[Noisebridge-discuss] Bio Group : Culinary Incubators : for all your moldy food needs

Corey McGuire coreyfro at coreyfro.com
Wed Jun 30 18:06:18 UTC 2010


Who likes cheese?  Who likes Salami?  Who likes otherwise moldy or bacteria
rich food?  Who wants to make some moldy food of their own?

I already do this.  I make salami (That's right, it's fermented/raw pork)
and I have no intention of making it at noisebridge, but there is a bio
group forming and I have a simple way to encapsulate your moldy food growing
experiment so people don't have to experience your festering salami second
hand.

*Incubator
*How to make the perfect environment for growing cultures...at least for
cheese and salami.
*
**Control unit*
This is the correct unit, but it needs to be ordered as a "Cooling
Thermostat, Humidistat" instead of a "Cooling Thermostat, Dehumidistat."  I
imagine they just rewire a relay, then ship it, because my unit arrived with
all the "Dehumidistat" documentation.
https://www.greenair.com/browse/ct-dh-series.html

This is the expensive part, about $80.  This is where geeks could get
together and make something better.  I am sure an arduino with a couple
relays and a couple sensors could do this task just fine.

*Other components*

   - Cool Humidifier (as opposed to hot humidifier)
   - 5w-10w lightbulb
   - Modern Fridge (the kind that dehumidify/deice...you know, anything from
   the past 30 years.)

Basically, the power setup is as such:

   - Power strip
      - Light (installed in fridge)
      - Humidistat/Thermostat
         - Fridge connected to thermostat port
         - Humidifier connected to Humidistat

The hardest part to find is the cooling humidifier.  Some use paper
membranes or foam or other porous materials.  These are no good.  The best,
and I've only come across one and I guard it with my life, is a combination
of a centrifugal pump and a squirrel cage fan, all in one. (In fact, the
delay on my e-mail was I wanted to pull up the info and see if I could find
it on sale online.)  The reason this is important is because the porous
material quickly becomes inundated with mold.

*So what does this do?*

   1. The lamp, being always on, heats the enclosure.
   2. The fridge turns on when the heat exceeds the desired amount
   (according to the thermostat on the control unit since, while curing, we
   want the temperature around 70 degrees, well above the range of fridge
   thermostats.)  In the process of cooling, the enclosure is also dehumidified
   3. When the enclosure turns too dry, the humidistat clicks on and powers
   the humidifier.

We have everything to heat, cool, dry, and humidify the enclosure.  Apart
from the controller, everything is cheap and readily available.  I have some
ideas on replacing the humidifier but that is up for further discussion.

One obvious modification to this is the lamp.  Does it always need to be
on?  No, but having a candelabra light on for a year is still cheaper than
getting a dedicated thermostat...unless we roll our own.

Your Mileage May Vary, This message comes with no warranty, I am not
responsible for you getting food poisoning, "It Works Right On My
System(tm)", the wrong bacteria will fucking kill you, share and enjoy!
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