Cave Humidity - Controlling

[FarmerJd]

I have recently set up an older upright freezer with a Johnson thermostat set to 53 degrees. The temp is working great but the humidity will not come down below 95%. This is an older type freezer that does not defrost and it stays outside on a porch. I have seen lots of suggestions on keeping humidity up but nothing on removing the water in the air and still keeping the temp down. Is there something obvious I am missing? I have repeatedly dried all the visible water out which is a lot and yet each time I open the door more water is dripping off the coils in the top and raining on my cheese. I know I am replenishing the humidity every time I open the door because it is very humid here lately especially after Tropical Storm Ida came to visit. This may be the real problem; the outside humidity is just staying very high and therefore the air can't get any less humid. Any thoughts other than moving it inside?

[DeejayDebi]

This seems to be a problem with freezers. I believe there are several threads on this and all gave up.

I wonder if hanging dry paper towels would help soak up some moisture?

[FarmerJd]

I looked for threads but couldn't find any. I will try again. thanks.

[wharris]

Where are the cooling coils?  inside?  or outside?

If on the inside, the coils tend to cause condensation inside the compartment and keep the humidity at 100%.
If outside, the forced air dries out the cheese and you need to add humidity.

[FarmerJd]

The coils are on the inside Wayne. I was hoping someone on here had an ingenious solution before I start looking for a different freezer. For my waxed and  vacuum packed it is no problem but I was hoping I could age some natural rinds in there.

[wharris]

My ingenious solution is the same as others here. 
-Sell the fridge.-

Sorry. 

[hplace]

Why not put a dehumidifier inside the fridge? Here's a mini one at WalMart for 50 bucks:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10750086

I keep a lamp with a 60-watt bulb on in my refrigerator to warm it up in the winter time, seems like you could run a dehumidifer with no problem.

[wharris]

I guess one could.


But the way I see it is that you then have the fridge acting as a humidifier, and then another device acting as a dehumidifier, and the cheese then stuck in the middle of this cramped environmental tug-o-war.

I opted to sell mine. 

[FarmerJd]

Squirrel, I was just looking at one of those on ebay. I know it would take some tinkering to get the right humidity with that. I am not sure how much humidity it would remove and at what rate so it would be a trial and error gamble but I may try it soon.

Wayne, you said that the freezer is acting as a humidifier but but unlike an actual humidifier, it is limited by the moisture inside the freezer, right? So once a dehumidifier has removed some water from the air, the humidity is going to stay at that percentage until I open the door again and replenish the moisture, I think. So the dehumidifier would only need to work as often as I open the door. I could be mistaken here but i think that's right.

I will think it through some more, but thanks for the input guys. I know sometimes I am just now running into things that have been discussed here before and i appreciate the patience in answering the many questions I have.

[Jibin]

If the space is relatively small, then some of the humidity could be coming from the cheese, especially if it wasn't well drained. Try finding some silica gel packs. They will take up quite a bit of moisture and can be replenished in an oven at low heat once saturated.

[wharris]

I found that while the coils are working in a closed system, every time the door was opened, new moist air was added to that system, which would then condense and drip on the cheese,  and the total amount of water inside of the fridge goes up.
All of my hygrometers were constantly drippy and pegged at 100%

So, Good luck with it.

I found myself getting my mind wrapped around the axel of  a home grown humidistat based control system and drilling drainage holes into my freezer.  It made my brain hurt.

I just stopped, and sold the freezer and went with a std forced air fridge.

Its easier in my mind to add humidity, than remove it.  So I went that route.

[FarmerJd]

Jibin, Welcome to the forum and thanks for the input. My cheeses are all in wax or vacuum bags right now, so it is definitely coming from the air moisture as Wayne noted. I did look at the silica gel type dehumidifier like you referred to but I am afraid that they won't be able to handle the amount of moisture that needs to be removed.
Wayne, I can tell you have been down this road already and thanks for the input. Since the air outside has dried a little I have been able to bring the humidity down to 96 and hold it there by towel drying everything once a day. I know that this is still too high but it makes me think the small dehumidifier squirrel suggested might work. I may be overly optimistic but at this point it is an easier investment than the new freezer. After thinking this through, I am sure you are right about adding humidity being easier to raise than lower.

[coffee joe]

I was having a similar problem with humidiy too high in my fridge/cave. On a whim, I tried a gel we use to plant coffee trees, this gel is designed to retain water in the soil during dry spells. This solution worked very well, and the gel is reusable. I don't know if the gel is available in garden stores in the US but it is the very same as found in baby diapers and other such highly absorbent sanitary products.

To use, just place on a plate in the "cave". When it gets fully waterlogged, remove and let dry in any low humidity area like in the sun or an oven on very low(under 140ºF, 175ºF is max for these gels) reusable 5 or 6 times

[Tropit]

The polymer chrystals you're talking about would work great.  I've used them for other projects.  They're inert, so they won't affect the cheese.  You can buy the stuff at garden suppliers.

[linuxboy]

Fred Meyer sells them in the garden section for $10 for 1 lb, and you can buy them cheaper online if you need more. It's cross-linked potassium or sodium polyacrylamide.