Fermentation Pause, Colour Curing in the cold!

[martdart23]

Hi everyone was wondering if anyone had any ideas on the following.

1 ) Drying whole plants in and around 9*c night time 16*c day time in humidity at about 75% just have them hanging in near dark with windows cracked slightly. As the temperature is about to fall and gets very wet just sits in the air. Have been drying leaves as they yellow been going fine, i am trying to speed up the process. Think ill have any luck?

2 ) Also fermenting dried leaves in bags and jars working great but now the temp has lowered and i just cant get the fermenter above the 45*c to keep the fermentation process going ( will do next year) i have leaves fermenting for 2 and 3 weeks can i just jar them up dry and age them and ferment abit more when things warm up again next year? any input super thank you.

 

[deluxestogie]

Welcome to the forum. Feel free to introduce yourself in the Introduce Yourself forum.

Leaf should not be allowed to freeze, until color-cured. Once leaves have fully color-cured, the ambient temperature won't matter (including freezing temps). With my own harvest (both primed leaf as well as stalk-cut), once it goes into my shed, I pretty much ignore it until late the following spring. Then I go about kilning (fermenting) the leaf (@ 123-128°F) for 2 months, in batches. So the resting time between color-cure and fermentation causes no harm, and usually results in nicer finished leaf. Resting / aging following kilning further improves the quality.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Hi everyone was wondering if anyone had any ideas on the following.

1 ) Drying whole plants in and around 9*c night time 16*c day time in humidity at about 75% just have them hanging in near dark with windows cracked slightly. As the temperature is about to fall and gets very wet just sits in the air. Have been drying leaves as they yellow been going fine, i am trying to speed up the process. Think ill have any luck?

2 ) Also fermenting dried leaves in bags and jars working great but now the temp has lowered and i just cant get the fermenter above the 45*c to keep the fermentation process going ( will do next year) i have leaves fermenting for 2 and 3 weeks can i just jar them up dry and age them and ferment abit more when things warm up again next year? any input super thank you.

I have a couple anecdotes. I cured a significant amount of tobacco (Kasturi, and Samporis) outside in the sun one year (32' of stringed tobacco) where the yellowing phase was almost done before it started snowing. It was a gentle autumn with nothing below -4°, if I recall. It became clear that the tobacco was not going to actually dry for a long time so I took it into the unheated garage which was probably similar to your 9—16°. It took another month to dry out. It tasted good and the color was very dark.

A number of times I have hung single leaves of Delhi 34, a Canadian bright tobacco, in the sun and forgotten about them until well into winter, then smoked them. They are excellent.

If you don't pick the tobacco, it cures in the cold on the plant, but it usually molds, black mold--a situation I would expect in cold curing in Ireland.

Your second question. You're really risking mold at 45°. It would be better to stop and bring it into a safe moisture level than to continue. In theory, if it was a low moisture level, you could keep it at any temperature, but the idea about fermentation is that it's in high case. If you discontinue, you may find after resting for a few weeks that the tobacco is good to smoke anyway.

 

[martdart23]

Cheers interesting trying a lot of different things this year colour curing here there everywhere inside outside new types of tobacco plants and have also purchased a shredder and fermentation chamber this year. Been pretty lucky so far ill try to workout how to get some pictures up thanks anyway everyone! mart

 

[Tobaccofieldsforever]

Hi everyone was wondering if anyone had any ideas on the following.

1 ) Drying whole plants in and around 9*c night time 16*c day time in humidity at about 75% just have them hanging in near dark with windows cracked slightly. As the temperature is about to fall and gets very wet just sits in the air. Have been drying leaves as they yellow been going fine, i am trying to speed up the process. Think ill have any luck?

2 ) Also fermenting dried leaves in bags and jars working great but now the temp has lowered and i just cant get the fermenter above the 45*c to keep the fermentation process going ( will do next year) i have leaves fermenting for 2 and 3 weeks can i just jar them up dry and age them and ferment abit more when things warm up again next year? any input super thank you.

My understanding of the safe temperature to ferment (aka kiln) tobacco leaf at is 50°C (122°F). This is the minimum temperature at which no mold growth can occur (so I was told…) You say you purchased a fermenter? Where did you get it if you don’t mind me asking? I am just curious as I have rarely seen them for sale anywhere. I have only ever found one for sale online.

 

[deluxestogie]

This is the minimum temperature at which no mold growth can occur (so I was told…)

The mold growth graph below—temp vs RH—is for construction wood. Tobacco as a growth medium is in that vicinity. The different color lines are for different mathematical models.

[Hukka, A., and H. Viitanen. 1999. A mathematical model of mold growth on wooden material. Wood Science and Technology 33(6):475–85.]

Bob