I needed to make something to flue cure my Virginia Gold in and to ferment tobacco with. I read many designs and have little money to invest. I decided to go with my old mantra K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid.
I got an old freezer from the dump and took out everything nonessential (motor, back grill, etc.) Conveniently, there is a little hole at the top for venting and another little hole to insert a thermometer. I bought a used slow cooker with three settings. I already have a little heater/fan for circulation.
I have not used it for fermenting yet, but flue curing in this simple setup is amazing! I just put the slow cooker on the bottom shelf and turn on the lowest setting. I stack about 40 leaves in the top three shelves. The lowest shelf is where I place the fan on the lowest setting without heat blowing upwards. The second shelf is where I place the slow cooker full of water with no lid. The third shelf is empty or with a foam mattress piece to absorb excess heat and moisture and prevent scorching of the leaves. The fourth, fifth and sixth shelves have the leaves placed flat in stacks. This will start the yellowing process at about 25-30 degrees C and the moisture from the slow cooker is perfect. After yellowing in this way for a few days, I remove the slow cooker, but leave the pan full of water inside for humidity and turn the heater fan on the lowest setting about 30 deg. C for color setting. I very slowly increase the temp. setting on the heater fan in tiny increments over 2-3 days. Then I remove the water pan and continue to increase the heater fan heat by tiny amounts to about 40-45 deg. C for lamina drying. After a couple days of this, I turn up the heat to about 50 deg. C for stem drying. I have achieved near perfect results with bright golden leaves, completely flue-cured.
Watch out for browning of the leaves and scorching! Turn up the heat very, very, very slowly!
I can't wait to try fermenting with this chamber. Total cost was about 20 USD. If I leave the slow cooker in without the fan, it is more humid and the temp. is about 43-45 deg. C I think this will be just about ideal for fermenting. If it is too hot or humid, I can just leave the heater fan in without the heat turned on and the fan on the lowest setting. This will cool it off to about 35-40 deg. C with less humidity.
Any thoughts, ideas, critique?
I got an old freezer from the dump and took out everything nonessential (motor, back grill, etc.) Conveniently, there is a little hole at the top for venting and another little hole to insert a thermometer. I bought a used slow cooker with three settings. I already have a little heater/fan for circulation.
I have not used it for fermenting yet, but flue curing in this simple setup is amazing! I just put the slow cooker on the bottom shelf and turn on the lowest setting. I stack about 40 leaves in the top three shelves. The lowest shelf is where I place the fan on the lowest setting without heat blowing upwards. The second shelf is where I place the slow cooker full of water with no lid. The third shelf is empty or with a foam mattress piece to absorb excess heat and moisture and prevent scorching of the leaves. The fourth, fifth and sixth shelves have the leaves placed flat in stacks. This will start the yellowing process at about 25-30 degrees C and the moisture from the slow cooker is perfect. After yellowing in this way for a few days, I remove the slow cooker, but leave the pan full of water inside for humidity and turn the heater fan on the lowest setting about 30 deg. C for color setting. I very slowly increase the temp. setting on the heater fan in tiny increments over 2-3 days. Then I remove the water pan and continue to increase the heater fan heat by tiny amounts to about 40-45 deg. C for lamina drying. After a couple days of this, I turn up the heat to about 50 deg. C for stem drying. I have achieved near perfect results with bright golden leaves, completely flue-cured.
Watch out for browning of the leaves and scorching! Turn up the heat very, very, very slowly!
I can't wait to try fermenting with this chamber. Total cost was about 20 USD. If I leave the slow cooker in without the fan, it is more humid and the temp. is about 43-45 deg. C I think this will be just about ideal for fermenting. If it is too hot or humid, I can just leave the heater fan in without the heat turned on and the fan on the lowest setting. This will cool it off to about 35-40 deg. C with less humidity.
Any thoughts, ideas, critique?
