Thermoelectric wine cooler drying and curing - DIY

Asey1

Member
Quick question, as my buds got much bigger than expected, would you guys break them down into smaller parts?

Theoretically i could also "hang dry" them inside instead of putting them on racks? Im planning on getting rid of the leafs anyway but am contemplating if i should make smaller buds for the wine fridge or leave them as is?

My main bud unfortunately died to bud rot, as i had couple of days where i had higher humidity and dont want to lose more in the drying process if they are too dense for their own good

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Hook Daddy

Well-Known Member
Quick question, as my buds got much bigger than expected, would you guys break them down into smaller parts?

Theoretically i could also "hang dry" them inside instead of putting them on racks? Im planning on getting rid of the leafs anyway but am contemplating if i should make smaller buds for the wine fridge or leave them as is?

My main bud unfortunately died to bud rot, as i had couple of days where i had higher humidity and dont want to lose more in the drying process if they are too dense for their own good

View attachment 5413008View attachment 5413007

They look good, I break mine down mostly, I’ll leave the tops a few inches long. I take them from this which was not too long before chop

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To this as they go in

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amneziaHaze

Well-Known Member
Ok so I just found this thread last week and pulled the trigger on all the parts and have now inadvertently run an experiment to see how much water the dehu pulls out vs the fridge itself.

I’m going out of town for a week on Saturday and was freaking out about drying my purple lemonade auto that was just ready for harvest and so searching found this thread - thanks to Hook Daddy and everyone for all the valuable info.

Unfortunately, when I received the Koolatron from Amazon. It was obviously used / open box with scratches everywhere and all of the shelves just thrown inside. I initiated a return to Amazon to get a new one but the clock was ticking so I decided to just use it without drilling the hole in the back so I could return it and just chuck the dehu in there with the cables for it and the sensor coming through the door. It still seals well around it and I think the loss of seal is negligible.

In any case, I decided to just try and fit everything in two shelves and worry about doing a proper build until my new unit arrives.

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I did a bud wash and wet trim and threw it all in starting at 55f / 65%rh since I wanted to dry the excess water from the wash more quickly than Hook’s recommended 55f/76%rh to start.

Everything seems to be working as expected with the temp going btw 55-59f while the rh bounces btw 61-70%.

When I woke up this morning I checked the drain catch for the cooler and it was almost overflowing - awesome. Then I checked the dehu reservoir and there was barely enough water to cover the entire bottom of it. So not much at all. I couldn’t measure how much was in the runoff from the fridge itself but I’d estimate it’s 4-5x more than the dehu reservoir.

I know there’s been discussion of how much the dehu is necessary vs just a heater so I thought this was an interesting data point. There was also no ice buildup at all on the dehu fins.

I’m not sure the results would be the same for a full load of fresh flowers but it definitely appears that the fridge is doing the lions share of the moisture extraction.

I still have questions and would like to see what would happen if just a heater was used, something like a small reptile heating pad with minimal power draw. I also wonder if the dehumidifier casing acts as an insulator to prevent the peltier from freezing up. Also, when the dehu does freeze up, does it prevent it from working as a heater, which then affects the fridge and stops it from pulling moisture, as Hook Daddy has observed in an earlier post.
Fridge uses the same peltier zhat your dehumidifer uses. Its just harder to setup the fridge if it turns off the cooling turns off as well

As for the fat buds the problem is when you get to the end point you are driving blind the fridge says 60 but middle of the bud is not.you can leave it longer it should work
 

sgnpuflm

Active Member
Getting ready to actually put mine to use and curious about the temp differences y'all see. My sensor probe reads 64, the front of the cooler says 61, and it's set at 58.
 

billiam77

Member
I go by what the temp/hygrometer gauge I put inside says, when the dehumidifier kicks on the temp will spike up and will slowly drop again. Usually the temp stated on the door and gauge are within 2 degrees which is good enough for me
 

Asey1

Member
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.

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

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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!
So as i cant Edit anymore and also i have some new experience with the unit, how it works and someone already wanted to know something ill do an small update.

As i was worried about water pooling and also because im sometimes away for 1-2 days, i unscrewed and raised the fridge a couple of cm so the tray has enough space and i can grab it and empty it. I wanted to be safe and did this after all the work on the fridge and am waiting for a little bigger tray that can hold more water.

Yesterday i also put my first cut in (1 tray) to test it and also because the rest of the plant wasnt ready and everything worked fine with a 55/75 setting for the beginning. When i left for my girlfriends there was even a little bit of water in the tray so i emptied it.

The only thing you have to watch out for and dont know if its my unit or its normal, but the ambient temperature in your room is very important. Yesterday everything was alright but in the middle of the night my AC stopped running and the fridge went from 55 to 65 degrees while the dehum was running, warming up the fridge and not beeing able to dehum the fridge while it went to 85 humidity before i got home and got the AC under control. My room temp was around 78-80 at the time so i guess its best to put it into a cooler place if possible, else you might also run into problems like me.

Today ive put in the rest of the plant. (3 full trays) and right now im letting it settle it to the 55 degrees and then i will set the RH at 75% again and see how its going (right now the RH is pretty stable at 75.6 after 1h)
 
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MRobi

Member
In the middle of the night my AC stopped running and the fridge went from 55 to 65 degrees while the dehum was running, warming up the fridge and not beeing able to dehum the fridge while it went to 85 humidity before i got home and got the AC under control. My room temp was around 78-80 at the time so i guess its best to put it into a cooler place if possible, else you might also run into problems like me.
I ran into this same issue early on. Initially the dehumidifier has to run a lot more often to get the humidity to target. The first 4 or 5 days I'd get big temp spikes for a few hours after lowering the target humidity. Now that I'm about 2 weeks into it, the temps barely budge as humidity comes down.
 

Foilcard

Member
Harvest Day! I loaded up the cooler and will be stepping down the humidity from 75% each day by 1%.

What should I do with the wet trim? Just throw it in the cooler?
 
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Hook Daddy

Well-Known Member
Harvest Day! I loaded up the cooler and will be stepping down the humidity from 75% each day by 1%.

What should I do with the wet trim? Just throw it in the cooler?
Hope you have a great harvest. I wouldn’t put the trim in the cooler, but then I rarely have room for the buds. If it’s not crowded it should be ok. Just not too thick a layer.
 

billiam77

Member
Harvest Day! I loaded up the cooler and will be stepping down the humidity from 75% each day by 1%.

What should I do with the wet trim? Just throw it in the cooler?
I have three koolatrons and still can not fit trim in them so I put them in a freezer bag, then use a straw in the corner to suck out the extra air, then throw it in the freezer until I get time to make budder or concentrate.

It feels weird, I never thought I would think about throwing out trim, but now that I grow my own and have a large surplus (for me) of quality bud, I don't know when I'll get around to the trim. Now I understand what it is to have weed privilege, and it is NICE......
 

beer30

Member
I have three koolatrons and still can not fit trim in them so I put them in a freezer bag, then use a straw in the corner to suck out the extra air, then throw it in the freezer until I get time to make budder or concentrate.

It feels weird, I never thought I would think about throwing out trim, but now that I grow my own and have a large surplus (for me) of quality bud, I don't know when I'll get around to the trim. Now I understand what it is to have weed privilege, and it is NICE......
I know that feeling all too well. In the past I've ended up just giving it away to friends that wanna make edibles.
 

sgnpuflm

Active Member
Loaded mine for the first time last night, and I've still got plenty of room inside. Building it was easy, and it's not yet been a day but I already see the function and flow and have even more appreciation for this thing than I already did.

I kept finding the water pooled in the bottom, so I tipped the unit back a little and now I'm reguarly finding it in the drain trap. I'm wondering if I can get a cookie sheet or something under it as an extra overflow, but so far this thing has been a great investment. It's been said but thanks @Hook Daddy and everyone involved in the research for your work here!

I've started with it at 60/75% and I'm going to walk it down 1% a day over the next 2 weeks. Excited to see how this turns out.
 

MRobi

Member
So I'm on day 10 of my first dry in one of these. Started at 80%RH/55F and have been stepping down by 1%RH daily. Drip tray filled a lot initially and even spilled over a few times but that seems to be under control. Currently at 70%RH/55F

I'm wondering what others experience has been around smell. I open the door to the fridge and I'm hit with that freshly cut grass smell and not the nice dank smell of weed. Meanwhile the rest of this crop that's in the tent in a hanging drying rack has a great smell. When do you find the smells start coming out?
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?
 

Tony9d9ct

Active Member
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?
Take a bud out and squish it a bit and smell it. I've found that there's very little smell to mine until I squish them a bit, then they really smell.
 

MRobi

Member
Mine didn't get the strong weed smell until it was Jared for a couple of days
But did it have the freshly cut grass smell before jarring?

I'm thinking it wouldn't harm much to leave it in there for the weekend at 60RH. Plus, I had to order some grove bags and they're here Monday
 

billiam77

Member
But did it have the freshly cut grass smell before jarring?

I'm thinking it wouldn't harm much to leave it in there for the weekend at 60RH. Plus, I had to order some grove bags and they're here Monday
As long as they are not drying out you can leave them in there indefinitely. I hate to say my sense of smell is not great lately due to congestion, but still can smell weed, but can't smell fresh cut grass even when I'm mowing, so sorry I can't give an honest answer on that....
 

sgnpuflm

Active Member
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.
 
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