Pumidor discussion

Teachronicles
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Wed May 23, 2018 7:50 pm

Shine Magical wrote:
Wed May 23, 2018 7:44 pm
The shou leaves are looking plumper after getting some 80% humidity at 75'F for 3 weeks.
One thing I noticed is that the smell inside the cooler does not seem to be as strong as it was in the first week. I wonder why that is?

After taste testing one of the teas I'm familiar with, the taste is not as good as it used to be. Is it because it was damaged due to a prolonged very low humidity (sometimes it got to 15% humidity during the winter)? Or maybe 3 weeks is not long enough to recover? The main flavor I used to taste in the tea is not really there anymore. However, the tea has a certain new brightness to its core that wasn't previously apparent. It's also a more juicy mouthfeel. It seems that the new storage brought that out in it.
Careful with mold with that temp and rh. I assume your checking it pretty regularly. Is that just the ambient temp in the room or are you adding heat?
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d.manuk
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Wed May 23, 2018 8:27 pm

That is the normal temp, no heat is added. And yes, I think this is right on the border of safe and "may get mold" based on a graph I've seen but I am hoping to get more of HK storage effect out of the teas.

I open the cooler at least once or twice a week and I left a good amount of empty space near the top of the cooler so I think it should be fine...

I was pushing the limit with humidity in other experiments, and the sheng I left alone in a very tight storage container with water very close to it at 90% humidity and 80F got moldy. But I did not open the container for weeks and the tea smelled amazing when I opened the container. The only downside was that it was covered in blue mold. :D
Teachronicles
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Wed May 23, 2018 9:53 pm

Shine Magical wrote:
Wed May 23, 2018 8:27 pm
That is the normal temp, no heat is added. And yes, I think this is right on the border of safe and "may get mold" based on a graph I've seen but I am hoping to get more of HK storage effect out of the teas.

I open the cooler at least once or twice a week and I left a good amount of empty space near the top of the cooler so I think it should be fine...

I was pushing the limit with humidity in other experiments, and the sheng I left alone in a very tight storage container with water very close to it at 90% humidity and 80F got moldy. But I did not open the container for weeks and the tea smelled amazing when I opened the container. The only downside was that it was covered in blue mold. :D
I asked about the added heat because, I think it was atlas who figured out with added heat, when you open it, the change of temp caused condensation then mold to form, but don't think you'll have that problem.

That's too bad about the sheng, I hope it wasn't too nice of a cake. Though can't say I'm surprised with 90% humidity.
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Psyck
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Thu May 24, 2018 5:18 am

Shine Magical wrote:
Wed May 23, 2018 7:44 pm
The shou leaves are looking plumper after getting some 80% humidity at 75'F for 3 weeks.
<...>
Isn't saturated salt solution supposed to produce about 75%Rh rather than the 80 you are getting?
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d.manuk
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Thu May 24, 2018 8:53 am

Psyck wrote:
Thu May 24, 2018 5:18 am
Shine Magical wrote:
Wed May 23, 2018 7:44 pm
The shou leaves are looking plumper after getting some 80% humidity at 75'F for 3 weeks.
<...>
Isn't saturated salt solution supposed to produce about 75%Rh rather than the 80 you are getting?
For now I am using a combination of a few glasses of water and Boveda 84% packs to maintain this humidity level.
The actual levels are lower than 84% because I don't want to put in more glasses of water and 84% seems very aggressive and I want a little lower than that.
Atlas
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Fri May 25, 2018 7:58 pm

Teachronicles wrote:
Wed May 23, 2018 9:53 pm
I asked about the added heat because, I think it was atlas who figured out with added heat, when you open it, the change of temp caused condensation then mold to form, but don't think you'll have that problem.
I have some updated observations, but the takeaway is that while I still think that was a big factor, it's worth noting that even without having to worry about condensation, mold will still grow at (in my case) 32C and 74%rh in a very short period of time.

Shine, it might be worst having a read through what I've got up so far .
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d.manuk
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Fri May 25, 2018 8:25 pm

That’s still a good deal warmer than my storage so I am going to continue my current parameters of 75F and 80%.

http://teaintheancientworld.blogspot.co ... e.html?m=1

“In a Tea Addict’s Journal article (written by an author regarded as one authority on this topic, who is familiar with other inputs) he cites a range of 20 to 30 C as being typical / acceptable (70 to 85 F, roughly). Although he doesn’t state a clear humidity range in the blog article for wet and dry storage optimums but we could rough that out in a typical range of 60 to 80 % RH”

We’ll see what happens... :oops:
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d.manuk
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Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:46 am

92B0EE12-D178-49F6-A057-C8921D5EFC6A.jpeg
92B0EE12-D178-49F6-A057-C8921D5EFC6A.jpeg (175.42 KiB) Viewed 7262 times
Here’s a picture of my sheng pumidor. It has a very nice aroma. :D
thetealetter
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Mon Jul 23, 2018 2:17 pm

Shine Magical wrote:
Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:46 am
92B0EE12-D178-49F6-A057-C8921D5EFC6A.jpeg

Here’s a picture of my sheng pumidor. It has a very nice aroma. :D
Wow, this is awesome! How do you decide which teas to store in ceramic vs your other storage stuff (bags)?
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d.manuk
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Mon Jul 23, 2018 2:32 pm

thetealetter wrote:
Mon Jul 23, 2018 2:17 pm
Shine Magical wrote:
Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:46 am
92B0EE12-D178-49F6-A057-C8921D5EFC6A.jpeg

Here’s a picture of my sheng pumidor. It has a very nice aroma. :D
Wow, this is awesome! How do you decide which teas to store in ceramic vs your other storage stuff (bags)?
The things in the bags are good to drink now. The ones that I feel like may need some help go in the ceramics, to be closer to the water source and also hopefully the wider surface area will allow the tea to relax and air out more quickly. The cerarmics also add stability to the the box when moving it and even helps keep the bagged teas in place. The distinction of what goes where isn't very fine since this is a small cooler and the selection will have a quick turnaround regardless. After building 2 pumidors, I'm not too interested in using them to age teas over the long term, I will just buy them aged.
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teasecret
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Sat Apr 27, 2019 10:48 am

At the tea shop I work at, we had a rainy day and left the door open. Days like these are around 90% humidity if just for a few hours. All the puer cakes smelled quite sweet and seemed very happy. What I'm wondering is, what if you brought your pumidor up to something like 85% for one hour, once a week, and then let it settle back down to 60-65%? Would you get the good microflora associated with high-humidity storage without elevating mold risk? Furthermore, could this varying humidity be why hong kong or guangdong dry storage doesn't ruin cakes, despite averaging quite high humidity?
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aet
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Mon Jul 08, 2019 9:16 pm

does anybody have experience with storage in Europe? Our client want's to set up small storage ( around 20m2 ) in European city where winter goes down to -10 C , occasionally -20C , so heater is used. Summer temp. 25-30C , but sometimes can go up to 35C ( climate change ) , but they don't use aircon. , since most of the year no need . Average humidity is from 60 - 80 % outside , which changes during the winter when heater applied.
We are going to store shengs there and in small separate 10m2 storage, some shu.
Any recommendations?
I have no clue, since we have natural storage in Kunming, we just keep place ventilated and clean of any odors. Quite simple. In countries where temp. fluctuating and internal heaters are applied, many problems occur ( as I've heard ) .
If anybody has experience with additional equipment needed ( like moisturizer ..or something like that ) , any useful link will be appreciated.

Cheers.
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