Ferment leaf in Electric Smoker

[Jer]

Have been reading all the previous posts I can find on the subject and the general consensus seems to be an electric smoker is too small for fermenting leaf, and that is making more and more sense to me.
Mine is a Brinkman style smoker so not on the large side.
This year was my first attempt at this new (and very addictive hobby of growing my own pipe tobacco, Lol) and my small crop of half a dozen plants suffered some losses in the color cure process so space in my smoker would not be a problem this year so I think I might give it a go.
My question for you all is being as my Utah climate is on the verge of turning to winter any time now, would the cost of electricity be
too high to make the endeavor worthwhile
considering my smoker would be in an unheated garage? Nighttime temps are already in the mid 40’s F.
Thanks everyone for the wealth of knowledge and cordial tolerance for the noob!

 

[deluxestogie]

If you are intending to kiln your leaf, I would suggest constructing a kiln, since a smoker is not adequately insulated for that use. Review the links on various kiln builds in our Index of Key Forum Threads.

Bob

 

[Krausen89]

I often think about cold smoking tobacco and seeing what affect it has on already cured leaf, shredded blends, plugs etc. to flavor said products.

I would think that with using a smoker it would be hard to keep in moisture since they tend to dry out stuff. even with water in the smoker to aid in moisture. if you can keep the temp steady enough and use jars packed with leaf it might work. as far as electricity goes you would have to check the Kw that it draws and check to see your current price per KwH from your electric company.

Since it is running at lower temps you might be able to place a moving blanket or something around it to keep it a little more insulated and kick on less but even so it would be running almost the whole time. ( 4-8 weeks)

It would be a fun experiment but i would follow Bobs suggestion and build a Kiln or use something more insulated like a chest freezer or old fridge if you are planning on growing more next year.

 

[Jer]

If you are intending to kiln your leaf, I would suggest constructing a kiln, since a smoker is not adequately insulated for that use. Review the links on various kiln builds in our Index of Key Forum Threads.

Bob

Thanks Bob for the feedback, I was thinking maybe I could construct an insulative box around the smoker with some one inch styrofoam board I have hanging around.
I should have mentioned that in my post.
Not as convenient as what a kiln would be but being recently retired the time factor is not really an issue but an insanely high electric bill would be and a crockpot fired kiln would probably use a lot less electricity than a smoker.
I think I will take a closer look at the actual kiln route.
Thanks again!

 

[Jer]

I often think about cold smoking tobacco and seeing what affect it has on already cured leaf, shredded blends, plugs etc. to flavor said products.

I would think that with using a smoker it would be hard to keep in moisture since they tend to dry out stuff. even with water in the smoker to aid in moisture. if you can keep the temp steady enough and use jars packed with leaf it might work. as far as electricity goes you would have to check the Kw that it draws and check to see your current price per KwH from your electric company.

Since it is running at lower temps you might be able to place a moving blanket or something around it to keep it a little more insulated and kick on less but even so it would be running almost the whole time. ( 4-8 weeks)

It would be a fun experiment but i would follow Bobs suggestion and build a Kiln or use something more insulated like a chest freezer or old fridge if you are planning on growing more next year.

 

[Jer]

Thanks Krausen89 for your feedback, it is much appreciated. I neglected to mention in my post that I was considering constructing an insulative box around the smoker with some one inch styrofoam board that I have leftover from a remodel project.
I guess that would not help much as far as the leaf getting excessively dry. I had not even considered that excellent point.
I am still working on trying to find out how much juice in kilowatt hours this smoker would use and although it is similar in shape and size to a Brinkman barrel style, there is no brand name on it anywhere.
I would imagine that a crockpot fired kiln might be cheaper to run than a smoker in any case. If only the fermenting process was a matter of days instead of months it would not be such a big deal.
Like I told Bob I will take a closer look at building a designated tobacco kiln and again thank you for your feedback that is so valuable to a noob like me!