First Wineador and asking for feedback and advice.

[vacano]

Greetings from Bulgaria,

First of all I would like to say that it is a real pleasure being part of this community, cigars have been my passion for quite some time now.

I have managed to make my own wineador from a cooler I had laying in my storage, I was planning to sell them in Bulgaria a few years ago so I imported several units from China, business venture wasnt successful so what a better way to make some use of the ones I have

Anyway since I like in Europe and shipping would have been devastating to order the trays from a professional I decided to start a project and manifacture the trays myself. I wasnt able to find Spanish Cedre in Bulgaria so after doing some reading I did the trays from Sapele Mahogany.

I have done 3 trays and the bottom one I have left undone because I am still thinking how to finish it in order for it to store my RHShield beads and because there is quite a lot of condensate forming in the small canal which I closed with sealant but can be opened anytime.

I have bought 1 pound of beads which I came to the assumption would be enough to keep the 70% humidity inside the box. I have placed 1/2 pound at the bottom and I have made two bags with 4oz (100 gr) each to place inside the top and middle tray since I think they are farthest from the beads at the bottom.
I "activated" the beads by putting them inside a small cup with distilled water for some time and after that draining the excessive water and drying the bag with a napkin before placing them inside. I notice that in less than 24hrs inside they are already white so all the humidity has disappeared ?!?
The bottom beads as I said, I have placed inside a plastic tray and generously soaked them with distilled water, donno whether it is the right thing to do.
I am doing a salt test of all my hygrometers different models and brands in order to see why the humidity fluctuates so much between trays.
Am I doing something wrong with the beads ?

I would appreciate any feedback and advice to make this wineador a nice home for my babies, because I feel a little scared to move them into their new home from the various cheap humidors I have at home.

Please see the pictures of the wineador itself.

Thanks again and stay smokey!

Petar

 

[Boudie]

Nice work, I don't know why there is condensate in the cooler especially if your beads are drying out so fast. I believe that your woodwork needs to stabilize at the correct RH and that could be drawing out a lot of your moisture. Keep the beads properly primed and give the set up a few days, see what happens.

Nice job on the wood work

 

[Bruce T.]

^^ I agree that the wood will soak up a lot of moisture. It may take 1-2 weeks to stabilize so patience is the key. You really can't think about how to fine tune the humidity until the wood has stabilized. The more wood there is the slower the environment will stabilize. But that is a good thing because it will also be slow to change after it is stable.
Nice work on the winador.

 

[marshall9779]

If it's not a thermoelectric unit, that could be sucking the humidity out as well.


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[StogieNinja]

What is the temp differential between the room and the inside of the cooler? If it's high, or if the unit is running pretty constantly, that's when you'll get condensation.

 

[knw247]

I recommend you get some Distilled water (Like a bowl or two of it) and leave it in there for one to two weeks to allow the wood to soak up some moisture. Don't apply the water directly to the wood as this can cause warping and encourage mold growth. With no beads, this should take the unit up to about 80-85 rh. Then you put in the beads and let the beads pull down the RH. That should get you seasoned and ready for the sticks.

 

[btubes18]

I recommend you get some Distilled water (Like a bowl or two of it) and leave it in there for one to two weeks to allow the wood to soak up some moisture. Don't apply the water directly to the wood as this can cause warping and encourage mold growth. With no beads, this should take the unit up to about 80-85 rh. Then you put in the beads and let the beads pull down the RH. That should get you seasoned and ready for the sticks.

I did the same thing with my first wineador...worked, but damn I was eager to get the sticks in there.

 

[vacano]

What is the temp differential between the room and the inside of the cooler? If it's high, or if the unit is running pretty constantly, that's when you'll get condensation.

The temperature inside is set to 18C or 64F and outside in my living room is approx 23C or 73F, I don't think it is too big of a difference ?

 

[vacano]

If it's not a thermoelectric unit, that could be sucking the humidity out as well.


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It is a thermoelectric wine cooler or as they call it peltier method wine cooler.

 

[Lucifer Morningstar]

Season the wood first, then look at the beads drying out really quickly.
Also, keep in mind while it is thermoelectric - the cooling will also suck out some humidity... not as much as compressor - but it still sucks out some.

You could also use a bead bag to catch some of the water vapour by placing it over the drain hole. A lot of people do that, myself included.
It also took some time for my beads to "get settled" I was literally spraying them every day. Now it's every few weeks.