I am building a Chasador and wanted to know if I need beads in each drawer. I am having 4 solid bottom with glass top drawers made. The question I have is, Do I need to put beads in each drawer as well and the cooler??? I will store boxes outside the drawers on ceder shelves. Second question, I am looking for opinions on the differences between RH beads and Shilalas beads. Does one do better than the other??? Or is one easier to maintain????
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As far as the which beads to use I had 2lbs of Shilala's beads in my Vino and it worked like a charm. I defnitely recommend those.

When it comes to the drawers though I'm not sure. I had slotted bottoms on mine when I had them. I would imaging that you would not have to if you season properly and have some circulation in there as well. Maybe some other BOTLs can chime in on this one.
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I use 2.0# of Shilala Beads in my 28 bottle, 1# on bottom and 1/2# in middle and 1/2# on top. But I have slotted bottoms and no tops on my drawers. Works Great~!:-)
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I've used Cigarmony RH beads, Silica Kitty Litter and heartfelt beads, they all seem to work about the same to me.

Never used Shilala beads though. Never heard of them before last week. (Been out of the loop).
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What are the dimensions of your 28 bottle? I have a 52 bottle that is 28.5h x 18 w x 17" d (interior space) and according to the Shilala calculator 1.01 pounds is all that's necessary.
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I have so many kinds of beads I can't heardly keep track of them, but rest assured I'll never spend $30/pound again!
KL beads work every bit as well as anything else; why pay more?
I just bought 32lbs of beads; a couple of us will use them exclusively for maintinaing humidity in walk-ins.
Need any? Shoot me a pm and we can work a little trade.
:-)
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Shilila's page mentions you need 9-14 pounds of KL in your humidor to match 1LB of their beads. I find that a bit exaggerated. I might have 1.5 lbs of KL in my 52 bottle wineador and it's usually at the 65-67% RH range. Though I have had the bottom shelf spike a bit during the summer. It's at 71% RH as of this morning. That's right next to the compressor, probably has the most temperature flux in the whole cooler.
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I have three 8 ounce socks of Shilala beads in my 28 bottle vino for almost 2 years with absolutely no problems.
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I personally did the tests, and it's not remotely exagerrated. It's underestimated. The only way those nine pounds of beads can transfer water as quickly as shilala beads is to spread them one inch thick on a surface, which is improbable, if not impossible to do.
In addition, KL beads trap free hydrocarbons and become less effective from the day you start using them to the day they don't work at all (because they eventually become completely plugged).
Shilala beads can't physically hold free hydrocarbons, never become plugged, and last forever.
The only reason I even piped up is because of all the humidity control media options out there, Kitty Litter is the poorest by far. And despite the price, pound for pound they are by far the worst value.
They work for chit. Literally. :-)
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Yeah, but it's not like you have any financial reasoning for attempting to thwart the use of KL or anything.

As much as I want to believe your beads are superior there are things that just down right hokey such as melting bags because of water friction against millions of clay pores? I guess I'd have to see it to believe it. Care to video it and toss it on youtube for mythbusting sake?

Also wasn't clay the primary source of humidification in Humidors something like 50 years ago? How do your beads differ from what is mostly considered 'ancient humidification'?
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Go with Shilala beads.

I've junked all of my other humidification devices once I tried them. One of my humis has a shelf on the top that I was having a hard time regulating because I had so many cigars packed in there I was blocking the gaps. I tossed a small bag of beads on the top shelf and every time I open that humi it is at 65%...perfection. :-)
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There is already a youtube video, search and i am sure you can find it.
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Found it. :-)
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Sorry i was too lazy to link to it.
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It's alright.

That's pretty amazing, actually. I'd like to see it "melt" through a pouch though. Not just sizzle in a pot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPV8eQ9FEY0
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Ryan I know you are new here and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. Just like to say though that Shilala has done a lot (and I mean a lot) of research that he has posted so we can all see, and I personally endorse the beads that he made. Also he has sold the business and now another inmate owns it, so I don't think he has a vested interest in em anymore.:-)
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First off, the whole Kitty Litter thing went off long before I even started developing beads for sale. They were tested against available media and untreated silica gel beads.
All the rest of the info on the beads has been posted here and at CS as all the brothers helped develop them along the way. All the tech data has been posted, all the brothers have posted their results, and the beads speak for themselves.
Lastly, I don't own or have any interest in the beads anymore. I sold the business away. Maybe that'll lend me some credibility? :-)
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Why don't you cook up 2 pounds for me and send them my way for comparisons sake. A non affiliated party sort of review :-)
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Nuff said....I got 'em, then got more as my needs grew...Rock steady stuff:-)....
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Bead fight!


(I.B.T.L)
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