Finish drying my bud in the freezer in my kitchen?!?

Love the thread Gill, I had experience with this phenomena in the early eighties. I harvested my plants, hung them until there was still moisture left and decided not to dry them out into hay, so I froze them so they would not mold. I had a sweet taste to my herb as a result. Similar to what happens to potatoes if they are frozen or even close to frozen. Interesting to have it confirmed by Rosenthal. You have got me trying this method on my current outdoor harvest. Hung to dry until the outer leaves are crisp but the inner leaves, stems and buds still are moist. Put it in pizza boxes and froze in the fridge freezer overnight. I took it out and it already smells better once it thawed. While storing in the freezer for longer would be fine, I am in a hurry because I have very little freezer space and a large harvest. So I am going to pass all the bud through the freezer once just until frozen and then thaw, dry further until I jar. I think this will work fairly well, I will update. eloquents experience with a frozen grow room is interesting. Makes me wonder what would happen if I left my plants outside to freeze. I think sublimation is the best description of what is happening here. There may be a weak vacuum in the frost free freezers as the fan exhausts the moisture laden air so it does not freeze to the compartment walls. I don't think a chest freezer would be quite so active but it still works. I live where winters are severe and cold. I think I will try curing outdoors this winter when I have an indoor harvest. If you hang laundry outside on the line in winter it will dry over several days as it freezes. My herb should do the same.

Just chopped some buds and am water curing a sample of the buds. I was wondering if I finished dried the for a day and throw them in the freezer if it would be worth it or not.

Great thread Gill. You deserve a "sticky" (whatever that is). I'm trying this!

Tagged

rangergord said:

... I am in a hurry because I have very little freezer space and a large harvest. So I am going to pass all the bud through the freezer once just until frozen and then thaw, dry further until I jar. I think this will work fairly well, I will update...

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I don't have enough experience or knowledge with this method to say this without a doubt but I'll go ahead and give my opinion on your plan. I don't see the harm in doing what you've described but I also don't see how you'll be able to benefit much from your buds being in the freezer such a short period of time. One major advantage, and one reason it works so well, is that your buds are in an "ideal" environment whilst curing instead of being exposed to light and air with a "jar cure". I don't believe it is the actual temperature that gives the awesome results, I believe it is the process of sublimation at work! Does that make sense?

szachtb2 said:

Just chopped some buds and am water curing a sample of the buds. I was wondering if I finished dried the for a day and throw them in the freezer if it would be worth it or not.

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I wouldn't put buds that are overly moist in a freezer, I'd be too worried about the water freezing and expanding doing damage to the buds and trichomes. I'd wait until stems are beginning to snap at least. I encourage you to try either way though and share your results here so that we all know what works better and what doesn't work quite so well. Good luck!

Midnite Toker said:

Great thread Gill. You deserve a "sticky" (whatever that is). I'm trying this!

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Thanks bro Try it and share your success story with us here after you've smoked your first bowl of freezer cured homegrown. I can't wait to hear back from you!



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Was gonna try to air cure, water cure, and freezer dry. and maybe some water cured with final dry in freezer once dry enough to put in freezer. I will be doing this with multiple strains each getting all of the techniques of curing. Will post smoke report in about 20 days

szachtb2 said:

Was gonna try to air cure, water cure, and freezer dry. and maybe some water cured with final dry in freezer once dry enough to put in freezer. I will be doing this with multiple strains each getting all of the techniques of curing. Will post smoke report in about 20 days

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That sounds like a whole lot going on all at once but if I were in a position to, I'd experiment and experiment and experiment some more too. That is how we will figure out the "best" way to do this thing!



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jus'plain'gill said:

I didn't let my buds get dry enough to where the stem "snapped" but I did use the amount of flex in the stem as an indicator as to when they were dried enough. I would say I left as much moisture in the buds as I could without making mold growth likely over long term storage. I have buds that are still just as "fresh" as the day I put them in the jars they're in 6+months ago. It burns perfectly to a clean white ash but if there was too much more moisture you wouldn't be able to keep a joint lit, perfect. I figured it would take me a while to get through all this smoke and I didn't want to end up with dry, crumbly dust weed by the time I was getting towards the bottom of the last jars.

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I do exactly that...Just a little more drying time via inside a paperbag for 6 hours..then in the jars they go and in the freezer until ready to smoke...it's just like the day you put them in the jar on the first day.I tried doing it without the freezer and it's a hassle watching and burping the jars and picking up a non weed smell that never happens when good weed comes across the land or room-mates.I bet that weed was IN the freezer before it was let loose in the wild for friends to smoke.

TNTBudSticker said:

I do exactly that...Just a little more drying time via inside a paperbag for 6 hours..then in the jars they go and in the freezer until ready to smoke...it's just like the day you put them in the jar on the first day.I tried doing it without the freezer and it's a hassle watching and burping the jars and picking up a non weed smell that never happens when good weed comes across the land or room-mates.I bet that weed was IN the freezer before it was let loose in the wild for friends to smoke.

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So you not only cure your pot in the freezer but you also store it in there, sealed up in jars, for the long term? I have considered doing that but instead I just leave them jarred up at room temperature in a dark place. If I thought my harvest would last more than 6-12 months I would probably store some in the freezer but it gets smoked before then so I'm not sure if I would see much benefit from freezer storing my pot. Any thoughts from your perspective?



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Thanks for posting this, I'm gonna give it a try soon.

just harvested yesterday...might have to try a branch from each plant. sounds interesting. thanks!

I hope you do litebuzz! Goodluck to you

Hey .jpg, first I'd like to say thanks for the idea and the tread!

The first try using the freezer hasn't worked out so far. I'm pretty sure it's just user error though, so...

I think the mistake was in the choice of container. Used a glass tupperware container (without the lid) to hold the green in the freezer. The container slid perfectly into a brown paper bag, with the thought that it would help protect it from prying eyes and the occasional glow of the freezer light. So picture a box with five sides made of glass and the top made of a single layer of paper bag.

The green was chopped, manicured and hung for three days before heading into the freezer. It was in there for three weeks and only opened a few times for sampling. After coming out of the freezer and warming up it's still pretty moist. The jar hygrometer puts the RH at around 73%. It doesn't seem messed up at all though, just that it hasn't dried out much.

I think maybe the glass + bag didn't allow enough gas exchange with the rest of the freezer for the green to dry out properly. I'm going to keep an eye out for the right size cardboard box and give it another go.

Anyway, just my contribution to science

sirbudsalot said:

Hey .jpg, first I'd like to say thanks for the idea and the tread!

The first try using the freezer hasn't worked out so far. I'm pretty sure it's just user error though, so...

I think the mistake was in the choice of container. Used a glass tupperware container (without the lid) to hold the green in the freezer. The container slid perfectly into a brown paper bag, with the thought that it would help protect it from prying eyes and the occasional glow of the freezer light. So picture a box with five sides made of glass and the top made of a single layer of paper bag.

The green was chopped, manicured and hung for three days before heading into the freezer. It was in there for three weeks and only opened a few times for sampling. After coming out of the freezer and warming up it's still pretty moist. The jar hygrometer puts the RH at around 73%. It doesn't seem messed up at all though, just that it hasn't dried out much.

I think maybe the glass + bag didn't allow enough gas exchange with the rest of the freezer for the green to dry out properly. I'm going to keep an eye out for the right size cardboard box and give it another go.

Anyway, just my contribution to science

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Did you already get your RH right or is it still "fresh"? If it is moist still, my recommendation to you would be to just put it back in the freezer and let it go another few days (or 2 weeks if thats what it needs) until the hygrometer shows a proper RH. I experienced different lengths of time with the few runs I did through my freezer, mostly because I didn't let them dry as much prior to freezering after the 2nd and 3rd harvests. I figured the slower the cure, the better. I think I let some go 5+ weeks and it turned out A+

As for your tupperware and paper sack container, my only concern would be the glass comprising 5 of the 6 sides of your container may hinder gas exchange. At the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if the paper sack top is enough to allow for the slow process of sublimation to take place properly. Keep us updated and good luck!



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litebuzz said:

just harvested yesterday...might have to try a branch from each plant. sounds interesting. thanks!

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What up everyone I have a bubba kush nug drying out testing this out. Ill report back ib a couple days.

How'd your harvest go litebuzz

Here is an interesting little update.

Although I haven't grown or harvested any buds in the past 9 months or so, I actually still have my "freezer cure" experiment going strong. Out of my last harvest a certain number of the biggest buds became infected with mold and, instead of just throwing them out, I left them in the freezer to wait for ISO hash oil making. Being the procrastinator I am, these moldy buds are still in my freezer today in the same environmental conditions as the first day (cardboard box open to the freezer). In my haste to get the buds in the freezer I wasn't totally diligent in separating the moldy buds from the unaffected buds, I definitely erred on the side of caution... meaning: there are buds without any mold still in my freezer.

Currently, I am running very low (very, very low) on buds from my last harvest which has led me to pick through the moldy buds looking for safely smokeable pot. Here is where I came to a surprising discovery: Excellently cured marijuana! I was surprised as I was fully expecting bud that was dry as dust and would be harsh to smoke. As it turns out, the opposite is actually the case here. The buds still have a nice texture to them, seems like the perfect amount of moisture is still retained in the bud. The smoke is very smooth, has a great flavor, and all thats left after the bowl has been smoked is a very white ash. This is all after 9 months of being undisturbed (essentially forgotten about) in my freezer.

I'm not sure any method of curing could be as foolproof as that!! (EASY MODE!!!)

Another detail I have to note is color. The color of the pot that I've been smoking for the past 9 months has changed from the bright green that was present after harvest into a more "dingy" green currently. The bud in my "room temperature" stash has what I would call a typical color/appearance. The bud that has been in the freezer for 9 months is still bright green, to the point I'd say it looks unnatural. I love it!! It's like neon green or something

edit: here is a picture


Kali Mist buds. Color comparison between bud that was kept in the freezer for 10 months (in an open cardboard box) and bud that was kept in an airtight container in a dark environment at room temperature. Room temp bud on left and freezer bud on right.

However, I can't say I notice much of a difference in the high/stone/buzz that is produced. The notable differences are in appearance, taste, and texture of smoke. If anybody has thoughts on this, please do share!

Take care all



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Bump!

I've successfully used this technique (sort of), but it works far more slowly for me. This last batch that I've got going went into the freezer (in a large, shallow, uncovered box) 3-1/2 weeks ago. I had air-dried the buds for 4 days prior to putting them in the freezer, and they measured 70% humidity when I tested a small bunch of them in a jar. Yesterday I pulled out another sample, let it thaw out, jarred it up and and let it sit for a several hours. Still at 70%! I'm using a late-model frost-free refrigerator/freezer with a bottom freezer.

The last time I did it, I had the buds frozen for several weeks and still had to use the jar/burping method to finish them off. Anyone got any ideas?

rives said:

Anyone got any ideas?

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I'm not a physicist or anything - but I would try taking them in and out. I've found that my coffee stays fresher in air tight container at room temperature. Because of the condensation freezing and then evaporation at room temp it dries out really quickly with just taking it out the freezer daily over the course of a week. I imagine that bud would be similar.

Pine

i keep coffee in the fridge, and only pull it out once a week to load up the grinder.

good system