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Brown Thumbs Walk In kiln, Flue Cure, Attempt

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Brown Thumb

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Finally, Not as nice as last yrs but Close.
I love the smell of fresh flue cured leaf.image.jpg
 

Brown Thumb

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Just got it all off the sticks, I needed some more sticks and room.
I put the wet sticks in the chamber last night to dry the stems. Still have to pull them out when they get into case.
I am trying to do another load tonight.:confused:
One table of leaf is 4 sticks. I have to pick another 4 sticks and string them all yet.
It is hot and humid in the garage.
BEER,
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Brown Thumb

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Share if it does!
Came home the other day and the temp controller had shut down when it should have ramped into holding leaf drying.
So this batch is busted for my experiment. Leaf Looks Ok tho.
Next up is GRFinnys Bamboo Shoot. Just a half a load, I did not want to mix.
Im pretty much out of good leaf.
The leaf is ripening too fast and funky.
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Brown Thumb

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The last run I only ran the steamer to maintain 97% rh for the first half of leaf yellowing then I unplugged her.
That let the RH come down to about 90% when I went into wilting.
When I went into wilting I plugged the vent fan in and never unplugged it for the rest of the cure.
I also left the halogen light on in the top of the kiln to burn off more moisture the whole time.
The RH pretty much kept right on schedule with the chart.
A pretty good batch this time. Not perfect but acceptable with little bad leaf. Some nice red leaf too.
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Brown Thumb

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Thanx Guys,
Finally hit the nail on the head. I Never thought it would happen this yr.
The surprising part is there is like 6 to 8 leaves from each plant in this run.
Go figure.
The bottom bigger leaves are on the top stick.
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Brown Thumb

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Wow. Excellent. Care to share what you did different?
Thanks Guys,
I think air flow and removing Rh is the key.
I think even tho our rh meters are telling us it is say 38%. there is still trapped moisture between the leaf causing browning issues when leaf drying.
This was half a load and smaller leaf so I was able to get the Rh out of the chamber a lot easier.
I did vent from the beginning of leaf wilting none stop untill the end of the cure.
The rh was reading way lower than than the schedule during the end of wilting thru leaf drying stage.
The last full load I did the RH followed the schedule for the most part and was not as nice.
I think more airflow would cure this problem by pulling the moisture from between the leaf.
Got to find a jet fan.:)
 

Knucklehead

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Thanks Guys,
I think air flow and removing Rh is the key.
I think even tho our rh meters are telling us it is say 38%. there is still trapped moisture between the leaf causing browning issues when leaf drying.
This was half a load and smaller leaf so I was able to get the Rh out of the chamber a lot easier.
I did vent from the beginning of leaf wilting none stop untill the end of the cure.
The rh was reading way lower than than the schedule during the end of wilting thru leaf drying stage.
The last full load I did the RH followed the schedule for the most part and was not as nice.
I think more airflow would cure this problem by pulling the moisture from between the leaf.
Got to find a jet fan.:)

I think you are on to something there. I remember reading that the big outfits force air through the leaf, rather than just circulate the air around.
 
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