Seasoning Wineador trays

[MattNJ]

I read the sticky primer but it seemed to be mostly about the shot glass method for deskptop humis. Which does work very well.

For my wineador I was thinking about putting a soaked sponge of distilled water in a piece of tupperware on each tray (i will have 5 double trays).


Should I also put my crystal gels in or wait until the sponges do there thing? I got a few of these for humidification- http://www.cheaphumidors.com/p_crystal-humidifier_MAD-250.html


what do you guys think?
Thanks Brothers! eace:

 

[Jwrussell]

Well, I'm not really a fan of the crystal style humidifiers. They don't regulate two ways like beads do, they just release moisture. So for seasoning, by all means. Beyond that, assuming the cooler has a good seal as it should, they may be more of a pain than anything else.

As to the sponge in tupperware method, go for it. It should work great. The sponge helps with evaporation by giving more surface area.

 

[MattNJ]

The crystals I have are designed to never produce over 70%, no matter how much water I add. The ones I have used in my desktops have never went over 70% once.

I also have some KL that I use in my coolerdor if I needed to use some dry to regulate RH%, but I am sure all the cedar in there will do so as well.

Putting a sponge on each shelf was the only other method I could think of to season the wood.

 

[twenty5]

Its cheating but if you are in a hurry, put the distilled water into a microwave in a small bowl, heat until it is steaming and put it in the bottom of the humi. When raising the humidity of an environment that is not sealed (trays, shelves etc) I dont think it has to go as slow as doing a sealed environment (humidors, cabinets etc). Could be wrong but I did it and it worked great for me. Just make sure the water vapor isnt just hitting the bottom shelf and creating a huge wet spot.

 

[LoneSmoker]

I will receive my trays in a week or so and I've been thinking about this also. The RH outside my cooler swings up about 70%+ in the mornings and evening. Even up the 80% area at times. My beads are dry in my cooler. If I season my trays with the sponge, shot glass or anything, will it make the cooler to humid? Sorry to half hijack the thread

 

[twenty5]

I will receive my trays in a week or so and I've been thinking about this also. The RH outside my cooler swings up about 70%+ in the mornings and evening. Even up the 80% area at times. My beads are dry in my cooler. If I season my trays with the sponge, shot glass or anything, will it make the cooler to humid? Sorry to half hijack the thread

Unpack the trays and leave them out for a day or two, as soon as they get acclimated with the 70ish% they will be fine to throw into the cooler and there will be no need to add additional moisture to them.

The whole goal is to bring the trays up to the humidity level you chose to keep your cigars at. That way the dry trays dont suck all the moisture out of the smokes (or vice versa in the case of over humidification), your trays could technically show up at your house at the right humidity level. When I got mine I unpacked them threw them in the humi without beads and checked the rh after maybe 6 or 8 hrs. It was in the high 50s so I knew I didnt have far to go to achieve the 65% I prefer.

 

[MattNJ]

great stuff justin

yea right now with nothing in the cooler if I close the door the RH is 60%. So I dont think I will have to much seasoning to do, but I guess it depends on the cedar.

 

[Jwrussell]

Matt, it really doesn't matter what the crystals are designed not to go over. The problem is that they can't suck up humidity. I won't go into the nitty gritty, but even if they are designed not to go above 70% the environment can still go over 70% at which point the crystals can do nothing about it. The KL should help to alleviate that some though.

When you say the RH is 60%, is that with the trays in there already? If so, yeah, you shouldn't have much seasoning to do at all. Good luck! :thumbsup:

 

[LoneSmoker]

+1 for KL. I ran KL in my converted mini fridge. Talk about a rock solid RH! KL is great if space isn't a major concern.

 

[Northernmoris]

I have a 28btl vinotemp. I have 2 drawers and 2 shelves, when they came in I put them right in.. The RH% did not drop that much..

 

[MattNJ]

Matt, it really doesn't matter what the crystals are designed not to go over. The problem is that they can't suck up humidity. I won't go into the nitty gritty, but even if they are designed not to go above 70% the environment can still go over 70% at which point the crystals can do nothing about it. The KL should help to alleviate that some though.

When you say the RH is 60%, is that with the trays in there already? If so, yeah, you shouldn't have much seasoning to do at all. Good luck! :thumbsup:

No that with nothing in there at all, just bare naked with the door closed it 60-62 RH