Leverhead's Flue Cure experiment

[leverhead]

It's not finished yet, but Chicken insisted on seeing my Flue Cure "drum".



The pictures pretty much tell the story. The return air is the short tube on the right goes to the fan inlet of an industrial heat gun, it also has the vent and fresh air inlet. It will also have a shutter tube to expose or cover the vent and inlet and a butterfly damper to give a pressure drop between them.

The air goes to the blower and heater element then up the central pipe (1 1/2"). There's a gap between the top of the pipe and top of the drum, really it's the bottom but the drum is inverted. The air then moves down through the tobacco (supposed to) and back to the return.

Yet to be added, a round BBQ rack near the top of the pipe to hang the tobacco from. A shield for the return air to keep out sand and junk. A rheostat and thermostat to throttle and turn on and off the heater element. Some packing around the pipes to seal them up and some insulation.

There will be more levels to this, each drum may only hold 150 leaves and I'm expecting in excess of 300 for each priming. I hope it works pretty well but I've tried to leave room for quick fixes. From where I started thinking about this it seems too simple. Laughter and side betting are encouraged. Pass or fail, I'll keep you posted.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Awesome! I hope all goes well, being able to flue cure my leaf would help immensely and I'll be watching this thread.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Nice set up, even nicer looking shop!
Are you sure that heat gun can run for several days at time without burning up?

 

[leverhead]

Nice set up, even nicer looking shop!
Are you sure that heat gun can run for several days at time without burning up?

That one in the picture has been working hard for 12 years, my worry is if blower just stalls from the back pressure. The shop is my home away from, well "home".

 

[BarG]

Leverhead

I'll be in town on the 7th,

Chicken,thats not an invite to raid my baccy, I got gaurd dogs. They will lick you to death.

That shop looks way to clean!

 

[leverhead]

Leverhead
That shop looks way to clean!

We just did a "remodel" not that long ago. GOOD insulation, new paint on the floor some new lights. It stays 75 F inside from 105 F down into the teens outside. It's almost cheap to heat and cool.

 

[FmGrowit]

If that a quonset hut, it's the biggest one I've ever seen...looks like it could double as a blimp hanger. Is that the soy foam or urethane?...almost looks like latex. What kind of R value do you get with that...like a 50 or something?

 

[johnlee1933]

The air goes to the blower and heater element then up the central pipe (1 1/2"). There's a gap between the top of the pipe and top of the drum, really it's the bottom but the drum is inverted. The air then moves down through the tobacco (supposed to) and back to the return.

Yet to be added, a round BBQ rack near the top of the pipe to hang the tobacco from. A shield for the return air to keep out sand and junk. .

Your return looks like 3" stove pipe. If so you might want to consider a 90 degree ell to block debris.

I have one of those heat guns. On mine the switch is a three way -- OFF --Air ON -- Air + Heat ON -- If yours is the same you might want to set it up with the air always on and heat controlled by your thermostat.

John

 

[leverhead]

If that a quonset hut, it's the biggest one I've ever seen...looks like it could double as a blimp hanger. Is that the soy foam or urethane?...almost looks like latex. What kind of R value do you get with that...like a 50 or something?

Yup, it's a Quonset. I'll have to check on the foam, it's a low VOC, soy or not I didn't pay much attention. The pictures are in the 30'x30' addition we put on last year, we went with the foam in it. We put a 1 1/2 ton window unit in the back door and it brought the temp down into the mid 60's in a few hours, it was 107 outside. It worked so well we decided to do the rest of the shop. It looks like your inside of a frosted up freezer, but no more echos. The whole shop, 30'x70', is done with a 10 yr old 4 ton heat pump that doesn't work very hard.

 

[leverhead]

Your return looks like 3" stove pipe. If so you might want to consider a 90 degree ell to block debris.

I have one of those heat guns. On mine the switch is a three way -- OFF --Air ON -- Air + Heat ON -- If yours is the same you might want to set it up with the air always on and heat controlled by your thermostat.

John

That's what I was planning. It's the 300-500 F model, if you take the switch out to get to the wires it leaks air pretty bad. So I'll either need to make a sealed junction box or more likely, use the ground wire in the cord for one of the circuits and run an external ground. The air velocity inside the drum should be low enough gravity should take care of the sand and window screen should take care of the rest. I want to do a test run with some wet towels or "T" shirts to see how well I can control the RH and generally shake it down.

 

[johnlee1933]

That's what I was planning. It's the 300-500 F model, if you take the switch out to get to the wires it leaks air pretty bad. So I'll either need to make a sealed junction box or more likely, use the ground wire in the cord for one of the circuits and run an external ground. The air velocity inside the drum should be low enough gravity should take care of the sand and window screen should take care of the rest. I want to do a test run with some wet towels or "T" shirts to see how well I can control the RH and generally shake it down.

As an alternative you might plug the air leaks with foam and a little duct tape. That would save having to run an external ground. If you like the results you could use a little spray foam for a permanent solution.

J

 

[Chicken]

thats a fancy looking set=up.

it should last a long time,

 

[leverhead]

thats a fancy looking set=up.

it should last a long time,

If it works, it's a keeper. If it don't, it's junk.

 

[BarG]

If you keep it set up at work you'll be able to keep a close eye on it.

 

[leverhead]

If you keep it set up at work you'll be able to keep a close eye on it.

It's a work in progress, it'll be there.

 

[leverhead]

Well, here's an update. The drum has been through a shakedown run, 1500 Watts (heater element) is way too much for this job. I made a new heater coil that's about 350 Watts, I think that's pretty close to what is needed, time will tell. The metal blower in the heat gun moves about the right amount of air, but the motor is inside the housing and gives off enough heat to put the system past 105 F with all of the insulation on. If I smoke a motor it's going to ruin a load of tobacco.

Right now it's 24 hours into a small load of leaves (20sh), I think the load is too small because I can't get the wet bulb any closer than 9 F to the dry bulb. Damn if it isn't smelling good when I open the view port, I can smell the sugar! The yellowing is going well (I think), I have a few leaves I'm watching to gauge the next temperature rise. In the mean time I'm working on an external motor for the blower.

Updates as they come.

 

[Chicken]

sounds like your working the '' bugs'' out of it, to make it very effeciant,

 

[BigBonner]

If it works, it's a keeper. If it don't, it's junk.

Hey, I have made junk before and put alot of time in the project . But you never know until you try .

 

[johnlee1933]

Right now it's 24 hours into a small load of leaves (20sh), I think the load is too small because I can't get the wet bulb any closer than 9 F to the dry bulb. Damn if it isn't smelling good when I open the view port, I can smell the sugar! The yellowing is going well (I think), I have a few leaves I'm watching to gauge the next temperature rise. In the mean time I'm working on an external motor for the blower.

Updates as they come.

The way I look at it your humidity would be very high at first because of the moisture in the leaves. You're not moving that much air. As they cure I would expect the moisture (RH) to drop steadily. I don't know enough about flue curing to say but maybe at the end you'll have to add moisture?

John

 

[leverhead]

Hey, I have made junk before and put alot of time in the project . But you never know until you try .

I've made lots of junk! A fair amount turns into gold on the recycle.

You've done Flue Curing. Does a sweet cucumber smell during the yellowing sound about right?