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."
a beowolf cluster of these!
Jebus, all the time spent building that thing could have been spent drinking...MORE BEER!
See also the jet-powered beer cooler.
Why do I remember that? <sigh>
that their research seems to have missed:
Guinness is supposed to be drunk at room temp not 8-10 Deg C.
<doh>
Linux is Linux, if One need clarify their dist: <Dist>/GNU Linux
bsds are of course just BSD
Remember, a peltier works both ways. Meaning i can keep my beer nice and hot for those cold winter nights!
Carpe meam simiam!
but what about those really hot days?
Solution: drink faster.
Brilliant!
This is a nice excercize if you need some soldering practice, but there's a reason he doesn't post any real data regarding how much colder it kept the beer than without the cooler. It really isn't doing anything.
I'd be surprised if there was even a one degree difference in actual liquid temperature with the thing on than when off.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
I think a setup like this should be mandatory at any professional workstation of all IT staff everywhere. Think of how productivity will increase!
Dude, where's my packet?
his beer gets cold. He spends way too much time thinking instead of drinking.
My wife viewed this and asked why in the world someone would make that. I had to explain that we geeks get a kick out of doing stuff like this, just for the sake of doing it. This particular project would be even cooler (no pun intended) if that cat5 carried some information instead of just power. That way, maybe I could track which friends are drinking all my beer. :)
You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. --Winston Churchill
Seriously though, great design. And probably no heavier than a decent beer stein.
WHERE'S MY BEER STEIN?!?!?!?
You are not the customer.
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?
Blockwars: go play.
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
yes women wear them too, but really whats more important, cool beer, or brests? hmm... on further consideration, that is a hard one.
I want 2D games back.
He says he wouldn't want to take the cooler to the airport.
Sure he might get hassled a bit, but then he'd have to explain himself.
I mean come on, Sure everyone likes cold beer, but after enough of them, it just doesn't matter anymore.
So the only reason to build this thing, extreme bragging rights, and hassled at the airport? just one more chance and I for one will believe that the customs agents will be quite impressed.
Warm Guinness? Ick! It's supposed to be ice cold, and that's the way I love it. Okay, maybe you're German... I know a two exchange students that like warm beer -- to the point they'll use a small immersion heater. But warm Guinness? Surely you must be daft!
Granted, Per Øyvind Arnesen is using Guinness Draught in a can, and my supply is current the "rocket widget" bottled version... but as I recall the advice on the side is the same:
- "To really enjoy Guinness Draught, chill for at least 2 hours."
There you have it, straight from the side of the bottle."...America's great minds of today, teaching America's great minds of tomorrow. Poor bastards." -- A Beautiful Min
Have it monitor the level of the liquid in the glass, and have it send a page or IM to your wife to bring you another before you finish the first one.
Now THAT would be truly useful!
that cold beer on the next hot Christmas morning.
He could have just gone to the Dollar Store and bought an insulating foam bottle sleeve.
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
Forget all kinds of contraptions. There is this thing called a bar. You go in there, get a Guinness, drink it, get another, drink it, get another, drink it, get another, drink it, get another, drink it, get another, drink it, get another, drink it, get another, drink it, get another, drink it, get another, drink it, get another, drink it, get another, drink it, get another, drink it, and eventually run out of money and go back home. That's the way to live a happy life.
If that Cat5 carried data, you maybe could get Root on someone's beer...
The thickness of the base of the glass could affect the ability to cool it. Also charging batteries generate heat.
It's the peltier element that's the key here. Using electricity you can make one side of it turn really cold (I think into negative degrees C) while the other side gets hot (very simplified). In the article: "I discovered that the thermometer could not display temperature under 0C". The resulting heat on the hot side gets blown off by the fan. The cold side is attached to the beer mug. I think the surrounding temperature doesn't matter that much here.
Of course it runs NetBSD. BTC: 1NT7QvbetmANwaMzhpVL6
Yeah I made the exact same mistake. What you and I missed is this. Hence the name "PeltierBeer Cooler." I'm trying to not be too condescending since I posted a message earlier making the exact same mistake. Physics behind these things are actually pretty cool and you can use them in reverse by making one side hotter than the other and it will produce electricity.
huh? what is this beer? does it support linux?
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!
Laa laa laa, I'm this nice Norwegian friend with his laptop.
::the distinct smell of money^H^H^H^H^Hlaptop catching fire is noticable to all assembled::
Hey, my buddy routed ethernet out his window to the lawn where we're hangin out. Schweeet, I brought my expensive laptop and I want to browse the web...
Here we go, ***CLICK***
He was trying to imply that you might accidentally plug the CAT5 "power-cable" into a laptop or some such which would NOT assume it would be fed 12V @ 11A from an ATX supply (and would attempt to sink the current to prevent signal reflections... OUCH)
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
Those 8 batteries only put out 12 volts couldn't those be replaced with a solar panel, then you would not have to worry about changing batteries for every beer.
Clearly, this calls for combining the features of both! First, obtain the "beer bra" and cut a peltier-sized hole in the bottom. Affix the cooler to the surrounding insulator with lots of glorious duct tape. Arrange the backup batteries on the outside of the insulating foam.
And there you have it! The hot side of the cooler and the batteries won't raise the temperature of the beer, and the foam will also help it stay cool. Furthermore, this system could greatly speed the cooling of beer originally at room temperature.
Now if someone would kindly build this device and mail it me, I would be most grateful.
Pleeeeese... you big strong hacker you.
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
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
Run the outfit from photoelectric cells - more sunlight, more cooling!
For us beer geeks we would just drink beer in the sun faster. UV rays is what skunks beer.
UV interacts with the alpha acids from the hops and creates that "skunky" taste. This is why most beer bottle are brown, it blocks out most of the UV for a period of time.
This page does a a decent job of explaining what happens.
Nonetheless, this is a cool hack. Just drink it fast or leave it in the bottle/can.
So you're suggesting that a bra is manly?
Karma: Dyn-o-mite!(mostly affected by Jimmy Walker reading your comments)
Yes, but hopefully the bra will be removed from the woman upon beer drinking.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Beer looses all its taste when it gets too cold, which should tell you a lot about the stuff they sell in the states as beer.
Some friends of mine used to have a beer tasting contest. Everyone brought their favorite brew, everyone tasted each and then were blindfolded and had to try and identify brands. One year, two guys managed to identify all 50+ brands. To break the tie, we went and got every bad light American beer we could find. We put them in a freezer to absolutely kill any taste. Result? The two winners were able to identify all of the light beers. Maybe it was a statistical fluke, but these guys seemed to think that even near frozen light beers have distinct identifiable tastes.
FreeSpeech.org
Breasts produce milk. Milk is yummier than beer. I'll take the breasts with their bras.
Ever need an online dictionary?
This thing couldn't work in a million years.
/. troll of the year.
The thermometer isn't in the beer, it's hooked directly to the copper plate atop the peltier device.
Without a crystal goblet and gobs of thermal goop, he's going to cool his thermometer probe and some air and not much else. Actually, he should just leave the beer in the can. Aluminum has a thermal conductivity of 205 W/m-K, and glass does 0.8 W/m-K. The thinner can* and 250X increase in k will make his project more successful, but still a candidate for
I'd be willing to bet that the metal rails of that "caffetiere" are transmitting more heat to the sides of the glass than the copper plate is taking from the base.
* - say the base of his glass is 4 mm thick, and the can is 0.2 mm thick (it could be less), then the glass will have a thermal conductance of 200 W/K and the can will have a thermal conductance of 1.03e6 W/K.
Immediately when I saw the headline, I did the Pelllllllllll-Tierrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-Beeeeeeeeeeeer in the style of the old Rainer Beer commercial that just showed a mountain but the voice over was some guy saying Rainier Beer as if it were a motorcycle or sports car shifting into higher gear as it came around a mountain curve. I was just in grade school at the time but I still remember that commercial and the Hamm's Beer (Bear) Jingle of the late 1970's.
We always use stubbie holders. Stubbies are single serve glass bottles, somewhat larger than your can-sized serve usually.
RM Williams Oilskin stubbie holder
Axeman's stubbie holder Note unlike the photo, the whole can fits snuggly inside the neoprene (think wetsuit rubber).
In the tropics they take keeping your beer cold seriously:
stubbie holders, sixpack holders, You can even stick whole wine bottles into some of these.
The hard plastic and polystyrene sort. Buy a boat to hold your beer?
By the way, if there's foam in that bra, you're probably getting less than you bargained on. Real women don't need or want padding. Although occasionally I'd bet they'd like hard shielding from octopi disguised as men.
-- it must be true, it's on the internet.
I saw that RJ45 connecting up with a CAT5, and before I read the caption, I thought, "wow, he even gave an IP address to his beer."
This sig no verb.
The heat transfer coefficient for glass isn't as high as metal. Sure it's proper to drink guiness from glass, but if you want to increase the efficiency, use a metal drinking vessel. Also, use something that is flat bottommed to increase contact area. Better yet, use thermal adhesive to permanently stick a metal drinking vessel to the copper plate... that stuff will lower contact resistance quite a bit.
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...
He is living in NORWAY .. from memory the tempertaures during the most parts of the year were cold enough to avoind needing a beer cooler. In fact in winter you might have some troubles getting your beer out of the can in the first place .. short of a small hammer.
.. (Note: I am norwegian..)
Then again no-one has ever accused a norwegian of being unable to get beer from a can =)
Jon - TheSpork
solar cells on the outside of the cooling "holster" thing-a-ma-bob dohicky he sets the glass in would probably be a better upgrade.
forget the damn cables, just wire up a collection of solar panels. Presumeably he's just sitting in the sun, and if so, he can have a remote panel collection wired to his cooler. put some thermally transmissive foam on the top of the cooling unit, to touch the most of the bottom of the glass as possible, and he'd have something worth selling.
If people buy those STUPID singing fish plaques, they'd foam at the mouth to buy these.
The two essentials of life apparently come from bras. Life just keeps getting better all the time!
I assumed that the heat capacity of beer was just about that of water (1 calorie/degC/g). So, using Frink, a calculating tool/programming language I've developed, the power needed to lower a lovely 12 floz beverage by a relatively scant 10 degrees F in a minute is given by:
12 floz water (1 calorie/degC/gram) 10 degF/min -> W
Which gives about 137 watts given perfect efficiency! You actually need to divide the left-hand side by the Coefficient of Performance of your Peltier junction which is probably--what--0.4? And then divide by all your other efficiency losses due to imperfect heat transfer and heat input from the environment...which, as the saying goes, "is left as an exercise for the reader."
(You can use the web-based interface to Frink to plug in your own numbers and units like liters or degC, or K, or recalculate the numbers using the heat capacity of ultra-high-ethanol concoctions.)
No wonder that Peltier-junction cooled ice chest I bought many years ago didn't work worth a lick. It kept things cool if you filled it with a big bag of ice. :)
Wonderfully fun experiment, in any case. I'd sure like to see the thermometer placed in the liquid, though.
Make your computer ten thousand times larger--try Frink
There are niftly little hot plate kind of things to sit on your desk to keep the coffee warm. Why not a commeccial version of this I can sit beside me at work and keep my Pepsi cold. Drinking faster doesn't work here. I need to meter the caffeen intake over the whole graveyard shift to survive. Ever try and find one of those cute cozys to fit a 1 liter bottle?
Profanity - The sign of a small mind trying to express itself.
you put my beer in vacume then I kill you.
Well that may be one way to keep beer cold, but I've seen another one tested in pub in cardiff. A specially designed tap turns the last bit of beer of the pint into ice crystals thus creating an ice cap which floats on top of the beer. This then keeps the remaining beer ice cold all the way down for up to 45 minutes.
You can't win Darth. If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine
To not even know how to spell "breast"
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Personally I chill liquids in the sun the same way people have been doing for 2000 years....
Wrap some cloth or paper around the bottle/glass, wet it, when the water evaporates, the liquid is cooled...
The more sun, the more cooling, so its kinda self-stabilising.