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building a cure chamber for colour cure and ferment

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ringanator

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Ok so I have been dwelling on this cure chamber here is my idea let me know what you think. Old fridge I will be useing a temp and humidity controller attached to a small square personal heater with the thermostat and over temp bypassed and a humidifier . Now here some questions. Would you add ventilation? Details on rh and temp/ time for color curing, seeing how there will be a heater cool mist humidifier or a cheaper steam humidifier,now for the fementing process temp/humidity relationship, I have seen putting it in Rubbermaid containers and misting and flipping every couple days or should I pile open on racks and use my system rotating every couple days, if any one has pictures of there design along the same lines of my idea please post with your process of colour curing and fermenting.any and all sugestions are apreciate.
 

Jitterbugdude

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If you are curing tobacco you want the tobacco to dry, You should not be adding water. Once you have cured leaf you could put it into a plastic box but you will need a temp controller to maintain 110-125 F temps.

I ferment my leaf in mason jars. I put them in a styrofoam box with a T-stat controlled heater.
 

DGBAMA

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Ventilation allows for reduction of humidity if needed.

You may or may not need it.

Fermenting in boxes, bags, jars, etc, helps the leaf maintain desired moisture content longer at kilning temps. If your chamber can maintain 125 deg at 70% RH, then there is no need for boxes, etc., the leaf can simply be placed open on racks and the piles rotated every so often.
 

ringanator

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So a year after origanal post and lots of reading I am finally at the point to start putting together my flue cure/fermentation chamber I score this old refrigerator inside was ceramic coated sheet metal and stared to gut it the freezer section is going to house the heating system 3×150w incandescent light bulbs the fan pictured was also salvaged from the fridge which will be used to force hot air into cure chamber. Humidity will be regulated with an exhaust blower salvaged from an old vacuum all the components will be controlled by a ardreno microcontroller and relay logic and software I wrote for each step yellow,wilt,leaf dry steam dry and ferment. Tryed this system small scale in a beer fridge last year and it work OK but the beer fridge was just to small and air circulation became an issue if to much was put in. So far this project cost me 30 bucks for the electronic components and 100s of hr of time lol. Just got to get sheet metal for the door and will post updates on electronic installation.. hope this gives some ideas to the group I know you guys help me out a bunch.



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ringanator

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Yes getting some stainless sheet metal to go over top of the isolation just waiting for it to get sheard to size it was plastic on the door before hand.
 

ChinaVoodoo

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Where would a guy find a tutorial for wiring those controllers. I'm just using a plug and play style but would like to try some more advanced technology.
 

ChinaVoodoo

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If you are curing tobacco you want the tobacco to dry, You should not be adding water. Once you have cured leaf you could put it into a plastic box but you will need a temp controller to maintain 110-125 F temps.

I ferment my leaf in mason jars. I put them in a styrofoam box with a T-stat controlled heater.

With all due respect, in Ringanator's area, the indoor relative humidity at room temperature in the autumn is close to 5%, and he does need to be able to add humidity while curing unless he wants a crop of green tobacco.
 

ringanator

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China I learn all the programming skills off you tube. But if you would like to save time I would be more then willing to send them to you or any one else interested. Just pm me
 

Chicken

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I believe we have all started out with a small curing chamber.

And then realized..go big or go home.this year im actually building a shed dedicated to only curing my bacca.

It really depends on how much leaf u got..i grow 400 plants a year.
 

Smokin Harley

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I figured out by looking at others curing chambers that its like planning closet space or building a garage...Build it bigger than you think you need ,as big as you can afford and as big as you have room for and it may still not be big enough. So, when everyone was building a 2x2x3 (12 cu/ft)...I went big with 4x4x2 (32cu/ft)to kiln an average of 120 plants. It still took me almost all winter to kiln all 11 varieties one month per load. If I was going to build another one it would be 3x3 or 4x4 ...x6ft tall . This one is fine . Gives me something to do all winter almost right up to seeding time again.
 

Chicken

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Mines gonna be huge..ive been buying materials for it..ive got about 24 sheets of plywood..16' 4x4's...a propane heater...

Im making a stick barn for years to come.
 

Smokin Harley

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Chicken, If it didn't take me nearly 16 hours to get to Florida ,I'd come help you build it. Sounds like a nice project.
 

Chicken

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I'm taking my vacation august 1..that's when I plan on starting it
 
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