beads

millennium115

just recently been using beads for my wine- a dor......the only problem is that the humidity has been ranging from 65- 75%....i have been using them for about one month....is this normal? do they take time to adjust and stabilize? thanks guys stav

Diamondog

Mine took a while to stabalize, it was driving me crazy....I sprayed about 70% of the beads and left 30% dry...key is patience and it really helps to leave things closed as much as possible during stabalization, looking at RH frequently will drive you crazy and slow stabalization IMO and experience...Also making sure hygro is callibrated properly with salt test...

ajacobs

Is this a completely new set up?  Where you previously using something else to humidify the same wineadoor?  Have you recently added a lot of cigars?  Is there any cedar in there?  Did you recently put in a bunch of wood boxes?  How full is it?

You don't really have to answer all those questions but those are all things that contribute to the issue.  In my experience the beads are relatively stable.  Remember that the meter is measuring the humidity of the air and not the cigars.  The cigars let off and absorb humidity much slower so they probably are not going through nearly as much of a swing.

The boxes and any other cedar in there will help as an additional buffer once they are brought up to humidity.  The fuller the case is the less air that gets changed out when opening - and the less air that has to be brought back up to humidity.  I keep my cooler full even if it means putting in empty boxes or air pillows (like come in mail order packages for cushioning).  Newer cigars may still be giving off humidity from when they were made.  Boxes and cedar parts may take a while to get up to humidity.

There is a lot of factors that go into getting it stable and with some dry beads and some soaked beads, constant temperature and with a perfect seal and not opening the door it could still takes weeks to months to get everything inside at the exact same humidity. While huge fluctuations are not good obsessing over the meter reading is not always appropriate.  Cigars are more resilient and it takes some time for them to release and absorb, even more so in the boxes.

The beads are actually more of a constant than any of those other factors.