Bart's New Vinotemp Project

[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 :nodlaugh:

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

 

[n.olson]

that's a really nice customization.

nice work!!!

 

[Hardcore]

Looks good so far bro. Also if you have any extra space in it fill it with empty cigar boxes or pieces of spanish cedar.. This will help to steady the rh.

 

[RobustoMoe]

Nice work bro. I'll need to save for a Vino + Air Tickets to get you over here to do mine, in sayyyy........... 3 years :ccowboy:

 

[uncelnino]

Great to meet you this weekend Bart, the vino looks great. I will wait to see you for an update.

 

[mav_sd]

I love the crap outta my 12 bottle. Seen here:

Mike's 12 bottle Vinotemp

Mine is plugged in the drain hole too, and is rock solid. Was the best investment I have ever made for my sticks.

Enjoy.

 

[bartolomeo]

Got some CPU fans and an Oasis.........trying to decide best place to mount fans and Oasis in the Vino

Hopefully have some pics later today

Bart

 

[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

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

 

[cashedash]

So beautiful.

 

[Electric Sheep]

Looking good--my only comment is that you might find the wood on the bottom (under the beads) will get wet from the condensation the unit produces. It's not much, but it's enough that I have to wipe down the bottom of the Vino every week or so, usually a paper towel's worth.

Some people (not me) just put their bead bags directly on the bottom to absorb the excess water, but I found it was TOO MUCH water and my beads would get too wet...so now I just wipe the bottom of the unit out.

 

[bartolomeo]

Looking good--my only comment is that you might find the wood on the bottom (under the beads) will get wet from the condensation the unit produces. It's not much, but it's enough that I have to wipe down the bottom of the Vino every week or so, usually a paper towel's worth.

Some people (not me) just put their bead bags directly on the bottom to absorb the excess water, but I found it was TOO MUCH water and my beads would get too wet...so now I just wipe the bottom of the unit out.

Thanks for your help on this buddy and thanks for the heads up, will keep an eye on it

Really setting this up for when the shelves/drawers get here

Thanks

Bart

 

[RobustoMoe]

Wow that looks great brother. Keep up the good work and keep the updates coming. Can't wait for the end product ! :grin:

 

[daniyal]

Looks good brother!

 

[jwyatt55]

Holy massive salt test!

 

[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

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

 

[Electric Sheep]

Hmm...reminds me, I should probably go wipe out the bottom of my Vino!

 

[PLUSH]

Man, you are going through a lot of work for something that from mine and others I have seen is rather simple. One question. You have this condensation(run-off) going into your beads. Won't this create some issues? Isn't this the reason we use distilled water so that it is pure? What is going to be in that condensation? That is now going into your beads.

 

[Electric Sheep]

Plush, a few years ago there were a lot of guys just tossing their bag of beads at the bottom back of their wineadors and letting them absorb the condensation. I tried it myself, but didn't like how supersaturated my beads got.

I don't know how many of the current crop of BOTL'ers are doing that with beads, but it was fairly common not too long ago.

 

[Jfire]

Thank god I have a basement. I never even turned on my vino this year. 1lb in the bottom, 1 fan and 2 digi hyros. temp @ 67 and Humid @ 66 from top to bottom all year. It seems you have done a ton to this vino. Hope theres enough room for your smokes in a year or 2. Mine filled up in a year. Now I make it mandatory to put all same size smokes in 1 box as soon as they get around 50% just to keep from going to a cooler. Very cool that you have done all this hard work, but I hope you dont need all the space in the near future.

 

[bartolomeo]

Thank god I have a basement. I never even turned on my vino this year. 1lb in the bottom, 1 fan and 2 digi hyros. temp @ 67 and Humid @ 66 from top to bottom all year. It seems you have done a ton to this vino. Hope theres enough room for your smokes in a year or 2. Mine filled up in a year. Now I make it mandatory to put all same size smokes in 1 box as soon as they get around 50% just to keep from going to a cooler. Very cool that you have done all this hard work, but I hope you dont need all the space in the near future.

The Vino is completely empty except the bottom floor w/ fan and beads, Oasis is out of there and plenty of room for smokes

Just trying to find the ideal set up so they have a good foundation and I dont have to worry about it

Thanks,

Bart