Idea Curing Box

[AmaxB]

Last minute thought a small boiler could be attached to the air inlet valve to allow for steaming the box. The heat and fan could have the same on / off

 

[DrBob]

ok amax the top drawing (general idea) is very close to my design. there is no need for the second blower. centrifugal fans are best throttled with a restrictor plate on the intake, the less air you give it the less ampherage it will draw, Just backwards from what common sense would tell you. The vented floor is not needed either, a simple deflector will do the job just fine saving you more money. Just wait and see what I get done in a couple of weeks and the light may go on in your head.

Dr.Bob

 

[DrBob]

Last minute thought a small boiler could be attached to the air inlet valve to allow for steaming the box. The heat and fan could have the same on / off

not necessary

 

[AmaxB]

Really did not mean to offend or try to copy anyone to suggest I am slow may be correct but not needed. I'm attempting to create an even air flow don't think a deflector will do that a vented floor may not do it either.
Injecting steam would be nice if you have some very dry tobacco and would like to give it some life quickly. No don't think I will wait for yours would not want to copy it.

 

[AmaxB]

I think i'm done with this I'll keep it to myself.

 

[leverhead]

Really did not mean to offend or try to copy anyone to suggest I am slow may be correct but not needed. I'm attempting to create an even air flow don't think a deflector will do that a vented floor may not do it either.
Injecting steam would be nice if you have some very dry tobacco and would like to give it some life quickly. No don't think I will wait for yours would not want to copy it.

I don't think you offended anybody.

The area under the leaves acts like a reservoir for the incoming air. As long as the leaves are loaded evenly, whatever restriction to flow they present will tend to keep the pressure underneath pretty even.

Getting moisture into the box when you're using it as a kiln or just getting moisture into leaf, can be as simple as a crock pot with water in it. If your insulation is good enough it might be all the heat you need for kilning. For kilning, you'll want to figure for some kind of wire shelves to put tobacco on.

 

[LeftyRighty]

AmaxB..... you don't need to worry about offending anyone, or copying their plans.
That's what this forum is all about, sharing ideas. That's why we all post what we're doing, so others may also benefit, from our successes and mistakes..

 

[Knucklehead]

Sir -
Trust me, you took what DrBob said the wrong way. I've seen it a hundred times since I started coming to a forum. Dry wit especially doesn't transfer well to print. I know that from personal experience. When you remove the emotion and the inflections from a persons' voice and put it into print, everything is lost. When I first read his post I read it through different eyes and nothing caught me as off. When I read your post, I saw it could possibly be interpreted two ways. That happens all the time. I think he was just in a hurry. Please reread it knowing he meant nothing by it and I think you will eventually realise the misunderstanding. I'm not trying to insinuate myself into your business, but this is a great community of brothers and I hate to see feelings hurt when no harm was intended. If DrBob was an asshole, I'd say so, but that hasn't been the case in the past and I truly don't see it now. If I've offended you by speaking out, I apologise.

As to your contributions, I think you have contributed alot to the collective knowledge and truly hope you will reconsider your stance. These are just brainstorming sessions and not all suggestions will be directly helpful, but they may open new lines of thought that ultimately will be. That's why we just throw things out there sometimes to see what sticks and what doesn't. Brainstorming gives me a headache so I need all the help I can get. There's not a person on this forum that I haven't learned something from. It may not always have been the intended knowledge, but I gained something nonetheless. I've been really interested in this thread and hope you will continue. Again, if speaking up has offended, I'm sorry.
Wallace

 

[marksctm]

AmaxB..... you don't need to worry about offending anyone, or copying their plans.
That's what this forum is all about, sharing ideas. That's why we all post what we're doing, so others may also benefit, from our successes and mistakes..

If it wasn't for all of you, I would not have been able to take everything that I read, or have read, asked, been told, and hell yes STOLE! (put a patent on it) to assemble an amazing freezer kiln, first time at it, and didn't waste any money, time, labor, and I didn't dummy thump my forehead one time and say..... S O B!

The build went finer than frogs hair, (BECAUSE) of every! post that threw ideas and suggestions my way, and told what did or didn't work.
So with that being said..... Back to work everybody, I need plans for a flue curing chamber buy harvest time.

 

[johnlee1933]

If it wasn't for all of you, I would not have been able to take everything that I read, or have read, asked, been told, and hell yes STOLE! (put a patent on it) to assemble an amazing freezer kiln, first time at it, and didn't waste any money, time, labor, and I didn't dummy thump my forehead one time and say..... S O B!

The build went finer than frogs hair, (BECAUSE) of every! post that threw ideas and suggestions my way, and told what did or didn't work.
So with that being said..... Back to work everybody, I need plans for a flue curing chamber buy harvest time.

I want to ditto that. My freezer kiln also works just fine. I don't know who suggested "crock pot" or "Ramco" but those were the keys to an easy build. Thanks to you all. Now, god help me, I'm considering a flue chamber. -·-

 

[AmaxB]

All right guys guess I bruise to easily apology to all. On a high note I can't quit REALLY, through the good grace of Larry (Big Bonner) I will be getting 20 VA 309 and 70 VA Bright Leaf starts so my project must see completion and work well I hope. Got a little work done today but took a lot of long breaks to search for a better fan but as cheap as possible the one I had looked at the other day (asking $130) was more than I wanted to spend. The motor is sprat from the blower housing (no temp or moisture issues) will push 160 CFM 0" Static Pressure, 120 CFM at 0.5" Static Pressure through roughly 25 feet of 4" pipe. Found tons of digging I found it for $94.
.


I do appreciate the suggestions you guys have made they forced me to think and rethink the plan so a big thanks for that.
Think I will go buy materials tomorrow and if not to cold out get started with this. The heat box etc. I will show when all is complete and working but the green leaf will have to wait till I grow it. Providing I don't kill em before they are ready. All the duct will be 4" and vents will be PVC.

Here is a link to the blower if you dig deep into that ebay section you can get it for $94 http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Inch-Squi...581?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f1823b3a5

 

[leverhead]

Mixing two varieties in the chamber isn't a good idea. I tried it last year and didn't have very good luck. If you're only going to have 90 plants you won't need as much space as you're planing for. I haven't grown either of those varieties, so I couldn't tell you how many leaves to the pound you would be apt to get. If you look at my fridge, I'm thinking about putting a partition in it and I'm planing on 200 plants.

 

[DonH]

Amax, I'm sure you'll get the flue curing chamber working well, but no need to worry because air cured flue cured varieties taste just fine. I have been sampling some Virginia Bright Leaf the I grew last year and it tastes really good. Tastes just like flue cured and it has only aged less than six months. I expect it will get better once the warm weather comes and my attic heats up. But I am surprised how good it is already. I don't even have a kiln yet, which is way easier to build than a flue cure chamber.

 

[AmaxB]

Oh I like the bright leaf DonH is good stuff I can't smoke with to much kick these days. Damn near lost a lung a year ago so some of the mixes I read about here are to much for me. If you ever get a chance to get some VA309 mix oh about 5% of it to the bright leaf. If ya get it right it gets this taste I just have no words for other than GOOD and gets better after a few days. Lots of people that come to see me like that mix when I get it right.
I want the cure box cause I really don't have a place to let it hang for 6 months to a year. If I had the place I would do it. Just love to tinker around and that would be tinkering I think.

I kind of like hearing that Leverhead I was thinking of down sizing it a bit.... Lord Lever 1st grow 90 plants is huge for me. Am thinking of how I'm going to get the ground broke up "maybe I got a nice farmer next door with all the right stuff who would be willing to make a buck! Need to ask him after the first breaking I think a tiller would do.
Brent

 

[leverhead]

I kind of like hearing that Leverhead I was thinking of down sizing it a bit....

I grew 200 plants last year, it was my first grow. The fridge I bought is too big, I'm going to partition it off so that I don't have so much empty space. At the same time I want a better racking system, so it will take less time to load.

 

[DonH]

Oh I like the bright leaf DonH is good stuff I can't smoke with to much kick these days. Damn near lost a lung a year ago so some of the mixes I read about here are to much for me. If you ever get a chance to get some VA309 mix oh about 5% of it to the bright leaf. If ya get it right it gets this taste I just have no words for other than GOOD and gets better after a few days. Lots of people that come to see me like that mix when I get it right.
I want the cure box cause I really don't have a place to let it hang for 6 months to a year. If I had the place I would do it. Just love to tinker around and that would be tinkering I think.

If you're concerned about the harshness, mine came out smooth, I think because I followed Bob's advice and primed the leaves earlier than you would for cigars, something like ten days after topping if I remember right. With only a little bit of yellowing. I think next year I might let them mature a little more, because I am smoking more pipes than cigarettes at the moment.

 

[Knucklehead]

From reading your post #74, I get the idea you are just looking for a way to speed age your leaf. If that is the case you won't need a flue curing system at all, just a kiln. Or am I misinterpreting your needs?

 

[darren1979]

Hows people getting around the thermostat issue of advancing 2degrees per hour? are you going to babysit it or has some come up we ith an advance thermostat. I was looking online for one or plans and only come up with bulktobac.com

 

[Randy]

AmaxB..noy yo confuse with the flu-cure stuff my friend..but go-back and read abt Virigna and NC flue-curing barns many moons ago we here these days seem to over-complated things to the point of second quessing are selfs..thank of this? if they did back then..???

Randy

 

[leverhead]

Hows people getting around the thermostat issue of advancing 2degrees per hour? are you going to babysit it or has some come up we ith an advance thermostat. I was looking online for one or plans and only come up with bulktobac.com

I babysat it last year, talk about a PIA. That's why I started out looking for somebody that could make a computer talk to the real world. Then somebody pointed out some temperature controllers with a ramp function.