DrZiggy's Low And Slow Drying: Maximizing Your Harvest
The buds dry from the outside inwards. The moisture on the outside evaporates and buds will feels dry/brittle, then put them in jars to "sweat" and moisture moves from inside the bud to the outside, so now it's moist again. Then, with more time out of the jars, the outside will dry out and feel dry/brittle again, so we put them back in jars to sweat more moisture from inside the bud.
Each cycle, the overall RH gets lower from the moisture being evaporated. Once RH is under 70% you should be OK to jar if your diligent and burp the jars several times per day. Once RH is stabilized at 62% or lower, it's ready to jar long term. It can take a good 24 hours for the RH to stabilize inside the jar. By "stablized", I mean the inside and outside of the buds are at approximately the same RH. The moisture moves from wet to dry so if the outside of the bud is the same RH as the inside, no more moisture will sweat out until you dry the outside of the buds.
Jarring does NOT let moisture evaporate - it simply helps the moisture move from inside the bud to the dryer outside. If RH goes above 62% when you jar it, you can start "burping" the jars (leave tops off) for a few minutes, a few hours, or even over night, depending on how high the RH. If RH in jars goes above 70%, at any time, your best bet is to put the buds back in bags in the fridge to dry some more.
I hope that helps!
One of my favorite threads, I'm here! Love me some Low and Slow! What up Krip!
Just takin' it low & slow, Brother!
BuzzzD
Well-Known Member
If your buds dry too much is it just bad for smoking? Is it OK to be decarbed and infuse oil?
How does it hurt the trichomes?
How does it hurt the trichomes?
In my experience does not hurt trichomes at all. I have a jar now that got too dry and it makes excellent edibles. Smokes a little harsh.
Right. Like GratefulBud brings up, just because it dried out too much does not mean it is bad as in unhealthy. It is dry and can be harsh like a lot of dime bags were back in the 60s through 80s.
When the RH in the jars drops down to 62%, it's ready to jar for long-term storage and will continue to cure and improve in the jars. Once the RH drops below 55%, the curing process stops which is why you get harsh weed.
AsicResistor
420 Member
Has anyone here tried to do a slow dry in a wine fridge powered by a peltier element instead of a compressor?
The idea is that the peltier doesn't remove the moisture as fast as a compressor, and you do the dehumidification yourself in a controlled way with a small dehumidifier inside of the fridge controlled by one of the inkbird controllers.
I've ordered the parts and will be posting my experience with this method here since I think it lies very close to the suggested low and slow method but with a bit of added control and peace of mind. I'm thinking it might come close to the cannatrol device in function.
The idea is that the peltier doesn't remove the moisture as fast as a compressor, and you do the dehumidification yourself in a controlled way with a small dehumidifier inside of the fridge controlled by one of the inkbird controllers.
I've ordered the parts and will be posting my experience with this method here since I think it lies very close to the suggested low and slow method but with a bit of added control and peace of mind. I'm thinking it might come close to the cannatrol device in function.
Using a wine fridge or similar has come up before. Might be in this thread or one of the other drying & curing ones which means a lot of reading.
.
A thread search for "wine" might make it a little easier!Using a wine fridge or similar has come up before. Might be in this thread or one of the other drying & curing ones which means a lot of reading.
Search results for query: wine
www.420magazine.com
Tejasdirt
Well-Known Member
Yes
I have tried it.
The main problems with the thermoelectric ( peltier) wine fridge is
They are not frost free
Usually very small
And
Generally, they can only cool 10-15 degrees lower than ambient air.
My 2 runs with the thermoelectric wine fridge gave me bout the same or a little worst than if I hung them in my not perfect drying conditions.
I would not suggest a thermoelectric to keep wine in, let alone doing the low n slow method.
Ended up gutting the electronics and useing for a mini clone/ seed starting.
Tejasdirt
Well-Known Member
Face book market place is your friend….I used to dry in an extra 20 year old fridge we had in the back room because of all the reasons you mention. Then it stopped working one day and I had to use the kitchen fridge. Yes, sometimes the kitchen smells like recently harvested buds but after a few days the smell starts to go away. Found out that none of the foods smelled like recently harvested buds nor did the buds pick up any food odors.
In an emergency the kitchen fridge will do the job. I just realized that the other fridge stopped working a year and half ago and so far I can't convince myself that it is worth the extra expense of finding a new one
My last fridge I got for free from there…
AsicResistor
420 Member
Did you run a small dehumidifier in there? Apparently that's the key to being able to do low and slow in there. They indeed only go down to around 55f.
Tejasdirt
Well-Known Member
No I did not run a small dehu in it.
In my mind, that just complicates a allready not optimal system. One would be adding another layer of things that can go wrong.
I don’t put fans or dehumidifier or stuff into a my low n slow dry fridge. Not needed.
Since most all thermoelectric wine coolers are small ( counter top) size the dehu would have to be tiny, or if useing something like “ damp rid” it would be uncontrollable.
I would suggest passing on the electro thermal wine cooler and look for a small freezer less beverage cooler.
When I first started the low n slow, I used for years a small (mini fridge size) bev cooler with a “freezer plate” on the back of the interior that would frost/freeze up. ( obviously not frost free) As long as I didn’t open and close the door it worked fine. Once I had it dialed in it ( I used a govee humidity meter and a inkbird temp controller for precise fridge temp control) it worked perfectly with out dehumidifier or fans. I’d load it up, shut the door and not open it up till my govee humidity meter read a consistent bounce of 56%-62% humidity. That took 2-3 weeks of no peeking. Then into the Derek Gilman auto burp bucket for 1-2 days, then jar for storage.
The cooling plate in the back of the fridge made it hard to go straight to storage jars without burping, thus why I used an auto burp bucket.
So, this long post basically is saying
“ Don’t use a thermo electric wine coolers”
You will get better results optimizing your “ bad drying area” as much as possible than trying to make a thermo electric wine cooler to work and get the results you want,with this method.
Good luck!!!
freed
Well-Known Member
There are frost free wine coolers, non thermo electric, and another type called wine refrigerators
can dial the ranges, temp/humidity, as u want
costly though
just a fyi
can dial the ranges, temp/humidity, as u want
costly though
just a fyi
Tejasdirt
Well-Known Member
You are correct.
However, I was just focusing on thermo electric wine fridges…
As far as the others, you are agian correct about being costly.
I have not seen any wine fridge where you can control the humidity, ( temps are way more important than humidity in wine storage) but that does not mean they don’t exist.
My main gripe with them is that they are mostly set to NOT go below 55ish degrees F, as that is the proper temps range to store (cellar) red wine.
Of course one could get the “dual zone” so one area of the wine fridge gets colder than 55F for chilling “white” wines.
But that opens up another can of worms.
Not saying decent wine fridge won’t work for you, they just don’t work optimally for me.
My inkbird temp controlled frost free fridge works best for me, in my my situation.
If no frost free fridge is in the kitchen or any other room then why not go back to the old-fashioned method that growers used for decades.
Harvest, trim, wash or not wash, put cleaned buds with or without the sticks in a typical paper grocery store bags. Fold the top down and be sure to mark on the bags the date. Put paper bags in a dark place where the temperature stays pretty much pleasant but cool--avoid hot areas near heat vents, or cold areas near air-conditioner vents, etc.
Check once a day, maybe twice. It is easy to keep track of how dry the buds are getting. When ready, usually sooner than the typical low and slow fridge method, put the buds in glass jars.
Harvest, trim, wash or not wash, put cleaned buds with or without the sticks in a typical paper grocery store bags. Fold the top down and be sure to mark on the bags the date. Put paper bags in a dark place where the temperature stays pretty much pleasant but cool--avoid hot areas near heat vents, or cold areas near air-conditioner vents, etc.
Check once a day, maybe twice. It is easy to keep track of how dry the buds are getting. When ready, usually sooner than the typical low and slow fridge method, put the buds in glass jars.
Tejasdirt
Well-Known Member
One of the reasons is because lots DONT have a place WITH PERFECT HUMIDITY AND TEMPS to get a good dry or cure.
There is nothing against the “ tried and true” ways.
The low n slow is just another “ tried and true” way to get the end results wanted.
There are many other threads explaining other “tried and true” ways to dry and cure. This is the low n slow thread.
Please respect that.
There is more than one way to skin a cat.
And more than “ one” tried and true way..,
If we do not have someplace with perfect humidity and temperature then we should take what we do have and make it work.
Lately I have been getting the feeling that if someone cannot do a low and slow for whatever reason no one wants to step up and explain the basics of other tried and true methods. At least with some of the basics of the old-fashioned way they can dry and cure their current harvests.