Armadillo kiln

[Armadillo]

Here's what I did thanks to all your information.
I used an upright freezer to make things easier. It has 90 mm of insulation, which is really good for saving energy.
On your advice, I used a 100 W slow cooker.
For a more even temperature, I installed an interior circulation column from top to bottom with a 100 m3/h circulator. The airflow is directed towards the slow cooker and returned to the sheets by two PC fans.
There is also passive ventilation at the top and bottom made from car ventilation grilles for easy adjustment.
The temperature and humidity are managed by a Ketotek central unit, but I only use the temperature section to control the slow cooker. The humidity section is only used to determine the humidity level.
Thank you in advance for your comments and criticism, which I am sure will be very constructive.

 

[Armadillo]

Here's a photo without the sheets so you can see the interior layout better.
A little detail I forgot: all the elements are attached with very strong Velcro.
It's super practical for being able to move the elements around at will without drilling into the freezer.
Another detail: I ran the dryer through two full cycles before using it with the sheets. As you also recommended.
So, this time, I think I didn't forget anything.

 

[Knucklehead]

Very nice work.

 

[TigerTom]

Looks great. I've been toying with the notion of getting an unwanted freezer off Craigslist and converting it to a kiln. This just reinforces the idea.

 

[Armadillo]

In my humble opinion, this is the simplest and most effective solution for what we want to do with it.
I made sure to find one with a door seal in excellent condition, and it also got rid of the elderly people who couldn't move it on their own. Everyone was happy for €0 .

 

[Armadillo]

Very nice work.

Thank you very much! The entire design was inspired by your FTT forum. Three months ago, I knew absolutely nothing about this field.
But thanks to all of you, the training and understanding were very easy (you just have to make the effort to read as many posts as possible).

 

[ShiniKoroshi]

Nice clean work!

 

[Armadillo]

Beau travail propre

Thanks, I don't take any credit. I'm a plumber/heating engineer by trade, so it was very easy to do.

 

[Armadillo]

Eh bien ! C'est un peu raté cette fois-ci, ce qui est dommage car les feuilles brunes sentent exactement comme l'orange de Virginie, donc la méthode doit fonctionner.

Elles auraient sans doute dû jaunir davantage, ce qui est surprenant pour des feuilles inférieures. On apprend de ses erreurs.

J'ai aussi eu un problème avec la température qui dépassait les 50 °C et j'ai dû utiliser une mijoteuse de 200 W. Ça a dû perturber le processus chimique. Je sortirai tout demain, quand ce sera moins cassant, et je ferai un test avec les feuilles qui ont l'air bonnes.
Prochaine tentative dans environ deux semaines.
Mais les conditions météorologiques actuelles ne favorisent pas la maturation.

 

[deluxestogie]

FTT is an English language forum.

"Well! It's a bit of a flop this time, which is a shame because the brown leaves smell exactly like Virginia oranges, so the method must be working.

They probably should have yellowed more, which is surprising for lower leaves. You learn from your mistakes.

I also had a problem with the temperature exceeding 50°C and I had to use a 200W slow cooker. That must have disrupted the chemical process. I'll take everything out tomorrow, when it's less brittle, and I'll test the leaves that look good.
Next attempt in about two weeks.
But the current weather conditions aren't conducive to ripening."

Bob

 

[Armadillo]

My apologies, Bob. I had a problem with the translation and didn't realize it.
It won't happen again.

 

[Sergey Ukraine]

My apologies, Bob. I had a problem with the translation and didn't realize it.
It won't happen again.

There is one caveat when using the translator: when pasting text into a forum, the forum language must be English. Even if you paste text in English, but the forum is in Martian, the pasted message will be translated into Martian. I've encountered this myself and didn't immediately understand why.

 

[deluxestogie]

I do appreciate your efforts. I really don't intend to scold. FTT is a worldwide forum. It is not that English is special, but rather that I or one of our moderators has to take the time to translate it, simply in order to perform moderation duties.

Thanks,

Bob

 

[Armadillo]

I do appreciate your efforts. I really don't intend to scold. FTT is a worldwide forum. It is not that English is special, but rather that I or one of our moderators has to take the time to translate it, simply in order to perform moderation duties.

Thanks,

Bob

I completely understand. No worries, it's my fault, I should have been more careful and checked my message again.

 

[TigerTom]

This is very interesting. I received a notification of Armadillo's post, but it was translated into English:

 

[deluxestogie]

The notification is sent from the FTT Server, but I have no idea where along the way it might have been translated. Mysteries! I will guess that the translation occurred on your end, perhaps your own device. A test would be to have a friend text you something in French, for example, and see if it is automatically translated.

Bob

 

[Armadillo]

This is very interesting. I received a notification of Armadillo's post, but it was translated into English:

View attachment 58085

Hello Tiger Tom
It seems to me that my mistake was removing the orange section at the bottom of the text later.
This must have invalidated the translation on the forum.
Bob will be more qualified than me to confirm or refute this theory.

 

[StoneCarver]

Wait, did you put green leaves in the kiln and attempt to kiln them whilst still green?

 

[Armadillo]

Wait, did you put green leaves in the kiln and attempt to kiln them whilst still green?

The leaves had started to yellow, but not completely. And two or three were a little less yellow.
This is my first time, and I know I still have a lot to learn.

 

[Knucklehead]

The leaves had started to yellow, but not completely. And two or three were a little less yellow.
This is my first time, and I know I still have a lot to learn.

The terminology can be confusing at first. This thread by Bob is very enightening.

Curing, Fermentation, Aging, Kilning? Basic Definitions

Curing Tobacco When you begin with leaf from the field (primed or stalk-cut), and then allow it to convert from a living leaf to a dead leaf (of yellow or brown), you have cured the leaf. Often in this forum, we refer to this as "color-curing". There are a number of methods for color-curing...

fairtradetobacco.com