I do my final trim fresh off the plant breaking all the big colas up to individual buds as I go then put them in doubled paper bags and dry slow in my cool basement. I like it when it's around 50F so you could do the same in your bar fridge.
I'll dump them out once a day into a clean tray to gently break up the clumps and let them air dry for a half hour or so then back into the bags, After a week every 2nd day is usually enough and it takes up to 3 or 4 weeks before they are dried enough to put into jars for burping another month. They are still moist enough to clump up in the jars so I use my old 1 and 2L plastic tobacco cans for that. Nice smooth sides so the pot just slides right out in a big mass for loosening up. Once dried close to smoking grade they don't clump up any more and can go into mason jars for long term storage.
The slow drying is the most important part of a great cure. That's when all the starches and chlorophyll are broken down and the buds are kept evenly moist. Any that gets completely dry will not break down even if re-moistened like what happens when you hang dry. The outside leaves and bud surface dries faster than the inner moisture can replace it. If the sugar leaves are left on for a final trimming them the bud underneath should still cure well if jarred right away and slowly dried in jars over a few weeks of burping.
I never chop the whole plant when cropping but take the big, ripe colas first and allow the smaller ones lower down to ripen for a while before taking more. I only take as much at a time that I can finish trimming in a couple hours for two reasons.
The leaves soften and and go limp after a couple hours which makes it harder to trim and with my arthritis my hands get sore really fast and can start going into spasms and I have to quit for the day. Think charley horses in your hands. Hurts like hell and I have to use the other hand to bend the offending digit back into place.
A good dose of my CBD cocobudder an hour or so before trimming seems to help prevent it's onset tho.
