The Peltier Beer |
By Per Øyvind Arnesen |
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While drinking certain dark beers in the sun, I came to think about how to keep the beer cold until I finished it. Normally this isn’t a big problem as I usually finish them before they get warm, but on really hot days this can be a problem. Having some hardware lying around in my apartment, I decided to build something that could keep the beer cool. Read on to see how I made my own PeltierBeer. |
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Having an old Caffetiére, a two-way switch and a thermometer is a good start.
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8×1,2V rechargeable batteries, a 1U cpu-fan, a 118w peltier cooler, a cold-plate, different types of glue and cables is an even better start (okay, I had to buy some of the equipment). Here we go. |
Next the cooling!
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| These are not supposed to be used on beer, but hey, it might work. | I mounted the cpu cooler in an old Caffetiére stand using "enough" Araldite. | |
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| Araldite needs about 24 hours to dry, so I put it in the oven on 75°C for a couple of hours. | ||
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| Time to check which side is the cold one, I’m interested in cooling the beer, not cooking it. | Thermal adhesive is quite practical. | |
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Next is the power
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| Short-circuiting the PS_ON and a Com-connector on an old 300W ATX-power makes a good power source. | |
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| These should deliver 9,2V, just enough to power the rig if I should need to go beyond reach of the ATX for a couple of minutes. | I tried to solder the batteries together, but tin will not fasten on acid proof metal. |
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| The old hack with cable and tape should do it. | Carrying this around on an airport should be fun. |
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Time to hack some cables.
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| The switch is placed so I can go to battery power as quick as possible in case of an emergency. | |
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| One word: Nasty. | Power over CAT5 is quite handy, 20m of network cable should be enough to get me out in the sun with cold beer. |
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| This is connected to the ATX power and a battery charger, I can’t use the ATX power to charge the batteries. 11A would cook the batteries. | A thermometer is essential equipment on peltier cooled hardware |
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| Thanks to my neighbour for borrowing his window. |
Next, testing
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The temperature in the glass was roughly 22°C before I poured in the beer. |
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The temperature began to sink after turning on the power, I discovered that the thermometer could not display temperature under 0°C. |
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The temperature stabilized around 7°C as the heat from the hot side of the peltier element warmed the batteries. |
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Finally, cold beer in the sun. I think I have earned another. |
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18 queries. 0.226 seconds
October 18th, 2005 at 19:51
this is a Great extrapaltion on the cold”Bier”.
I”of course” point out that it in this case is cooling “ALE”.
Bier is a lager.
For A “beer”.
This would be an after noon of fun adventure and an oppertunite
to use those collected and savoury items one may have.
But Around say 6000 mugs erso, I’m thinken, ” clayton we needs us a whole
lot a fast recharge OR if we go with the hard wire model
put 180 “mug o jacks “in and around the bier garden.
Employing a certin cherry electrican.
WWWeeeelll, More Prositing!!!
Copy that?!???!
budnadzcuk may be in
October 18th, 2005 at 23:29
Why not use a solar panel instead of batteries? If you wrap the outside with the panels
it would also shade the bear…
October 18th, 2005 at 23:30
D’oh bear == beer (hic)
October 19th, 2005 at 13:17
Doh! And here I’ve been doing it wrong. I’ve just been drinking faster and keeping the “extra’s” in a cooler by my side.
October 19th, 2005 at 13:55
I thought Guinness was supposed to be served warm
October 19th, 2005 at 14:03
Cool (aarrrgh)! It’s much easier to ask one of my wives to please bring me a cold one. Also, please review comments 2, 4 and 5 . . .
October 19th, 2005 at 14:36
Isn’t guinness a stout?
October 19th, 2005 at 14:41
Great job! Clever use of spare parts to solve a problem that has plagued mankind since the dawn of time. I’m going to build one for my desk at work!
October 19th, 2005 at 14:43
Guinness is most certainly not an ALE. You Germans need some beer skillz.
Frank Beirmeister Heidelberg Says:
I�of course� point out that it in this case is cooling “ALE�.
October 19th, 2005 at 15:28
why not use a refrigerator?
October 19th, 2005 at 15:45
I don’t get this, really. This is no different than setting your glass on ice. The temp sensor was attached to the peltier (which of course got very cold). It did measure the tempurature of the Guinness that was insulated by the thick bottom of the glass. Seems like a lot of work for something that would only help cool for a degree or two.
October 19th, 2005 at 15:56
Finally some research that i’m seriously interested in. Surely there should be big government grants for such groundbreaking discoveries!
October 19th, 2005 at 16:24
warm beer hits you faster, shortening the buzz and getting down to serious blotto which I approve
still I like yer device for variety
at times I will drink over ice so you must drink faster and faster to prevent overwatering
this is not bad when the water overtakes you as body coordination flags and alcohol does the dehydration boogie after all
October 19th, 2005 at 17:20
Cold or warm, Guinness just sucks. No wonder why you can’t drink it quick enough. Save yourself the trouble and just dump it. Make mine a cold Bud or Coors Light and this is not a problem. I just downed one in the time it took to write this. And it didn’t even get warm.
October 19th, 2005 at 19:45
Bob, you are a baby. Bud and Coors are for 10 year olds.
October 19th, 2005 at 20:47
Well this would be a bit more interesting if you could adapt it to use one of those aluminum steins or mugs whatever you sant to call’em. ising it on glass is pretty much a waste of energy.
October 19th, 2005 at 20:48
Well this would be a bit more interesting if you could adapt it to use one of those aluminum steins or mugs whatever you sant to call’em. ising it on glass is pretty much a waste of energy. And as a side note: guiness rules !
October 19th, 2005 at 21:43
Bob, you’re not a baby, you’re a woman. Bud, Coors, Miller…Ya might as well drink
your own urine.
October 19th, 2005 at 23:11
to clarify: guinness is a stout which is a type of ale. what would be ideal is a device that allows you to adjust the temperature to fit the beer, as some beers are best at warmer temps while some are best at cooler temps.
October 20th, 2005 at 0:31
All lager is beer, but not all beer is lager. There are two types of beer: Ale and Lager.
We Bavarians tend to prefer lager beers (Helles, Dunkel, Pils) although hefeweizen (an ale)
ranks up there with them all. As fgc points out, Guinness is a stout beer, which is definitely
an ale. Warm fermentation, short maturation cycle, high ester content.
October 20th, 2005 at 2:46
Cold beer is for nerds. A REAL beer should be consumed at room temperature. Cool the room down to about 50 and drink all you want!
October 20th, 2005 at 7:02
I just love science put to practical use…
By the way Bob, Bud, Coors etc.. American beer is like making love in a canoe — F#@king near water….
October 20th, 2005 at 12:28
Peltier Beer Cooler: A Bit Excessive?
We’re all about DIY drinking and the desire to make your beer cooler faster, or at least for longer. The Peltier Beer Cooler seems a bit excessive to us, but it’s damned cool nonetheless. Maybe we should tell this guy…
October 20th, 2005 at 16:14
FROM SPAIN
Gran idea!!! quiero comprar 100
October 20th, 2005 at 17:04
Build Your Own Beer Cooler
Over at Grynx.com, reader Chris decided to build his own Peltier Beer Cooler from spare parts he just had lying around his apartment: rechargable batteries, a CPU fan, a 118W Peltier Cooler, cables, glue, etc. After all, no one except…
October 20th, 2005 at 18:33
Guys, guys, guys: Bier is beer is bier. Warm, cold, thick, thin. Let’s just get stickin’ drunk and have a good time, regardless the font ‘o brew.
(BTW what a lovely little afternoon project. I’m with Harvey – how about a solar-cell stein-cap?)
Sincerely,
Orange Bier Woman
October 20th, 2005 at 18:52
Guinness IS an ale, as the yeast strains used for brewing Stouts are, in fact, ale yeasts.
October 21st, 2005 at 15:03
I bought a really good beer cooler once made from divers wetsuit material (neoprean), being a diver I just had to have one.
you should try it.
http://www.tropicalcoolers.com.au/
October 23rd, 2005 at 4:49
I’m going with gell cells for power, one needs to be mobile!
October 24th, 2005 at 15:14
Fun project! Solar power sucks, as an engineer I can tell you that a solar panel powerful
enough to power a 118W peltier isn’t going be very portable or as a compact as that battery pack.
BudMillOors beer tastes so bad you have to practically freeze it to make it drinkable. Guinness
is a real beer.
Using an aluminmum stein would make this work much better.
October 24th, 2005 at 20:40
Mantén fria tu cerveza
Ya he dicho en algún que otro artÃÂculo aquàen Xataka que ahora que llega el frÃÂo otoñal (y despues el invernal, que es peor) no son muy necesarios estos gadgets, pero en el veranito nos vamos a recordar de ellos. La cerveza, cuanto más fria, mu…
October 26th, 2005 at 19:30
hmmm, I wonder if I could make a convection water coolant for it… I did it with my gaming rig, I wonder if it would be possible for a bear cooler… … oh the possibilities you have opened up to me.
October 26th, 2005 at 20:15
That should be “cafetière”, in proper French
October 27th, 2005 at 5:20
Good work champion, you’re a front runner for drunk of the month at Thedrunk.com
October 29th, 2005 at 16:00
isn’t a 118 watt peltier a little over kill?
I was thinking of making a cooler unit to keep my cans cool while sitting at the computer. The cans come from my fridge and I’d only need to maintain that temp. Seems to me like a 15 watt peltier will keep it cool for longer then 3 minutes, take less power, and may not even require a cooling fan if you have a large enough heat sink.
November 2nd, 2005 at 16:40
Gimme a kilkenny!! 😀
January 31st, 2006 at 21:42
Great project, but better, and cheaper, is to buy a Wacoe My Drink can cooler ($25 at Aldi Canberra). 240v plugpack and 12 volt car cable included!
March 15th, 2006 at 16:54
BRILLIANT IDEA! And the guy knows his beer… ahh the Guinness.
Now thats got to be done to be able to watch the rugby without the ‘fear’ of my beer going warm.
Cheers!
April 3rd, 2006 at 4:11
I have no idea what a cold plate is. What is a cold plate (pg.1) anyway?
April 8th, 2006 at 10:49
Check out http://www.tagcooler.com. I bought this a couple weeks back it works as promised. No batteries or electrical adapters. Chills instantly. I use it for beer but I am sure it would work well with any drink.
April 12th, 2006 at 10:24
I was at an Opening Day baseball game and there were snow flurries. The temp was in the mid 30’s.
I was drinking beer like it was August..as usual.
One of the women with us asked me if it ever got to cold for me to drink beer.
I said Yes, Martha, it does. Some time it freezes and I have to eat it with a spoon.
April 18th, 2006 at 15:28
I take it you’ve seen the jet powered beer cooler??
April 19th, 2006 at 1:02
Have you ever tried San Miguel beer? I can be served warm or cold . And after finishing a bottle,
you would ask for more!!! He he he ! (Isa pa nga) Mag beer muna tayo!!!! Anyways its a clever but not so
clever Idea. . .
April 26th, 2006 at 6:56
Clever idea… it is ……. but too much power consuming and that too for a beer…!!!
July 17th, 2006 at 14:54
wHAT TIME PASSED WHEN YOU TURN ON THE SWITCH AND THE TEMPERATURE
MARK LLL°C
July 20th, 2006 at 10:45
what is this?
ah… good idea i think so this is really good =) REALLY!!!
October 7th, 2006 at 6:06
Great idea do you think it would cool 10litres of beer
January 31st, 2007 at 9:42
jk but what would this accomplish building it?
March 14th, 2007 at 9:11
Can you give me a link to that pelter where you bought it?
July 4th, 2007 at 12:09
hahaha! nothing better than reading about your light beers and others..
what you know about beer, being dutch, american or from any other place, isn’t even sufficient to let only a small idea of the greatness of belgian beers penetrate your minds!
here, in belgium, we drink some beers which would knock you after the first glass.. the greatest beers here reach easily more than 10° of alcohol
nevertheless, the only principle of a beer cooler mug justifys the fact to build one if you have the spares.. you’ve done it yourself and it colds your beer, what more? it’s cool
September 5th, 2007 at 8:07
where you buy the peltier cooler. can you send me a picture of peltier cooler device.
October 23rd, 2007 at 14:16
Where did you powered the fan? fan to ATX and battery charger to CAT5?
March 17th, 2008 at 13:43
How many time the beer continues cold?
May 18th, 2008 at 3:33
how much did it cost you.. NET ?
October 29th, 2008 at 7:10
very impressive. I’m defending my thesis next week on thermoelectric devices. I would love to use a pic as an example if I can get permission and information for citation. Keep up the good work.
May 21st, 2009 at 15:47
will this still work with 136. watt peltier cooler ?
November 29th, 2009 at 20:23
It would be interesting to see the difference in performance when using a neoprene insulation with some type of reflective coating, rather than the glass been directly exposed to the sun. Nice innovation though.
April 2nd, 2010 at 7:19
It would be nice if you could furnish the cost and sources of availability of digital themometer and peltier elements.
I would be interested in this.
Thanks
April 12th, 2010 at 15:38
Would suggest you try bottled Guinness…youll find the taste to be completely different from canned (or draught)…and tastes at its best served in a glass AND slightly warm…gorgeous