Newfun
Well-Known Member
Officially, I am now a gardener that over fed nutes and killed a plant. Somehow I my 2 Fast 2 Vast Auto got too much clawed and then started to shrivel up. She was close to time so off with her buds. I am taking my bows.
DrZiggy's Low And Slow Drying: Maximizing Your Harvest
Congrats! Anyway, you didn't kill...you hustled it to an early harvest
.Just wondering, do wine fridges do dehumidifying like regular ones do? That makes the process much more foolproof.
throwitmj8000
420 Member
My wine fridge does, though it's RH is 10% :\ ..maybe too low?
Derbybud
Well-Known Member
You fill it with buds it'll jump up to 90% for days.
Newfun
Well-Known Member
Back to my smell in my fridge. No one else can smell it but me. It's the fridge that came with the house and is downstairs in the laundry room. I went through the whole thing. Finally since I just was reading about terpenes, went outside trimmed some evergreens and put it in the fridge. 20 minutes it smells great. Lol
Hi Sue.. thank you for everything. I have my entire harvest in the refrigerator 3 days now. My question is my curing room temps can reach 80 during the day. Will that destroy the temps that I saved with the slow dry? ThanksSince beginning this thread we've had a member show up who'd spent the years since 1993 refining this very process. He's already worked out what we were trying to discover - the most favorable atmospheric conditions, how to adjust humidity levels when it's time to jar it up, and for that matter, how much time it really takes to get dry enough to begin that step. He's also worked out schedules for burping to maximize the effectiveness of the cure.
You're more than welcome to wander through our early explorations. We had great fun and worked out some neat ideas, including some interesting ways to make shelving, and learning to accelerate the drying with paper bags. But no one will be upset if you choose to jump right to the good stuff. You can always backtrack to find out what other delights we discovered.
The Good Stuff
This was my first recollection of this marvelous procedure we've fondly taken to referring to as "Low and Slow" drying. I can't believe we took so long to play around with it but OMG!!!! Once you've tried this unconventional technique dreamed up by our own mad scientist cultivator and canna chef extraordinare, DrZiggy, you won't look back.
The chief benefit of Low and Slow drying is the ability to retain almost all of the terpenes and flavonoids. When we hang to dry these volitile molecules float away with the air. They weigh next to nothing, so evaporation is swift. In the first week alone you'll lose over 30% of the monoterpenes you had at harvest. Those monoterpenes include myrcene, the terpene that helps the cannabinoids get a fast track through the Blood-Brain Barrier so they can attach to the CB1 receptors and introduce euphoria. I don't know about you, but this is a feature I want to support, as well as all the functions of all the other terpenes that get protected by drying low and slow.
Cannabinoids are are akin to the wheels on a car, and the terpenes the steering column. It'd be nice to be able to steer all that raw power, don't you think?
It turns out that all those wonderful things cannabinoids do for our bodies are determined by the presence of the terpenes. We're not sure yet of the importance of the flavonoids, but you can be certain once they start studying the plant the way it should be, they'll find a good reason to retain them, and you'll already be ahead of the game.This, ladies and gentlemen, is way out on the edge. I'd venture to say we may be the only crazy band out there experimenting with it.
And I want us to experiment. We're already discovering that it's not as simple as "put them in the fridge and let them dry." There are challenges we're working through, but the discussions are going on in journals scattered about. If we put our heads together and share our ideas we can nail this down and start seeing consistent results that everyone's happy with.
So what do you say? Are you with me? Can you bring yourself to "risk" part of your next harvest to get the best buds you ever smoked? Alright then, let's get to work. Share everything. Be long winded. Working across a virtual field has challenges, but we're adept at overcoming those limitations. I'm excited about what we're about to learn. When I consider the value of this drying technique for oil production I get shivers of joy.I can't wait to make my first batch of oil from buds dried low and slow. If the fresh harvest infused oil is any indication we're in for a treat.
Having buds tested and contrasted would be a great benefit to this project. It's already started with Canyon, and I'm anticipating others. Anyone volunteering gets the heartfelt "Thanks" from the whole membership.
We can change the way people dry, but that's not my driving motivation. Better buds make better oils, and better oils help my patients and my friends here atfind more relief from the gift of cannabis. If we can put so much of ourselves into growing our plants can we do any less than our best to potentiate the harvests?
Ready to have fun?
- Thread starter
- #2,207
I wouldn’t think so Ot. The dry and the cure are different parts of the process. Once the buds are at a stable 62-65% from the low and slo you jar them up and they begin curing. It’s the humidity you want to control in the cure, but only long enough to burp.
If you get Bovedas you don’t have to open the jars more than a few seconds to off-gas, so the humidity isn’t a problem either. I personally leave mine alone more than mess with them. Once they’re stable at 62% I don’t worry about them anymore.
Any other opinions are more than welcome.
I wouldn’t think so Ot. The dry and the cure are different parts of the process. Once the buds are at a stable 62-65% from the low and slo you jar them up and they begin curing. It’s the humidity you want to control in the cure, but only long enough to burp.
If you get Bovedas you don’t have to open the jars more than a few seconds to off-gas, so the humidity isn’t a problem either. I personally leave mine alone more than mess with them. Once they’re stable at 62% I don’t worry about them anymore.
Any other opinions are more than welcome.
Thanks for the reply Sue. Terps was auto corrected with temps...but to your knowledge the higher temps won't destroy terp? I should only be concerned with humidity during burping?I wouldn’t think so Ot. The dry and the cure are different parts of the process. Once the buds are at a stable 62-65% from the low and slo you jar them up and they begin curing. It’s the humidity you want to control in the cure, but only long enough to burp.
If you get Bovedas you don’t have to open the jars more than a few seconds to off-gas, so the humidity isn’t a problem either. I personally leave mine alone more than mess with them. Once they’re stable at 62% I don’t worry about them anymore.
Any other opinions are more than welcome.
Great idea..have you come to any preferences from your cure in the refrigerator.I have been following this thread with great interest and decided to try it myself with my latest harvest.
About 17 days ago I harvested 6 plants. I left half of each plant to air dry the regular way and half in the fridge. Of the half in the fridge, I cut the buds from the stems and left half to dry directly on the fridge rack shelf and half went into small brown bags (I like my croissants hehe) which were filled a third of the way, left open and placed next to the free drying herb on the fridge rack shelf. Averaged 3.5-5 Celsius with 47-55% RH. At day 13 the free drying herb was dry enough to jar - the paper bag herb was dry a couple of days later.
Drying Results
I had a cheeky taster of two buds from the same plant; one was air dried bud for 7 days and jar cured for 8 days and the other was slow & low dried bud 15 days in paper bag in fridge and 2 days jar cured in fridge. I have to say that the slow & low dried bud was by far the better bud from all aspects. After sampling some buds from other plants (to be sure the first test wasn't a fluke) I have to conclude that the slow and low method of drying beats air drying hands down on looks, aroma, strength and taste! I'm converted. I did prefer the herb dried in paper bags over that dried straight on the fridge shelf though.
Now for the cure..
This is what I have been doing for the cure and it seems ok so far, but I welcome comments or suggestions that will help me refine this.
Since it is very hot here with wildly fluctuating RH, I am attempting to cure IN the fridge. I left the jars empty and open in the fridge for a few hours to reach the ambient temperature and then jarred the herb and left in fridge for 8 hours. I then opened the jars and left open in fridge for 30 minutes, then resealed the jars. I am continuing to "burp" the jars in the fridge this way and it appears to be working well. I have tested by taking a bud out of the jar and fridge and letting it get to room temperature - that way I get a better idea of how dry/sticky it is.
Thanks so much for the great ideas and conversation on this thread!
- Thread starter
- #2,210
Keep them as cool and protected as possible. That’s the best you can do, but they’re at most risk for terpene loss in the early stages of drying.
Sinbad91
Well-Known Member
Hi guys. So i’m About 2 weeks into the low and slow and I’m still seeing Rah levels in the 70%’s. Should I be concerned? I feel like it isn’t pulling the moisture out of the buds much at all.
falstaffo
Well-Known Member
i guess i had way too much bud in the fridges for a 7-10day low and slow dry..
my critical took 3weeks 3 days and a week or burping to get to 62%
have 8ounces of that though after drying..
the 2 gas plants came out after 3weeks 3days, jar tests allowed for one jar to stay out and the rest went back in for a couple more days. humidity was just peaking low 70s, will be almost 4 weeks for these 2...
19.5ounces when i weighed it.. so might lose a little more, couple grams at most
here is it all jarred up the other day lol
all 3 plants shown, 2z per jar, bar one with 1.5z
awesome first harvest for me..
the critical had gone a bit haybatch, maybe left it too long before harvest and lost some taste, curing at 62% for a week now, havent opened to test yet.
the gas is pure diesel
lovelyyy
hardly lost any smell through drying
my critical took 3weeks 3 days and a week or burping to get to 62%
have 8ounces of that though after drying..
the 2 gas plants came out after 3weeks 3days, jar tests allowed for one jar to stay out and the rest went back in for a couple more days. humidity was just peaking low 70s, will be almost 4 weeks for these 2...
19.5ounces when i weighed it.. so might lose a little more, couple grams at most
here is it all jarred up the other day lol
all 3 plants shown, 2z per jar, bar one with 1.5z
awesome first harvest for me..
the critical had gone a bit haybatch, maybe left it too long before harvest and lost some taste, curing at 62% for a week now, havent opened to test yet.
the gas is pure diesel
lovelyyy
hardly lost any smell through drying
Can you turn the temp down on your fridge. That may help drop the humidity.Hi guys. So i’m About 2 weeks into the low and slow and I’m still seeing Rah levels in the 70%’s. Should I be concerned? I feel like it isn’t pulling the moisture out of the buds much at all.
Edit: sorry. I thought that said 52 degrees. It could still maybe come down a hair though.
Newfun
Well-Known Member
From too much nutes I had to harvest some small buds. May not be worth much as a smoke but better to make mistakes on a few and learn. Also gave me a small run on low and slow. This process is giving me the hands knowledge of the dry and cure. I had to put some back in fridge after a couple days burping, the humidity went from 62 to 71. Smells great. No mold.
Maybe to find exact Rh of the bud, but what’s really important is that the Rh is increasing at a rate slower than 1% per hour. If your nugs are 69% after 2 hours and 71 after 7 hours, even though you’re technically over 70, you’re still okay to start burping cause the rate of increase is low enough. That’s why 24 hrs is unnecessary
Newfun
Well-Known Member
Thank you Chef. I figured it was ok to put it in the fridge since we are in a high heat/humidity cycle. It's the extra fridge and stays dark and cool. I was concerned for mold yuck. Believe it or not, the try/fail/maybe succeed/maybe not, is really good for me. I would prefer succeed but I need to learn. Plus the fear of the unknown is being faced. I will go back to burping after a nice cool dry day in the fridge. Aahh.
- Thread starter
- #2,217
i guess i had way too much bud in the fridges for a 7-10day low and slow dry..
my critical took 3weeks 3 days and a week or burping to get to 62%
have 8ounces of that though after drying..
the 2 gas plants came out after 3weeks 3days, jar tests allowed for one jar to stay out and the rest went back in for a couple more days. humidity was just peaking low 70s, will be almost 4 weeks for these 2...
19.5ounces when i weighed it.. so might lose a little more, couple grams at most
here is it all jarred up the other day lol
all 3 plants shown, 2z per jar, bar one with 1.5z
awesome first harvest for me..
the critical had gone a bit haybatch, maybe left it too long before harvest and lost some taste, curing at 62% for a week now, havent opened to test yet.
the gas is pure diesel
lovelyyy
hardly lost any smell through drying
First off, I don’t often have more than larf finish in 7-10 days.
My harvests most often take 2-3 weeks, in bags, and I most often pulled them at two weeks and used rice balls to get them quickly to 62-65%. Nice harvest.
May all your following harvests bring you as much joy. I wouldn’t worry about the hay-smelling CBD plant. After a week or two of cure you’ll begin to smell the difference. Some buds just take longer to have the terpenes stand up and be counted, but we use this method to preserve them, and so far we haven’t been disappointed.- Thread starter
- #2,218
Hi guys. So i’m About 2 weeks into the low and slow and I’m still seeing Rah levels in the 70%’s. Should I be concerned? I feel like it isn’t pulling the moisture out of the buds much at all.
It’s fine. You can either take them the rest of the way with rice balls or just give them more time, depending on your timelines.
Excellent clarification!
This is why I’m so careful about surrounding myself with creative thinkers. 
We do our best to soothe you through the angst by removing as much of th unknown as possible through transparency, and we understand how intimidating it can be the first time through. Starting small is a good idea.
If the fridge keeps cool and dry within the parameters and the buds are sized correctly and/or tumbled apart regularly there’s little chance of losing any produce to mold.
kelticBlue
Well-Known Member
If memory serves, they just feel ready at 2 weeks for me. My next harvest I am going to put effort on having uniform size nugs. It is a stinky diesel, yikes!
Kitchen gonna reek when I open the door.
Hi Sue..how did you like the outcome of 1 week in fridge and then rice balls?Alright..... It worked!!
8:15 AM
Just out of the fridge after 9 days.
8:17 AM
Into a jar half full of rice. I didn't bother cooking the rice. I checked it with a hygrometer first, and it was at 50% humidity, so I just started in.
2:26 PM
Six hours later it's down close to 62%.
2:28 PM
I put it into a smaller jar, without rice, to check the humidity.
6:49 PM
Four hours later and it's back up to around 68%.
6:50 PM
Back into the jar half-full of rice.
9:02 PM
I went out to dinner and when I returned it was down to 60%.
9:03 PM
Back into the smaller jar, this time with a Boveda pack.
10:05 PM
An hour later and it's stable at 62%. Mission accomplished.
Next time it'll be one week in the bags in the fridge and one day working with rice to get it down to a stable 62%.
What I like most about the rice is the gentle but effective way it removes humidity quickly. I'm going to begin working closer and closer to harvest, maybe take part of the next harvest and see if I can get it to dry using just rice.
Anybody know of any reason this wouldn't work?
