Mezo`s "super hots" Glog including the 'big' solar dehydrator.

The is thread with the humungous solar dehydrator.

G-Day, im Mez or Mezo & im new to this part of Australia having come from Perth (Western Australia) where growing chili peppers is so easy (except the heat).

I live in the border ranges in northern New South Wales (bordering Queensland) and its a mixed bag of temperate & tropical conditions, the summers are very hot, wet & humid, the winters are dry & sunny.



Average daily temps.

And average monthly rainfall.

Aussies reading this will already know this, but people in other country's probably paint a picture of Australia as a hot dry/dusty land but this is far from the truth, up north its full blown tropics with a wet season & 100% humidity (yuck). Down south its freezing cold & snow during winter, out west its a dry heat like in the Mediterranean & in the middle of Australia is desert country.

So im now growing for the first time "Super hots" and for a very important reason, whilst working away in Perth i had a double heart attack wich has left me permanently disabled, sadly they are unable to operate on me (bypass/stent) as its to far gone, so having worked all my life (Electrician) im now at the age of 45 claiming a disability pension & i hate not being able to work.

Now i take shovel fulls of dam tablets to keep my heart pumping & id rather not be taking any but right now there no option i have to take them or ill drop dead on the spot. After much reading i found out that cayenne powder has all sort of benefits to your health & well being, especially to your cardio vascular system. I had read that cayenne powder can stop a heart attack in its track & i put this to the test (twice) and yes it does work where the medication (Nitrolingual) had no effect.

So anyone reading this who spots a friend having a heart attack just flick some chili powder in a glass of water as fast as you can & get them to drink in right down, fast. It works within 30 seconds of drinking it & it saved me from two more attacks already.

So there's my life story in a nutshell & some sound advice on how to save a heart attack victims life.
And this ladies & gentlymen is why im growing "Super Hots" to make high heat cayenne powder for cooking to improve my circulation/remove fats & as a "just in case of emergency"

OK on with the first of my "Hots" the Bhut Jolokia, the reason i chose this was simple i just Googled "whats the hottest chili" and up popped the result, however further reading on the interweb i found threads from this forum & names like the Butch T, the Douglah & Brain Strain.

So ive ordered them from pepperlover.com after so many people gave such great reviews, Bhut in the meantime lets look at my Jolokia`s.

Must admit i just love the shape & color of these babies.

More soon,

Mezo.

 

[Mezo]

Well quickie update: Distracted the ducks & chickens with some food which allowed me to concentrate on a roof for the dryer.
I had to make it out of two bits of ply, screwed together with some silicone to stop water creeping through the join.

At least its flat, that's the main thing & i will put some hinges on there tomorrow.

Mezo.

 

[Mezo]

I swear i can see these peppers ripening in front of my eyes, going to harvest them all again so i thought id get some snaps on the plant, only wish i had other variety's to take pics of.

Back to the dryer.

Mezo.

 

[Mezo]

Well got the main door on & made my first drying rack, also hinged the roof.

The racks are made form red hardwood, they were originally the slats on a bed, i would liked to have mitered them at 45° and used biscuits & glue, all clamped nicely overnight, but i don't have any of that stuff so its screwed it together.

I used some of the draft stop stuff (adhesive backed foam) that will make my drying chamber airtight & bug free.
i don't want any cooler air sipping through gaps anywhere, this makes the dryer as efficient as possible.

Mezo.

 

[Mezo]

Well a little package turned up from Hong Kong for my dryer, its the digital thermometer/hygrometer i ordered a couple of weeks ago, only a couple of bucks.

I put the battery's in & hung the probe outside & instantly it was reading 22°C & 99% humidity.

I thought dam ive gone & brought another Chinese dud on ebay, my mate here said "nah that will be right 99% humidity"
And sure enough i put the probe under my laptop & the temp rose & the humidity dropped right away.

I should got three of these little things to give me a more accurate way of seeing if the drying is working.
I could put the first one down the bottom where the air comes in to the dryer, another at the top of the collecting chamber
or under the first drying rack, and a third on up the top by the exhaust vent (opening roof).

This way id be able to see the ambient temp & humidity coming in, then be able to check the humidity/temp after the collecting chamber has done its job & then check to see how much moisture is being sucked out of the produce in the drying chamber by reading the top sensor.

By varying the amount of air coming in & out of the dryer by opening or closing the vents & roof slightly i should be able to get maximum efficiency out of the thing, as you can see there is lots of humidity here (sub tropical) so knowing this info is critical if its going to work.

Mezo.

 

[Mezo]

Well after a couple of hours work ive fitted said thermometer/hygrometer sandwiched in the wall of the dryer, ive siliconed a bit of perspex for the window (water tight) & have a block of wood inside screwed on so i can remove it & change the batteries.

Ive placed the probe under the first rack so ill be able to see they temp coming in to the drying chamber, i could really do with another one at the top of the drying chamber to measure the temp leaving the chamber.

You can see the temp & humidity inside the tent (wedding marquee) where im building this thing & where my seeds are germinating.

Mezo.

 

[saugapepper]

Brilliant setup Mezo!! Can't wait to see the results.

 

[Nova]

I likey those pod pics!

 

[Mezo]

Well the sun finally showed its face here this afternoon so i decided now the roof & door was on i could bring the dryer outside.

Man is it heavy, myself & big Danny took the heavy end & Trish (his missus) took the lighter collector end, we had to turn the whole thing on its side to get it out of the tent it was so high.

We had to carry it up a hill without dropping the thing or damaging it, doing them small silly steps & all of us huffing & puffing looking as if we were about to crap our pants (honest).

So here it is outside in the baking Australian sunshine.

As soon as we set her down the temp started rising, i turned it facing the sun & it just rocketed up.

The ambient temp outside here is 27°C right now with 65% humidity, so i was very happy to see 47°C & 32% inside.

And remembering that we have had a very wet week here & this mornings humidity was sitting at 99% & even inside the tent when i was fitting the thermometer the humidity was at 84%.

EDIT: Just 15 min`s of composing this post i just checked & its now a 48.2°C & 27% humidity.

And that the magic number 48°C (120°F) which is the ideal temperature for drying them, they say the range is between 35°C to 57°C with the ideal some where in the middle. And this has only been outside for about 40 min`s now, so imagine on a hot day where its been out all day long with the sun baking that black wooden box, happy days.

Mezo.

 

[nee]

Well done!! That's a fantastic result

 

[Mezo]

Well done!! That's a fantastic result

Cheers Neil, im a happy chappy this arvo.

Im going to get some temporary netting for the racks & try it out tomorrow or Sunday.

Now sitting at 49°C & 23% (tee hee) that's only 20 min`s since my last post, and at 4.40pm (loosing the sun)

Mezo.

 

[nee]

That digital thermometer is a score isn't it? Just spotted on ebay...$4 including postage, so i'm grabbing one.

Must admit i'm jealous of the temperatures you're still getting there... It's currently 12 here! And out on the road with work today it got down to 7

 

[Mezo]

That digital thermometer is a score isn't it? Just spotted on ebay...$4 including postage, so i'm grabbing one.

Must admit i'm jealous of the temperatures you're still getting there... It's currently 12 here! And out on the road with work today it got down to 7

Yeah $1.79 plus $1.99 shipping Neil, the cable is about a meter long to the small probe.

Im hoping this kind weather will keep my new plants safe till spring, the tent certainly helps things along, if its going to be a 20°C day here in winter it should equate to 25°C ++ in the tent, just the overnight drops i have no control over.

Mezo.

 

[Mezo]

Well i got hold of some woven bird netting, this is just a temporary measure until i get the real McKoy.

Also fashioned a couple of latches top & bottom out of some thick wire to keep the door firmly closed & airtight.

So tommorows forecase is for a fine sunny day & 27° (80°F) and ill be chopping some Bhut`s & testing this thing out.

One thing im not 100% on? is it skin side up or skin side down? ive read both ways but logic says to me skin side up.

Mezo.

Just a quick update on the baby`s (seems the dryer has stolen the limelight) ive had to shift things around again, the 400+ jiffy seedlings are now on the floor to make room on the bench top (as its filling rather quickly)

This is my potting bench, now full to the brim with newborns (the ones who have shown leaf) and almost 300 on here.

The ones ive marked with yellow arrows are Conor`s St Helena Island Yellows, there are more i think but where i don't know?

This is the top bench where im germinating the seeds under the domes, once they are sprouted they go in the cups.

Not sure exactly how many there are here? roughly 100+ and there are lots more still sprouting daily under the domes.

Ive got another 80 under the bench (second shelf down) so ive got roughly in total 930 chili plants growing right now.

It will be well over the thousand mark in a couple of weeks.

Oh my gawd, Dear Santa please can i have two tonne of potting mix & 1000 large pots for Christmas.

Mezo.

 

[nee]

wow, are these the ones you planted the day after i did mine? mine are nowhere near that big

 

[PaulG]

Your grow is looking just fantastic, Mezp - Great to see those pods,
even if only one variety! Your dryer has assumed truly epic propor-
tions, dude! Talk about monumental architecture - I can't wait to
see how your test dry works out. Lots of fun following your log!

 

[Mezo]

wow, are these the ones you planted the day after i did mine? mine are nowhere near that big

No mate, ive put some of my own Bhut Jolokia seeds i collected on to jiffy pellets (experimenting) the day after you did yours, they are not under a dome just inside the tent (second shelf down) and still no sign of life yet,
at all.

Ive also got some normal chilli`s (firecracker type) approx 350 of them which have all started growing,
im going to retail them off to cover the costs of the super hots using an stand/stall down the driveway with an honesty box.

$2 Chilli Plants, the sign will say & if they sell well ill be putting other variety's down there later in the year.

I may even take some down the farmers markets just to test out whether there's any interest in chilli plants, again if there is a market for plants i may make it a regular thing & sell other variety's again later in the year.

Your grow is looking just fantastic, Mezp - Great to see those pods,
even if only one variety! Your dryer has assumed truly epic propor-
tions, dude! Talk about monumental architecture - I can't wait to
see how your test dry works out. Lots of fun following your log!

Thanks Paul, well its 8.30am & the sun has just risen over the mountain range & the dryer is all set. We moved it slightly last night to a flatter bit of ground & lined it up at where the sun will be at roughly 10am, so after i finish my morning cuppa & check my emails etc it will be 9am, that gives me one hour to go crop the Bhut`s & load them in to the dryer.

Im doing just one rack to test if it works, if its successful ill build more racks & load more fruit in next time.

Mezo.

 

[S.S.Tupperware]

Nice job, it'll work... I made up some cedar panels for one on a smaller scale, I guess I need to get back to it...

 

[Mezo]

Nice job, it'll work... I made up some cedar panels for one on a smaller scale, I guess I need to get back to it...

Well were about to find out.

Cropped some (not all) of the Bhut`s, basically the super ripe ones & left the slightly orange ones for another day.

Love the shadows from the morning sun, so here`s another picture.

So i sliced them open, removed the seeds & placed them on the drying rack & in to the chamber.

So its currently 24°C with 57% humidity outside, and the digital probe thingy is reading 44°C & 25% humidity & rising.

They have been in just over an hour or so & ill keep an eye on the temp & turn it so its facing the sun during the day.

Mezo.

 

[nee]

How long do they stay in there Mezo?

 

[Mezo]

How long do they stay in there Mezo?

Well,,,erm,,,all week judging by whats happened to the weather?? they forecast a 27 with not a cloud in the sky (nice & sunny) and that's how it started out this morning, now its clouded over & the winds picked up and its raining (storm approaching).

So the temp has dropped down to around 35-37 in the box & humidity has gone up to 25%, where two hours ago it was at 20% humidity & it was up around 44 in the box, so the weather has screwed up my experiment a bit.

Its not a drama as ill leave them in there til they are done (overnight & tomorrow), but it would have been nice to pull them out this evening, but normally if you maintain the correct temp they take around 8 to 10 hours from reading.

I will have a peek inside later this arvo & then block the intake vent up for the night, just hope the thing doesn't get blown over.

Mezo.