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.

 

[simon]

Mate I have an electric dehydrator and it takes about 8 hours with a full load. So if u can do the same in the same amount of time without using any electricity, then u r way in front.

 

[Mezo]

Mate I have an electric dehydrator and it takes about 8 hours with a full load. So if u can do the same in the same amount of time without using any electricity, then u r way in front.

Well it would have worked if i had the sun all of yesterday, the forecasters got it totally wrong, again, as per frigging usual.I checked them after sunset & they have dried out a little but no where near what they should be, and the week ahead is not looking to shit hot either.

It was a clear cold night & at 7.30am now its foggy out there, i live in a valley with mountains all around & a river running past me. I will go & turn it facing the morning 'sun' if i have any today & just hope it carries on drying them, i don't have any other choice as there's no electric down here (woop woops). And even if there was id prefer to use the sun as its free.

One of these would work a treat in Perth Simon, no humidity & them hot Mediterranean long sunny days, day after day.

Here are some pics this morning, you can see clearly its working & if the sun had been out all day i would have had dry Bhuts by the evening.

Mezo.

 

[simon]

With the last couple of summers we've had here, you'd only need to leave them out for about 30 minutes before they turned black (okay - maybe a bit longer, but you get the drift).

Looks like a great result for a cool, cloudy day. If you pick your days, you'll be smashing them out.

 

[Mezo]

With the last couple of summers we've had here, you'd only need to leave them out for about 30 minutes before they turned black (okay - maybe a bit longer, but you get the drift).

Mate i used to lay my chilli`s out on the floor in the morning (gray block paver`s) by the time i got home from work they were crisp & done, gotta love the WA climate.

So end of day two i had a peek inside at 6pm, the temp was still reading 32°C even though it was around 22°C outside. And even though it was a craphouse day weather wise they had dried out some more, some are crisping nicely.

By the time this lot is ground to a powder i reckon ill have about a teaspoons worth.

Mezo.

 

[S.S.Tupperware]

Nice work, I need to get mine going, but the bad thing here is it rains every day here at 3 pm for 15 minutes during the summer, ya can set your watch to it. I;ll figure something out. I saw they used that plastic for needle work or what ever it is, cheap and easy to clean...

 

[Mezo]

Nice work, I need to get mine going, but the bad thing here is it rains every day here at 3 pm for 15 minutes during the summer, ya can set your watch to it. I;ll figure something out. I saw they used that plastic for needle work or what ever it is, cheap and easy to clean...

Yep i know the stuff your talking about (needle stuff) cant think what its real name is right now? hey its rained on & off the whole time ive been drying these, the sun goes behind a cloud & then pops out & the temps back up again.

I guess it doesn't matter if it takes days rather than hours, its not costing anything to run the thing, and you can get a ton of produce in this thing ive built.

Ive just been & checked the temperature, its only a 25°C windy day with passing clouds & a relative humidity of just over 50%.

Yet still the box has 44°C & the humidity is down to a nice 14%

This is just after midday with the vents open just a fraction so the convection effect is still working but not so much as its cooling the chamber down to the point where its to cool. and that's the trick using the intake & exhaust vents to regulate inside the chamber.

I did have a play with opening the roof up & right away the temp went down, then i opened the intake & closed the roof and the humidity went up, the little temp sensor thing is a godsend in one of these dryers.

OK ive found the stuff, its called plastic canvas used in embroidery, mate your a lifesaver thanks for the tip.

UPDATE: They don't make this is sheets big enough for my drying racks, OK for a smaller dryer though.
Looked at 5mm garden meshing but the price was a joke (here in Aussie anyhow) the only cheap way of doing this is fly screen (again here in Aussie) its the only thing that's cheap.

Problem is it may be to fine & wont allow for good airflow? but im going to try it anyhow.

Mezo.

 

[Mezo]

Well sunset on day three & they have shrunk some more but still not dry enough (still flexible)

Im a patient bloke, honest.

Mezo.

 

[3/5King]

Everything is looking awesome Mezo! Just got done reading through your entire glog. Its awesome. With all of the stuff you are doing and get done, one would think you are as healthy as an Ox. Way to keep on truckin'. I love this glog. It's so different, being out in the open farm land of Aussy. That is truely epic. Just livin' off the land and making/growing what ya need. And an honesty box?!?! You wouldnt find those here in chicago....but Ive heard a dishonesty box does quite well......I kid, I kid. I just planted up another 27 tonight myself. (Im up to 80 myself) Cant wait to see how the rest of your season goes. Mine is just about to start. I will be chexking in regularly. Good luck!

 

[Mezo]

And an honesty box?!?! You wouldnt find those here in chicago....but Ive heard a dishonesty box does quite well......I kid, I kid

Cheers David,

Well how honest is anyone these days? not many left im afraid, we do have them dotted around in country towns but the money box is securely fixed to the stall, a lady down the road sells Avo`s (guacamole) and she knows some pricks will take more than what they have paid for.

My thinking was using cheaper chilli`s (which im growing in Jiffy`s) to act as "loss leaders" and a small sign saying "also available super hots variety's" & my phone number, so if there are any people passing chasing some of the more valuable plants i can nip down the drive on the motorbike & do the deal.

So im going to start it with Firecracker`s & then possibly Jalapeño`s for say a buck a piece, my next job is to make the stall.
Ive got an idea in my head of a slanted roof (sloping backwards) which would keep the sun off them & allow the rainwater to drop on to the produce table which would be sloping downwards to allow the water to drain under the Jiffy's & out on to the floor.

Ideally that decking timber with the grooves milled in to it would work well, just enough water to keep them alive but gaps underneath them Jiffy`s to let excess water pass by.

Mezo.

 

[Mezo]

Well i was in my tent & thought id have a first peek at how the roots were doing on some of the bigger seedlings,
and to my surprise they was ready to be planted out, so i did just that (18 of them).

So outside they went while the weather is still warm, the quicker they harden up the better the chance of surviving the winter ahead.

And as for the drying, well i doubt very much if they will be done as the weather today has been shitenhouse.

Got some flyscreen coming in the morning, the chilli`s have shrunk so much they are falling through the gaps in the test netting frame i made.

Mezo.

 

[PaulG]

What an awesome experiment, Mezo! I'm anxious
to see the final results for those beautiful bhuts! They
look really good. I think your dryer is going to work
perfectly. The black surface will warm from radiant
heat even if not much sun. As you said every little sun
break warms it up. Good on ya, mate!

Oh yeah, your pot-ups look great, too : )

 

[Mezo]

Thanks Paul,

Well they went in on Sunday, so that`s five days now of craphouse weather, hardly any sunshine & often raining, Bhut,,,

They are drying out day by day, it just longer when the weathers not so good, when the sun is shining the temp is well over 40°C

Here they are tonight at sunset, almost done now but still not crisp.

As you can see they have shrunk heaps (halved in size) and now they fall through that bird netting, so ive got some flyscreen & ill be fitting that to the new racks from now on, also Trish (landowner) scored some wheels off a ride on mover at a garage sale.

She haggled them down to $15 for the pair & i managed to find a bit of 16mm rod laying about to make the axle with.

So ill be fitting the wheels & making the rest of the drying racks this weekend (hopefully) then just gotta make the intake flap & its done.

Mezo.

 

[3/5King]

Haha, you're glog is great. Keep those updates rollin' (I wonder if I could make a mini dehydrator like yours.....hmmm..you've sparked the creator in me Mezo. Which reminds me..I need to update mine as well. Have a good day, I'll be checkin' in later.

 

[Mezo]

Haha, you're glog is great. Keep those updates rollin' (I wonder if I could make a mini dehydrator like yours.....hmmm..you've sparked the creator in me Mezo. Which reminds me..I need to update mine as well. Have a good day, I'll be checkin' in later.

There are loads of different styles & sizes look here on Google images, guys even knock them up out of cardboard boxes.

Mezo.

 

[Peakey]

Just thought I'd drop a line to say your glog is awesome, also your other none chilli glog is a good read too. And I thought I got a good deal moving into the place I live in now with a 10m square garden ahh well. Have you gotten round to making your powder yet? We've been having quite a warm week up here so I'm guessing you're getting the same. Out of curiosity whats the final destination for these pods when all they start coming out in the masses?

 

[3/5King]

There are loads of different styles & sizes look here on Google images, guys even knock them up out of cardboard boxes.

Mezo.

Thank's Mezo. I'm definitely going to get down on making one of these. I'll post it on my Glog when it's done and let ya know. I can't wait to see the final product of those Bhuts!

 

[Mezo]

Just thought I'd drop a line to say your glog is awesome, also your other none chilli glog is a good read too. And I thought I got a good deal moving into the place I live in now with a 10m square garden ahh well. Have you gotten round to making your powder yet? We've been having quite a warm week up here so I'm guessing you're getting the same. Out of curiosity whats the final destination for these pods when all they start coming out in the masses?

Hey Peakey,

My other non chilli Glog?? im sorry you lost me on that one (its not hard though).

Ive not made any powder yet, but i think my chilli`s are finally dry now (will check in a couple of hours) but the temp has been around 45 all day in the dryer so its basically taken almost a week & that's because of the crappy weather this week.

Ive got another load to crop off the plants & get going as well, there's a bit more work to do on the drying racks but i put my back out two days ago bending over lifting pots, ive taken some super strong painkillers today so ill crack on with that work in the morning, im looking forward to the day when i can load that dryer up to the max with chilli`s, so looking forward to that i tell you.

Plans for the pods is just to dry them & make powder, the seeds ill just keep growing more plants with, i will sell some seedlings at the farmers markets though (i think) not sure if there will be much interest where i am though? super hots are not everyone's cup o tea.

The reason i started this was purely for health reasons, chilli`s are good for you in so many ways & i love growing things since i was about five years old, i also enjoy cooking as well & even if i say do say so myself, im an excellent cook.

So eventually ill be posting up some of the things ive knocked up with the produce.

You don't need a lot of space to grow these things, when i was in Perth everything was potted & i grew a stack of things as im doing here, but ive not really gone in to that as im fully focused on chilli right now.

Am i addicted to growing chilli`s now? oh yes 100% & mainly because there is so much to learn & i love filling my head with knowledge.. I wish i had more variety's though but im on a disablilaty pension & money is very tight for me, believe it or not i have to manage on $65pw & i was earning good money as an Electrician up until my two heart attacks.

Mezo.

Thank's Mezo. I'm definitely going to get down on making one of these. I'll post it on my Glog when it's done and let ya know. I can't wait to see the final product of those Bhuts!

Gidday David,

Well i searched the forum thinking there would be a member who has done this but couldn't find anything? lots of talk about it but i couldn't find anyone who had done it, ya think ive started a trend going on THP?

Everyone who`s growing chilli`s should have a dryer, think of the money saved by using the sun & its fun to build & great satisfaction using it, best thing ive done in ages.

Mezo.

 

[PaulG]

Those drying chilis look great, Mezo! Once you get those fancy
wheels on your dryer, you'll have to put a lawn mower motor on
it so you can drive it around!

 

[3/5King]

Hey Mezo, I have ton's of varieties if you want to try them out. Give me an address and I will send you a seed care package bro! You have the space, I've got the seeds. It was meant to happen....lol. Let me know and I will hook ya up.

 

[Mezo]

Those drying chilis look great, Mezo! Once you get those fancy
wheels on your dryer, you'll have to put a lawn mower motor on
it so you can drive it around!

Good one Paul, i have thought about automating the whole thing, don't tell anyone but im actually a techno nerd.
An idea was to have it so it follows the sun automatically (bit like them flashy solar arrays) and another idea i had was automating the opening & closing of the vents using something called a Raspberry Pi, off you go & Google that & yes im Mezo on that forum also.

Hey Mezo, I have ton's of varieties if you want to try them out. Give me an address and I will send you a seed care package bro! You have the space, I've got the seeds. It was meant to happen....lol. Let me know and I will hook ya up.

Kind offer David & gladly accepted indeed, Conor was kind enough to post me a few seeds from Canada & they are happily growing away, in fact if anyone was feeling in a generous mood & had some spare seeds that i don't have i would gladly take a few.

Like David says ive got the space to grown them (17 acres) and i will post up the pictures on here as they grow.

I will PM you my address David & thanks so much i really appreciate the offer.

Mezo.