This one's for you beekeepers out there. Based on the success of my electric oven waterless kiln I decided to play around with some extra bee boxes I had. These boxes are made of compressed styrofoam and are very durable
This shows two boxes stacked with another box partially assembled. The boxes are dove tailed so they are real easy to knock down when done. On top of the boxes is a queen excluder and a 100 watt heat lamp.
This shows how the heat lamp will set inside the boxes. I assembled 2 boxes, then put the queen excluder on and set the heat lamp on the excluder. The excluder is made of sturdy wire so heat will readily pass through.
I put another box on top of the heat lamp, added another excluder and then started filling the box with jars of tobacco.
Here is the finished product. The heat is controlled by a Ranco Thermostat. I ended up putting 11 different varieties of tobacco inside.
My configuration is 4 boxes high which equates to about 3 feet. If you want, you can keep repeating the sequence 2 more times so that you could put a total of about 33 jars of tobacco inside. This pic shows the next stacking sequence.
I like this system because it cost me nothing to make. All materials were leftovers. I do not have to add or monitor water levels. The downside is that it is only useful for small batches. I have enough tobacco in storage that this works out well for me.
The most amazing thing about this method is the smell. Since each jar has it's own specific tobacco the smell is very specific to the tobacco. I can close my eyes and tell you whether I am smelling BSS-Maden, or Monte Calme Brun.
Happy beekeeping.... kilning!
This shows two boxes stacked with another box partially assembled. The boxes are dove tailed so they are real easy to knock down when done. On top of the boxes is a queen excluder and a 100 watt heat lamp.
This shows how the heat lamp will set inside the boxes. I assembled 2 boxes, then put the queen excluder on and set the heat lamp on the excluder. The excluder is made of sturdy wire so heat will readily pass through.
I put another box on top of the heat lamp, added another excluder and then started filling the box with jars of tobacco.
Here is the finished product. The heat is controlled by a Ranco Thermostat. I ended up putting 11 different varieties of tobacco inside.
My configuration is 4 boxes high which equates to about 3 feet. If you want, you can keep repeating the sequence 2 more times so that you could put a total of about 33 jars of tobacco inside. This pic shows the next stacking sequence.
I like this system because it cost me nothing to make. All materials were leftovers. I do not have to add or monitor water levels. The downside is that it is only useful for small batches. I have enough tobacco in storage that this works out well for me.
The most amazing thing about this method is the smell. Since each jar has it's own specific tobacco the smell is very specific to the tobacco. I can close my eyes and tell you whether I am smelling BSS-Maden, or Monte Calme Brun.
Happy beekeeping.... kilning!