Self made drying/curing machine. Did some one has one?

I think most of people on this forum had same situation.
I start to grow in 2015.
My friend - old time grower bring me some GSC what he are selected, and some his seeds.
I had some difficulties to grow, but I did. I harvest some buds and try to dry them in different ways, some I dry outside in shed, some I dry inside room without AC, some of them dry inside room with AC, even some of them in microwave (got hight from going this way). The final product was ok.
At this time I was not smoking and actually newer see cured bud, except some Jamaican pressed staff what smells like ammonia.
So only way to see it was to go in Amsterdam), so I went to see how the properly cured top shelf bud suppose to look like.
I back home try to figure out, how to dry and cure to preserve most, so I start to experiments.
One evening I was sitting in restaurant and had idea and I start to draw on napkin.


Next day I start to order some parts to make build and from first run I got understand what I am already at different level of finish product.

It’s take 2 more years to figure out all temperatures and humidity levels and time, what you need to run. In 2017 I update my first version with some modifications.

and here some dry/cured buds, grown outside and cured for 11 months.

if it works, go with it....
time is the real agent in the curing process. all the carbohydrates, sugars, and chlorophyll need to break down in order to make the best smelling and tasting buds. controlling the temperature and humidity levels gives you a chance to optimize the whole process, to make sure that your material stays within the "sweet spot" while time does it's work.

Roger A. Shrubber said:

if it works, go with it....
time is the real agent in the curing process. all the carbohydrates, sugars, and chlorophyll need to break down in order to make the best smelling and tasting buds. controlling the temperature and humidity levels gives you a chance to optimize the whole process, to make sure that your material stays within the "sweet spot" while time does it's work.

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I don't really buy this. Isn't the bud, as well as the sugar leaves, green due to chlorophyll? Any time I find an old bud laying around that has faded in color, it is crazy harsh.

I've been trying to create is distinction between "curing" and "aging." To me curing is the equal distribution of a precise moisture level throughout the bud, and aging is what you're talking about. I've preserved buds for well over a year, and I can't really tell the difference. It's just less terpy.

lusidghost said:

I don't really buy this. Isn't the bud, as well as the sugar leaves, green due to chlorophyll? Any time I find an old bud laying around that has faded in color, it is crazy harsh.

I've been trying to create is distinction between "curing" and "aging." To me curing is the equal distribution of a precise moisture level throughout the bud, and aging is what you're talking about. I've preserved buds for well over a year, and I can't really tell the difference. It's just less terpy.

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some people say that longer is better, but i find that 3 months is usually a good amount of time, i agree with you about the loss of terps over longer storage times. but i think the three month period is needed, it seems to reach it's peak smell and taste around then, to me. i think most of the sugar and chlorophyll has broken down by then, and you still have a healthy amount of terpenes, although the more volatile ones will have probably evaporated by then.

You showed us the machine you built but not how it is used? More details would help. I find an air conditioned space with a triggered exhaust to work well and is very simple.

lusidghost said:

I don't really buy this. Isn't the bud, as well as the sugar leaves, green due to chlorophyll? Any time I find an old bud laying around that has faded in color, it is crazy harsh.

I've been trying to create is distinction between "curing" and "aging." To me curing is the equal distribution of a precise moisture level throughout the bud, and aging is what you're talking about. I've preserved buds for well over a year, and I can't really tell the difference. It's just less terpy.

Click to expand...

I’ve had jars that are two and three years old before that are a little harsh but still just as good as what It has when it was a few months old I just keep it in my closet it’s dark and cool no temperature swings I did notice it gets a lot more solid over time though.

Bud will lose 10% or more thc a year, and terpenes will fade also after 6 months or so. That isnt to say it cant be good still after a year but nobody in my 30+ year experience ever thought year old bud was as good as fresh.

If you suffer from cannabis paranoia it can help a lot to cure it long time. Some of the volatile terpenes that give head effects fade within 3 to 6 months.

Me, I like it as fresh as possible, I want max terpenes and head effects.

The magnificent magical marijuana mystery machine …… ( or not )

Dry, jar, smoke. That's all many of us do. We don't bother with the unnecessary step of curing.

Grow it and smoke it. No need to overcomplicate things. Curing weed is not a requirement. Many of us don't bother. Every simple cannabis related task gets turned into some time consuming convoluted process. I prefer to smoke my weed as soon as it is dry and ready to smoke not after it's been sitting around for months losing terpenes.