Pile of curing weed

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
Your right as far as im concerned. Op is drying at room temps (round 40c) and then at slightly higher than room temps (round 50ish C).

He probably isnt decarbing either as I dont think his temps are high enough.

Some science at 240F:

Results of Decarboxylation Experiment
The following charts show the results of the 30 minute and 60 minute decarboxylation experiments. Also included are the lab results from testing done prior to any artificial decarboxylation to establish a starting point. Note that because of the age of both the kief and the trim, decarboxylation had begun to take place to some degree naturally. This may not be your starting point, but should not affect the results of the experiment much.

Kief
Compound Before Decarb 30 Min Decarb 60 Min Decarb
THCA 24.5% 2.6% .1%
THC 3.8% 25.4% 25.5%
CBDA .6% .3% .3%
CBD 0% 1% .1%
CBN .4% 1% 1.4%
Moisture 0% 0% 0%
Total Cannabanoids 29.3% 30.3% 27.4%
Cannabis Trim
Compound Before Decarb 30 Min Decarb 60 Min Decarb
THCA 6.5% 2.9% .2%
THC .6% 4.8% 6.9%
CBDA .2% .2% .1%
CBD 0% 0% .1%
CBN 0% 0% 0%
Moisture 3.4% 4.5% 0%
Total Cannabanoids 7.3% 7.9% 7.3%
Testing provided by SC Labs

As you can see from the two charts, 30 minutes was not quite enough to completely decarboxylate either the kief or the trim. At 30 minutes the kief was about 90% decarboxylated but the trim was only about 60% decarboxylated. This difference is likely because the trim had a higher starting moisture content. After 60 minutes however, both keif and trim samples were close enough to 100% decarboxylation for my satisfaction.

So there you have it. 240° F for 60 minutes should be enough to decarboxylate any cannabis with a reasonably low moisture content. For material with higher moisture content, the time can be extended but the temperature should not be increased. If you are concerned about losing organic compounds, lower heat can be used but the time should be extended to compensate.


Extracted from http://www.marijuanagrowershq.com/decarboxylating-cannabis-turning-thca-into-thc/
Yeah, if your room temperature is 100 F. Pretty hot room but possible. But it is not far above room temperature. You need 95-105 F for the browning to proceed at a good rate. BTW this isn't a new thing. I just used different equipment to accomplish it than written in this page. They used 90 F, I used 100 F, considerably faster and more degreening. I wouldn't recommend lower than 95 but people can try 90 if they want, might work for them with a longer time. Then they raised it to 115 while I raised it to 125. Again, you can try different temps and see what works best.

The bottle with holes in the top does sound like a good method for very small amounts. It would let it breathe and also keep fairly high humidity inside, especially if the bottle was in a container of water as described in the page. I guess to avoid ruining covers you could just use plastic or whatever with holes poked in it.
 
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Flowki

Well-Known Member
People say you need low temp for a slow hang dry while the linked page suggests you keep 90f minimum?
Yeah, if your room temperature is 100 F. Pretty hot room but possible. But it is not far above room temperature. You need 95-105 F for the browning to proceed at a good rate. BTW this isn't a new thing. I just used different equipment to accomplish it than written in this page. They used 90 F, I used 100 F, considerably faster and more degreening. I wouldn't recommend lower than 95 but people can try 90 if they want, might work for them with a longer time. Then they raised it to 115 while I raised it to 125. Again, you can try different temps and see what works best.

The bottle with holes in the top does sound like a good method for very small amounts. It would let it breathe and also keep fairly high humidity inside, especially if the bottle was in a container of water as described in the page. I guess to avoid ruining covers you could just use plastic or whatever with holes poked in it.
So the two options is high heat at the cost of more energy consumption or months of time for a cooler cure?.

Not sure if any winners on this one.
 

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
People say you need low temp for a slow hang dry while the linked page suggests you keep 90f minimum?


So the two options is high heat at the cost of more energy consumption or months of time for a cooler cure?.

Not sure if any winners on this one.
You consider 90 or100 F high heat? This is F not C. It's also not hanging and drying, it's yellowing, or browning as I sometimes call it. The drying is done afterwards. You need high humidity for yellowing, like in the 80 or 90% rh range.
 

Cannaspace

Active Member
""The curing process takes place after the drying process and allows for a few further things to happen that increase the quality of the bud. Firstly, it gives bacteria time to break down the remaining chlorophyll in the plant matter. Chlorophyll is the green pigment found in pretty much any plant and it is a vital component for photosynthesis – the means by which plants create food for themselves. However, Chlorophyll contains magnesium which when burnt in a joint causes the smoke to be sharp and harsh. By curing the weed you remove a lot of this, dramatically increasing the overall quality of the smoking experience.""


did your way do all this ?
 

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
well i thought if you dry them to much, putting moister back in does nothing.

i may be wrong, i often am
That's only if you want to continue curing after they got dried out. Mine didn't get dried out until after the curing was completed. Adding moisture at that point improved the texture, which was the point of it.
 

Cannaspace

Active Member
""The second advantage of curing is that it allows further control of the moisture level of your bud. Drying bud removes water, resulting in a stronger and easy to burn product. However, the drier the bud gets the more it looses its taste and aroma – you need to strike a balance and assess where your priorities lie. By moving your harvest from drying to curing just at the point when it is dry enough to burn, but not burn very well, you gain a finite level of control over just how much moisture in your weed as it finishes.""


what you've done is dry too fast, you can't re-hydrate the flavor back
 

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
""The curing process takes place after the drying process and allows for a few further things to happen that increase the quality of the bud. Firstly, it gives bacteria time to break down the remaining chlorophyll in the plant matter. Chlorophyll is the green pigment found in pretty much any plant and it is a vital component for photosynthesis – the means by which plants create food for themselves. However, Chlorophyll contains magnesium which when burnt in a joint causes the smoke to be sharp and harsh. By curing the weed you remove a lot of this, dramatically increasing the overall quality of the smoking experience.""


did your way do all this ?
Yup, sure did.
 

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
""The second advantage of curing is that it allows further control of the moisture level of your bud. Drying bud removes water, resulting in a stronger and easy to burn product. However, the drier the bud gets the more it looses its taste and aroma – you need to strike a balance and assess where your priorities lie. By moving your harvest from drying to curing just at the point when it is dry enough to burn, but not burn very well, you gain a finite level of control over just how much moisture in your weed as it finishes.""


what you've done is dry too fast, you can't re-hydrate the flavor back
It took about 18 hours to dry it. I don't consider that fast. Now if I had put it in the microwave then that would be fast. But normally I don't let it overdry. It just happened that one time by accident. I consider taking 3 days or more to dry weed too slow. That's how you get mold, slow drying in cool temperatures. Drying weed at room temperature is very ineffective. The outside just gets dry and traps the rest of the water inside. With some heating in a closed container with the lid just cracked slightly it vaporizes out smoothly in about one day. It's not that I dry too fast, it's that you dry too slow.
 

Lucky Luke

Well-Known Member
If it was room temperature it would be a lot easier actually. I could have saved the cost of heating pads.
Give it another 3- 4 weeks and it will be, Only a couple of degrees C off in some parts in that pic.. Maybe you should consider moving to a better climate? lol.
 

prostheticninja

Well-Known Member
Ok.

I am harvesting a few in about 20 hours. As my crop is personal, I do not see the trouble in setting some aside as a variable group to test against a control.

hope youre dreaming about these brown plumpers. if you arent, well, you will be.
I did what I said I was going to do, however, I think my el cheapo heating pad didn't get as warm as yours. As a result, the heated nugget is pretty indistinguishable from the non heated, other than the fact that it is way crisper. To be fair, I only used the scrappier, larfy, shit so maybe it is better suited for bigger nugs that have less surface area and more moisture.

I can throw up pics, but like I said, each pile of nugs looks pretty similar.
 

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
I did what I said I was going to do, however, I think my el cheapo heating pad didn't get as warm as yours. As a result, the heated nugget is pretty indistinguishable from the non heated, other than the fact that it is way crisper. To be fair, I only used the scrappier, larfy, shit so maybe it is better suited for bigger nugs that have less surface area and more moisture.

I can throw up pics, but like I said, each pile of nugs looks pretty similar.
Yeah it's not that easy to do successfully. That's why only the elites have brown weed. For the heating pad you probably need a Sunbeam Xpressheat like I have. It also has to be in a closed container with blankets over it. For small amounts the jar in water method would probably be easiest. I don't know what would work best for the heating, something capable of very low temperatures. This stuff isn't easy, gotta use your head to figure it out. Maybe ask the guy who posted his browned bud pick what he used. His handle is ILLwannabe.
 

ILLwannabe

Active Member
Yeah it's not that easy to do successfully. That's why only the elites have brown weed. For the heating pad you probably need a Sunbeam Xpressheat like I have. It also has to be in a closed container with blankets over it. For small amounts the jar in water method would probably be easiest. I don't know what would work best for the heating, something capable of very low temperatures. This stuff isn't easy, gotta use your head to figure it out. Maybe ask the guy who posted his browned bud pick what he used. His handle is ILLwannabe.
Well thank you, I wouldn't consider myself elite tho.

My setup was pretty easy, just my closet. I had my dehumidifier going in the small enclosed area, then I had the mason jars in the top part of the closet soaking in the heat. This was roughly 90-100, maybe even close to 110 degrees F. Anyways, I would watch these jars very closely, every couple hours they needed to be "popped", opened, dumped out and turned (As moisture was visible on the inside). It literally sounded like I was removing a cork from a champagne bottle. Did this for a few days. Never really lost any moisture content throughout the whole process, but the colors did change. After a few days of this, I decided they were "dry" squishy but not wet. So I brown bagged them for a few days, turning once or twice a day. Then put them in mason jars after they became "less squishy" almost hard, like normal.

After that they just cure like normal, burp based on RH of jar.
 
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