DGBAMA Redneck Curing Chamber Build

[DGBAMA]

The wire is nice. When cured, and brought back to case, the strings fold up easily to fit inside my storage totes for kilning.

I never actually remove them from the wire, when it is time for processing I just clip the stems an inch from the wire, leaving the butt of the leaf, mostly stem, on the wire. Fast and easy.

 

[Smokin Harley]

Exactly what i do as well. Pull out a loaded wire and the whole priming comes out with it. Are you using the gasketed clear tubs from Menards too?

 

[Smokin Harley]

Handling metal wire that's longer than about 18" presents a hazard to your eyes. Just holding them, carrying them, picking them up from the floor, etc., sometimes causes the distant end to swing about. I'm too old to start over again with new eyeballs.

Bob

I have a vast collection of safety glasses ,Bob. At the beginning of my career(carpenter) I had the misfortune of receiving a flying chunk of plywood off of a circular saw (missing some carbide teeth) which ended up landing right in the center of my eye. After having a doctor take an "eye spud" to you to remove something, you tend to re-assess and buckle down on eye safety. Go get a pair next time you're at the hardware store or home improvement center. they're cheap , light and well worth the $5
And by the way 18" is just about the exact size I'm dealing with . I take one end and loop it around the end of a Sharpie marker , string the tobacco , and when its full , I loop the other end the same way. Cuts down on pointy ends swinging about towards eyes. also handy for hanging up on nails.

 

[Deano]

Hello mate, thanks so much for this thread...I must have referenced it a hundred times...Maybe Ive missed something obvious but the one thing Im not too sure of is
the schedule for the initial yellowing of the leaves...? any help would be much appreciated

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Hello mate, thanks so much for this thread...I must have referenced it a hundred times...Maybe Ive missed something obvious but the one thing Im not too sure of is
the schedule for the initial yellowing of the leaves...? any help would be much appreciated

This is an art, not a schedule. First, only pick leaves that are in the same range of ripening. Second, hang them and don't start raiaing the temperature until they are around 90% yellow. It's ok if there's a bit of green left. You will get an idea of the momentum /rate at which they are yellowing, and know that by the time your chamber gets up to temperature that it will be nearly 100% yellow.

If some leaves are clearly lagging behind, and some are starting to brown, I remove the ones with too much green, and immediately start flue curing. Those leaves that were lagging behind can be air cured, sun cured, rajangan(ed), or whatever, but if you don't remove them and let half the batch brown trying to get them yellow, it will be a worse result.

 

[Deano]

Thanks for the reply mate. I'll give it a go.. If theres no yellowing after 3 days,, would that be leaf is picked too early? I'm keeping it at 35 degrees - centigrade) for first few days. It crazy humid here at the moment(98rh) Is that a problem?

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Thanks for the reply mate. I'll give it a go.. If theres no yellowing after 3 days,, would that be leaf is picked too early? I'm keeping it at 35 degrees - centigrade) for first few days. It crazy humid here at the moment(98rh) Is that a problem?

Yes. If there's no yellowing in one day, one could argue that you picked it too soon. However, if it's all yellowing at the same rate, then it doesn't matter, but it sometimes goes straight to brown depending on the variety. I found that with Ostrolist.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I don't even pick it if it isn't already showing some yellow.

 

[Deano]

Thanks guys, I started again by removing all leaves and used only leaves of similar ripeness.

Last question...

At 24 hours at 35 oC yellowing is going well.

However humidty is 95% inside the kiln and 98% outside . Will putting in a vent help lower the RH or with such high humidty will it not make a difference?

again thanks alot guys

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Yes, but you need to monitor it or have it on a controller to be sure it doesn't go too low. It's impossible to flue cure in a completely air tight system. Fresh picked leaf is around 90% water. The finished product will be around 0 before you reorder (rehydrate) it. The water has to go somewhere.