Curing Chamber from the box up My Build

[AmaxB]

From My Notes:
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For my third batch

So I have learned my Wet Bulb and RH sensor are very close in readings and heat box needs to be set 10F high after making an adjustmen and allowing time for the change. --------After things settle down I should see the right readings on the Wet / Dry Bulbs.
Next batch try this for settings

Yellowing:
Set heat box at 104F & Set RH control 93%
Dry bulb / Wet Bulb after a few hours should show Dry 95F - Wet 93F

Wilting:
Set heat box at 127F & Set RH control 53%
Dry bulb / Wet Bulb after a few hours should show Dry 118F - Wet 100F

Drying Leaf:
Set heat box at 144F & Set RH control 37%
Dry bulb / Wet Bulb after a few hours should show Dry 135F - Wet 105F

Drying Stems:
Set heat box at 174F & Set RH control 19%
Dry bulb / Wet Bulb after a few hours should show Dry 165F - Wet 110F

 

[workhorse_01]

Thank you sir. You are just in time for my wilt.

 

[AmaxB]

How do you know when the leaf is dry?
Is it when the veins near the stem butt have browned is this when you move on to drying the stem?

 

[AmaxB]

Thank you sir. You are just in time for my wilt.

it seems you and I are running a batch at the same time..

 

[workhorse_01]

My dad said when the veins nearest the but of the leaf are dry, and you see the edges of the midrib beginning to dry and shrink, "kill the stem"

 

[workhorse_01]

We are. Mine is VA Gold.

it seems you and I are running a batch at the same time..

 

[AmaxB]

My dad said when the veins nearest the but of the leaf are dry, and you see the edges of the midrib beginning to dry and shrink, "kill the stem"

veins nearest the butt have changed color they are dry? My rib is shrinking but still have some green veins near the butt...
I'm running the Kutsaga 110
I want to see your VA Gold!!!

 

[DGBAMA]

Sounds like you are close. Look forward to seeing the results. I would guess with your 1 deg/hr temp control that by the time you hit the final drying temp those veins will be brown.

 

[AmaxB]

Sounds like you are close. Look forward to seeing the results. I would guess with your 1 deg/hr temp control that by the time you hit the final drying temp those veins will be brown.

Is my thought....Have started the stem dry
Interest gave extra 36 hrs to yellowing but got some back during the wilting, this wilting phase was 24hrs.

 

[DGBAMA]

Is my thought....Have started the stem dry
Interest gave extra 36 hrs to yellowing but got some back during the wilting, this wilting phase was 24hrs.

How did you judge when to make the change from wilting to leaf drying?

 

[AmaxB]

1st I can't see for the trees
Little background:
Had opened the door around 70 hrs (yellowing) everything looked great, really great except for green veins at leaf butts, green mid-rib, & green stem butts. Everything else was beautiful yellow the leaf limp like a damp rag.
No brown, nothing just yellow apart from green veins and stems much better than my 1st batch.
So I gave it another 12 hrs and increased temp a bit - in that 12 hrs it began to wilt (according to what I have read some wilting will occur) so OK no problem.
I think at some point I made a error half way through the wilting phase I could see the leaf was drying. So at that point I moved into drying the leaf and when stems appeared to be drying I moved into drying the stems.
When I unload I'll know if I made an error or not,,, should be tomorrow.

 

[AmaxB]

Sounds like you are close. Look forward to seeing the results. I would guess with your 1 deg/hr temp control that by the time you hit the final drying temp those veins will be brown.

My veins are turning brown from what I can see, my concern here is setting green colored veins.
This is Hell...you are learning literally by the seat of your pants with each decision (with an educated guess hopefully) you through the Dice. If Lady Luck is not on your side you trash good Tobacco.

 

[workhorse_01]

The leaf is good and yellow. Are the veins all turning brown and the midrib is starting to dry? or are part of the veins still green?

My veins are turning brown from what I can see, my concern here is setting green colored veins.
This is Hell...you are learning literally by the seat of your pants with each decision (with an educated guess hopefully) you through the Dice. If Lady Luck is not on your side you trash good Tobacco.

 

[AmaxB]

The leaf is good and yellow. Are the veins all turning brown and the midrib is starting to dry? or are part of the veins still green?

Well the rib at this point are nearly dry but some leaves the vein set green it will be ready to put into order in the morning. Should be coming out a round noon and than I can get a good look at all of it.
the plan post #681 I will be using and considering other changes don't know will see what my leaf looks like.

 

[DonH]

My veins are turning brown from what I can see, my concern here is setting green colored veins.
This is Hell...you are learning literally by the seat of your pants with each decision (with an educated guess hopefully) you through the Dice. If Lady Luck is not on your side you trash good Tobacco.

I feel your pain. Well, a little of it. Since I'm trying this on a smaller scale, I only ruin a half pound or so at a time. I bet yours will come out fine in this run. Also, parts of the leaf may be green or scorched, but you can just discard the bad parts and use the rest. That's what I did on my first run.

 

[leverhead]

My veins are turning brown from what I can see, my concern here is setting green colored veins.
This is Hell...you are learning literally by the seat of your pants with each decision (with an educated guess hopefully) you through the Dice. If Lady Luck is not on your side you trash good Tobacco.

I trashed allot of tobacco last year and some this year from learning this the hard way, the guides aren't much help. I think they left a couple of chapters out and replaced them with a few of vague sentences about "uniformly ripe leaf" and a graph. My best results so far (still not great), have been by taking the wet and dry bulb temperatures as truth and throwing out any number for the hours of yellowing. After yellowing, I went with the graph for time and temperatures. A little bit of green close to the veins goes away with age, but some that I would have expected to go away, doesn't. Over fertilization may be the reason for that, I cut way back on how much Nitrogen they got this year and the pale greens are gone from just a month in a trash bag. The lack of good information is frustrating.

 

[deluxestogie]

The lack of good information is frustrating.

You guys are providing the good information.

Bob

 

[workhorse_01]

I think leverhead might be right about the nitrogen. I use your numbers because they're more accurate than my dads were, but I use his knowledge on when to start advancing with your numbers. BigBonner said some green (veins I think) will come out.

Well the rib at this point are nearly dry but some leaves the vein set green it will be ready to put into order in the morning. Should be coming out a round noon and than I can get a good look at all of it.
the plan post #681 I will be using and considering other changes don't know will see what my leaf looks like.

 

[AmaxB]

Much of the green veining did come out during stem dry (kill) phase but not all. Nitrogen is not my problem the only time I did any fert was 30 days before planting.
Just stopped stem kill phase am now putting it in order. I removed two air deflector pans on one were two leaves that fell one was ah so so and the other did not look too bad.
I do have some brown scald (leaves at front / door) and know at what point I caused it...I advanced temp to quickly going into wilt. Anxious to see how the whole batch looks.

 

[AmaxB]

Leverhead I agree with you 1000% the guides are not much, they point a direction and little more. Kind of like >Go North young man - Lord it is cold I have gone as far North as I can. Now what???? <<<<