Fermentation questions

So I’m pulling my first batch (6 hands) out of my kiln here and getting ready to sort it. How do you all go about sorting and storing kilned leaf?

I’m considering stripping it all and storing the half leaves flat (once dried) in empty WLT bags to make rolling easier. Does anyone see a problem with this other than the extra time involved?

This next batch that is going in is much larger than the first. It’s roughly 20 hands. Is this too much? My concern is the sides of the pile will be up against the walls of the chamber. Does this put me in danger of mold?

As always, an input is greatly appreciated!

Depending on what kind of kiln you use and how your placing/hanging leaves. If you look at my grow blog from last year i made a kiln from a larder fridge. I put some small baking trays standing sideways against both sides of the kiln to stop leaves touching the sides. Also dont overpack you kiln to 100% max capacity, the air still needs to move around to uniformly ferment each leaf

Oh ok. I have terrible air flow on this batch I just started. Thanks for the info!

My process is as follows: when leaf is removed I bring it into medium to high case by spritzing with distilled water and let moisture set in using some sort of container. This step is mostly so it can be handled without damaging leaves. My leaf is labeled by priming is the curing shed so thats one step thats already done. Once leaf is safe to handle really I just go through and sort out wrapper from filler for each variety. Once sorted I will lay my rolling board over the piles to flatten the leaf to make it easier to slide into vacuum seal bags easier. Once leaf is low case I put I gently slide the pile into bag and vacuum seal. I then label each bag and put into a depp freezer for 5-7 days to kill any freeloaders that may still be on it. For cigar leaf I would recommend not destemming before storage, everything else is personal preference.

All helpful info, thanks guys!

Will, why would you recommend against de-stemming prior to storage? Just curious.

Yesterday I ended up de-stemming the filler pile only. My thought was that I’ll be more cautious with the binder and wrapper when it’s time to roll.

That kilned glesnor smelled amazing and I’m looking forward to rolling with it. Now I just need to get the batch I just started out of the kiln and reduce it by half.

Im bad at getting pics but I can post some later if anyone wants to see.

NWgrower said:

All helpful info, thanks guys!

Will, why would you recommend against de-stemming prior to storage? Just curious.

Yesterday I ended up de-stemming the filler pile only. My thought was that I’ll be more cautious with the binder and wrapper when it’s time to roll.

That kilned glesnor smelled amazing and I’m looking forward to rolling with it. Now I just need to get the batch I just started out of the kiln and reduce it by half.

Im bad at getting pics but I can post some later if anyone wants to see.

Click to expand...

This is a good question, made me rethink my process and nail it down because even my filler gets destemmed on home rolls (if Im going through all of this tedious effort Im not going to tolerate stems in there). With binder and wrapper the stem adds an extra rigidity for packaging and storage disallowing the lamina to fold or bunch and crease when it returns to low case. For filler its much easier for me to determine base and tip of leaf if I destem while bunching. I try to take this into consideration for a better balance of profile. I do have a large bag of One Sucker aging that I destemmed before bagging but I did that for a couple reasons, some of the leaves were over 36" long and that was going to be a PITA to store without folding it in on itself, it was grown for smokeless and cigar "wild card" filler so not concerned with appearance. Left a picture of this destemmed leaf.