Creating dryboxes for my juices. Perfect humidity level to keep juice at?

[vocr]

So a few of the juices I bought about about 3 months ago have gone bad. They taste like crud. I know the 2 year shelf life thing is not realistic but I expected to go at least 6 months.

I live in a tropical country and the weather is always warm, sunny and humid (sometimes it rains ). So I am reasonably certain the way I was keeping my juices was to blame. I had transferred all the juices to transparent PE bottles and stuck a tube in them so I can quickly change out juices onto my vapemate. Then I just lined them up in divided, open plastic containers on my desk (lol, took up 3/4 of my desk). I assume this means they were exposed to the humidity and sun (my place is usually air con'd, so not hot).

What I did was I had wooden boxes made. They are nice, solidly made from high quality local wood and should protect well from the sun while still giving me easy access to my juices and can stay on my desk. Got them yesterday and picked up digital hygrometers (advertised as super accurate) and desiccants (silical gel). Basically I modified instructions on how to create a dry box here.

The problem I have now is I have no idea how humid it should be in the boxes. All the info I can find is for cameras. So does anyone know what humidity I need to be aiming for in these dry boxes?

Thanks!

 

[scalewiz]

If the bottles are closed, there will be no air or humidity transfer between the contents and the surrounding atmosphere. Therefore, it's not your humidity that's the problem, it's probably more the temperature. I have a small refrigerator I keep my juices and flavors in, and have no problem. Some juices will still fail over time, but the cool conditions keep things fresh longer. Enemies of juice will typically be heat and oxygen.

 

[vocr]

Thanks! Are you sure about humidity not being an issue? I ask because my home office is also my home server rack room (in the closet). It is always climate controlled at 24C, so heat should not be effecting my juices. Maybe its the sun?

Either way, I can check it if I can find out what the best humidity level is for juices. If after being in the drybox and controlled at the best humidity and my juices still go bad, at least I can eliminate that as the culprit.

Do you know what the optimum humidity level is for juices?

 

[vocr]

Bump please?

 

[Bdbodger]

There is a high moisture content in the juices so I would not leave them open so that they can evaporate . Air is the enemy I don't know if humid air is worse but either way certain things need air to grow like bacteria .

 

[vocr]

Thanks! Without the dehumidifier, my boxes runs between 50-65% RH. With dehumidifier I can take it all the way down to 20% RH, but I think that is too low for anything, let alone juices. I've been using the advised range for DSLR cameras which is 40-50% (I've set the things at 45%).

However, I'd really like to set it at whatever the best level is for juices. I emailed dekang and hangsen (sent 2 emails to them, one in English and one in Chinese) and asked, but I am not expecting an answer as I am not their direct customer. If no one knows the actual value, can anyone suggest a place/organization/store that would know and I can ask?

Thanks!