Slashdot Mirror
PeltierBeer
Helstein writes "Finishing a beer in the sun before it gets warm is usually not a problem, but what about those really hot days? Having some hardware lying around there is only one solution to keep the beer cool, that's to make a PeltierBeer."
See also the jet-powered beer cooler.
Why do I remember that? <sigh>
Note, IE. Ireland. The real stuff.
The URL is a complex one and behind an age check, so you may need to go there yourself. Products, Guinness Draft and in Cans.
Well, amperage determines the heat that will be generated with power flowing through the wire, thus bigger wires for higher amperage, but high voltage has this nasty tendency to penetrate weak insulation...the higher the voltage the greater it can penetrate through insulation...ever seen those van degraf generators that make your hair stand on end =) or those cool orb thingies like in that movie the Wizard or something.....ahhh, i digress
We've secretely replaced the Enterprise's dilithium crystals with Folgers crystals. Lets see if they notice.
The sort that you get in a pub, not the sort that you get in a can or bottle. Most pubs in Ireland serve Guinness either at room temperature or slightly chilled (around 12 C / 53 F).
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
...there's a reason he doesn't post any real data regarding how much colder it kept the beer than without the cooler.
I quote from the last page of his site, which was not at all difficult to miss if you rtfa - " The temperature in the glass was roughly 22C before I poured in the beer. The beer is from the fridge and has a temperature of 8C." and then "The temperature stabilized around 7C."
These comments on the temperatures being interspersed with pictures of the thermostat showing it in action.
Granted, he doesn't talk about the performance before hand, but since the first picture shows a baseline of 19 C outside and the temperature stabilzied colder than fridge temperature, I'm assuming it was quite effective.
"This is Zombo Com, and welcome to you who have come to Zombo Com" - www.zombo.com
The room-temperature thing is a just a piss-take on the pedantic Yanks.
Just think, you've been doing it wrong all this time.
--kotj.mf, who has been in an actual Irish pub.
hang brain.
Hi, MacDork. Yes, your understanding of thermodynamics is probably ok. It's your ability to read the article and grok it that's coming up short.
He used a Peltier junction. Look it up. It's an active, solid-state, heat transfer device. It can move heat against the thermal gradient, when supplied with power.
IOW, run current through a Peltier and one side gets colder than ambient, and the other side gets warmer. Reverse the current, reverse the effect. Add a fan to the hot side to get rid of the heat, because they are limited to a max temp differential between the sides.
Ce n'est pas un vrai mouvement de robot!
Ales in the british tradition are typically served at "cellar" temps -- around 55F-60F. Continental lagers are best a little colder but generally not below 45F. A few belgian styles do better even colder, but never ice cold (38-45F).
If served ice cold, beer tends to lose most of it's flavor and seems thinner. The same is also true to a lesser extent with increasing carbonation. In the case of an american pilsener like bud, you're not missing much if the beer is ice cold. In the case of a fine czech pilsener like Budvar, you'd be missing a lot.
Roving Web-Teleoperated Robot
Ok, let me get this straight, he's running 12v down a regular ol', totally otherwise normal, completely unmarked, grey piece of unassuming CAT5 cable...
How long until something releases its magic blue smoke?
Probably not until he gets a short as the peltier probably doesn't draw much current at all, but a short in the cable would take advantage of all those rich chunky amps the computer PS can generate. Ever notice that shorting the +12 or +5 lines on a PS usually doesn't shut it down?
I've seen 12vdc, 24vdc and 110vac run over Cat5 and they do fine, longest run was of the 24Vdc - ran about 200-300 feet with no problems. I've also seen 110Vac run over a scsi-1 cable with no problems. It's current more than voltage.
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
The Afrotech Ghetto Hardware Fun site has early, failed experiments in peltier beverage cooling, with dangerous results! He almost had it right in his second experiment though...