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- #161
Aberration
New Member
Re: Aberration Goes ker Bloom! - 2009
So here are some pics.
My manicure/dry/cure process is a combination of what I have read, what I have actually seen done, and some ideas of my own.
First, at harvest, we start at the bottom and cut off branches. I'm thinking I might switch to top-first though. We bring the branches to the trimming area and cut off anything that is damaged or doesn't have much in the way of trichomes. I want to leave the little bitty trichome covered leaves there, but I want to expose the calyxes as much as I can. We are very careful of the pistils as they are desirable. We cut them into smaller segments as needed - we try to keep them under 12" long at finish if we can.
Once we are done with a branch, it gets hung from a clothes hanger. Sometimes we just make sure to leave a 'hook' on the branch to hang it by, but lately I've been clipping them on with binder clips, which is much easier and they don't fall off anymore. Once the hanger is full, I clip on a slip of paper that tells me what it is and when it was manicured.
Then it goes in the dryer. My goal is to slowly dry over a week. Too fast and it's harsh. Too slow and it molds. A week seems good. I hang the hangers full of pot on rods in the box. I have two rows, but I need to re-do the rods. I originally put them in with the idea that the branches would be directly hung from the rods, so the rods are arranged that way. I need to take out the side rods and put in larger center rods, but it works fine for now. Besides, It's full right now:
I try to keep the temps in the mid-70s and humidity near 50% with slight air circulation. After they get dry enough that the stems will snap, but still hang on, I cut the buds from the branches into a ceramic bowl. Trichs won't stick to it like they do to plastics. I cover this loosely with newspaper. I take a smaller section of the paper, close it up and fold it top to bottom, like it is when you get a fresh flat paper. Then I tape one corner down and let the rest of the paper lay on the bowl:
This allows a little breathing and good moisture absorbency. When the buds are still on the branch, I think the stem provides some moisture to the base/center of the bud. It seems like, with more mass, less surface area, and (I believe) less or no stomata (pores to evaporate water through) stems take longer to dry. So while the outside of the bud is dry, the core is getting moisture from the waterlogged stick it is attached to and doesn't dry as much. We want to equalize that. Cutting the buds off the stem stops the transfer of moisture, and the bowl-with-newspaper-lid gives them a chance to find equilibrium sooner than if I waited until I put them in jars. Here's some trainwreck in there now. Notice I just dropped the paper label from a hanger into the bowl, changing the date to when it went into the bowl:
Once they've spent a couple days in the bowl, they go into jars. I use wide mouth half-quart (pint) canning jars. A label on the top ID's the strain and when it was jarred. I then open the jars for 15 minutes a day for a week. After that, I just leave the jars somewhere cool, dark and dry, tightly sealed until use.
Here's a trainwreck bud I grabbed. I probably should have picked a nicer looking one, but this is about average and representative of the whole:
The trainwreck is great. I haven't got the flavor and smell identified yet, but to borrow a phrase, it stones me to my soul. I quite like it.
So here are some pics.
My manicure/dry/cure process is a combination of what I have read, what I have actually seen done, and some ideas of my own.
First, at harvest, we start at the bottom and cut off branches. I'm thinking I might switch to top-first though. We bring the branches to the trimming area and cut off anything that is damaged or doesn't have much in the way of trichomes. I want to leave the little bitty trichome covered leaves there, but I want to expose the calyxes as much as I can. We are very careful of the pistils as they are desirable. We cut them into smaller segments as needed - we try to keep them under 12" long at finish if we can.
Once we are done with a branch, it gets hung from a clothes hanger. Sometimes we just make sure to leave a 'hook' on the branch to hang it by, but lately I've been clipping them on with binder clips, which is much easier and they don't fall off anymore. Once the hanger is full, I clip on a slip of paper that tells me what it is and when it was manicured.
Then it goes in the dryer. My goal is to slowly dry over a week. Too fast and it's harsh. Too slow and it molds. A week seems good. I hang the hangers full of pot on rods in the box. I have two rows, but I need to re-do the rods. I originally put them in with the idea that the branches would be directly hung from the rods, so the rods are arranged that way. I need to take out the side rods and put in larger center rods, but it works fine for now. Besides, It's full right now:
I try to keep the temps in the mid-70s and humidity near 50% with slight air circulation. After they get dry enough that the stems will snap, but still hang on, I cut the buds from the branches into a ceramic bowl. Trichs won't stick to it like they do to plastics. I cover this loosely with newspaper. I take a smaller section of the paper, close it up and fold it top to bottom, like it is when you get a fresh flat paper. Then I tape one corner down and let the rest of the paper lay on the bowl:
This allows a little breathing and good moisture absorbency. When the buds are still on the branch, I think the stem provides some moisture to the base/center of the bud. It seems like, with more mass, less surface area, and (I believe) less or no stomata (pores to evaporate water through) stems take longer to dry. So while the outside of the bud is dry, the core is getting moisture from the waterlogged stick it is attached to and doesn't dry as much. We want to equalize that. Cutting the buds off the stem stops the transfer of moisture, and the bowl-with-newspaper-lid gives them a chance to find equilibrium sooner than if I waited until I put them in jars. Here's some trainwreck in there now. Notice I just dropped the paper label from a hanger into the bowl, changing the date to when it went into the bowl:
Once they've spent a couple days in the bowl, they go into jars. I use wide mouth half-quart (pint) canning jars. A label on the top ID's the strain and when it was jarred. I then open the jars for 15 minutes a day for a week. After that, I just leave the jars somewhere cool, dark and dry, tightly sealed until use.
Here's a trainwreck bud I grabbed. I probably should have picked a nicer looking one, but this is about average and representative of the whole:
The trainwreck is great. I haven't got the flavor and smell identified yet, but to borrow a phrase, it stones me to my soul. I quite like it.
and
Looking good and super harvest! 
