Bart's New Vinotemp Project

[bartolomeo]

This is a thread I started on another site back in August b/c I didnt have enough postings here to post pictures yet. I have continued to update it as time went by so please enjoy

Bart


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Just got a new Vinotemp delivered today from meijer.com. Seasoning the trays right now and will keep everybody updated with some pics as its happening, nothing too exciting so far.
BTW, I want to get this right and do it the proper way from the start so I am a little anal about doing things. For example, I have purchased 8 Hygrometers, all of the same brand to salt test them and see which 3 I will keep, just want to keep the three with the 75% RH levels. Too bad the success rate is not pretty good right now.
Seasoning with Distilled H2O, cedar under the bowls and 2.5lbs of beads currently. I had cardboard originally holding the H2O but it started to smell like cardboard and replaced with cedar. I have Spanish Cedar trays in there right now that will hold my singles until my drawers/trays get done.
Put a cork to plug up the drainage hole and have left off the power to the Vinotemp to start with. Once up to speed after seasoning, will turn on unit and go from there.
Thanks,
Bart

[bartolomeo]

Update tonight on project, had to start over for different reasons and back to seasoning the Cedar trays using the new Ranco system, so far so good

Bart

Electricians Putty



Ranco Temperature Control



Second hole drilled through the bottom using the drain hole inside



Left overs after tearing drain out



New line of cigars I am starting, Vinotemp Robustos



Inside look, tried to keep it as clean looking as possible



Putty that sealed where the Ranco temperature cord came in through original drain hole

[bartolomeo]

Maybe the 3rd time really is the charm......This is the 3rd time me messing with this Vinotemp.......Something was just not right so I decided to add an Oasis XL and a CPU fan to pimp this Vinotemp out.........I know its overkill but if I get my ideal RH levels, its worth every penny to me

Enjoy!

Bart

Me rigging the wires together for the CPU fan



Taped them together b/c I am not an Electrician



Adaptor needed between fan and AC plug



Me trying out some LT cooling fans but they didnt blow enough air for my taste



3 different types of fans to see what works best, decided to go with the Red one



I put two rubber washers underneath the screws to dampen any noise and give the fan a little more clearance



The infamous "S" drain valve in the Vino



Tried to keep everything clean looking with some ties and new Electricians putty applied



I put velcro on the bottom of the fan so I can move it anytime but yet sturdy enough not to vibrate or make noise when running



Pic of the Oasis and fan



Bottom view of the set up



Starting the whole process over again



Threw some beads in to start the process but the rest of the beads are in the Tupperware with the smokes, resting until Vino is up and fully functional

[bartolomeo]

Last picture for now, will post more soon after I throw the smokes in there

[bartolomeo]

Update on Humidor:

Had the RH and Temp levels where I wanted them but had a issue with the condensation occuring, so I wanted to fix that issue and move forward. Here are some random pics and comments

-My goal is to have all of my crap on the floor to be below the second notch up, so I can put my shelves in when they are ready, so basically nothing above that height is my plan, so far so good

-I have about 3.5 lbs of beads in the humi spread out in bags, Overkill I know, but it will keep the RH more stable when opening/closing the humi

-I have 4 different brands of Hygrometers but all are accurate so I cant complain



I use to get that fine dust from the beads so I came up with a solution that works for me. I take the beads and put them in a strainer to shake out the excess small particles which helps reduce the fine dust you some time see in your humidor. You lose about 1-2% but not a big deal when you have no more dust


Pic of the leftovers in the sink


Some humidity sheets I got from Heartfelt, I was originally going to use it to suck the excess condensation but dont like that idea now b/c of possible mildew/mold problems down the road


Bought a thin, rubber cutting board @ Walmart to shape a funnel to drain the excess condensation down the middle of the exisitng channel, used Black duct tape to help. Its important when you do this, to keep the original ridges along the side of the channel so the condensation doesnt spill on either side. The White cutting board was an exact shape of the channel to help out.


Bought a butter dish to collect the condensation as an experiement. I dried my 65% beads completely White so they could suck up all of the moisture. The cutting board drains into the butter dish, I use a stick or a pen to move the beads around once in a while to make sure all moisture in the dish is equal. I then moved my fan to blow on the channel and bead dish to help dry it out, this has helped immensely. I like this dish b/c its clear and I can see whats going on, I have a bigger one but its White.


Fan on top of beads blowing down on bead dish, I need to rework this to clean it up a little bit

[bartolomeo]

Cutting board I used b/c I couldnt find any of the binder page dividers others here use


Dymo Letra Label maker I use to band all of my singles along with the Heartfelt bands


Waiting for their new mansion to be ready




Beads before I put the fan on them

[eljimmy]

Jesus christ man! You are anal You're gonna be happy when you're done. Nice job

[bartolomeo]

Here is an update on my humi:

-My Vino ideal range is 62-65%RH and 65-67* Temp, currently I am achieving this since 95% of my smokes are CC and I have found they like a lower RH than the NC

-I have a fan blowing up @ the front glass of the Vino and a fan on the top shelf blowing towards the front glass for great airflow, I have found the added airflow benefits my Vino rather than just using the original fan the Vino came with

-I have farted around with this Vino the last couple of weeks and definitely overanalyzed everything but got it where I want/need it for my evergrowing stash

-I put a board in front of the Vino fan to help spread the air out a little more and really like this idea, this will allow me to put boxes directly in front/top/bottom of the fan and not have to worry about it. There is enough room between the board and fan as well. The middle section of the fan sucks air in where the four sides blow the cool air out, learned that as well. Also with the board, I am able to push the Vino metal shelf all of the way back, so I am not eliminating any room using the board

-I took the Heartfelt beads out of my condensation tray b/c it would be non distilled water accumulating in there and making a mess, this way I just dump it every couple of days/weeks depending on how much is in there

-The fans and Vino are plugged into an surge protector, which is plugged into the Ranco temp controller, so all three run at the same time and no need for a timer for the two fans

-I am waiting on shelves/drawers so will use boxes and cedar trays for now

-I replaced my Oasis sponge with water beads, see this thread

Super Absorbant Polymers (watersorb.com) in a Cigar Oasis

-I will post pics of the smokes very soon

-I tried the following scenarios with no luck......unplugged w/ no fan, unplugged w/ fan, plugged w/ no fan, plugged w/ fan.........This is located in my office on the second floor in my NC home, it does get hot here but the room temp avg is about 73* during day and 71* at night in the Summer

-I left the hole at the bottom of the Vino open, to let the Vino "breathe" if you will

-It looks messy right now but it will be cleaned up when the shelves/drawers get here

-Again, I overanalyzed everything but it works correctly and thats what was most important to me

Thanks,

Bart

[mrreindeer]

Holy sh!t....when you're done...you want to start over on my two???

Awesome stuff.

[Herf N Turf]

This thread made me dizzy.

[dj1340]

I commend you on the vinotemp proj. Think I'll stay with my 150qt coolodor from Wally world, much simpler for me

[Rubix^3]

Where is the flux capacitor?

haha,

Super nice work. --taking the hobby to a whole nother level.

[Brodeurman69]

Great looking work. You have definitely inspired me and gave me some great ideas!

[yzingerr]

very cool stuff. So when are you handing out those vinotemps?

[bartolomeo]

These are some pics from a "friend" and some cigars he has in his Vino......

Bart