Curing Chamber...simple or complex?

[Brown Thumb]

Go complex, that won’t dry my Kritters.

 

[Arbitrage]

Thanks for posting...all ideas help!

 

[vktr]

I think I got it right. Now temps are 48.5-53C in the middle of the pile and RH 60-70 all the time. Colanders work great. I add water to the tray daily and sprinkle the top leaves a little and shuffle them but that's about it. I raised the kitchen towels in the water tray and sealed the hole at the cooler's handle. I cover the cooler with a heavy blanket on the top to prevent condensation on the cooler's ceiling. No rot or mold so far and the leaves starting to smell great, it's been a week. You can laugh but I consider it a minimalist experiment

 

[Bamabaccy8a]

So, I have been harvesting leaves for a few weeks now and hanging to color cure. So far, everything is going well. My original plan, after color curing was to just put the leaves outa site/mind for a year and let them cure naturally. However, my neighbor happened to mention to me that he had an apartment sized freezer he was giving away from free. The thought entered my mind to take advantage of this and assemble a curing chamber.

From what I have seen, the simplest way would to just use a crock pot in there to bring up temp and humidity. A more complex way would be to have a heat source such as a ceramic heater and a separate humidity source with a digital control unit to dial the variables to ~125F and ~70% humidity. Not sure if I want to go to all that work however.

So, if I just use a crock pot and target temperature primarily, my question is, can I get close to an appropriate humidity level and how important is it to hit these ideal numbers? Could I risk ruining the entire batch? Thanks...thoughts and experiences are appreciated.

I built a curing chamber back in Illinois. Sadly i left it behind but it was fairly easy . Just a plywood box with styrofoam lining. Wire shelf racks and a crockpot type moist heat source with it plugged in to a PID controller with a temp probe. which i still have but ive long forgot how it operates since its chinese made and the instructions which came with it were severely vague , in very broken english . Took me close to a month just to figure out how to adjust about 6 settings .almost like how early texting was, push 2 buttons a series of x amt of times.

 

[vktr]

Since Bamabaccy8a has brought the thread up I'd like to inform you that the setup in my last picture worked well for the last eight months non-stop. I turned it off today until the new leaves are ready, early August I imagine. The only problem was maintaining proper humidity, I had to check every 3-4 days adding water to the tray and misting the leaves if too dry. Otherwise I'm very happy with it.

The thread title is a bit misleading, it's not a curing chamber but a fermenting one.

 

[vktr]

This is how much tobacco this fermenter cooler holds. After 29 days of fermenting of virginia 2024 harvest and cutting it with a knife. My wife helped me hold the tray for the picture.
Simple suites me

 

[WormHerder]

All of the correct information is on this forum.

I dont know if its murphys law or just was busy doing all the things i was doing and never got to read what i actually should be doing.. but now ive taken the time to read more.. im kinda glad i did stuff thats not the proper way.. so next year i can notice the difference firsthand so it really sinks in.

 

[E. Joseph]

To me the easiest way is a heat source (like your crock pot) and an ultrasonic humidifier. Then add in a heat controller and humidity controller and you will have a very nice chamber.

You could probably get away with just a crock pot, but if humidity gets too high you risk ruining everything with mold. Going slightly over on the heating is less of a concern, but to much humidity at the wrong temp turns your curing chamber into mold Goldilocks zone.

Investing in separate heating and humidity controllers is worth it IMO.

https://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Max-1200W-Temperature-Controller-Greenhouse/dp/B01HXM5UAC/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?crid=P3ELAR43L60M&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.kT9TW6r4XGYRi4iasaw_UkOEYRZJo66lmfZWmaqCyk4pX6Av4ubsmB0ABc8qPpNdlNW--YwkKyZhEbRZFHBG-_Ltt3AqXl_v4mkffqMXXsQcLZenIDUs__MFLYfU8vn5THiJ46urL90Ukio7KBTxszI7w_MZk0NoAb9yqaIMu8uIe7HWivDTO84WQLHJzCp_eRaVKBhR3fPFiDWbigOcog.kNYDs62GtKGXCDGP6ET-b6WxGTUC_eD2Gc4_N4x_Duw&dib_tag=se&keywords=heat+controller&qid=1753725661&sprefix=heat+controller%2Caps%2C176&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Humidity-Controller-Inkbird-Humidistat-Pre-wired/dp/B01J1E5LWM/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=PQCVRQQ9PYI5&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.fk39Wwf1MUDXg4Oz9O299TkoCy2_z2Dfr-zkqD5EOfDbaJJA8_BVdzeZQE4uQsy9cUzOhoZnDUz84pawehftzGyqL5G72p2FO5Lh5FKN7IBulD3zZjVZ1tDa4C-OXjtjrjHJif2MH8bQqn-1rHmI18bjtCfXxSbtMvtLMBY0y2XyN7YjCMbrd7OKHIO_2SnzI8icfQo4tkP71Po5p8CNPg.6VgrjolmZKZkg4qMNCJSRsK-lOzupYxNFU8zfQWPj9s&dib_tag=se&keywords=humidity+controller&qid=1753725705&sprefix=humidity+controller%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-3

I have had both these inkbird units for years and they work very well.


Oh, you should probably get a small fan too to keep the air homogeneous and circulating.

Just seeing this InkBird recommendation. I was wondering what heating element or pad you recommended using with this InkBird temp controller?