FinestKind
Member
Hello Simon,
Welcome back and congrats!
A few of us were wondering if you could share your technique for drying before the cure? Thanks!
FK
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A perfect cure every time
- Thread starter simon
- Start date
Hello Simon,
Welcome back and congrats!
A few of us were wondering if you could share your technique for drying before the cure? Thanks!
FK
Thank you.
Sure, though I'm afraid it's not terrible exciting. I trim wet, as closely as possible, then hang dry. I use (wood) dowel-based towel drying racks. They're 3' wide and 5' high with 10x3' individual "shelves" in each. Plastic-coated large paper clips are used as hangers. This time of year, ~70F room temp and ~30% humidity, the product is fairly dry to the touch in about 3 days. During the summer, it takes a week. As such, the hygrometer is great for insuring a degree of consistency.
Simon
FinestKind
Member
It's interesting, I've seen so many different dry times and techniques- from your 3 days up to a week, pretty much... it seems the most important part is the cure itself, and less so the actual dry- would you guys agree?
Thanks,
FK
FinestKind
Member
No i wouldn't agree. Though I understand where you're coming from...
Overdry your bud and no matter what you do, curing isn't going to happen.
Not dry enough, and in the process of curing - you run the risk of mold.
There is some leeway with drying time, but if you're not somewhat within that window/range - there goes all your time & hard work up in harsh nasty smoke....
Let me rephrase...
The amount of time that it takes to properly dry your crop matters less than the actual cure... a proper dry is still important, but the amount of time it actually takes to get there is less important... whether or not one leaves the plants whole or hangs them in parts, uses drying racks or clothesline, manicures wet or dry, is less important than the actual cure... I guess that's what I'm getting at.
FK
I had some Sour Diesel hanging for 4 days in a cardboard box, that I may have hung for a day too long. After putting into jars for about half a day, my rh is reading in the 40's. Is this too low, or did I mess up by letting them dry out too much?? Thanks for the help.
^^^ This has been my experience.
Are you using a CaliberIII? How does the product feel to the touch right now, after sitting in the jar for about a day?
Simon
No, it ultimately doesn't really matter, unless we're talking a few flowers in a huge jar. The air space can delay an accurate reading, but the difference in time isn't very big. I do it all the time. Usually, a half-full gallon jar. Good luck.
Simon
M
milehighmedical
.
I don't really have a choice, aside from bulding a room and making into a humidor of sorts. It's certainly doable; I just haven't found the need.
I grow 4 bread and butter strains. Each stain has its own "wet weed" smell, if you will, before it begins to cure.
It will allow the product to dry slowly without the fear of mold. I don't think this function is as important as the cure after the drying period, but it certainly can't hurt. My standard cure is 8-10 weeks. At that point, it's difficult to impossible to tell the difference in drying time, at least for me.
Simon
FWIW, I dry ~5lbs each run using 1-2gal containers. Love the idea of a humidity-controlled room. Maybe one day.
As I mentioned, it's very dry here during the winter months. Product dries in 2-3 days. I take it down before the stems snap, jar immediately, and empty out the container when the humidity inside is over 70%. After the product air-dries - only a few hours at this stage and the ambient RH - it's jarred again and aired again after the humidity inside the jar reaches a certain percentage. This goes on for a few days, until the product begins to sit at 60-65%. I prefer it closer to 65%. Then, it's a matter of time. For my situation, the quicker I can get the flowers into the curing stage, the faster I can get rid of the crop.
Simon
M
milehighmedical
.
No Hassle Curing Jars
No Hassle Curing Jars
First off, hats off to Simon for posting this great info.
I definately see an improvement in quality, smell and taste by following Simon's guidelines.
I wanted to share a little find I discovered for cheap, no-hassle curing/storage jars.
Disclaimer....These jars are not big enough for curing pounds at a time, but work well for small harvests and storage for personal use.
Take one Mason Golden Harvest 16 oz jar. Ball also makes 16 and 32 oz. jars that use the same size lid. These are not the widemouth lids BTW.
These have the standard 2 part lid. The id of the ring is 2-3/16"
Take one Western Instrument analog hygrometer. These have an od of 2-1/4" across the front bezel. The back side is smaller diameter (about 2"). I bought these for $6 each at a local cigar shop. Performed a calibration using the salt test method and all three were within 2% of 75% RH.
Apply a couple of drops of superglue to the back edge of the hygrometer where the front bezel and back plate are joined together. The lip the tool is pointing to mates perfectly with the lid ring. I used the spudging tool in the photo to apply the glue to keep thing from getting messy.
Set the ring from the jar lid on the hygrometer and allow the glue to dry. The fit is perfect out of the box.
Once the glue is dry, you can apply a bead of silicone on the top of the lid to ensure your lid is leak free. Unfortunately, my tube of silicone had dried out so I havent done that yet. I am also on the lookout for some thin gasket material so I can fashion a gasket for the ring and keep things tighter. I would let the glue dry for a good day before exposing your precious buds to any vapors which might volatilize from the drying glue.
Once done, insert your favorite product, and enjoy peace of mind that your nugz are at the proper RH.
So easy, a caveman can do it.
No Hassle Curing Jars
First off, hats off to Simon for posting this great info.
I definately see an improvement in quality, smell and taste by following Simon's guidelines.
I wanted to share a little find I discovered for cheap, no-hassle curing/storage jars.
Disclaimer....These jars are not big enough for curing pounds at a time, but work well for small harvests and storage for personal use.
Take one Mason Golden Harvest 16 oz jar. Ball also makes 16 and 32 oz. jars that use the same size lid. These are not the widemouth lids BTW.
These have the standard 2 part lid. The id of the ring is 2-3/16"
Take one Western Instrument analog hygrometer. These have an od of 2-1/4" across the front bezel. The back side is smaller diameter (about 2"). I bought these for $6 each at a local cigar shop. Performed a calibration using the salt test method and all three were within 2% of 75% RH.
Apply a couple of drops of superglue to the back edge of the hygrometer where the front bezel and back plate are joined together. The lip the tool is pointing to mates perfectly with the lid ring. I used the spudging tool in the photo to apply the glue to keep thing from getting messy.
Set the ring from the jar lid on the hygrometer and allow the glue to dry. The fit is perfect out of the box.
Once the glue is dry, you can apply a bead of silicone on the top of the lid to ensure your lid is leak free. Unfortunately, my tube of silicone had dried out so I havent done that yet. I am also on the lookout for some thin gasket material so I can fashion a gasket for the ring and keep things tighter. I would let the glue dry for a good day before exposing your precious buds to any vapors which might volatilize from the drying glue.
Once done, insert your favorite product, and enjoy peace of mind that your nugz are at the proper RH.
So easy, a caveman can do it.
D
dubdi3mond
thats sweet, +rep
I started harvesting a few branches from some of my plants and have had great success using the caliber III with Simons method and just bought 2 more caliber IIIs should be here in a few days by the time I need them when I chop the lot of the plants down and they are ready for jars I will have 3 caliber IIIs to work with so just wanted to say thanks Simon for this method! (Strains are WoS Strawberry Blue, WoS Pakistan Valley, DNA Lemon Skunk, and RP Kandy Kush. Yum yum!)
M
Mr.Hank
Great!! definitely gonna be trying this. Thanks.
