curing the dank in the dank pacnw

[chappie]

Hello-

I live in Coastal Oregon where humidity is often 80%+ for months upon months at a time. I sometimes have to dry my crop using a dehumidifier. With this, I am able to get it down to 55% or so and then cure in jars.

A problem arises as I open the jars to "burp" or later, when the cure is complete but simply when fetching a supply to consume. The buds quickly rehumidify. I have mostly gotten used to this, and accepted that my buds are simply softer than I would like, and they never quite complete the curing process to my satisfaction. Since I am my own consumer, this is something I can tolerate.

However, I just had a guest to whom I had shared a sample. As he travelled, the buds I gave him dried out a fair bit and cured quite remarkably. I could still recognize them as my own but they were much improved!

This has re-invigorated my interest in getting on top of the humidity and curing issues.

Since I have a perpetual garden, I don't want to have to run the dehumidifier for months at a time just to cure small quantities (perhaps 4-8 ounces at a time). I am open to doing this in some kind of box or cabinet, and this is my best idea so far. Perhaps something the size of a fridge, with the dehumidifier inside it. I have seen people suggest cigar beads or those bags which either hydrate or dehydrate based on context. Those sound great, but also seem like they are disposable after a while and I would need great quantities for the number of jars I deal with.

Certainly some of you are in the PacNW and can relate. I probably live in a draftier, clammier house than you but if you have dealt with this issue, please let me know what you have found to do about it! The local growers I know are rather ignorant in their curing methods (some actually use dehydrators for drying - which leads to terrible product IMO).

The grow guides etc don't ever address this, they always assume that opening your jars will lower humidity - but when I leave a stash jar open, the buds will be too soft the next day. Halp!
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[trichrider]

do your branches ever snap?
i have a box with a fan that pushes air in and then out through holes drilled out the back.
humidity here is consistently above 70%, but the only way to get branches to snap is to burn those mofos!
gums up the grinder a bit, but i prefer it that way as it's easier to roll than dried out dust- like powder. Dehuey in a box? nimo, constant slow airflow works for me.

 

[chappie]

Yes I get the stems to snap - I use a dehumidifier for the drying process (takes about 2 weeks). I do this in a bathroom for indoor harvests and in the attic of my barn for outdoor harvests. Works well for drying. My question is what to do AFTER that, as I don't want to run the DH for 2 more months if I don't have to. It occurred to me that putting it into a closet-sized box would allow it to run less often, and make a walk-in humididor or curing room. Before I work on such a project, though, I wanted some other opinions since I cannot be the only one trying to grow the dank in this mossy area.

 

[qbert]

I feel for you, but don't have much advice. Have been grinning over my perfect cure room, here in the midwest a corner room with the heat vents shut stays at 55* and 60-70% humidity. I just let the chopped stuff hang or sit on screens in a moderately ventilated tent in the room and jarring isn't required until almost 2 weeks, at which point they are already dank as f. Impossible to screw up with the temps below 60.

I've really leaned towards tents vs boxes. A GL60 can dry a crapload. What I did was take bamboo sticks and zip strip 2 across each side of the tent to the poles and then stretched some non-metallic screen over the bamboo sticks and zip stripped them in place. I can get a dozen shelves and hanging plants over the top. A Can 9000 filter and a S&P TD-100 fan on low speed suck a nice amount of air through the tent.

 

[chappie]

Part of the problem is that the curing phase in jars requires daily attention (also the opening and closing of jars after 15 or 30 mins or whatever) but my grow is in an outbuilding. So I usually have all the jars in my house for easy access.

Most people probably have a nice comfortable house that is ideal for curing, but I live in a wood-heated house in the rainy forested woods. My grow has decent environmental controls, much better than my house! My house is cold at night and very humid (~80%) most of the fall and winter. So even my stash jars for smoking get too damp if I leave them open. I know that sounds absurd but I also know I can't be the only one out here.

I guess one answer is build a new house! But in the meantime, I want to work with what I have...

 

[trichrider]

no you don't need a new house!
the humidor or drying box is the ticket!
dark cool airflow will suffice.
i also live up here (pnw) so i know what that 'mossy' comment is all about, not to worry though, if your stems snap when you bend them then the time is right to jar them up.
Only once in 3 years have i had to throw an orange rind in a jar to raise the moisture, and i never leave my jars open for longer than it takes to remove my daily requirement, so burping your jars should take only a few minutes.
hope this helps.

 

[ganjaments]

Have you thought about using a desiccant? You could just put it into the bottom of a sealed container, and put your open jars on top of the desiccant.

 

[schwagg]

a lil time in a dehydrater?

 

[chappie]

I'm testing using rice in a couple jars. Problem with that setup is that I have way too many jars to manage. Perhaps next year I'll use a large tote or similar for curing.

Its actually drying out here a bit since it got so cold.

This was all more of a "for the future" thing anyway. My outdoor harvest was so large and overwhelming, I was afraid of losing it to mold but only lost a 2oz jar out of (many). It still has not cured quite right, though, and like I said above, some that I gave to a friend who travelled to drier areas came back smelling wonderful.

 

[ganjaments]

Try damp-rid or silica Gel. These products are made specifically to remove moisture from the air. Just don't put it in direct contact with your flowers.