The Water Cure

[Guest]

Again, it's my opinion you are ruining your bud this way, even if SOME resin is lost in the drying process, it can't be anything compared to what this cure is taking from it.

THC isn't water soluable, but that doesn't mean it's not just washing away! And you put your buds in a pool! A dirty one at that!

What exactly are the gains to this method compared to air drying? NONE! This method only spares on time supposedly, but only by several days!

You have waited MONTHS for your buds, why is it so important to spare DAYS just to mess up your bud!

 

[mpd]

Okay. We have your opinion down - it's waste, time-consuming, stupid, and icky.

The pool served to prove the hypothetical that outdoor growers can place their harvest in any large body of freshwater and have it cure.

I'm allowing for the fact that the first time was a fluke. If the results are equitable to those of the air cure, this would mean the time for product development was just cut by 30 days.

The other potential benefits will manifest themselves or they won't.

Can you at least wait to poop on the thread until we get the cure done?

 

[Guest]

Please excuse mmy pooping

Please excuse mmy pooping

I suppose time will tell whether or not your theory works.

But if I saw one of my friends doing it I would feel compelled to stop them.

 

[zunny]

Well, I did this with about 1/4 oz of fresh air dried bud.

I put them in a quart mason jar, covered with water and placed in a warm (75-80F), dark place. I changed the water every 12 hours. After the third day I laid them on a screen in the same dark place with a small fan circulating (indirectly).

I'm a believer! The bud had ZERO Green/chloyroform taste. It tasted like it had been cured in a mason jar for at least two months.... It was brown in color and every bit as potent as it's sister weed harvested the same day.

It is a pain in the ass but definately worth it. Give it a shot! Do a small amount next time you harvest and see for yourself!

Thanks MPD!

 

[Guest]

"I'm a believer! The bud had ZERO Green/chloyroform taste. "

"I'm a believer! The bud had ZERO Green/chloyroform taste. "

If I do it it will be with an 1/8, but I still don't know if I am going to....

 

[Satans pal]

I have heard before, to extend the shelf life of MJ for up to 2 yrs, you take a clear potent alcohol like ever-clear and put your buds in it. Anyone hear this before? SP

 

[mpd]

I would think the alcohol would create a suspension as a THC laced tincture that would easily boil off. That would be surprising, but I fear not as efficient as freezing the bud. I've read more than one reference to freezing your bud (unseeded) for long-term storage.

Gunny is right. We had a smoke test on that latest batch and it is a three-hit affair for a strong 2 1/2 hour buzz. I don't think the potency suffered but will have a head to head test in about a month. We had three (3) of those blue plastic Walmart shopping bags full of trimmed bud when we started. We ended up with two (2) 1-gallon freezer bags full of bud and two (2) extra four finger bags of bud, plus the trim which filled a standard brown paper bag.

 

[Satans pal]

I assume that vacuum packing would be the best for freezing bud. I wonder if it would fluff back when you thawed.

 

[coriander]

Thanks for sharing

Thanks for sharing

I like the sounds of the water curing method MPD describes, and I will surely try it myself if I get the chance.

 

[zunny]

I assume that vacuum packing would be the best for freezing bud. I wonder if it would fluff back when you thawed.

If you just try to vacuum seal some bud, you will end up with Homegrown brick weed! LOL

I put it in one of those disposable glad pint containers and THEN vacuum seal it. Works great.

Whatever you do, DO NOT try and vacuum seal just the BUD without somthing to protect the bud from getting all crushed....

Yes, I learned this the hard way! LOL

 

[SITULA]

im game have have some plants ready to be chopped in a few weeks i will do a branch!

do i cut and trim all the leaves off were as normaly i would let them dry for a few days befor removng all the leaf mater?

lol should be fun

 

[Ono Nadagin]

THIS PROCEEDURE WILL RESULT IN LOSS OF THC GLANDS

THIS PROCEEDURE WILL RESULT IN LOSS OF THC GLANDS

With out a doubt this process will result in the loss of thc glands...

the use of hot water(if ever tried) will changed the chemical make up of the canabinoids... and thc glands lost to the submersion.

the use of cold water or dry ice as mentioned above will result in even more loss of THC glands than cool to room temp water as the stalks become brittle when chilled.

If you doubt anything I say and wish for a confirmation, direct your questions to Bubbleman in the Hash forum..... He knows more about what happens when you put bud into water than anyone else on the planet.

The only way I might try this is if I did the dunking/submerging in my 5 gallon 6 bag set of bubblebags so I can get hte glands that WILL fall off in the bathes/dunkings/submergins.... wich ever you call it..... so at least the glands are not a total loss

Bet hell I also air dry/cure mine in containers that allow me to collect anything that is lost in handling during curing.... good to the last dropped drop
~~~~~~
EDIT
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Sorry to have rambled on when I could have just ditto'd Natethegreat.... guess I shoulda read the whole post before spouting off.

 

[mpd]

Okay. Have a mid-cure report and the conventional wisdom folks are going to be disappointed, I fear.

At the end of Day 21 of the air cure period, the following observations were recorded:

1. Appearance - the air cured bud is light green in color while the water cured bud is dark green and brown resembling tea.

2. Feel - the air cured bud has a decidedly higher air content in the bud mass as opposed to the water cured bud. The water cured bud is spongy as well, but is relatively compact compared to the air cured bud.

3. Smell - sorry, I have a terrible head cold, so this part will have to wait until next week for a comment.

4. Taste - the air cured bud is acrid with grassy overtones and has much higher lung expansion properties. You will cough on every hit. The water cured bud is smooth with no acrid overtones. Other smokers have commented on the smoothness of the water cured product and like the hashy flavor.

5. Punch - both products produced relatively the same effects after three (3) hits were taken with the glass pipe. When I am well next week, I'll have some more information on this.

Bottom line, the water cured product seems to be holding its own in this test. We will have another test (blind) for the final comparison. We will be using five (5) people for the blind testing and I will report the results in detail.

 

[Guest]

FYI

FYI

Water curing has been done forever. I knew people in northern Cali who did it in the 80s and I know indoor growers on other boards who do it still with every harvest. Apparently removing the clorophyll is worth losing a few glands, and if your weed is potent enough to begin with, the loss is negligible. Ive never even thought about this for many years, interesting memories revised!

 

[mpd]

Okay. The air cure process has been given a total of 34 days. Do we want the air cure to go longer, or do we want to commence the testing now?

I want this to be as fair as possible so there can be no carping on the outcome of the test. The other posters in this thread are encouraged to weigh in with their preferences. If everyone is comfortable with 34 days of total curing time, we will do the blind test immediately. If the other posters in this thread wish for the cure to go longer, I'll be happy to oblige...

 

[zunny]

You have nothing to prove to me...

I have been using the water method for the last two harvests. I do half water and half the old fashioned way..... Works perfect for me.

 

[rasputen]

4. Taste - the air cured bud is acrid with grassy overtones and has much higher lung expansion properties. You will cough on every hit. The water cured bud is smooth with no acrid overtones. Other smokers have commented on the smoothness of the water cured product and like the hashy flavor.

OK, I'm water curing _some_ of my next lovers in my 75micron alage net I got online.

I have really been needing a better cure to make it smoother.
And the hashy taste......I spent 2 years in the 'Battle Of The Bowl'
(US Army-Germany) and still dream of the flavors of the world hash stash that beatified my 70's so well

And Gunny,

Yeah the old brick even sucks when it's some fine home lovin' sweet smoke. I lean toward the poly carb vac for burping stage then mason widemouth vac'ed up tight & safe.
I also do vac during burp but wrap a fresh paper sack around the jar inside to act as a humidity 'buffer', I cure this stage slower than usual.It seems to mellow nicely.

Sometimes I take an Altoids box[paper & dust intact] & load it as a present then cure it in a vac bag. My best friend goes beserk when she gets the one with cinnimon/horny~devil girl

Ooophs....I do digress a LOT!!!!

 

[mpd]

Greenman's Seed Page offers some information on flavoring crops. Any of the extracts (vanilla, banana, orange, etc.) added to the final flush (allowing for the plant to almost dehydrate first) will be sucked up into the plant provided the time between the flush and the cut is in the 30 minutes to 60 minute window...

 

[Satans pal]

Where is the smoke report?
SP

 

[mpd]

My apologies for not posting the final smoke report on the air cure versus water cure methods.

The strain tested was Dman's RW-13 (Panama Red by White Widow by G-13). The test and control samples came from the same branch of one of the plants.

We had the opportunity to have a total of five (5) testers do the test. I requested consecutive smoking sessions, but I have no way of knowing how the other smokers actually did the test as I was not with any of these individuals when they did the testing.

Here are the issues:

1. All five testers agreed that there was no difference in potency between the air cured and water cured samples.

2. All five testers agreed that the two samples tasted entirely different from one another.

3. All five testers agreed that the water cured sample had a better taste and smoke.

May all your grows be sticky...