Scranny420
Well-Known Member
Your posting privileges should be revoked...or at least temporarily suspended.
Enjoy your hay.
Drying vs Curing
- Thread starter Chalcy
- Start date
Enjoy your hay.
CAkushsmoke
Well-Known Member
thanks for all the good info bros...just cut my ladies down yesterday...i think ill go wit paper bag for a few days then "burp" em in the jar for a few days...i have one quik question..what brings out the skunk smell more bag or jar???
Scranny420
Well-Known Member
^+1 I'd like to know as well
DankMan!!!
Active Member
great post thanks to everyone who added something
smalltownDill
Well-Known Member
just throwing it out there but what if i dried it outside in a old barn this stuff being outdoor and all
S
stoned88911
Guest
enjoy your hay i mean day, hahahahha thats funny
hydrobandit
Active Member
Great post mrhappy, you kno what you're talking about, any thoughts or information on water curing? Any info greatly appreciated, thanks
smokinHerbOnDaCurb
Well-Known Member
Author Message
Well, im new here (if you couldnt tell) and while going through the tutorials i reolized there wasnt one for my favorite way of drying/curing so i decided to post it. The idea here is to cut down on all the drying time, while removing a lot of the bad stuff (fertilizers, chloriphyll, ect...) from the bud at the same time.
Materials:
1. Water cooler (or any other item to hold water, with room for buds)
2. Water
3. Dehydrator (optional)
4. Bud
Steps:
1. Chop down the plants as normal, and manicure them like normal. But dont dry them. (ive heard you could dry and cure normally and then do the water cure but to me it seems like a waste of time)
2. Lay the manicured buds in the bottom of a cooler and slowly pour water into the cooler, trying not to move around the buds too much. If the buds float, put a plate or something over them so that they stay COMPLETELY submerged. (if they arent completely submerged, it is pretty much a molds dream vacation)
3. Change the water every day for 7 days, and on the seventh (or eighth if you want... just be sure that they dont make it past take them out and hang them up to dry with a fan blowing on them (food dehydrators work well too... or in the over on the lowest temperature) and it shouldnt take more than a few hours to dry. After its dried, its ready to be smoked or stored.
NOTE:
Doing this will cut down on the amount of final product because of all the contaminates it removes. It will also kill bag appeal, so i wouldnt recommend doing this for a commercial grow since it pretty much turns the weed brown. But it does increase the concentration of THC (does NOT make more THC) but since THC isnt water-soluable, the contaminates get removed, but all the THC stays. Although it seems hard to believe (to me it was at first...) ive never seen any mold come up from doing this method (and ive even got my friends into doing it with theirs... no mold on theirs either). I would still recommend doing it on only a small part of your harvest at first tho, so that way if something goes wrong then it will only be a little bud lost instead of a whole crop
Sorry i cant take pictures quite yet, as my plants are still growing. But i'll get pictures to this when im ready for my harvest.
Well, im new here (if you couldnt tell) and while going through the tutorials i reolized there wasnt one for my favorite way of drying/curing so i decided to post it. The idea here is to cut down on all the drying time, while removing a lot of the bad stuff (fertilizers, chloriphyll, ect...) from the bud at the same time.
Materials:
1. Water cooler (or any other item to hold water, with room for buds)
2. Water
3. Dehydrator (optional)
4. Bud
Steps:
1. Chop down the plants as normal, and manicure them like normal. But dont dry them. (ive heard you could dry and cure normally and then do the water cure but to me it seems like a waste of time)
2. Lay the manicured buds in the bottom of a cooler and slowly pour water into the cooler, trying not to move around the buds too much. If the buds float, put a plate or something over them so that they stay COMPLETELY submerged. (if they arent completely submerged, it is pretty much a molds dream vacation)
3. Change the water every day for 7 days, and on the seventh (or eighth if you want... just be sure that they dont make it past take them out and hang them up to dry with a fan blowing on them (food dehydrators work well too... or in the over on the lowest temperature) and it shouldnt take more than a few hours to dry. After its dried, its ready to be smoked or stored.
NOTE:
Doing this will cut down on the amount of final product because of all the contaminates it removes. It will also kill bag appeal, so i wouldnt recommend doing this for a commercial grow since it pretty much turns the weed brown. But it does increase the concentration of THC (does NOT make more THC) but since THC isnt water-soluable, the contaminates get removed, but all the THC stays. Although it seems hard to believe (to me it was at first...) ive never seen any mold come up from doing this method (and ive even got my friends into doing it with theirs... no mold on theirs either). I would still recommend doing it on only a small part of your harvest at first tho, so that way if something goes wrong then it will only be a little bud lost instead of a whole crop
Sorry i cant take pictures quite yet, as my plants are still growing. But i'll get pictures to this when im ready for my harvest.
sorrowful hero
Active Member
is it possible to use a food dehydrator?
Scranny420
Well-Known Member
The search function is your friend...
Many people on here call that "water curing". Here's the run-down:
- Pro: You lose [non-THC] weight, resulting in more THC per gram.
- Pro: You get a generally smoother smoke.
- Con: You lose bag appeal in both weight and appearance.
- Con: You don't get the aroma and flavor you'd get from normal curing.
So now that I have read all the Bag it 5-7 weeks & grab some mason jars fill them full of jack while you prune the nugs ? Huh. Sounds simple enough. I am at that stage of cutting or I should say I tried the quick dry under lamp for approx 15 min. After a few I guess that nug was from one of my vg strains. I had them labeled but so much for being orginized. So after a few, I totally zoned and left the remaining under the light another few hours (not intentional) . My whole house smells like I had a scunk ran through. Nugs still better than I expected. Three other unidentifiable plants. One is WW other two, Not a clue. Great forum. Really thanks for the tips on drying and curing. Just what I needed. Thx .... I will get a pic of the WW. Maybe someone can tell me if this truelly is the WW. Seems to be sativa so I am assuming that this one is. I will post a pic and hopefully get some help on this.
Bbunsthebomb
Well-Known Member
bomb advicewow- the lack of simple knowledge is astounding, and disturbing. Let me try to help out.
Drying (more properly desiccating) is simply that- removing the water from the herb so that moisture does not influence the quality of the smoke. A properly dried bud's stem should snap, not bend. Don't listen to fools who advocate leaving your herb wet, as this is both dangerous (despite reassurance of it not being "too wet" for mold, such organisms are opportunists and will readily grow given half a chance, especially if it remains in a closed airtight jar for ~23 hours and 50min a day as some people advocate) and unscrupulous (sellers who sling wet herb are selling you a short sac + H2O. If the herb you're going to buy is wet, someone who doesn't truly care about the quality of this good plant is putting cash over care and trying to get away with it. By knowingly buying a soaked stash, you are supporting this kind of practice- pass on the stash).
To best Dry your herb, remove any large fan leaves and uncrystallized portions of the upper, smaller, leaves. Then hang it upside down in a dark place (sunlight will cause THC degradation and also turn your herb yellow/brown) for anywhere from 5-15 days, depending on temp., air circulation, and humidity. Check on it every so often and when the nugs look like something you would want to smoke, break off a small peice and and sample it. If it gets too dry, to the point of crumbling, you can reconstitute it by placing a few nugs in a jar with a few iceberg lettuce leaves for half a day. Any H2O containing vegatative matter (parsley, orange peels, potato chunk etc) will work, but I like to avoid anything that has a distinctive flavor that could be imparted on my herb- I want to taste my hard grown organic love nugs, not some shitty GM, picked-green, citrus peel from half a world away shipped in curtessy of walmart. Lettuce has a high H2O content and has almost no flavor,so is perfect for this.
Curing (or maturing) your finished herb is a art all unto itself. Some previous posters are semi-correct: curing is, in it's most simplest form, a slow extended drying process. However, I can not recommend the "just open your jar for ten minutes a day blah blah blah" kind of stuff. That only results in herb that has hints of ammonia from degradation and a ripe environment for toxic mold if you are not careful.
What Curing actually does is allows the plant, which is still alive after cutting, to gradually use up all the sugars and starches and other nutrients within it's tissues. This is only done when the cut plants are away from sunlight, otherwise photosynthesis will continue to happen,making more sugars, and a harsher smoke. Ideally, you would cure your plants by having sooo many plants that their combinted release of H20 from drying would raise the hummidity enough to prolong the 'dry' for around a month (think of the pictures you may have seen of tobacco shed down in the south where bundles of plants are hung in the open rafters of attics/sheds- temp. and hummididty could be controlled by opening or closing windows/vents as needed to produce a supple leaf that burns clean with little ash and a clean, rich smoke). Unfortunetly, due to the current legal sysem we find ourselves in, this kind of supper curing is alomost impossible to pull off. Instead, you can simmulate the same conditions by placing your herb in a brown paper bag (never plastic!) somewhere dark and leaving it for ~14-21 days if not longer. The dark stops photosynthesis, and the paper, which is pourous, prevents the hummidity from getting too high causing mold concerns. Check on your herb occasionaly to see how the cure is going and to turn/move the buds, allowing even drying. I've had herb cured this way that stayed in the cure proccess for over a month, and was phenominal, while dried herb from the same plant, ready after only 5 days, was mediocre, producing a harsher, greener tasting smoke.
Remember though, once the herb has throughly dried through, despite using either a dry or cure process, there is virtually no real way to start the cure process again! That is why patience is a virtue! Ofcourse, depending on where you live, such a long curing time may not be practicle (if you live in a desert for exmple). A way to prolong the cure is to double bag the buds- the thicker the paper the slower evaporation will occur.
Hope this has been informative. Remember, never buy wet herb, and never try to sell it either! You are just bringing bad karma on yourself by doing an injustice to this fine plant that we all know and love! Namaste!
I agree with most of what mrhaappy420 had to say. However, I wouldn't go so far as to write off the jar-cure process altogether. Here's my two cents.
The line between drying and curing is a blurry one. A source of confusion, I think, is the fact that the drying action is common to both processes, though it's done at different rates and for different reasons.
During the initial drying process, the goal is to quickly remove moisture to prevent mold problems and get the product into a smokeable state. At this point, the bud is amenable to rapid drying because of how wet it is. Most guides advocate hanging buds up with ample air circulation to ensure that the process happens quickly. It still seems possible to dry too quickly at this point based on anectodal reports I've read, so I wouldn't advocate using a food dehydrator. Air drying seems best.
As the bud gets drier, the mold problem lessens, and the focus is more on drying the plant slowly so that beneficial chemical processes can run their course while enough moisture is present to allow them to occur. Slower is better here for two reasons. First is that it allows redistribution of the moisture deep in the buds, so that the drying process happens evenly (The worst case scenario would be where the outside of the bud is so dry and brittle as to be difficult to smoke, while the interior is so wet that mold can set in). The second and main reason for slow drying is to allow the aforementioned processes to complete as thoroughly as possible.
As you can see, the drying and curing processes really overlap, and the conclusion we reach from observing what needs to happen in the plant during these finishing stages is that we must gradually decrease the rate at which drying occurs as we move from drying to curing.
The different methods, be it hang-drying, brown-bagging, or jar-storage+daily airing, are different ways of adjusting the drying rate of your buds. None of them is correct or incorrect; each has its appropriate place in the finishing process.
If you use the jar method too early while the buds are relatively moist, you risk mold growth as the RH of your container increases to dangerous levels as the buds sweat the water out. Likewise, if you use the hang-dry method for your entire finishing stage, then you risk either uneven drying of the buds, or drying that is so rapid that you don't give the buds time to thoroughly cure.
If you had the resources, you'd ideally have a humidity controlled cooler that keeps the bud dark (preventing photosynthesis and other light-accelerated degredation), at wine-temperature (45-55F, cold enough to slow down degradative processes and discourage mold), and at a humidity that is appropriate for where the bud is in the drying/curing process (low RH initially, then higher as curing takes over).
For best results with any method, get some direct feedback on your drying/curing conditions by sticking a hygrometer and thermometer ($5-$20 each in most places) in your container so you know whether your method is providing the drying/curing conditions you desire. There's really no "correct" method, only something that works given your resources and how picky you are with your end product.
The line between drying and curing is a blurry one. A source of confusion, I think, is the fact that the drying action is common to both processes, though it's done at different rates and for different reasons.
During the initial drying process, the goal is to quickly remove moisture to prevent mold problems and get the product into a smokeable state. At this point, the bud is amenable to rapid drying because of how wet it is. Most guides advocate hanging buds up with ample air circulation to ensure that the process happens quickly. It still seems possible to dry too quickly at this point based on anectodal reports I've read, so I wouldn't advocate using a food dehydrator. Air drying seems best.
As the bud gets drier, the mold problem lessens, and the focus is more on drying the plant slowly so that beneficial chemical processes can run their course while enough moisture is present to allow them to occur. Slower is better here for two reasons. First is that it allows redistribution of the moisture deep in the buds, so that the drying process happens evenly (The worst case scenario would be where the outside of the bud is so dry and brittle as to be difficult to smoke, while the interior is so wet that mold can set in). The second and main reason for slow drying is to allow the aforementioned processes to complete as thoroughly as possible.
As you can see, the drying and curing processes really overlap, and the conclusion we reach from observing what needs to happen in the plant during these finishing stages is that we must gradually decrease the rate at which drying occurs as we move from drying to curing.
The different methods, be it hang-drying, brown-bagging, or jar-storage+daily airing, are different ways of adjusting the drying rate of your buds. None of them is correct or incorrect; each has its appropriate place in the finishing process.
If you use the jar method too early while the buds are relatively moist, you risk mold growth as the RH of your container increases to dangerous levels as the buds sweat the water out. Likewise, if you use the hang-dry method for your entire finishing stage, then you risk either uneven drying of the buds, or drying that is so rapid that you don't give the buds time to thoroughly cure.
If you had the resources, you'd ideally have a humidity controlled cooler that keeps the bud dark (preventing photosynthesis and other light-accelerated degredation), at wine-temperature (45-55F, cold enough to slow down degradative processes and discourage mold), and at a humidity that is appropriate for where the bud is in the drying/curing process (low RH initially, then higher as curing takes over).
For best results with any method, get some direct feedback on your drying/curing conditions by sticking a hygrometer and thermometer ($5-$20 each in most places) in your container so you know whether your method is providing the drying/curing conditions you desire. There's really no "correct" method, only something that works given your resources and how picky you are with your end product.
NOLA420
Active Member
send them pics,when u do,let me know,this definitely sounds like a subject to check into.Thanks
AHHHH....
do any of you actually READ a thread before responding?.;.......and if you do, WHY would you respond by stating the same old thing thats ben already posted a dozen times in the same thread?.....sorry, nothing personal but to me, thats just STUPIDITY or trying to get your post count up.
how about taking a second, and going back and READING this thread
how many posts said to
hang your buds to dry for several days
finish trimming them and then put them in brown paper bags
finish curing them b putting them in an airtight container
seems to me, alot of pople could have saved themselves alot of typing time by readi ng the damn thread BEFORE posting
do any of you actually READ a thread before responding?.;.......and if you do, WHY would you respond by stating the same old thing thats ben already posted a dozen times in the same thread?.....sorry, nothing personal but to me, thats just STUPIDITY or trying to get your post count up.
how about taking a second, and going back and READING this thread
how many posts said to
hang your buds to dry for several days
finish trimming them and then put them in brown paper bags
finish curing them b putting them in an airtight container
seems to me, alot of pople could have saved themselves alot of typing time by readi ng the damn thread BEFORE posting
ganjaluvr
Well-Known Member
alright, I've got a question.
when drying fresh cut buds.. could someone use those little white sachets.. or little white bags that sometimes are used as packing material?? For example.. I have a couple of them.. and on them they say they following:
"ACTIVEMINERAL - ANTI-MOLDS - DO NOT EAT!!
I guess they mainly use these things.. just for that purpose. To soak up any moisture and keep molds at bay.. so could someone use these to help dry the buds?
Just curious.. and I think someone else has already asked this question somewhere on here but I don't remember where on here I seen it..
but again, would these even aid in the drying process or curing process?
also, if needed.. I guess I could take a picture of one of these little bags.. so that if anyone is confused as to what I'm talking about.. they'll be able to see what I'm talking about as well.
just an idea.. and any advice would be greatly appreciated.
when drying fresh cut buds.. could someone use those little white sachets.. or little white bags that sometimes are used as packing material?? For example.. I have a couple of them.. and on them they say they following:
"ACTIVEMINERAL - ANTI-MOLDS - DO NOT EAT!!
I guess they mainly use these things.. just for that purpose. To soak up any moisture and keep molds at bay.. so could someone use these to help dry the buds?
Just curious.. and I think someone else has already asked this question somewhere on here but I don't remember where on here I seen it..
but again, would these even aid in the drying process or curing process?
also, if needed.. I guess I could take a picture of one of these little bags.. so that if anyone is confused as to what I'm talking about.. they'll be able to see what I'm talking about as well.
just an idea.. and any advice would be greatly appreciated.
ganjaluvr
Well-Known Member
wow- the lack of simple knowledge is astounding, and disturbing. Let me try to help out.
Drying (more properly desiccating) is simply that- removing the water from the herb so that moisture does not influence the quality of the smoke. A properly dried bud's stem should snap, not bend. Don't listen to fools who advocate leaving your herb wet, as this is both dangerous (despite reassurance of it not being "too wet" for mold, such organisms are opportunists and will readily grow given half a chance, especially if it remains in a closed airtight jar for ~23 hours and 50min a day as some people advocate) and unscrupulous (sellers who sling wet herb are selling you a short sac + H2O. If the herb you're going to buy is wet, someone who doesn't truly care about the quality of this good plant is putting cash over care and trying to get away with it. By knowingly buying a soaked stash, you are supporting this kind of practice- pass on the stash).
To best Dry your herb, remove any large fan leaves and uncrystallized portions of the upper, smaller, leaves. Then hang it upside down in a dark place (sunlight will cause THC degradation and also turn your herb yellow/brown) for anywhere from 5-15 days, depending on temp., air circulation, and humidity. Check on it every so often and when the nugs look like something you would want to smoke, break off a small peice and and sample it. If it gets too dry, to the point of crumbling, you can reconstitute it by placing a few nugs in a jar with a few iceberg lettuce leaves for half a day. Any H2O containing vegatative matter (parsley, orange peels, potato chunk etc) will work, but I like to avoid anything that has a distinctive flavor that could be imparted on my herb- I want to taste my hard grown organic love nugs, not some shitty GM, picked-green, citrus peel from half a world away shipped in curtessy of walmart. Lettuce has a high H2O content and has almost no flavor,so is perfect for this.
Curing (or maturing) your finished herb is a art all unto itself. Some previous posters are semi-correct: curing is, in it's most simplest form, a slow extended drying process. However, I can not recommend the "just open your jar for ten minutes a day blah blah blah" kind of stuff. That only results in herb that has hints of ammonia from degradation and a ripe environment for toxic mold if you are not careful.
What Curing actually does is allows the plant, which is still alive after cutting, to gradually use up all the sugars and starches and other nutrients within it's tissues. This is only done when the cut plants are away from sunlight, otherwise photosynthesis will continue to happen,making more sugars, and a harsher smoke. Ideally, you would cure your plants by having sooo many plants that their combinted release of H20 from drying would raise the hummidity enough to prolong the 'dry' for around a month (think of the pictures you may have seen of tobacco shed down in the south where bundles of plants are hung in the open rafters of attics/sheds- temp. and hummididty could be controlled by opening or closing windows/vents as needed to produce a supple leaf that burns clean with little ash and a clean, rich smoke). Unfortunetly, due to the current legal sysem we find ourselves in, this kind of supper curing is alomost impossible to pull off. Instead, you can simmulate the same conditions by placing your herb in a brown paper bag (never plastic!) somewhere dark and leaving it for ~14-21 days if not longer. The dark stops photosynthesis, and the paper, which is pourous, prevents the hummidity from getting too high causing mold concerns. Check on your herb occasionaly to see how the cure is going and to turn/move the buds, allowing even drying. I've had herb cured this way that stayed in the cure proccess for over a month, and was phenominal, while dried herb from the same plant, ready after only 5 days, was mediocre, producing a harsher, greener tasting smoke.
Remember though, once the herb has throughly dried through, despite using either a dry or cure process, there is virtually no real way to start the cure process again! That is why patience is a virtue! Ofcourse, depending on where you live, such a long curing time may not be practicle (if you live in a desert for exmple). A way to prolong the cure is to double bag the buds- the thicker the paper the slower evaporation will occur.
Hope this has been informative. Remember, never buy wet herb, and never try to sell it either! You are just bringing bad karma on yourself by doing an injustice to this fine plant that we all know and love! Namaste!
Wow, nice.. you seem to think your smarter than all these other people.. and I guess including me?? Yeeeaahh.. don't think so buddy.
Nice "copy & paste" method you have going on.. you didn't type that shit. Those aren't your words.. you pasted this article from another site. So, don't try and sit there and act like you know it all.
I thought you were going to say something smart.. but I was wrong about that apparently. But hey, thanks for trying to help.
