Leverhead's Flue Cure experiment

[Chicken]

^^^^^^^^

true, im sure some of them long cords, could be shortned,

but im gonna have to do this eventually,

im gonna buy a temp/humidity controlling device, for my kiln,

im getting the shredder, for years of use, and hopefully, after i get this kiln dialed in, it will be good for years to come<

 

[leverhead]

OK, it's gone the distance! Aside from some equipment issues early on, it went pretty well.



I've still got some browning, the new dimmer switch and a full load I hope solve my problems.



The group photo is shop light (kind of off), the other two are outside (overcast). Guess which leaf is going in a frame. I think I'm going to take the rest of the day off!

 

[deluxestogie]

Outstanding! How big a load of leaf can fit it the drum?

Bob

 

[johnlee1933]

OK, it's gone the distance! Aside from some equipment issues early on, it went pretty well.

WELL DONE ! BE sure and let us know how you like it in your smokes.

John

 

[leverhead]

Outstanding! How big a load of leaf can fit it the drum?

Bob

That remains to be seen. I took some physical measurements of some leaves, laid out an average profile and it came out close to 150 leaves per drum. Mother Nature has some really cool ratios! I think I can find enough good candidates in my mess to make a pretty full load tomorrow, if it doesn't rain again. I'll get a weight on it before and after.

 

[leverhead]

WELL DONE ! BE sure and let us know how you like it in your smokes.

John

I've already cheated with the best from the last load! It's not much to talk about, the leaf is real thin and very little flavor, but it's very "sweet" tasting. The rows are too close and with all the rain, I'm happy with what success I've had. The color is kind of pale, a surprise from what I've read about soils. Maybe the upper leaves will taste more like a cigarette should.

 

[FmGrowit]

Congratulations and thank you for posting your experiment here. I do believe this is a "first" on any tobacco forum...I'm honored.

 

[leverhead]

Congratulations and thank you for posting your experiment here. I do believe this is a "first" on any tobacco forum...I'm honored.

I should be thanking you! This is a great forum! I've learned so much here, from the days of being a lurker to getting in the middle of it. I couldn't have done it without the whole bunch of ya. Everybody here seems to bring something with them. That's the best company to be in!

Steve

 

[johnlee1933]

Congratulations and thank you for posting your experiment here. I do believe this is a "first" on any tobacco forum...I'm honored.

Yeah and besides that it is smoke free flue curing, the newest and supposedly best way to do it. We wait, hopefully, to see the power cost figures.

John

 

[leverhead]

Yeah and besides that it is smoke free flue curing, the newest and supposedly best way to do it. We wait, hopefully, to see the power cost figures.

John

Now mind you, this was a very small load but from wilting on it used 12.2 KW/Hr. It really didn't start clicking along until stem drying. Equipment cost get pretty high with forced hot water for such a small space. Peak power usage this time, for the heater was 175 Watts, plus 70 Watts for the blower.

 

[johnlee1933]

Now mind you, this was a very small load but from wilting on it used 12.2 KW/Hr. It really didn't start clicking along until stem drying. Equipment cost get pretty high with forced hot water for such a small space. Peak power usage this time, for the heater was 175 Watts, plus 70 Watts for the blower.

Thanks for the numbers. You see? I do remember things (family comments not withstanding). You said somewhere you had a watt meter in the system and I REMEMBERED !

At 16 cents/Kwh that's about $2 for the cure. Not too bad. For a full load let's push that up to an even $3. The next number we need to get cost/cured lb is lbs.

John

 

[Ishi]

Those pine needles make a good smoke?

 

[leverhead]

Those pine needles make a good smoke?

They're great for give away smokes! They usually don't ask twice. This part of Texas is called the "Piney Woods", I don't know why.

 

[leverhead]

Thanks for the numbers. You see? I do remember things (family comments not withstanding). You said somewhere you had a watt meter in the system and I REMEMBERED !

At 16 cents/Kwh that's about $2 for the cure. Not too bad. For a full load let's push that up to an even $3. The next number we need to get cost/cured lb is lbs.

John

Can I get back to you in about a week?

 

[leverhead]

If the Maryland's weren't taking a back seat right now, this might make an interesting test.

 

[Tom_in_TN]

With the great success you're having I would like to get a flue curing chamber set up to see the 401 Cherry Red Free flue cured. This plant grew to about 7' before being topped. Total of 11 plants in the garden with one bagged for seed. I will not have a flue curing rig setup this year but hope to be able to borrow ideas from you.

 

[leverhead]

I will not have a flue curing rig setup this year but hope to be able to borrow ideas from you.

Borrow away! So far the worst part is having to wait until you have leaf to work with before you find out what's wrong, it'll put you on the spot. I had weather issues at the same time and got kinda "frazzed". I've had a few days down time, so I'm ready to go again. I've been thinking about this for a few months, spent a couple of weeks narrowing down the details and about a week to build. If you start thinking about it this year, you'll be off to a good start for next year. Good luck!

 

[BarG]

you got so many different electrical wires going in every direction,

im sure if i built that thing, i'd have allready been shocked at least 4 times, { a electrician i am not }

We still need redneck fert. haulers. You may be familiar with road I went to work on today, The sign said ...REDNECK BLVD>

 

[leverhead]

Well, an update to break the silence.

I've had issues one after the other this year, weather, mechanical and age. The weather has a real PIA this year, the heat gun has proven to be a poor choice on the whole and I'm gettin' too damn old to be chasing this many problems at once. When I regain my sanity, I'll write this all up so that others can make different mistakes.

Good, basic design information, scale appropriate for the home grower, seems to be in the shortest supply. At this scale, my bet is that an electric heat source is cheapest to implement and maintain. Operating cost wouldn't overtake first cost for quite a while. Evenly loaded tobacco is very important! Loading in the round has used up allot of my patience, and I thought I had patience that I didn't know what to do with. I've got a 4'X4' foot print now, if I go rectangular with straight racks, I'll be able to do allot more tobacco... next year.

Good air circulation is the key! Tight spots will scald every time! All that pretty yellow makes brown scalds really hard to look at. I've got to wait 'till Monday for a new blower motor, with that I hope to get an uninterrupted run started then.

For those interested in a post harvest project, while NOT carved in stone, seems to me to be useful information.

With good insulation, 500 Watts of 200 F heat should do 100 Lbs of green lief.

For Southern Beauty tobacco, 5-7 green leaves / Lb.

For a rack type system (hanging by the butt end of the leaf),figure about 1 square foot of hanging area per 10 Lbs of leaf X 3' depth (leaf length plus some).

A good thermostat, Ranco ETC-111000-000 or equivalent.

Good venting, inlet on the low pressure side of the blower, outlet on the high pressure side, sufficient to exchange 1/4-1/3 of the circulating air and dampers to close them off.

Some good links for sizing the blower and motor are,

https://www.bae.ncsu.edu/programs/extension/postharv/grant/P&SE 6-23 fix.pdf

http://www.engineersedge.com/motors/fans_blower_horsepower_equation.htm

The parent link to the fist is a good one to browse, lot's of good stuff there. The Flue Cure Guide was one of my go to's this year.

http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/programs/extension/tobacco/

On the up side, I've learned allot this year! Right now I'm not sure what, it'll come back to me. I've had some really great Flue Cured Tobacco, even without letting it rest much. Two more priming's to go.

 

[Chicken]

i may incorporate some ideas, here, into my kiln,

my kiln is huge, blowing hot air, in it, like as if it was a baccy barn, would be a idea,