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Ben Brand's 2018/19 grow

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Ben Brand

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Only planting 6 varieties filler and 4 wrappers this year.

Fillers 300 plants.

50x Pennsylvania Red
50x Vuelta Abajo
50x Little Dutch
50x Criollo
50x Machu Pichu
50x Connecticut Broadleaf.
Still not sure how I'm going to ferment them!!!

Wrappers 120 plants

40x Connecticut Broadleaf
40x Bezuki
20x Havana 2000 ( thanks Hasse)
20 Timor
All sun grown.
 

mwaller

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What is "fridge fermented tobacco?" Do you have a heat source inside a refrigerator box, or....?

Bob no I never had a kiln, just fermenting with a fridge. I`m smoking tobacco that was pile fermented, what a change to fridge fermented tobacco.
Ben
 

Ben Brand

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What is "fridge fermented tobacco?" Do you have a heat source inside a refrigerator box, or....?

Just a normal big old fridge, 1x 100watt globe for heat, and a small one plate stove with a small pot of water for humidity. Struggled in the beginning with the humidity, but got it sorted. I dont think I will use it again, looking for another way to ferment my tobacco, was thinking in the line of a $0 gallon plastic food grade drum to press my tobacco in, and then I must try and heat it up, still dont know hope ( maybe an electric blanket)
 

mwaller

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Just a normal big old fridge, 1x 100watt globe for heat, and a small one plate stove with a small pot of water for humidity. Struggled in the beginning with the humidity, but got it sorted. I dont think I will use it again, looking for another way to ferment my tobacco, was thinking in the line of a $0 gallon plastic food grade drum to press my tobacco in, and then I must try and heat it up, still dont know hope ( maybe an electric blanket)

Your fridge set-up is what most here would call a kiln.
I'm really interested in your experience with the pile fermented leaf. Do you have any pictures of the set-up your friend used?
 

Ben Brand

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I'm really interested in your experience with the pile fermented leaf. Do you have any pictures of the set-up your friend used?[/QUOTE]

No sorry I don`t have pictures.
What he does- Stalk cure all his tobacco- when dry , he conditions the tobacco, strip the leaves from the plants, tie the different stalk positions into hands ( 20 to 30 leaves), then he starts stacking them onto hessian ( think you guys call it burlap) covered pallets, to keep them off the floor.
The stack size is about 3 M (10 feet) x 3 M and about 7 feet high, stems towards the outside, leaf inwards. When the stack is full he covers it with hessian. While he packs the stack he puts a few PVC tubing in while stacking, the thermometers go into these tubes to monitor the stack heat, when the tobacco reach 60 deg C (140 F) he breaks down the stack, air the tobacco to cool down and re-stack the tobacco, the tobacco that was on the outside goes to the inside etc.
After a few weeks the tobacco doesn't heat up anymore, that`s when the tobacco is ready.

Watch Rocky Patel`s factory tour video on YouTube, he explains it quite well.
Ben
 

ChinaVoodoo

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I humidify my tobacco with a spritzer. I actually weigh it first, estimate the water content, then spray about enough to bring it up to 25% water by weight. Then I seal it in a brew bucket, but any bucket would do. Then it goes in the kiln raised off the floor a couple inches. The kiln is just a huge Styrofoam box, basically a fridge. I have a 300W lightbulb on a controller. The bulb is inside a pipe and there is a fan blowing air through the pipe and blowing so hard around the joint that there's no hot spots to be found. The tobacco stays humid, and it's s nice even heat. I think all you'd need to do to adapt your system is a steel pipe, a controller, a bucket, and a fan. Oh, and the steel pipe sits on tile just in case the fan craps out and it gets hot. The fan is blowing whether the bulb is on or not.
 

Charly

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Good luck with your crop Ben :)

Pile curing is hard to achieve for us small growers, because it requires a lot of leaves...
I do the same as ChinaVoodoo : I put my tobacco in jars, at the right humidity, in a "dry" kiln, heated by a 200W lamp and a few fans.
 

mwaller

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Thanks for the description. Sounds like your friend is running a commercial-scale operation! I've seen videos of this before. I was just imagining something much smaller-scale. I guess not!

No sorry I don`t have pictures.
What he does- Stalk cure all his tobacco- when dry , he conditions the tobacco, strip the leaves from the plants, tie the different stalk positions into hands ( 20 to 30 leaves), then he starts stacking them onto hessian ( think you guys call it burlap) covered pallets, to keep them off the floor.
The stack size is about 3 M (10 feet) x 3 M and about 7 feet high, stems towards the outside, leaf inwards. When the stack is full he covers it with hessian. While he packs the stack he puts a few PVC tubing in while stacking, the thermometers go into these tubes to monitor the stack heat, when the tobacco reach 60 deg C (140 F) he breaks down the stack, air the tobacco to cool down and re-stack the tobacco, the tobacco that was on the outside goes to the inside etc.
After a few weeks the tobacco doesn't heat up anymore, that`s when the tobacco is ready.

Watch Rocky Patel`s factory tour video on YouTube, he explains it quite well.
Ben
 
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greenmonster714

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I guess it's go big or go home. This is going to be a huge grow. Can't wait to see it take off. It should be fun to watch. Be sure to post pics. We all like pics.
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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I grew 240 plant last year with 14 varieties. It was a lot of work, but I got good results. I have a basement full of hanging tobacco as a result.

Good luck and much success to you!

Wes H.
 
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