Sun curing Virginia gold

[Libsk8r1]

Option 1. Pick leaves that are yellowing and hang them in the greenhouse. Keep the humidity at 80% until they are yellow, then let the humidity drop to whatever.

Option 2. Pick leaves that are completely yellow. Hang them in the greenhouse. Period.

Option 3. Pick leaves, pile them in the garage. Go through them every day and take yellow leaves and hang them in the garage.

This piling idea sounds like it’s the way to go for me probably coupled with a flue chamber I’m wondering if I could just use a barrel with a barrel heater wrapped around it

If you hang the plants or leaves on 2x2s or 2x4s, you can let them rest on a structure that doesn't need to withstand tension and in fact doesn't need to be permanent. For example:

View attachment 30326

Genius

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Someone told me to lay out the leaves in piles and as they yellow then cure them would I be able to throw green leaf into a flue chamber or would I need to let them yellow first? Sorry about my lack of vocabulary I appreciate all of your reply’s

If you put green leaves in a flue cure chamber, they will cure green.

 

[Libsk8r1]

I’m thinking China voodoos piling idea to yellow the leaves coupled with a large flue chamber.i see these vids of bulk tobacco flue ovens and they compress the leaf in these boxes then place the boxes in the ovens. Could I just fill a big barrel with yellow leaves and wrap a barrel heater around the barrel and put an exhaust hole on the lid for off gassing.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I’m thinking China voodoos piling idea to yellow the leaves coupled with a large flue chamber.i see these vids of bulk tobacco flue ovens and they compress the leaf in these boxes then place the boxes in the ovens. Could I just fill a big barrel with yellow leaves and wrap a barrel heater around the barrel and put an exhaust hole on the lid for off gassing.

I'm not sure what videos you're watching, but leaves that are piled will not flue cure properly. They come out brown with a strange taste. They need to be hung

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Look at Bob's exoskeletal kiln build in the key forum threads, then make it bigger.

 

[Libsk8r1]

I'm not sure what videos you're watching, but leaves that are piled will not flue cure properly. They come out brown with a strange taste. They need to be hung

Big tobacco bulk machine harvested poor quality holes in leaves lol

 

[Libsk8r1]

Look at Bob's exoskeletal kiln build in the key forum threads, then make it bigger.

Thank you I will

 

[Libsk8r1]

So I’m thinking 55 gallon metal drums with barrel heaters wrapped around the base and I could string the leaves and tie the strings on to some kind of rack in a spiral and might be able to do 2-3 layers of hanging leaf inside and I was thinking of plugging the barrel heaters into a temperature controller to keep the temps correct. I don’t yet know what the temp requirements are but still researching

 

[deluxestogie]

If you put green leaves in a flue cure chamber, they will cure green.

If all the leaf is the same degree of maturity, then green leaf that is placed within a flue-curing chamber will cure properly. It needs to be held below 102°F until the leaf is mostly yellow. Then you continue with the temperature ramping.

Hence the name of the "yellowing" phase.

A cylinder shape (e.g. barrel or can) is fairly space inefficient. And the flue-curing chamber really needs air circulation beyond convection.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Right.

Sorry.

I thought he meant at the same time as yellow leaves.

The green leaves need to be at the same stage of ripening though.

 

[Knucklehead]

So I’m thinking 55 gallon metal drums

If I’m reading Deluxestogie’s chart correctly, a flue cure run takes three days. If you prime the leaves rather than stalk cure, the cure will be spread out over a few week period. Prime some leaves, load chamber, cure three days, repeat. Your chamber won’t have to be sized as though it all had to go in at once.

 

[deluxestogie]

Starting with green leaf (of the same degree of maturity and similar priming level) the yellowing requires 2 to 5 days (higher the priming level, the longer the yellowing takes), followed by 3 days of temperature ramping, then at least a day at max temp, to "kill" the stems. If you start with fully yellowed leaf, then 3 or 4 days is required.

Bob

EDIT: My flue-curing "season" lasts about 6 weeks--6 primings.

 

[Libsk8r1]

Starting with green leaf (of the same degree of maturity and similar priming level) the yellowing requires 2 to 5 days (higher the priming level, the longer the yellowing takes), followed by 3 days of temperature ramping, then at least a day at max temp, to "kill" the stems. If you start with fully yellowed leaf, then 3 or 4 days is required.

Bob

EDIT: My flue-curing "season" lasts about 6 weeks--6 primings.

What temp do I need to maintain for drying?

 

[Libsk8r1]

If all the leaf is the same degree of maturity, then green leaf that is placed within a flue-curing chamber will cure properly. It needs to be held below 102°F until the leaf is mostly yellow. Then you continue with the temperature ramping.

Hence the name of the "yellowing" phase.

A cylinder shape (e.g. barrel or can) is fairly space inefficient. And the flue-curing chamber really needs air circulation beyond convection.

Bob

So it needs fans? Or just open space?

 

[Knucklehead]

So it needs fans? Or just open space?

Deluxestogie's Endoskeletal Wood Tobacco Kiln / Flue-cure chamber

PART 1 of 4 Endoskeleton. The foam board goes on the outside. Caveat The wood-built kiln discussed here has several advantages over using a dead, upright freezer for a kiln, but will require more work to complete, and will certainly cost more. it weighs significantly less it can be sized to...

fairtradetobacco.com

 

[deluxestogie]

What temp do I need to maintain for drying?

So it needs fans? Or just open space?

Look at the chart. 165°F for stem kill (drying). A circulation fan will equalize conditions (temp and humidity) throughout the chamber space.

Bob

 

[Libsk8r1]

If I have an air intake hole along with some smaller holes drilled around the barrel with an exhaust on top with racks inside to hang the leaf from I should be able to just use what I already have and make a barrel chamber especially if I’m priming the leaves and processing it as they ripen. I have a barrel heater that goes up to 400F as low as 75F

 

[deluxestogie]

Good luck.

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

If I have an air intake hole along with some smaller holes drilled around the barrel with an exhaust on top with racks inside to hang the leaf from I should be able to just use what I already have and make a barrel chamber especially if I’m priming the leaves and processing it as they ripen. I have a barrel heater that goes up to 400F as low as 75F

This was one of the forum‘s first flue cure experiments. He started with a barrel also.

Leverhead's Flue Cure experiment

Yum Yum! Get a good handfull, and we'll have a wormfest. Until then I'm going for venison backstrap this eve.

fairtradetobacco.com

 

[Libsk8r1]

Ok people I apologize for all of the jumbled up posts I’m very new to forums lol. But I just realized I could just buy one of thoughs grow tents that people grow plants indoors with and put like 4 or 5 stainless steel wire shelving units in there with a radiant heater and keep an exhaust vent open up top with a fan pumping air from the bottom vent. This I could add a humidifier to if needed and just plug in the fan and heater and humidifier to humidity temp controller and bam bulk flue chamber!? Lol best idea I got so far