Smokin Harley Kiln leaf curing

[Smokin Harley]

Water check this morning..used half a can of water since the 7th . Leaf was actually a little on the dry side so I filled the can with hot water and left the lid off . Closed her back up and will let it run another week.

 

[Smokin Harley]

Today is a rainy day and also exactly one month of bulk kilning done today...unloaded that batch ,put it in a gasketed tub to rest and loaded up another. Mostly Vuelta Abajo and Machu Picchu. Looking at Thanksgiving for the next load.

 

[Smokin Harley]

The kiln is doing very nicely , the humidity steady and the leaf is pliable , not wet. My sand jacketed coffee can inside the crockpot is working great.
But I find that when I open the chamber to refill the water (almost a reliable 5 days) and generally check the leaf it sure doesn't take long for the leaf to go dry in mere minutes. How best do you experienced kiln jockeys handle the leaf to get it sorted,smoothed out and get it all into storage (bags) before it goes crispy more or less right in your hand? I'm wondering if I should add PG or glycerin to the water on the last week of a load. Either that or I only have a small window of opportunity to do what I need to on a cool rainy day and just hole up in the barn until I'm done or the leaf says stop.

 

[deluxestogie]

A day or two prior to unloading my kiln, I make sure the water in the Crockpot is sufficient. On the evening prior to unloading, I unplug the Crockpot. The following morning, the leaf is in case, and at a much lower temp (hopefully close to ambient temp). This significantly slows the drying of the leaf while handing it. I also remove one hand or string of leaf at a time, for packaging, and keep the kiln door closed in between.

Sometimes, despite my best efforts, the leaf dries as it is handled, and must be misted in order to safely package it.

Bob

 

[Smokin Harley]

thanks Bob. I took a little trip to my favorite thrift store to find a replacement vessel for the coffee can. It had started to rust and I wanted something either in aluminum or stainless steel .I found a ($2.92) S.S. wastebasket that not only fit in the crockpot in the same space but is also a couple inches taller than its predecessor so now I can fill it with a full gallon of water and not have to open the door for I'm guessing a full week. The less I have to open it , the more constant kiln time. In as much time as it took to swap vessels , leaf went from pliable to crispy...in about 5 minutes. I'll make sure I unplug and rest before I reload.

 

[Knucklehead]

I keep my kiln running and only pull out three hands at a time for permanent bagging. That hot leaf dries out really really fast around here. That keeps them pliable enough for bagging without damage but sometimes I may need to leave the bag open a few hours before closing with the clothes pins if the leaf hasn't dried down quite enough. Sometimes a little fanning of the tobacco hands prior to putting it in the bag is all that is needed.

 

[mountbaldy]

Smokin Harley -
Do you find that having the lid on the can helps maintain heat? I just switched to your set up and left my lid off but I found that the kiln struggled to keep temp. Humidity seems fine. Temp seemed to be low. But my kiln is also outside in temps in the 30's at night and 50's during the day with a very low humidity. I've got a good layer of foam board and 1 mm plastic over 5/8th plywood box. I may have to add a layer of foam board.

Anyhow, I'm curious how adding the lid helps.

Nice looking kiln!!

Cheers,

Joe

 

[Smokin Harley]

Thank you. I had the thought that adding or subtracting the lid may help regulate the rate of water evaporation/humidity (not heat)but after doing it both ways I don't see much of a difference, minimal if any. The heat stabilizer is the sand poured around the can inside the crockpot ceramic liner. More mass to keep heat . I found that after opening and closing the door , what heat is briefly lost recovers very quickly because the sand holds heat.
My kiln is only 1/2" plywood with 1"foil faced foam ,and draw hasps to keep the door shut tight. heat source is currently a 275 watt crockpot on low. It is inside my attached garage . I added more of the aluminum tape to the door seal area so that when the humidity hits it ,it acts as a sealer or weatherstripping too. Much like a glass paned greenhouse. they are hung on the walls like shingles and the water surface tension as it drips down the inside acts as a sealer. Its a functioning work in progress.
What size crockpot do you have and how many watts of power is it. Find the highest wattage you can . It's like horsepower, you can always turn it down but you can't raise it when you're topped out. It may be struggling because it is too small or just not powerful enough OR you have significant leaks in the cabinet. Plus, if it is outside in the elements its having a hard time regulating temp against the natural conditions. All important factors/variables.

 

[Smokin Harley]

for the last few two days we've had foggy mornings. While I had the advantage I packed up some flexible barn leaf into my tubs so I wouldn't have to go out when weather turns crappy this week (rainy mid 50's) so when I had the kiln open to check water I went ahead and just put two full tubs (lids off) right in . I'll recheck in a day or two to maybe shuffle the leaf pile in the tubs . Trying to get the kiln full as I can and get on to bagging it up when its done. AND the Florida Sumatra leaf I pulled out from the first batch and stacked leaf . When I first took it out it smelled very grassy still after 4 solid weeks of kilning. I happened to nose it (now , almost 2 months later)...oh boy how it has changed . Much more of a tobacco aroma now. even a tiny bit of a sweetness to it. I'm thinking of bagging it up and vapor sealing to age the entire winter now. Every time I order dog food ,I order it 4 bags at a time and the boxes they send it in are very thick and heavy corrugated cardboard ,almost a double ply. Perfect for bagged tobacco storage I think.

 

[Gmac]

Fun- usually, but this is a bit puzzling and frustrating. It was rolling along nicely until I added water and then for some unknown reason it just quit heating to where it was set for the last month or so. ... Somehow ,and this is the really strange part...the digital controllers set points had changed. I dont have any more experience with this particular type of controller other than this one and I've ran it at about the same temps since I got it. Not sure if the power blinked or sun spots or aliens came down and gave it the old whammy . I've been futzing with it the last few hours . Through varied attempts , I have gotten it to heat again. A half hour ago I looked and it had displayed 130* and the heat indicator light was off so the residual heat rose(without the fans on)so I adjusted the peak heat down to 127*and opened the door to let a little heat out. Once closed back up ,the temperature decreased and the display read 118* when the heat light indicator lit again and the hum of the fans tell me the crock was back in heat mode...
I just ran out to look at the display. Its reading 124* and the heat indicator is lit. I'll keep an eye on it tonight and see where it finally cuts off then I wont worry and go to bed.
Just one more look since my writing this and the temp is now reading 128* and the heat indicator is now off. so sometime in the last couple minutes it reached its peak temp . Breathing a sigh of relief. I think now it was the controller settings and not the crockpot , so in that whole time I at least upgraded the wattage and capacity of the crockpot .
These controllers are cheap and do a nice job . I just wish there were better written instructions on setting the parameters.
I don't speak electrician or HVAC but I sure dont speak either one of those translated from Chinese.

Go to google translate and it will translate any language.
Gmac

 

[Smokin Harley]

I got that figured out . Just by playing around with it ...and waiting.

 

[Smokin Harley]

did a kiln check yesterday . Water in the stainless steel can was only down half way and that was in less than a weeks time, leaf is very pliable but not wet, perfect if I may say so. The leaf in the plastic tubs is evenly and slightly moist . The slight smell of ammonia hit me as I opened the door. so I left it open long enough to fill the can back up with hot water and closed it back up again...it has about another week until this batch gets emptied out and a new batch put in for a month. I need to get the leaf in the barn in the garage so I can store my outdoor furniture. I like the idea of the tubs , I can get the leaf pliable enough to put in the tubs and get a more dense batch going. Saves room and in turn,time.
I have a question, I know I asked this before but I'm of that age where I either forget things or forget where to find things. I'm sure you guys can relate.
Is one 1 month kilning enough or should I kiln it longer or can I kiln multiple times .
I found out after the first batch (the FL Sumatra,volado) that it came out just as grassy smelling as it went in the kiln, but after 2 months resting that the grassiness went away and yielded to a mild sweet aroma .

 

[Smokin Harley]

Since my leaf in the kiln scheduled swap is only 4 days away , I went ahead and did it this morning. Took the tubs out ,popped a gasketed lid on those right away and set them off to the side . Hung up mostly Vuelta Abajo,Machu Picchu and a little Fl Sumatra and Bezuki back in for another months batch. Made note to swap those out in a month and filled up the water can....closed her up for another week.
Took the lidded leaf off to my rolling room, popped lids off and gave them a little misting with water . I'm hoping either later today or tomorrow to get to sort, smooth and stack the leaf and hopefully bag it up for extended aging . The tubs seemed to make it a bit easier to swap batches. The way its loading (kilns pretty full), I think I'll be done with kilning most of the leaf in 2 more batches.

 

[Smokin Harley]

got into the tubs already...3 tubs . Only one did NOT have a little mold in the bottom layer of leaf, Criollo98 ...took the infected leaf out , checked it all. went at the rest around it and the tub with a 50/50 spray of water and H2O2 ,seemed to bubble up a few spots , I shuffled the leaf, misted the dry leaf with distilled and set it aside to flatten and rest. Note to self- shuffle the leaf once a week when adding water to the kiln.
The PA Red though , omg, it smells very nice , very rich and sweet . I took a leaf out and the stretch and color is just wonderful just a tad redder than say Corojo, and looks like it would make awesome wrapper or at least binder . Time will tell.

Edit- I know exactly why the 2 tubs molded on the bottom and not the other...I had those two set on the bottom of the kiln. the heat couldn't get under it or around those two tubs completely , the criollo was parked on top (and therefore in the optimum heat zone).
Epiphany- I think so.

 

[Smokin Harley]

Anyone still following my stuff ?? LOL.
I'm sorting post-kiln leaf today and oh my the PA Red leaf is so richly dark chocolate brown ,stretchy and strong. I even had a couple nice large leaves that were almost dark speckled like a leopard,some are reddish brown . I was very pleased that these leaves even as big as they were growing ended up with small 45* veins ,perfect for wrapping. I sorted it to wrapper/binder and filler,lots of wrapper quality leaf here...Has anyone grown and used it before ?

 

[Old#12]

Harley. Yeah I am all about the Penn Red this year. Took mine out of the kiln last week. Turned out very nice. I think it's going be my go to for binder on a lot of my blends. Aside from finding some kind of hopper chowing down on some it, it did well. I caught it pretty early. Good part about the PA is that is an easy grow. #12

 

[DGBAMA]

Nice success

 

[buck]

I've been reading. I'm on my final day of kilning and looking better than my last attempt which was a failure. I'll need to re-kiln that last batch and have some PA Red in the bunch, hope it comes out as well as yours.

 

[Smokin Harley]

I had to have my wife stick her nose in it . She says to her it has a floral aroma ...right now all I get is moist tobacco.

 

[mountbaldy]

Still following Smokin'. It sounds like you're making good progress. Can't wait to see some pics of your final product.

Cheers,

Joe