Thank you for that Shed! In my mind I was thinking his idea was wrong but I couldn't figure out the reason and that makes perfect sense! Plus it's more than enough reason NOT to try it.
yea but this only makes sense IF the RH goes up... if I load the fridge and RH remains at 50% room RH there is literally 0 mold risk at 18 celsius room temperature - IF i dry the buds completely of the excess water after the wash that is....
I worked for 2 years in mycological lab growing medicinal mushrooms and I have seen mold in shapes and sizes you people wouldn't believe, developed in all types of conditions. We had white mold, brown mold, green mold, black mold, gray mold... even some fucking orange translucent poison looking stuff lol.
So I know a thing or two about theory AND in practice when it comes to mold. As I said I have been drying herbs in 18-20 celsius rooms with 50% RH and never had mold issues... so I don't see why I should get them if I load up a fridge at 16-18 celsius at 50% rh and then temperature just drops over an hour as it chills itself...
but OK, I see you are firmly against me trying this, I appreciate it in a sense but no point to clog the topic with speculation until I get there. Lets say I will load the fridge turned on as you guys, but I am definitely trying out my idea on the next batch after I get acqainted with the process
Like Shed said you want the frig to be at temperature. I run mine at 40-45f and I've put in pop, water, and beer bottles to make up extra room and to keep the temps from fluctuating so much when I put my bags of buds in. You don't want the temp to spike to room temperature and cycle long as it's pulling to much moisture too quick. Sure the rh will spike for a few days and when tossing the buds daily they'll feel like mush for the first 3 days. Burp the bags daily and give the buds a toss. Maybe even twice a day for the first 3 days. It's scary stuff the first time thru. I'm not going to sugar coat it. You'll feel like you waisted a good bunch of product but after 2 week's you'll be happy you did it. Oh if you want you can also change bags in the first few days to help with the heavy moisture if the bags feel real wet. Just don't freak when the rh spikes as it will and has to for it to work correctly.
Hope this helps.
but it wont spike. It will start in temperatures where I usually start my drying process because the room with the fridge will be chilled to begin with and had a stabilized RH... then the fridge will just gradually decrease the temp to 4c over the next hour or two when I turn it on... I really doubt 2 hours of temperature dropping from 18>4 celsius will cause bigger problems then having a RH spike up to 100% then go back down over that same course of time :S if anything RH problem seems much bigger in this conditions as in lab we always worried more about RH then temperature.
Our innoculation room was always in 18-21 celsius range, while our fruiting room was at around 25-28 celsius range (for medicinal mushrooms) and MOLD never developed within 18-21 celsius range but as soon as we put it into the fruiting room we would see trouble as it would just appear in some innoculated bags with mycelium.
This is exactly WHY I am making this suggestion guys, so we can eliminate all spikes because through my experience working in lab conditions this makes much more sense as it will neutralize the spike (something we always did in whatever part of process we were) - make things gradual, nature likes gradual change.
Thats the thing, the temperature WONT spike because it will start at my usual ideal drying conditions.... :S the RH will be first absorbed by the brown paper bags from the buds, then released inside the fridge as the temperature is dropping... so I doubt I will have either a RH or temperature spike... :S
thats why I am saying, ok mushrooms are not weed and weed is not mushroms but mold doesn't care what its food is, it only cares about environment conditions where it may start flurishing and eating whatever is available... thats why to me my suggestion seems a bit better because I had a workplace where all we cared were environmental factors and settings because mold is the only thing that can harm your mushrooms...
And yes friend, I really APPRECIATE your comment, this is the type of information I need.
So its normal for weed to feel mushy afterwards being put in fridge for next first days?
Do buds have that bubble gum wetness feel when you touch them? Meaning you can squish them if you press but not break them?
You open the fridge daily during the first couple of days of drying?
But in beggining of the topic I read that you should try opening the fridge as little as possible :S so you open the fridge and burp the bags daily? only first few days or through the whole process?
I am really sorry guys I don't wanna come off as a hater I just wanna learn the in's and out's of the whole process as with everything I am doing thats why all these questions as even tho you all agreed on, this shows you still have variations when doing it because I swear I read along this topic that its better to not open the fridge at all and risk condensation...
tho you are probably right, people who keep them in open lid jars with that cloth over also said they take them out and shuffle buds in the topic so yea, will probably do that. In that case spikes will happen anyway true...
yea, seems my biggest fear is "washing" buds.
How do you guys do it? I read some use mild h2o2 dillutied in one bucket (or lemon juice and baking soda) and then a dip into hot and then into cold water with shaking the water gently between each soak? Then stir it a bit inside each bucket so the water permiates through buds? 10-20 secs should be enough or too much?
Also, when I hang them to dry after, NO FAN over right? Can I wrap paper towel GENTLY around it, so its barely touching the weed so it acts as moisture absorbant as when you wrap regular spice herbs after washing to get rid of excess water?
I wouldn't press it against the buds, just cover them silk like style so its barely touching.... or just hang them normally in the air on the rack for what 4-6 hours seems to be the consensus?
I would be more willing to go with 6 hours to be sure no water drops remain inside or under the buds... man the idea of dipping fat bud coals inside water then letting them dry is really making me nervous more then this whole fridge drying thing guys. Because I cannot be sure the water from the inside will properly leave the bud before I put in the fridge...
Yea gonna have to research that part a bit more as well, I love the idea of washing my produce before the consumption and I did some water curing back in the day so I know I won't lose the cannabinoids and terps but the idea of some water dropplet remaining tucked away in buds scares me because that shit could ruin the batch more easily, gotta be extra careful with that.
Please don't hate me guys I am just trying to make sense of this all before I commit fully to it, YOUR METHOD is by far superior and more logical then anything I know about so far (and I do know quite a bit tbh) and it just seems more logical - even tho I haven't even tried it yet it literally hits every light on being a better way to dry and cure in my mind.
Thats why I wanna ask all the good and not so good questions to prepare more fully, else I wouldn't even be risking it by trying but as I said, the true cannasiours are always chasing that better and greater medicine and my health condition is not the best so I want to try to preserve my medicinal properties of my herb completely.
Anyway, thank you guys for the opportunity to learn and be a part of the discussion, I know my suggestion scares some of you but it makes sense and is scientifically valid, I just maybe have trouble presenting the whole idea to you because english is not my native language and you can easily missinterpret my point because I use different terms then you - thats also the reason why I make these shitlong long posts to try to explain myself better so we could understand each other.
Yea now that you mentioned all that I really need to first understand the washing method completely as it has more potential to ruin my bud then trying out low and slow drying, so if you guys care to explain a bit more I am listening
P.s. Don't shoot the messenger guys
peace
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.
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.
find 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?
