JanWhile heating is no problem at all, cooling down the system is very tricky. Most sourdough techniques do not need temperatures lower than about 22°C.
In winter thats no problem at all: Warm air could be sucked out of the box with a fan/vent, thus minimum temperature being room temperature or a bit higher.
But in summer, room temperature often rises above 25-28°C. Thats too much for some sourdoughs (e.g. you want to realise a temp. drop from 35°C to 22°C). So active cooling might be required. I thought about peltier elements (cheap, easy to implement), but these need a lot of power (12V, 60-70W). That´d be a tad too much and I´d need a bigger 12V supply...
Does anyone have a good idea on that topic?
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Thanks for your ideas guys. Problem with both methods (especially the wet cloth) would be hygiene. Thinking of moulds etc...
Maybe a lower power peltier element would work as well. I´d have to do a few calculations before I order one :)
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You could use a piece of wet cloth and it's evaporation coldness. But peltier elements are clean and simple. And a small peltier element doesn't draw *so* much current, after all you don't want to freeze that dough down to -20 °C right?
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Cheap way: use an external tank filled with ice, and put a fan to blow ice-cold air out of the tank through a tube that goes into the proofing box.
The ice may melt after sometime, it may require some babysitting; but still, it may work reasonably well. You could also use those blue freezer thingies that you store in the freezer and get really cold, so you won't need real ice. You may use a bunch of them in a round-robin fashion
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