Perfect drying and curing process

[YourName]

Hello.

I am searching a way to achieve the best drying and curing. I start from this points :

* "dry finished" weed is 62% humidity (because Boveda 62 look like to be the best according to various testimonies around Internet)

* weed must dry as slowly as possible

* there must not be a too brutal air flow circulating around the weed

 

Do I forget some points ?

 

I like to trim and to cut the buds to a maximum size of 5 cm this lets me see if there is any mold inside and to prevent any mold to appear during drying.

 

Would it be a good idea to build a box that maintains a lite air circulation inside and recycle air until it reaches 62%, stop and recycle again when humidity is 67%, stop again at 62%, and do this until humidity stays at 62% ?

 

Thank you.

Regards.

[ShaggyGrower]

16 hours ago, YourName said:

Hello.

I am searching a way to achieve the best drying and curing. I start from this points :

* "dry finished" weed is 62% humidity (because Boveda 62 look like to be the best according to various testimonies around Internet)

* weed must dry as slowly as possible

* there must not be a too brutal air flow circulating around the weed

 

Do I forget some points ?

I try to keep temperatures 8-12ºC for a slow & low dry & cure (much easier to achieve in winter). Higher temperatures will cause the flowers to 'smell', ie, give off terpenes and I want to keep as many flavours in the flowers as possible, which a low & slow dry/cure does ime.

I dry in cardboard boxes, as the cardboard helps leach out some of the moisture from the drying flowers). Once humidity is hovering ~65%, I trim & place the flowers in kilnar jars with a 62% Boveda pack for curing, again 8-12ºC.

I only burp the jars in an environment that is similar to where they are kept, ie, I don't take the cool jars into a warmer environment to burp them, else I'll adding warmer & relatively more humid air (once that air cools down in the jars)  into the jars if I did.

I also monitor the environment inside my jars with a Sensor Push from Sensor Push Tech - I move one device from jar to jar when I burp them (or once a day, whichever is the longest in time).

[YourName]

This time I actually went too slowly and had white mold on my buds, they also seem to have lost most of there flavor. The previous harvest I did dry the weed too fast or maybe too much ventilation on it and it also has lost all of its flavor. I have difficulties to find the right speed of drying...

[YourName]

On 25/04/2020 at 10:25 AM, ShaggyGrower said:

I try to keep temperatures 8-12ºC for a slow & low dry & cure (much easier to achieve in winter). Higher temperatures will cause the flowers to 'smell', ie, give off terpenes and I want to keep as many flavours in the flowers as possible, which a low & slow dry/cure does ime.

I dry in cardboard boxes, as the cardboard helps leach out some of the moisture from the drying flowers). Once humidity is hovering ~65%, I trim & place the flowers in kilnar jars with a 62% Boveda pack for curing, again 8-12ºC.

I only burp the jars in an environment that is similar to where they are kept, ie, I don't take the cool jars into a warmer environment to burp them, else I'll adding warmer & relatively more humid air (once that air cools down in the jars)  into the jars if I did.

I also monitor the environment inside my jars with a Sensor Push from Sensor Push Tech - I move one device from jar to jar when I burp them (or once a day, whichever is the longest in time).

 

Do you put any air flow in your cardboard boxes ?

Do you hang stems with buds or do you lay down buds on the box's bottom ?

 

[ShaggyGrower]

Hi @YourName,

Sometimes I have airflow in the cardboard boxes, sometimes not.

If I'm drying an indoor grow, then often no airflow in the cardboard boxes as I feel there is less chance of bud rot spores being on the indoor-grown flowers, and I like to dry slow & low.

If I'm drying something grown outdoors which has more chance of bud rot spores on it, then I'll often put a small USB fan in the boxes or have holes in the boxes lined up and create some negative pressure air movement through the boxes. This will speed up drying and help against bud rot spores imv.

Below is a pic on my "First know-what-I'm-growing-grow" grow thread:

 

 

 

I find hanging the buds is best, although quite a bit more time consuming initially. Lying them flat results in flat-sided buds, as well as there not being as much air around all the buds for them to dry on all sides equally.

[ShaggyGrower]

On ‎25‎/‎04‎/‎2020 at 5:13 PM, YourName said:

This time I actually went too slowly and had white mold on my buds, they also seem to have lost most of there flavor. The previous harvest I did dry the weed too fast or maybe too much ventilation on it and it also has lost all of its flavor. I have difficulties to find the right speed of drying...

You may want to look a bud washing, ie, rinsing the buds in hydrogen peroxide when one harvests and then drying the buds afterwards.  Jorge Cervantes explains it here:

"Powdery mildew is one of the biggest problems growers face each season. Prevention is the best course of action but many times it is simply unavoidable! Luckily there are a few tricks out there, one of them is giving your buds an H2O2 bath! "
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7jE7qzfgQs

[hunt_a_blunt]

High Guys,

 

there are lots of ways to dry and cure your weed, but I would like to tell you how I am doing it. Until now I was satisfied with the results and it is quite easy to handle and just needs a little bit of practice/experience, because not every plant is the same. Sry for the long text, I hope the explanations make sense to you....tried to keep it as short as possible while explaining as much much as needed.

 

 

Drying

 

1) You should ALWAYS dry your plants in darkness for about 1 weak....as mentioned, hanging them is great to avoid mold and let them dry out equaly from every side. How long this process would take depends on the size and strucutre of the buds. The bigger and more dense, the longer it would take.

 

Sometimes it may be important to ensure ventilation to ensure there will be no budrot etc. But you should focus to not give it too much, because they need to be dried slowly, like some good "sous vite" meat:) So, 24/7 ventilation wont be needed, unless you really have moster buds and cant really help with your humidity level being above 50%.

 

When you hang your buds make sure there will be space in between so the buds can let out the humidity

 

Check out once daily after maybe 2-3 days (again, depending on the size and structure....the bigger the longer it takes). If you can break a sidebranch like it seems almost dry, then it is time for the next step...curing

 

2) To avoid mold or any type of disease which makes your weed unsmokable, you should have a humidity of about 40-50% max in the room. You shouldnt go lower, because buds would dry too fast, and depending on how dense and big the buds are you shouldnt go too high. Otherwise there will be a good chance of having one of these unwanted guests in your buds

 

Curing

 

So once you can break the branches and they make a noise when you do it, the outside of the bud should feel more or less dry...dont mind.....the moisture is still inside, and this is what we want to let go out now step by step. Again, be aware to cure them in darkness. And it is important to keep your bags/boxes 100% closed until you open them to let the bud dry again. This process will take about aproximately 1-2 weaks.

 

For curing you dont  need special equipment....besides your carbon filter;) I use plastic bags and it works fine for me. But you could also use tupper boxes for example.(which are actually easier to "clean")

 

When packing the buds into boxes/bags, I ensure to put them carefully in and dont force pressure on the buds. One thing is to keep the looks of the buds, the other is again.....budrot and co.

 

Now again this depends on feeling and checking, because not every bud has the same size and structure. To make it a bit easier, I put buds of the "same" size and structure together, because it is likely they almost need the same time and caring.

 

So once the bud is in the box, you open it once a day, lay them carefully on your drying net (not close to each other) and let them dry out for 1-2 hours. Before putting them in again, the buds should feel drier than before. You can check it by taking one bud between your fingers and squeeze it a bit - not too much. I am sure you will pay attention and notice the difference.

 

You should focus meanwhile on the boxes and if there is any moisture in your box, just dry it......that helps to avoid too much moisture and budro

 

After that, you put them into the box again, close it, and repeat the process, until you notice that the smell is "right".....that means you dont notice anymore chlorophyll in the smell, and from smelling you think....yeah, this is awesome, would like to smoke it. You can put them now one more time in your box, get them out the next day and then leave them for final drying / or sstore them away directly if they dont feel moist. When this is done and the buds have a moisture level which allows you to store them away, you can enjoy your smoke and dont need to worry about your harvest rotting inside the glass/box or whereever you store them.

 

You could dry your plants faster, but it would destroy all your stress and work. If you dry them too fast the chlorophyll cant desolve which affects the smell and taste. Besides your buds need a slow process to ripen to develop their full potential of effect.