DrZiggy's Low And Slow Drying: Maximizing Your Harvest

[SweetSue]

I notice that you, like most people, have a box of baking soda in your refrigerator. I'm guessing the answer is, "No," but have you noticed that decreasing any of the aromas/tastes in the bud?

Actually TS, it has decreased the smells. The CBD Critical Cure, in particular, is a fragrant strain, and it only helps in a minor role with that strain, but it managed to corral almost all of the scent of the Carnival drying in there this time.

 

[kazz]

If your basement is like mine, merely opening the refrigerator door a couple of times would have you posting to ask how you could lower the humidity, lol.

How are you measuring the RH in your refrigerator? I mean, are you using a device that has been allowed to sit in the refrigerator long enough to stabilize to the RH (and temperature), or are you just sticking your measuring device in for a minute or so?

I have an AcuRite Humidity Monitor that I purchased from Amazon. It was in the refrigerator over night. When I initially open the door it reads 16% and jumps to 20-25% pretty quickly.

This afternoon I went ahead and placed the buds in jars w/ cheesecloth instead of the canning lid to allow moisture to evaporate, then put the jars in the fridge. I didn't have much of a choice since I had to get to work and had cut the buds from the stalks and couldn't hang them like I usually do. Hopefully they won't be ruined by morning and I can work on another method.

Thanks to everyone for their input.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Actually TS, it has decreased the smells. The CBD Critical Cure, in particular, is a fragrant strain, and it only helps in a minor role with that strain, but it managed to corral almost all of the scent of the Carnival drying in there this time.

I probably wasn't clear. What I meant was, is the bud less fragrant after it is removed from the refrigerator because of its visit with the baking soda?

 

[Furcifer]

I have an AcuRite Humidity Monitor that I purchased from Amazon. It was in the refrigerator over night. When I initially open the door it reads 16% and jumps to 20-25% pretty quickly.

This afternoon I went ahead and placed the buds in jars w/ cheesecloth instead of the canning lid to allow moisture to evaporate, then put the jars in the fridge. I didn't have much of a choice since I had to get to work and had cut the buds from the stalks and couldn't hang them like I usually do. Hopefully they won't be ruined by morning and I can work on another method.

Thanks to everyone for their input.

They will be fine. Posted this somewhere in this wonderful thread!

First. This all came about in 93. I was a few days from harvest. And my team was alerted for a "go now mission". What to do with my plants??????
Grandparents used to do this with a lot of herbs and stuff. She called it her "Lotus" preservation. I was amazed at how fresh everything looked. Weeks in a crisper. Tried it in the 80's with a couple of oz. To eager and unwilling to wait. Total failure.

Cut all buds off placed in open mason jars. Put in crisper.
3 weeks later....what a beautiful sight....the experimentation begins.

This is how I do it. Works very well.

 

[SweetSue]

I probably wasn't clear. What I meant was, is the bud less fragrant after it is removed from the refrigerator because of its visit with the baking soda?

Hmmm...... That would be hard to pin down TS, because they don't have all the smell until they get back to room temperature, at least in my experience, but by then they have smells close to what they were at harvest.

I just went out and checked the jars, and they're pretty fragrant right now, as a matter of fact.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Okay. Thanks. I would hazard a guess that if this was a significant issue, someone (probably you) would have noticed and reported it. And... The terpines floating in the air might get neutralized, but the ones still present within the bud couldn't in the environmental conditions being discussed. Or that is my belief, at least.

 

[Furcifer]

High! All

Current Update

Harvest on 20 June
1st Post #337, June 29
2nd Post #481, July 9
July 17th Checkup....

Between 9 and 17 July.
Jars were rotated (gently shaken, don't break the baby's neck) every 3 days.

Room Temperature 25deg C
Room Humidity 58%

Removed 1 jar from refrigerator.

The jars are clear when refrigerator is first opened. They frost up pretty quick (Damn if my buds could do that).
No problem.
I removed all buds from jar and placed on paper towels.
The sugar leaves that i left intact (to protect and create a buffer between buds and glass). Are now quite dry. Buds are getting lighter.
I inspect the buds.

I do not wipe the inside of the jar. To bring it to temperature. I hold it in front of the A.C. vent.
Replaced buds in jar. Put in Hygrometer and seal with lid. (Lid and meter wiped with isopropyl alcohol prior).
I cover jar with a dark cloth and wait.
I start checking in 30 minutes for Humidity reading. 45 minutes after sealing. Jar internal temp is the same as outside. Humidity is at 83%.

After 1hour in sealed jar

Wipe screen, ring cap, outside of jars with isopropyl alcohol. Back in the frig she goes.

 

[SweetSue]

Never thought about the AC vent Furcifer. Good idea, and great documentation.

 

[kazz]

They will be fine. Posted this somewhere in this wonderful thread!

This is how I do it. Works very well.

I'll have to do some experimenting tomorrow to see how I might be able to raise humidity. Thanks for the reassurance!

 

[fireman128]

Eleven days into the dry. Yesterday I noticed all but the largest jar, which holds the largest buds, had no moisture buildup on the inside of the glass at all.

Sweet Sue I've been reading this thread and can't seem to find it so forgive me but does it matter the silk you use to cover the jars?

 

[Randoobula]

As my dad used to tell me... "there ain't no free lunch"!

Buyers beware! There's are reason why these are only a couple bucks a piece.

These have been sitting on a shelf next to each other for a couple days.

 

[DrZiggy]

As my dad used to tell me... "there ain't no free lunch"!

Buyers beware! There's are reason why these are only a couple bucks a piece.

These have been sitting on a shelf next to each other for a couple days.

you got the west coast and east coast models...3 degrees apart..

 

[Randoobula]

you got the west coast and east coast models...3 degrees apart..

LOL! Well I'm in Alaska so no wonder I'm confused... er they are... er somethin!

 

[SweetSue]

Sweet Sue I've been reading this thread and can't seem to find it so forgive me but does it matter the silk you use to cover the jars?

Not at all fireman128. I used that silk because I had it on hand, having purchased a yard to do some dry sift hash. Cheesecloth would work. That nifty screening Furcifer uses is nice too. You simply need something permeable enough that moisture can exit, and woven tightly enough to keep the contents from gaining freedom from the jars.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Buyers beware! There's are reason why these are only a couple bucks a piece.

Made in China, lol?

I think I mentioned at some point that I'd listened to one of those cooking/kitchen podcasts, and that the show's testing department had tried several (cooking tyoe) thermometers and found that it's pretty much a crap shoot - regardless of the price. Still, it'd be nice if the same products from the same manufacturer, sold by the same entity... at least agreed with each other.

OtOH, do you have the product's specifications? Specifically, are the ranges for temperature and humidity listed, along with the (supposed, lol) accuracy - expressed as "+/-" a certain amount or else as a percentage of those ranges? The product might be displaying within its specified accuracy, I suppose.

I'm curious. If you place them in... IDK, environments with four different temperatures and humidities, does the difference in the numbers stay consistent? If so, they should still be usable for the application.

Or you could just pretend you spent a couple bucks each for the batteries - and that they came packaged in shiny plastic containers that had (changing) numbers on them :rolleyes3 .

 

[TorturedSoul]

Not at all fireman128. I used that silk because I had it on hand, having purchased a yard to do some dry sift hash.

Waste not, wasted... knot? Err, my day job isn't being a comedian.

Cheesecloth would work. That nifty screening Furcifer uses is nice too.

Like most things discussed on the forum, there won't be one single proper method. Think of... pretty much everything as a combination of a good starting point and "what works for someone." It's probably better to focus on the concept more than the specific details. Like those GPS gizmos, lol. They'll show you how to get there - but you can always modify your route slightly. Your journey might end up being shorter, quicker to complete - or end with you destroying your car's undercarraige and dripping with pond water, I guess .

You simply need something permeable enough that moisture can exit, and woven tightly enough to keep the contents from gaining freedom from the jars.

I'm assuming that a tighter weave will slow the drying, and that a more open one will shorten the process. I suppose you could set up several jars, using what those who have been nice enough to try this (and share their observations) have used, along with a variation or two of your own. After all, it's what works for YOU, your general environment, your refrigerator... and your bud.

My fingers seem to be failing to type a character or two on at least one out of three words. Troubling. Hmm... COFFEE!!!

 

[Furcifer]

Like many ventures in life. There are many paths to chose from. Or, you can choose a predestined course set by those who are looking to control the masses.

The long ageing process of distilled spirits
A year of cooking piles of tobacco leaves in their own sweat
Grapes left to ferment for years/decades in the dark.
Choice cuts of meat curring for months.
Cheese left to there own style of decomposition to perfection.

Every producer of Quality Connoisseur Brand products. Have there own personal technique of reaching perfection.

What they all have in common is...

TIME and PATIENCE!!!

Why do we insist on treating a truly remarkable plant.
That has so many unique lifesaving qualities.

Like......a.........like....a.........like......a...a....a....like..a.a.a..................... FUCKIN..CIGARETTE!!!!!

 

[SweetSue]

Like many ventures in life. There are many paths to chose from. Or, you can choose a predestined course set by those who are looking to control the masses.

The long ageing process of distilled spirits
A year of cooking piles of tobacco leaves in their own sweat
Grapes left to ferment for years/decades in the dark.
Choice cuts of meat curring for months.
Cheese left to there own style of decomposition to perfection.

Every producer of Quality Connoisseur Brand products. Have there own personal technique of reaching perfection.

What they all have in common is...

TIME and PATIENCE!!!

Why do we insist on treating a truly remarkable plant.
That has so many unique lifesaving qualities.

Like......a.........like....a.........like......a...a....a....like..a.a.a..................... FUCKIN..CIGARETTE!!!!!

Because as a cigarette, and in the early stages of a cure, or with no cure at all, this plant will kick pain's ass right out the door within seconds.

Yes, the overreaching goal is finely cured buds, because therein lies the best euphoric experience, and I believe the most potent and medicinally valuable meds.

But the reality is that many in our community have immediate needs due to the over-stressed condition of their individual endocannabinoid systems. So for now our immediate goal is to convince a small band of cultivators to take the time with at least part of each harvest with the end goal of reaching a tipping point where this is standard procedure and the only time the protocol is set aside is for emergency need.

Long term Furcifer. I'm looking long term here, and patience and time are our best tools in this educational game we've begun. We're coming up against decades of training when scarcity was the norm and immediacy the goal. I assure you, once this gets going you won't be able to slow it down.

 

[Furcifer]

I, early on in my life's experiences with Cannabis. Realized it's unique potential for medicinal uses.
Pot in the 70's was an antiestablishment push for individualism, freedom, and.... you would have to of been there.
Traditional drying techniques were developed to supply the demand.
Need it faster on the streets.
Even in the early 80's living in South America. They were changing from cooking (the way cigar leaves are processed)(which is still not correct) to hanging air dry. A much faster method.
Early documentations of encounters with Cannabis. Natives made an elixir to drink or simmer down to a balm.
Cannabis was boiled, simmered , seeped, tricomes were stripped with citrus, alcohol, and other forms of dissolvents into liquid.
In the past three decades I have ruined more weed than I can remember.
All for a perfect ending...honor and pride bestowed on a Queen of flowers.
I have tried every known way that is used for: CIGAR LEAVES, MEAT, AND HOPS.
I have used every heating, cooling, hydrating, dehydrating, nukeing device you can think of.
I have subjected them to every light emitting, vacume, pressurized, depressurized, flux compacitor device I could get my hands on.
I have used every flower preservation technique documented. Deliriously have packed buds in jars of Salt, Sand, Silicon, water, whisky, wine.......
You name it..... I've tried it.

In my search/research....
Have ended up focused on two methods.
How to preserve the quality of the flower?
The Low and Slow. For clean flushed flowers.
The other is for fresh had to harvest without a flush flowers.
There are parameters within this process. That allow for variables in the technique.
What I do is a guide for others to try.
Twerk it, play with it. Adjust to your capabilities and equipment on hand.
Slow the process down. That is the key.
Control temp, humidity, and light.
Do the best. Ask questions.
Most of all enjoy!

 

[SweetSue]

It's been a driving passion for a long time, hasn't it? These passions I have for the ECS and cannabis are still new, less than three years in, so I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have had you walk through the door with all this knowledge, ready to share.

We're gonna change the way people think about drying and curing, in the same way we're changing the way they use cannabis as a healing modality.

Speaking of cigars, a treat,

TheRoach once treated us to a tutorial on rolling a proper cannacigar. It starts with this post and meanders through the following posts.

TheRoach's Cannacigar