Paraord
Well-Known Member
Hi everyone!
Well Im going at this growing my own tobacco and I currently have 2 seed trays worth at the "little swollen green ball bearing" stage. Hopefully thats a good sign, if not I can ditch as I have time between now and my last frost date.
I want to make a tobacco kiln but have it double as a hard cider/beer controlled fermentation. With an old orchard on the property we take making cider pretty serious. Its just as much fun to make as it is to give to my friends. I actually just finished the final touches on the new press here.
I was given a commercial refrigerator with a bum cooling motor (all top mounted so taking it off was easy peasy). The plan is to plug the intake and exhaust with some sheet metal siliconed around the edges, fill the cavities with a combo of hard and expanding foam, and top the whole unit with sheet metal bent down a couple inches over the ends and screwed into place for a good clean finish.
As far as the thermostat I was thinking a PID setup. I use one for my lead casting pot so putting them together and setting it up is no issue. Ive heard those inline thermostats dont have the best longevity, I could probably do the water heater setup but I love the digital output of the PID and how bulletproof it is. I will also run a secondary thermometer/hydrometer.
Next on the list is a heating element. I know the crockpot is used pretty frequently but I want this to serve a dual purpose. Keeping it at 90 degrees for optimum yeast fermentation of alcohol doesnt require any humidity so I want to separate the two functions. I was thinking about one of those silicone heating pad elements like this one that tops out at 300 degrees F
https://www.ebay.com/i/332030174379?chn=ps&dispItem=1
Air circulation I am planning a 70CFM bathroom fan mounted on the bottom end with L brackets, hooked up to a fan speed controller that will be located at the same location as the PID. Not sure if I should leave it as the exhaust as is or if I should add a PVC snorkel going to the top, to a 95 degree and then a straight with a mess of holes drilled into it or some more elaborate diffusing strategy. Any ideas on if this is too much or too little air circulation is greatly appreciated. I was eyeballing 70 cfm because it was the middle of the road for these vents.
Which leaves me to the last component of the tobacco kiln. Humidity. At 120 degrees can I put like a casserole dish full of water in the bottom rack and achieve the 70% RH? move a sheet over top of it with some trial and error? Anyone have any suggestions to make the humidity an individual component? Maybe a reptifogger?
I have plenty of time to go from where I am now to where I need to be and will be chipping away at it as time goes on, not an overnight thing, but serving a dual purpose makes this not the typical build from what I've seen.
Any help is appreciated! Sorry for all the newby questions and lengthy post. Thanks in advance everyone
Well Im going at this growing my own tobacco and I currently have 2 seed trays worth at the "little swollen green ball bearing" stage. Hopefully thats a good sign, if not I can ditch as I have time between now and my last frost date.
I want to make a tobacco kiln but have it double as a hard cider/beer controlled fermentation. With an old orchard on the property we take making cider pretty serious. Its just as much fun to make as it is to give to my friends. I actually just finished the final touches on the new press here.
I was given a commercial refrigerator with a bum cooling motor (all top mounted so taking it off was easy peasy). The plan is to plug the intake and exhaust with some sheet metal siliconed around the edges, fill the cavities with a combo of hard and expanding foam, and top the whole unit with sheet metal bent down a couple inches over the ends and screwed into place for a good clean finish.
As far as the thermostat I was thinking a PID setup. I use one for my lead casting pot so putting them together and setting it up is no issue. Ive heard those inline thermostats dont have the best longevity, I could probably do the water heater setup but I love the digital output of the PID and how bulletproof it is. I will also run a secondary thermometer/hydrometer.
Next on the list is a heating element. I know the crockpot is used pretty frequently but I want this to serve a dual purpose. Keeping it at 90 degrees for optimum yeast fermentation of alcohol doesnt require any humidity so I want to separate the two functions. I was thinking about one of those silicone heating pad elements like this one that tops out at 300 degrees F
https://www.ebay.com/i/332030174379?chn=ps&dispItem=1
Air circulation I am planning a 70CFM bathroom fan mounted on the bottom end with L brackets, hooked up to a fan speed controller that will be located at the same location as the PID. Not sure if I should leave it as the exhaust as is or if I should add a PVC snorkel going to the top, to a 95 degree and then a straight with a mess of holes drilled into it or some more elaborate diffusing strategy. Any ideas on if this is too much or too little air circulation is greatly appreciated. I was eyeballing 70 cfm because it was the middle of the road for these vents.
Which leaves me to the last component of the tobacco kiln. Humidity. At 120 degrees can I put like a casserole dish full of water in the bottom rack and achieve the 70% RH? move a sheet over top of it with some trial and error? Anyone have any suggestions to make the humidity an individual component? Maybe a reptifogger?
I have plenty of time to go from where I am now to where I need to be and will be chipping away at it as time goes on, not an overnight thing, but serving a dual purpose makes this not the typical build from what I've seen.
Any help is appreciated! Sorry for all the newby questions and lengthy post. Thanks in advance everyone