[Dion]

i want to see you build a micro sealed grow chamber

if anyone can do it its u

[Tbonegrower]

Digging the setup! I think I will pull up a chair as well.

[ReikoX]

Originally Posted by ice-cream

I'd certainly be interested to watch any build you did from the tech side of things. I dont think I'd have a need in my climate though ...

It sure would be interesting, but not sure how useful. I do hate dry trimming though

Originally Posted by Dion

i want to see you build a micro sealed grow chamber

if anyone can do it its u

I picture a shoe box sized grow chamber with a gigantic water cooled radiator, huge power supplies, and a bottle of CO2 slapped on the outside.

In all seriousness, these things barely keep up with the heat generated from fermenting beer. Though an experiment with a TEC cooled COB would be fun... hmm Google time!

Originally Posted by Tbonegrower

Digging the setup! I think I will pull up a chair as well.

Welcome to my corner of IC. I may show some plants soon, mostly it's been concentrates and cabs.

I've been getting lots of requests for more hard candies. This is the perfect opportunity to try decarbing some rosin. I had 2 grams of rosin.


I put it in a small petri dish with a lid. This was then put in the toaster oven set to 240°F for 40 minutes. The first 20 minutes or so it bubbled and fizzled like soda pop. After that the activity slowed.

Next to calculate how much ethanol to add.
WARNING, math ahead!

I used the "decarb values" of 71% THC. I was shooting for 20 mg/ml potency. So, (2000 mg • 0.71) / 20 mg = 71. I'll call it 70 ml. But wait, my recipe calls for 2 oz. of GD reduced to 1 oz. So I added 35 ml to get a potency of 40 mg/ml. Finally, I removed the extra 5 ml and set the rest aside for later. I then added back another 5 ml of fresh ethanol to give me an extra 10 ml at the normal 20 mg/ml potency. It came out to a nice amber color with a hint of pink to it. Very pretty looking.


Now for my favorite part, the bioassay of the potency. I put 10 drops in my morning coffee, and sipped it slowly. It is definitely decarbed and active. I just put six more drops in my second cup and looking forward my day.

I'll be making the cinnamon hard candies in the next day or two. The recipe makes about 120 pieces for a dose of about 10 mg each. One piece is a good medical dose, two is recreational, and three is a party.

[blynx]

Originally Posted by ReikoX

I am an engineer at heart, not just by trade. I'm sure any of you who have seen my builds will notice that. As a result I am always thinking about something. I like to design and build stuff, and often over engineer the simplest of projects.

So I've been reading about custom built drying rooms. Basically it is a sealed room with an air conditioner and dehumidifier. They then set the temperature and humidity for the ideal conditions (usually 60°F and 60%RH). But what about us micro guys? I live in an arid climate and often struggle to keep humidity up and slow the drying process. Small plants also dry a lot faster. So I started thinking about a drying cabinet.

First thing I looked at what was available off the shelf. Mostly everything was a cabinet with an inadequate filter. I did see one box that used a humidity controller and exhaust fans, but no odor control. Another was lined with Spanish cedar, but was almost $1000.

So I started to look at small dehumidifiers. They exist and are pretty reasonably priced. As they are designed though, they have no humidity control and heat up the air quite a bit. But the technology that drives them got my interest.

These small dehumidifiers use a Peltier, also known as a thermoelectric, plate. If you don't know, they basically move heat from one side (cold side) to the other side (hot side) when electricity is applied. They can even switch hot and cold sides by reversing polarity. They are also used in electric camping coolers, now we are getting somewhere!

While doing research I found a humidor that used one to control temperature. I found several fermentation chambers using these. I even saw a grow box using them for cooling. They were using almost 1000W to cool around 300W of lighting. Terribly inefficient, but under the right conditions may be useful. For example, they may work wonderfully to cool COB lighting similar to how they are used to cool PC chips.

So my idea is starting to form, but I'm debating if this project is worth the time and money. I can dry my weed in a shoe box with a bit of time and effort.

Basically I would need to build a well insulated cab with both temperature and humidity control. I would need to engineer it to use the peltier plates to dehumidifier and cool. Most likely an Arduino board and code to control it, which is something I've wanted to play with. Pricing out parts it would cost a bit more than I would like.

Basically I want a cab big enough to hang about 200 grams dry weight. It would have to be completely sealed for odor prevention, and of course the temperature and humidity control. The goal would be to wet trim the bud, hang it in the cab, set the temp and humidity and leave it. If it maintains well I may even cure in there.

What do you guys think? Should i even bother? It's definitely over engineered, but there is nothing like it on the market. I can see something like this being popular for small personal grows.

Maybe MacGyver a small fridge?

[Tbonegrower]

Your concentrate processing is very interesting. I have toyed with the idea of making rosin for a bit, as I only produce for myself and my girlfriend...

[ReikoX]

Originally Posted by blynx

Maybe MacGyver a small fridge?

That is a really good idea. Hook up the fridge to a temp controller and throw one of those small dehumidifiers in there. If I got a used fridge, it could be done for around $100 or so. It does fit all the design goals: stealthy, well insulated, air tight, environmental control... The only question is where would I put my concentrates, edibles, seeds, and beer?

[ReikoX]

Originally Posted by Tbonegrower

Your concentrate processing is very interesting. I have toyed with the idea of making rosin for a bit, as I only produce for myself and my girlfriend...

I only produce for myself. Thats the beauty of rosin, I feel it works best on small runs. With my press I can take a gram of bud, press it, and dab it on the nail in just a few minutes.

[Tbonegrower]

How much does a gram of bud usually yield? I am unclear on the conversion rate...

[blynx]

Originally Posted by ReikoX

That is a really good idea. Hook up the fridge to a temp controller and throw one of those small dehumidifiers in there. If I got a used fridge, it could be done for around $100 or so. It does fit all the design goals: stealthy, well insulated, air tight, environmental control... The only question is where would I put my concentrates, edibles, seeds, and beer?

I was thinking dorm sized since you mentioned smaller size, but if you went with full-size, you could probably figure a way to do the drying in the fridge side and storage in the freezer side (not necessarily freezing but different temp/humidity than the fridge side).

[ReikoX]

Originally Posted by Tbonegrower

How much does a gram of bud usually yield? I am unclear on the conversion rate...

I'm getting between 10-15% return with a single press. That turns out to be about 1-1.5 grams of rosin from each 10 grams of bud squished. Some strains yield more and I'm still experimenting to get closers to 20% yield.

Originally Posted by blynx

I was thinking dorm sized since you mentioned smaller size, but if you went with full-size, you could probably figure a way to do the drying in the fridge side and storage in the freezer side (not necessarily freezing but different temp/humidity than the fridge side).

Yeah, I was thinking the dorm sized one too. They also make wine coolers, and apparently thermoelectric cigar coolers. Though they seem to have bad reviews.

Originally Posted by ReikoX

I picture a shoe box sized grow chamber with a gigantic water cooled radiator, huge power supplies, and a bottle of CO2 slapped on the outside.

OK, so now I picture that shoebox sized growing chamber with a male in it happily doing its thing. Since it is sealed, as long as it isn't opened, there should be no unplanned pregnancies.

Last night I watered the coliseum and transplanted three new clones, but one was dead. Nothing was harvested this week. One of the plants, Holy Grail 69, was harvested last week at eight weeks. The other two, CBD and THC Juanita, I am going to let go ten weeks. I usually go eleven, but they look like they will be done on time.


Remember that Bubba Kush S1 I had germinating? Well, she (yes I am assuming it's female) is coming along nicely. She's working on her first set of five bladed leaves. The cabinet is running a little hot (85°F) with such a little plant in it. You can tell by the crinkly lower leaves. Next time I start seeds in here, I will keep them a little further from the lights until five nodes. She's almost big enough to start fully watering though, so temps and humidity should fall in line.


Finally a little preview of my next little project. I have tried two of these seeds and one cracked, but drowned because I left it in the water for too long. The next one cracked and never sprouted between the paper towels. I tried cracking a Bubba Kush S1 (see above) and had no issues. I assume the seeds are viable and the issue is something I am doing. The only two things I can think of are the seeds are not viable, or I tried to crack them too soon (24 hours) after taking them out of the refrigerator . These have been in a cool dry place for about two weeks.

I dropped five Lowryder mixed seeds in water. Hopefully a few will germinate this time. If they do, they will go in my PC. I can fit eight of my fabric pots in there. I will fill the rest with some Delicious auto flowering seeds: La Diva, The Devil, and The Muse. I also have a Samsara Ultraviolet if there is still room. I hope to get some males to collect pollen and make a bunch of auto seeds.