and the dehums are cheap thermoelectric dehumidifers.

I leave them in my garage which is uninsulated. Luckily I’m coastal so my temps don’t exceed 75F unless it’s summer, humidity is always present due to my location. If the temperatures went above 75F and I needed it, I would move it inside my house.
 

Hook Daddy

Well-Known Member
@pahpah-cee and @Hook Daddy . Couple questions if you don’t mind.
Confirming you are both using thermoelectric dehumidifiers?
And, What kind of ambient temp/humidity are your units in-(the cannatrol recommend <74F room temp. for the cool cure).
Mine are all thermoelectric as well, I believe the types and brands are in the first post. Mine is in an air conditioned room inside my house, so ambient temp varies from 80 in summer with ac off and 55 and up in fall / winter.
 

Vonkins

Well-Known Member
Gonna be building a cool cure fridge soon. My budget is around 500$. Ambient Temps will be in the 80-85. Would like something larger than a cannatrol. Not sure if I need a thermoelectric or compressor model. What's the best small dehumidifier available. Gonna also purchase an inkbird with wifi. Do i need an additional small fan for circulation?
 
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