A perfect cure every time

[MaxYield]

"i got in the bad habit of drying them too quick, taking about 3 days. i trimed the colas into bite sized buds and with phoenix being hot and dry, it doesn't take long. then i noticed that although the buds smelled great when crushed, the odor when i cracked the ball jars was minimal."

My friend I think has this very problem...Grows dank weed but I think he's killing all the aroma and taste by drying it too fast. He's been drying about 3-4 days (trimmed) in a slightly ventilated u-haul wardrobe box, then on to jars for burping and storage...Potent, just not tasty as it should be...

 

[jollygreen]

"Below 55% RH - the RH is too low for the curing process to take place. The product starts to feel brittle. Once you've hit this point, nothing will make it better. Adding moisture won't restart the curing process; it will just make the product wet. If you measure a RH below 55% don't panic. Read below:"

-- Ed Rosenthal says that 50% is the ideal humidity for curing.

 

[SimonD]

"Below 55% RH - the RH is too low for the curing process to take place. The product starts to feel brittle. Once you've hit this point, nothing will make it better. Adding moisture won't restart the curing process; it will just make the product wet. If you measure a RH below 55% don't panic. Read below:"

-- Ed Rosenthal says that 50% is the ideal humidity for curing.

Ed is referring to the humidity in the room, as the product is drying.

Simon

 

[DrKingGreen]

I'll definitely be picking up some tools to use this method for my second grow. This time (my first) I'm going to dry until they almost snap and then just jar and burp. Jarred some this morning and it already smells great! If it intensifies I'll be one happy camper!
About what weight do you guys lose before jarring? I lost about +-67% before throwing them in today.

 

[automated]

Well this was a long but well worth the experience read hehe
SimonD, thanks for the info, I now have a goal set out to make a curing system, but have some question if you dont mind.

Mason jars, I assume it has to do with the air vacuum, or lack of new oxygen ?
Is there a limit to how much or many you should put in such a container ? or would it bother the process if there is too much ?

I have some ideas, could you give me your thoughts on it?

I was thinking of a large container like a 50 or 60 liter tupperware like box.
Darkening the outside with something to make it total dark.
Fit it out with lots of small trays (nets spun betweeen racks so I can stack them inside the box with layers)
On the bottom I want to make an inlet which will be sealed and opened automatically when there is ventilation activity.
On the top a small exhaust fan able to suck the air through the box added with a small carbon filter, also seals and opens automatically with ventilation acivity.
Inside, in the middle a humidity sensor and one at the top on the inside near the exhaust opening.
The idea is to hook it up to my climate system so I can automate the starting and stopping of the ventilation based on the humidity levels.

Would it be possible and effective to use such a setup to dry and cure in 1 go ?

Extra question:
As with all chemical processes in plants, temperature is always a major factor, do you know anything relating to needed temperature or optimal conditions relating to temperature in a curing system ?

made a rather simple image of the idea

 

[SimonD]

Well this was a long but well worth the experience read hehe
SimonD, thanks for the info, I now have a goal set out to make a curing system, but have some question if you dont mind.

Mason jars, I assume it has to do with the air vacuum, or lack of new oxygen ?
Is there a limit to how much or many you should put in such a container ? or would it bother the process if there is too much ?

I have some ideas, could you give me your thoughts on it?

I was thinking of a large container like a 50 or 60 liter tupperware like box.
Darkening the outside with something to make it total dark.
Fit it out with lots of small trays (nets spun betweeen racks so I can stack them inside the box with layers)
On the bottom I want to make an inlet which will be sealed and opened automatically when there is ventilation activity.
On the top a small exhaust fan able to suck the air through the box added with a small carbon filter, also seals and opens automatically with ventilation acivity.
Inside, in the middle a humidity sensor and one at the top on the inside near the exhaust opening.
The idea is to hook it up to my climate system so I can automate the starting and stopping of the ventilation based on the humidity levels.

Would it be possible and effective to use such a setup to dry and cure in 1 go ?

Extra question:
As with all chemical processes in plants, temperature is always a major factor, do you know anything relating to needed temperature or optimal conditions relating to temperature in a curing system ?

made a rather simple image of the idea
View attachment 2620976

Let me think about the idea for a few days, and I'll post back.

Simon

 

[automated]

Much appreciated Simon !

 

[DrKingGreen]

I'm drying my first buds ever and using your method. I couldn't find any hygro's locally so I just bought half gallon mason jars and drop my temp/hum gauge from my grow room down in them for 12 hours until the next burp and switch jars. After 6 1/2 days of drying and 5 days in the jar they most are around 65%.

Glad I stumbled on to this method! Made things very easy and clear! +REP

 

[DrKingGreen]

Everything was going smoothly with this until the humidity where I live climbed to damn near 100%. Burped my jars without thinking about them soaking up the moisture in the air, and now the humidity in them has raised to 80! Not sure what I need to do here, but I'm thinking a trip to home depot for a dehumidifier might be a must. I've got the 3 jars that went high open in a brown bag in my grow closet now. That usually keeps at 50-55%. Any advice would be appreciated

 

[Prohet]

I have the product in a glass container with plastic air tight lock lid, in a brown bag in my flowering location.

What would be the perfect temperature for curing? My calibrated Xikar hygrometer in the container indicates higher humidity when the temperature rises. Would be a temperature of around 22 to 24 Celsius be good? Below 20, the humidity in the container is around 55 to 57. When the temperature goes up, the humidity rises to between 60 and 72.

Thanks for your input!

 

[Prohet]

I read somewhere in this thread using cigar packs to get the humidity up. What I do for my cigar humidor is mix 50% distilled water with 50% food grade propylene Glycol (Pharmacy). Then U use Soil Most crystals in a 2oz or 4oz jar, and add the mixture until the crystals are soaked and growing to about 4/5 of the jar.

This keeps the humidity steady at 70% (+- 2%).

 

[Herb Man]

Very nice.

I'm doing some trial runs with this approach.

All looking well.

Much thanks for sharing.

 

[TechnoMage]

Just wanted to mention something. I can't recommend enough calibrating your hygrometer. I've got a thread going https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/643320-gave-my-plant-chop-finished.html where I've been documenting from chop to final vacumn seal. I had both the Caliber IV Thermometer Hygrometer and a collection of cheap ones I purchased on eBay. I used a HumidiPak Calibration Kit on all of them and saw a huge range of ratings. The nice thing however is that even with the cheap ones, if you know how far they are off, you can compensate. This batch was reading high. Actual RH is 75.5%.





I had another batch that was reading low by about the same amounts.




The difference between 60% RH and 50% or 70% is huge. 50% means you've killed any curing, 70% and you're in danger of getting mold. You can get a calibration kit on eBay for $6 shipped, well worth the peace of mind.

 

[Herb Man]

The difference between 60% RH and 50% or 70% is huge. 50% means you've killed any curing, 70% and you're in danger of getting mold. You can get a calibration kit on eBay for $6 shipped, well worth the peace of mind.

You can calibrate those small cheap ones?

 

[TechnoMage]

You can calibrate those small cheap ones?

No but I could stick a small label on them to show how much they are off. So I know this one reads 8% high

 

[Herb Man]

No but I could stick a small label on them to show how much they are off. So I know this one reads 8% high

Cool, thanks for the heads up.

 

[grimeygreasy]

I'm assuming for those people who have a larger amount of product, that the same procedure would apply but with a larger vessel (rubbermaid, garbage bag etc). One thing that wasn't mentioned in the OP was an approximate start to finish timeline (obviously this will vary some) for this method. How long do you spend on racks before everything is ready to start the curing process?

 

[TechnoMage]

I'm assuming for those people who have a larger amount of product, that the same procedure would apply but with a larger vessel (rubbermaid, garbage bag etc). One thing that wasn't mentioned in the OP was an approximate start to finish timeline (obviously this will vary some) for this method. How long do you spend on racks before everything is ready to start the curing process?

Depends on a lot of things, what the humidity is like where you're drying, how big the buds are, how dense they are.

For my situation, the bud tends to stay on racks for 2-4 days and then in paper bags for another 2-4 days. Along the way, I periodically seal the bud into mason jars to get an accurate RH % reading. If the reading is over 68%, I put in the rack for another day. 63%-68%, it goes back into the paper bags. Once it hits 63%, I start short curing in jars. This involves leaving the jars open for several hours a day until I get the RH down to 60%.

Once I hit 60% I'm into the long cure. I only open the jars about twice a week and then only for about 10 seconds. All I want to do is burp the jar, stir the bud up a little and then get them sealed up before I lose any humidity. I'll do that for about a month. I'm about 1 week into this stage over in this thread https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/643320-gave-my-plant-chop-finished-3.html.

After that, I'll vacuum seal them for long term storage in a mix of pint and 1/2 pint mason jars.

 

[grimeygreasy]

Depends on a lot of things, what the humidity is like where you're drying, how big the buds are, how dense they are.

For my situation, the bud tends to stay on racks for 2-4 days and then in paper bags for another 2-4 days. Along the way, I periodically seal the bud into mason jars to get an accurate RH % reading. If the reading is over 68%, I put in the rack for another day. 63%-68%, it goes back into the paper bags. Once it hits 63%, I start short curing in jars. This involves leaving the jars open for several hours a day until I get the RH down to 60%.

Once I hit 60% I'm into the long cure. I only open the jars about twice a week and then only for about 10 seconds. All I want to do is burp the jar, stir the bud up a little and then get them sealed up before I lose any humidity. I'll do that for about a month. I'm about 1 week into this stage over in this thread https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/643320-gave-my-plant-chop-finished-3.html.

After that, I'll vacuum seal them for long term storage in a mix of pint and 1/2 pint mason jars.

Thank you very much for your input. A little side info, my drying room is stable @ 50% RH, 19C. The buds are on the larger side, once plants are trimmed everything lives in https://www.lamota.org/en/hanging-drying-rack-round/# until the whole thing (the rack collapses) goes into a large garbage bag. This is done so that the racks can be removed, expanded, and hung again with ease if need be. Ive essentially been using the method described in this thread, but never as exact, measuring RH etc.

Normally everything gets left on the racks until, by feel, its ready to go into the garbage bags to sweat. This time however, I started bagging the racks and measuring the RH periodically to get a feel for where I was on the humidity/schedule compared to my previous method. It required constant monitoring to be sure there is no chance of mold, and takes a little longer than my previous method, but I think it has been beneficial to compare my "feel" to actual humidity levels. Also, with my previous method, I always ran the risk of overdrying in the first stage.

A quick point of note: In the beginning, around hr 48, I had tried to use a large tupperware tub to attempt to recreate this method on a larger scale. I wasn't comfortable with the way everything settled and compressed in the bottom with the high humidity levels (73% after about 2 hrs, and still rising). I find that bagging the racks keeps everything somewhat separate, the humidity seems to be spread more evenly throughout the product this way, and the desired effect is still achieved.

Product had been on the racks for ~84 hrs, with around 12 of those hrs wasted bagging/tubbing and checking RH only to remove and continue to hang after getting readings of 70%+ in a very short time, and in bags now for 12hrs since last night. Everything is now stabilizing in the mid to high 60s and based on what Ive seen, I'm confident that after ~8 or so hrs of bags being open for airflow, I will be able to tie them up one last time for a solid 12-24 hrs stretch of curing at the optimal RH range. Then it will be vac-sealed for long term storage/cure.

All in all, Its a little more work and takes a little longer than my previous method. But I think I can shave off some time once I try it again, and maybe only be ~24 hrs behind the old way. After reading the science behind what actually happens when curing in the optimal range, the detrimental effects of overdrying, and the benefits of a quality cure, I'm confident that the small sacrifice of time and effort will be well worth it. And really, considering the process from seed to smoke, what is an extra 24 hrs to do things the right way?

Thanks for starting this thread!

 

[TechnoMage]

Thank you very much for your input. A little side info, my drying room is stable @ 50% RH, 19C. The buds are on the larger side, once plants are trimmed everything lives in https://www.lamota.org/en/hanging-drying-rack-round/# until the whole thing (the rack collapses) goes into a large garbage bag. This is done so that the racks can be removed, expanded, and hung again with ease if need be. Ive essentially been using the method described in this thread, but never as exact, measuring RH etc.

Normally everything gets left on the racks until, by feel, its ready to go into the garbage bags to sweat. This time however, I started bagging the racks and measuring the RH periodically to get a feel for where I was on the humidity/schedule compared to my previous method. It required constant monitoring to be sure there is no chance of mold, and takes a little longer than my previous method, but I think it has been beneficial to compare my "feel" to actual humidity levels. Also, with my previous method, I always ran the risk of overdrying in the first stage.

A quick point of note: In the beginning, around hr 48, I had tried to use a large tupperware tub to attempt to recreate this method on a larger scale. I wasn't comfortable with the way everything settled and compressed in the bottom with the high humidity levels (73% after about 2 hrs, and still rising). I find that bagging the racks keeps everything somewhat separate, the humidity seems to be spread more evenly throughout the product this way, and the desired effect is still achieved.

Product had been on the racks for ~84 hrs, with around 12 of those hrs wasted bagging/tubbing and checking RH only to remove and continue to hang after getting readings of 70%+ in a very short time, and in bags now for 12hrs since last night. Everything is now stabilizing in the mid to high 60s and based on what Ive seen, I'm confident that after ~8 or so hrs of bags being open for airflow, I will be able to tie them up one last time for a solid 12-24 hrs stretch of curing at the optimal RH range. Then it will be vac-sealed for long term storage/cure.

All in all, Its a little more work and takes a little longer than my previous method. But I think I can shave off some time once I try it again, and maybe only be ~24 hrs behind the old way. After reading the science behind what actually happens when curing in the optimal range, the detrimental effects of overdrying, and the benefits of a quality cure, I'm confident that the small sacrifice of time and effort will be well worth it. And really, considering the process from seed to smoke, what is an extra 24 hrs to do things the right way?

Thanks for starting this thread!

Yeah, my RH is much lower. Never gets above high 30s in my house. I'm also doing a much smaller amount. That hanging rack would be complete overkill. I'd need something closer to 35cm diameter and only 2 racks. I like the idea of leaving it on the rack and bagging. I need to see if I can do something similar.

Totally agree that it's worth the extra time to do it right. I'm going to cure it for a month before I vacuum seal it anyway.

Had some friends over the other night and cracked open a fresh jar that had been sealed about a year. My buddies couldn't believe the difference between some properly cured weed and the shit they had been smoking.

FYI, didn't start the thread, just contribute.