Dry Cure Cabinet Project

[SmokinSignals]

Decided to take after Mr Walleye and others and build a dry cure cabinet.  It will be used not only for meats but also for cheese that I plan to start making.

Picked up a smaller freezer off craigslist for 50 bucks

Had an old emergency light box laying around, so I cut some holes to make room for a PID controller to hold the freezer temp steady and to control humidity.

Here are the controllers slid in place to see if the units would fit.

Cut holes in the back of the box for some plug inserts.  Checking size of holes.

Had to build a bracket for the thermocouple. Good ol aluminum.

Installed the thermocouple and humidity sensor

Wired up the controllers

Mounted the box after wiring it up and powered it up.  No smoke

Drilled a hole in the bottom/back area of the freezer to let fresh air in.  A 1 1/2 PVC coupling fit perfect to line the hole

Covered the fresh air inlet with a piece of stainless mesh and some air conditioner filter material to keep dust and beasties out. I hear little critters like sausage and cheese.

Next cut in a fan to help dehumidify the freezer the humidity spikes.  This will be controlled by the humidity PID along with the humidifier.

Last was the humidifier installed in the lower area of the freezer.

[/quote]

[devo]

Good start, first I would ask you what size is that fan? Looks big for what you want it to do. Hope its varable speed  ;)

Second I would not have gone with a stand up freezer simply because of the cooling racks you have. They tend to get in the way and also give off way to much condensation. What will happen over time if your fan dose not suck out all that moisture the racks will start to corrode and than you got a big mess inside. Hope you have better luck with a stand up freezer than I did.

You can see in this photo how the piping started to rust out after a while. It just got worse over time.

[Mr Walleye]

I don't think there is anything wrong with using an upright deepfreeze but my preference would be a self defrosting model vs a manual defrost. As Devo pointed out the manual defrost models have all the cooling coils in the racks which means you can't move them. They also don't have much management for the condensation that builds on them, hence why they are called manual defrost.

I can't tell by the photo if this is a manual defrost model or not. For your bottom vent just get a 3 inch computer fan filter. You can pick them up at a computer store for a couple bucks.

Mike

Edit
I had a closer look at the pictures and I can see it is a manual defrost model. I'm sure it will work fine.

If you like I will put together a number of settings for you to start with. I've been working with Suyi on a little interference glitch as well and it looks like we have a handle on it so I'll post those details as well. I'm assuming you are using a 2342 for the temp control?

[Keymaster]

Nice work with the PID's. I like the dehumidifier fan. Can't wait to see your first batch Dry cured :)

[Mr Walleye]

SmokinSignals

As I indicated I've been working with Suyi as there appears to some interference getting to the SLY 2342H humidity controller which periodically causes it to lockup. I haven't identified the source which could be the fan, the humidifier, or even the RH sensor itself but we have come up with what appears to be the solution. You will need a Noise Suppression RC Snubber. It's available from Auber. The snubber has 2 leads and you connect them to terminals 9 & 10, polarity doesn't matter. The other setting to watch is the Hy setting. At this point it works flawlessly with a setting of 1.0 on my setup. I'm still playing with this setting and will update this with what I find.

Here's the settings & terminal wiring that I'm using on this controller setup.

SYL 2342H Settings (Humidity Controller)

ALM1 = 76 (this setting you adjust based on when you want the dehumidify fan cutting in)
ALM2 = 0.0
Hy1 = 9999
Hy2 = 9999
Hy = 1.0
Pb = 0.0
AL-P = 17
COOL = 0
LocK = 0

The wiring to the controller is as follows:

1 – Hot out to the venting fan for dehumidify cycle
2 – Green wire from RH sensor
3 – n/a
4 – Red wire from RH sensor
5 – Black wire from RH sensor
6 – n/a
7 – Hot to humidifier
8 – Hot jumped from 9
9 – Hot from switch (main Hot coming to controller & jumped to terminal 8 & 13)(terminals 9 & 10 have a Noise Suppression RC Snubber across them)
10 – Neutral from switch (main neutral coming to controller, can also be jumped to the neutral for the dehumidify fan and the humidifier) (terminals 9 & 10 have a Noise Suppression RC Snubber across them)
13 – Hot Jumper from 9
14 – n/a


SYL 2342 (Temperature Controller) Settings
(these are the settings I changed, all the others are factory default)

ALM1 = 9999
ALM2 = -1999
Hy = 1.2 (You may have to play with this setting. You don't want the compressor running to frequently. With this setting mine only runs every 15 minutes or so.
At = 0
t = 10 (this is the cycle time and is recommended to be set at 20 for relay control. The 20 second time frame is to protect the compressor from frequent starts)
P-SL = 34 (this is the lowest SV you will be able to set on the keypad)
P-SH = 110 (this is the highest SV you will be able to set on the keypad)
COOL = 9

The wiring to the controller is as follows:

1 – n/a
2 – n/a
3 – n/a
4 – TC+
5 – TC-
6 – n/a
7 – Hot to compressor on fridge/freezer
8 – Hot jumped from 9
9 – Hot from switch (main Hot coming to controller)
10 – Neutral from switch (main neutral coming to controller)
13 – n/a
14 – n/a

I think I have it all there...  ::)  ;D

Mike

[beefmann]

what a great dry cure cabinet... like the controls

[SmokinSignals]

Good start, first I would ask you what size is that fan? Looks big for what you want it to do. Hope its varable speed  ;)

Second I would not have gone with a stand up freezer simply because of the cooling racks you have. They tend to get in the way and also give off way to much condensation. What will happen over time if your fan dose not suck out all that moisture the racks will start to corrode and than you got a big mess inside. Hope you have better luck with a stand up freezer than I did.

You can see in this photo how the piping started to rust out after a while. It just got worse over time.

The fan is a small air mover for its size.  It is a fan that you would see at someones desk.  I tried locating a computer cooling fan that was smaller but I could not find one that was 120 volt.  So I settled for this fan.  It was 7 bucks from Walmart.  I have to agree 100 percent with you and Mike about the shelves.  The smaller freezers with removable shelves are hard to find.  I will buy one if I catch one at the right price, but I was ready to get some sausage curing and some cheese aging.  Thanks for the advice and I will keep you posted on progress.

[SmokinSignals]

SmokinSignals

As I indicated I've been working with Suyi as there appears to some interference getting to the SLY 2342H humidity controller which periodically causes it to lockup. I haven't identified the source which could be the fan, the humidifier, or even the RH sensor itself but we have come up with what appears to be the solution. You will need a Noise Suppression RC Snubber. It's available from Auber. The snubber has 2 leads and you connect them to terminals 9 & 10, polarity doesn't matter. The other setting to watch is the Hy setting. At this point it works flawlessly with a setting of 1.0 on my setup. I'm still playing with this setting and will update this with what I find.
Here's the settings & terminal wiring that I'm using on this controller setup.

SYL 2342H Settings (Humidity Controller)

ALM1 = 76 (this setting you adjust based on when you want the dehumidify fan cutting in)
ALM2 = 0.0
Hy1 = 9999
Hy2 = 9999
Hy = 1.0
Pb = 0.0
AL-P = 17
COOL = 0
LocK = 0

The wiring to the controller is as follows:

1 – Hot out to the venting fan for dehumidify cycle
2 – Green wire from RH sensor
3 – n/a
4 – Red wire from RH sensor
5 – Black wire from RH sensor
6 – n/a
7 – Hot to humidifier
8 – Hot jumped from 9
9 – Hot from switch (main Hot coming to controller & jumped to terminal 8 & 13)(terminals 9 & 10 have a Noise Suppression RC Snubber across them)
10 – Neutral from switch (main neutral coming to controller, can also be jumped to the neutral for the dehumidify fan and the humidifier) (terminals 9 & 10 have a Noise Suppression RC Snubber across them)
13 – Hot Jumper from 9
14 – n/a


SYL 2342 (Temperature Controller) Settings
(these are the settings I changed, all the others are factory default)

ALM1 = 9999
ALM2 = -1999
Hy = 1.2 (You may have to play with this setting. You don't want the compressor running to frequently. With this setting mine only runs every 15 minutes or so.
At = 0
t = 10 (this is the cycle time and is recommended to be set at 20 for relay control. The 20 second time frame is to protect the compressor from frequent starts)
P-SL = 34 (this is the lowest SV you will be able to set on the keypad)
P-SH = 110 (this is the highest SV you will be able to set on the keypad)
COOL = 9

The wiring to the controller is as follows:

1 – n/a
2 – n/a
3 – n/a
4 – TC+
5 – TC-
6 – n/a
7 – Hot to compressor on fridge/freezer
8 – Hot jumped from 9
9 – Hot from switch (main Hot coming to controller)
10 – Neutral from switch (main neutral coming to controller)
13 – n/a
14 – n/a

I think I have it all there...  ::)  ;D

Mike

Thanks Mike, I noted some things in your notes that I will need to take a look at.  I test ran the setup with no load and the humidity was all over the place.  I then placed a towel in the cabinet and slowly walked the humidity setpoint up and she held very steady.  I walked it up from 40 percent to 85 percent with no trouble.  I noticed that the freezer kicks on when the humidifier turns on, so I will need to look at some setpoints.  Thanks again and how is the salami coming along?

[Mr Walleye]

SmokinSignals

It's coming along, I'm up to about 30% loss now. I may have a little case hardening for a few reasons. For one it was kind of a test batch for the new cabinet so I've had a few bumps in the road and I've been testing various things with the controller. But, what do you do, you have to learn it all somehow!  ;D

Mike