Coolidor/Beads question

B

bbaug14

Evolving Lead Gorilla
I've been using the search function and looking at a lot of different pictures here on CS to determine how I should keep my beads in my coolidor and how much beads I should use. I'm coming up short. Currently, I have about 3/4 of a pound of beads in a woman's nylon stocking at the bottom of my 150ct. coolidor. Is that a good system? Is that enough beads? I thought about just putting the beads in a tupperware container with no lid so that it would be easier to get them wet, but I wasn't sure if this would be a good system or not.

I also see lots of people with little fans in their coolidor. What are your thoughts on this? Is the little fan really necessary?
 
For a cooler that big I would imagine you would need more than a pound. Most people just put the beads in a mesh bag and off to the side in the cooler, then an oust fan somewhere in there too. I've seen a tupperware container being used as well like you said. You can use it with no lid or with a lid with holes too. I have mine in a small humi right now so I'm using the bags. When I upgrade to a cooler I'll probably use the bags and a tupperware as well. The fan helps circulate the air and humidity so that it's not just the area where your beads are that are being humidified. For a big cooler, I'd get one for sure. Just make sure to NOT install the scented plugin, just put the fan on there by itself. I think it has a setting to run for 10 minutes every hour or something like that. Which is good on battery life and a good interval for circulation of air and humidity.

If you look here, there is a calculator for how many beads you'll need.
http://heartfeltindustries.com/calculator.asp

The cool thing about beads is you can never have too many. I keep more than double what I need in my humi's just so I don't have to constantly recharge them, the winter months get harsh and dry so I don't want to have to do constant maintenance. Also, when you have more beads than you need, recovery is a lot faster as well, so if you're like me and you open your humi (or in your case cooler) a lot, the recovery will go back to the desired RH much more quickly than if you had the minimal amount.

Hope this helps.
 
bbaug14 said:
I've been using the search function and looking at a lot of different pictures here on CS to determine how I should keep my beads in my coolidor and how much beads I should use. I'm coming up short. Currently, I have about 3/4 of a pound of beads in a woman's nylon stocking at the bottom of my 150ct. coolidor. Is that a good system? Is that enough beads? I thought about just putting the beads in a tupperware container with no lid so that it would be easier to get them wet, but I wasn't sure if this would be a good system or not.

I also see lots of people with little fans in their coolidor. What are your thoughts on this? Is the little fan really necessary?
Click to expand...

1) 3/4 lb beads enough? Depends on how much stock you have and how often you get into it, but probably enough.

2) Nylon stocking? Great way to do it. I'm sure you've seen others reference that in other posts. The open tupperware also does fine, as many other folks have posted in here for their coolerdors.

3) Fans. Again, tons of posts on these for coolerdors, fridgeadors, etc - they help move air around so you don't have to circulate the boxes as often. Necessary? Depends on how often you get into your coolerdor but it's not going to hurt and may very well help.

My intention isn't to be snarky; the answers to most of your questions lie in your daily patterns for getting into the coolerdor and your level of stock. There are no hard/fast rules about this! :D Just use your best judgement, and play around with your coolerdor set-up. Like modding a computer or a car, it's never really a finished process...even when you get an aristocrat :hn:r
 
Advil said:
For a cooler that big I would imagine you would need more than a pound. Most people just put the beads in a mesh bag and off to the side in the cooler, then an oust fan somewhere in there too.

If you look here, there is a calculator for how many beads you'll need.
http://heartfeltindustries.com/calculator.asp

The cool thing about beads is you can never have too many. I keep more than double what I need in my humi's just so I don't have to constantly recharge them, the winter months get harsh and dry so I don't want to have to do constant maintenance. Also, when you have more beads than you need, recovery is a lot faster as well, so if you're like me and you open your humi (or in your case cooler) a lot, the recovery will go back to the desired RH much more quickly than if you had the minimal amount.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

I have over two pounds in my 100 quart cooler. I put the beads in 4 half pound bags (sold by Heartfelt) and spread them around the cooler.
 
Hey Dan, great to hear you got that Monster Cooler set-up.....I agree that there are no hard-set rules when it comes to Coolers, Beads, and Fans. You will find everyone does things a bit different and as Muziq says, "Experiment a bit till you find what works best for you"

I'm of the opinion that more beads is better, at least it works for me. I have a full pound split into 2 of Heartfelt's mesh bags in each of my 48 qt Coolers. If I was running a 150 qt., I'd have at least 2 lbs of beads. Maybe not necessary but that's what I'd do. I also have the Oust fans as many others are using as well.

Post some Pics of that Bad boy when you fill it up
 
Thanks a bunch for the suggestions so far. I kind of had a feeling I was going to need more beads, but I wasn't sure. Currently I have all my beads in one nylon, so I'm thinking I need to break that up. Also, I wasn't sure if I wanted to pack the nylon full of beads, or leave them room in there to move around a bit. I've heard that it's the surface area of the beads that counts, so if you have them packed like a brick, the ones in the middle really aren't helping you out too much. I don't know how true that is though. I'm definitely going to get one of those fans too.

I don't have it "stocked" yet, but when my next (ridiculous) cbid delivery takes place then I'll post some pics. That along with the gifts from the great members of CS will make my coolidor post-worthy, I hope.
 
Is there any benifit or drawback to using the prepackaged tubes of beads? I have one 540CI humi and another 270ish one and i was going to get the 2 ounce for the big one and 1 ounc for the small one. Is there a reason to get loose beads and the stocking instead?
 
bigben said:
Is there any benifit or drawback to using the prepackaged tubes of beads? I have one 540CI humi and another 270ish one and i was going to get the 2 ounce for the big one and 1 ounc for the small one. Is there a reason to get loose beads and the stocking instead?
Click to expand...

For the size of your humidors the tubes would be fine as you can Velcro them to the lid and not take up space in your humi. It's always good to have more beads than you need you don't necessarily need to double it but since they come in those sizes it would be a good idea. Buying them prepackaged is nice because you get the tube filled with the amount you need over buying a larger amount of beads and filling the correct sized tube, then having extra beads its about money.

Just remember when you use extra beads don't use a lot of water or else it will over humidify your cigars until it stabilizes (thats if you have an already seasoned humidor) I would use a clean spray bottle and gently spray the beads until a little less than half are clear. (since you are using double) The reason for this is if you just pour water on them they will crack from shock so spray them lightly and take some time.

Also for your larger humidor I would use two 1oz tubes (one on the left side of the top and one on the right side of the top) because the 2oz tubes are very large if you want you could just get a "puck" for each and that would be fine check it out at http://www.cigarmony.com.

For your question about the Stocking vs. Tube question. Stockings are usually used in coolidors as they can hold the large amount of beads needed for the large size of the cooler. Since you have small humidors using a stocking or mesh sack would just take up space. If I didn't answer what you want to know pm me.
 
I use one pound of 65% beads per 120 quart cooler. I spread them out in a tray to expose more surface area in one cooler and have the 1 lb. of beads in four "coolwhip" bottoms (cut down) in the other, once again to increase surface area. I do use fans to keep the air circulated but don't know that that's necessary. It just makes me feel better. The more boxes you have in the cooler, the more stable things seem. I always leave my empties in the coolers so they're at 65% when I get new bundles in.

I used salvaged/free stuff for the fan setup: computer fans, 110 to 12 volt converters I had laying around from stuff I no longer had or used and plastic boxes/bins with holes. I use something similar to this (this is an old one. I now use "baskets" that aren't as tall but are longer and wider):
WyoBob

DSCN1443.jpg
 
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