Thermoelectric wine cooler drying and curing - DIY

[Hook Daddy]

It ran great all night. This is what I'm seeing this morning. Dehumidifier runs until 61%, it shuts off, rh continues to drop to about 60.5%, rh starts climbing, Dehumidifier turns back on at 66%, rh keeps climbing to about 66.5%, then it starts dropping. Repeat. The climb from 60.5 up to 66.5 took about 5 minutes this morning.

Already a great improvement from climbing up over 71% in 2-3 minutes last night. I'm excited to see what it is doing tonight.

Awesome, that is exactly what it should be doing. Once the climb takes a bit longer shorten the difference so it doesn’t climb as high, or drop the low setting to 60%. One thing I like to do is have a couple hygrometers as checks at least the first run or two to make sure the Inkbird and cooler are properly calibrated, but I see you have at least one in there. Looking forward to seeing the results. My run with the Dosidos is done, it’s just curing in there now, I’ll take a few pictures later if I remember. It smells fantastic.

 

[TCH]

Awesome, that is exactly what it should be doing. Once the climb takes a bit longer shorten the difference so it doesn’t climb as high, or drop the low setting to 60%. One thing I like to do is have a couple hygrometers as checks at least the first run or two to make sure the Inkbird and cooler are properly calibrated, but I see you have at least one in there. Looking forward to seeing the results. My run with the Dosidos is done, it’s just curing in there now, I’ll take a few pictures later if I remember. It smells fantastic.

Yeah, I currently have 3 different inkbirds in there. Lol. Does the wifi humidity controller log the humidity on a graph in the app or is the app just for settings on it?

 

[Hook Daddy]

Yeah, I currently have 3 different inkbirds in there. Lol. Does the wifi humidity controller log the humidity on a graph in the app or is the app just for settings on it?

The Inkbird app has an icon on the bottom left on mine that says humidity trend diagram, which graphs the humidity over time. My temp and humidity sensor will graph it as well.

 

[Hook Daddy]

I wish my camera took better pics. Here’s just a random bud from the DoSiDos that are curing now. We need smell-a-vision. They have been going over three weeks and are just now getting to 60% rh and staying there. I slowed down dropping the rh as fast this time just for fun. I brought it to 65% fairly quickly, then slowed down and just dropped it 1% every few days since I didn’t have anything behind it ready. For a week I forgot it was even in there. I’m going to let it go another couple weeks and see how it tastes.

 

[TCH]

So, last night I put some of the popcorn from this plant on a tray and tossed it in. It went up to mid 70's but as soon as the dehumidifier warmed up, it dropped down like normal. When I checked the inkbird this morning, it seemed that it creeper back up to 67 or so and stayed there. So I removed the tray with the popcorn on it and dropped down to 62 and has stayed there. Just started poking around and seeing if I could figure out what was up and found this. Oops. So now, I see that hanging up for a day or two is not just a good recommendation, but a necessity.

 

[Hook Daddy]

So, last night I put some of the popcorn from this plant on a tray and tossed it in. It went up to mid 70's but as soon as the dehumidifier warmed up, it dropped down like normal. When I checked the inkbird this morning, it seemed that it creeper back up to 67 or so and stayed there. So I removed the tray with the popcorn on it and dropped down to 62 and has stayed there. Just started poking around and seeing if I could figure out what was up and found this. Oops. So now, I see that hanging up for a day or two is not just a good recommendation, but a necessity.

View attachment 5327032

You have a different dehumidifier so I’m not certain what’s up. Can you take a couple pics of it from different angles, especially what you have as the bottom, or facing the floor of the cooler. On mine the fan is pointing out into the cooler for one. My last two runs I loaded it well with no drying, and I didn’t have any issues, but I started at a higher rh and have a smaller difference setting, so the dehumidifier runs shorter periods but more often, that may help from freezing as well.

 

[TCH]

You have a different dehumidifier so I’m not certain what’s up. Can you take a couple pics of it from different angles, especially what you have as the bottom, or facing the floor of the cooler. On mine the fan is pointing out into the cooler for one. My last two runs I loaded it well with no drying, and I didn’t have any issues, but I started at a higher rh and have a smaller difference setting, so the dehumidifier runs shorter periods but more often, that may help from freezing as well.

How it sits in there


Side views


The pointed parts of the heat sink sit in the channel for the water

 

[pahpah-cee]

I think you’re just running it too hard. Start at a higher RH with shorter intervals.

 

[Hook Daddy]

How it sits in there
View attachment 5327064

Side views
View attachment 5327065View attachment 5327066

The pointed parts of the heat sink sit in the channel for the water
View attachment 5327067

Ok, that looks right, I’m not exactly sure why it freezes up more other than trying a couple different settings. You could try setting the rh to 65% and the diff to 2%, then drop the rh by .5-1% per day and see if that works. I think the dehumidifier is running longer periods because you have the rh set at 61% already, and it freezes up trying to get there. Since it seemed to come to rest at 67%, just go a point or so lower and then step down slow each day.

 

[TCH]

Ahhhh, good call. Changing it up now. I'm gonna toss the tray of popcorn back in there for a couple hours and see how she does at the higher setting. Thanks, fellas!!!
Set to 66% and a 2% swing

 

[TankHankerous]

Fins up! Radical!

 

[closetweedhead]

Where do you guys have your fridges draining to? Do they produce a lot of water during the first few days of drying/curing? I want to put one in a corner on my kitchen but don't want a puddle on my floor.

 

[TCH]

Where do you guys have your fridges draining to? Do they produce a lot of water during the first few days of drying/curing? I want to put one in a corner on my kitchen but don't want a puddle on my floor.

They have a built in drip tray. It is easy to reach around and dip a paper towel in it to drain it if necessary.

 

[TCH]

Can definitely see it doing what it is supposed to. Slowly but surely. I just flipped all the buds that are on cookie sheets in a tent and will be loading them into the Koolatron this afternoon/evening.

 

[closetweedhead]

Well I used a chest freezer controlled by an inkbird in the past and the insides must have just sweat a lot. There's was almost a cup of water a day the first week. I've been using a similar dehumidifier just not taken apart as much.

I just ordered the 20 bottle koolatron to join the koolacure gang. I'll start dissecting my inkbird humidity controller and dehumidifier in anticipation.

 

[TCH]

Well I used a chest freezer controlled by an inkbird in the past and the insides must have just sweat a lot. There's was almost a cup of water a day the first week. I've been using a similar dehumidifier just not taken apart as much.

I just ordered the 20 bottle koolatron to join the koolacure gang. I'll start dissecting my inkbird humidity controller and dehumidifier in anticipation.

Yeah. I assume the chest freezer uses a compressor and in turn will have a lot more condensation. Welcome to the Koolatron gang!!!

 

[TCH]

Added a tray of buds to the Koolatron. I needed one of my cookie sheets back because I decided to try to cook a rack of ribs for dinner. Lol. Can you tell when I added the tray of buds?

 

[TCH]

All loaded up.

 

[TCH]

Dropped it from 66% to 65% this morning. I think this should be low enough that I shouldn't have to worry about mold anymore at this point in the Koolatron, right? So now, I keep it here until it completely settles and takes hours to creep up before dropping again? Or do I let it level out again and drop it another point? What should my target be to get it to where it stays?

 

[pahpah-cee]

I just keep dropping it as quickly as it’ll let me. It usually ends up being a point a day. Once I hit 61% I stop dropping it. I like to keep it at the higher end of moisture content so I can guarantee the cure is still taking place when I bag it up.

I try to not worry about mold. I like to think it’s not a mold friendly environment in the fridge. This is assuming the bud going in is mold free.